The award criterion tells you how the committee will rank the bids. It is announced in advance and cannot be changed after the bidding deadline. Read it before you start the bid – it decides whether to invest time in the technical proposal or to compete mainly on price.
Lowest price
The bid with the lowest price among those admitted wins. The technical proposal only has to meet the specification; quality above the minimum earns no points. What decides here is an accurate costing and discipline in the documents – most bids excluded under this criterion are excluded for a formal mistake, not for the price.
Cost level
The costs over the whole life cycle are evaluated – price plus operation, maintenance, energy, disposal. It is used for machinery and equipment. Calculate by the buyer's formula; a more expensive but economical product can win.
Best price-quality ratio
The most common criterion for services and works. The price carries part of the points, the rest is given for quality indicators: deadline, organisation of the work, team experience, warranty period, technical characteristics. The evaluation method describes how the points for each indicator are calculated.
What to check in the method:
- The weight of the price. With 70 points for price and 30 for quality the competition is about price; the other way round, quality decides.
- The price formula. Usually the lowest price gets the maximum and the others proportionally less. A small difference in price often gives a small difference in points, which makes the quality indicators more important.
- The measurable indicators. A deadline in days, a warranty in months, the number of specialists – here the points are predictable.
- The expert indicators. “Organisation of the work”, “quality measures” – evaluated by the committee against signs described in the method. Your technical proposal should match these signs literally, using their wording.
Abnormally low bids
If your offer is much lower than the average of the others, the committee will ask for a justification. Prepare it in advance: particularly favourable conditions, your own equipment, a technological solution. An unconvincing justification leads to exclusion.
Practical rules
- Give the technical proposal the structure of the method: a heading for each indicator and under it exactly what earns points.
- Do not promise impossible deadlines and warranties – they become part of the contract and its penalties.
- With the “lowest price” criterion spend the time checking the documents, not decorating the proposal.
- Compare the prices from earlier tenders of the same buyer: the discount that wins differs by sector and region.
Updated on 1 Oct 2026. The article is general information, not legal advice.
