After the selection phase is complete and the contracting authority has determined which tenderers are eligible, the core of the procurement process follows: the award. In this phase, the authority evaluates the submitted tenders and assigns the contract to the tenderer with the most economically advantageous tender.
But what does “most economically advantageous” mean exactly? Article 81 of the Public Procurement Act 2016 offers three options — and the choice fundamentally determines how you should structure your tender.
The three award methods
1. Award based on price
The simplest form. The contract goes to the tenderer with the lowest price. There is no qualitative assessment: the specifications describe exactly what must be delivered, and the only variable is how much it costs.
When is this method used? Typically for standardised supplies or simple works where the technical specifications are so detailed that qualitative differences between tenders are minimal. Think of the supply of office materials, standard fuels, or routine maintenance works.
Key point for tenderers: with price-based award, everything revolves around cost efficiency. Every euro counts. Check the specifications carefully for hidden requirements that could affect your price.
2. Award based on cost (life-cycle costing)
A relatively new approach, established in Article 82 of the act. The authority looks not just at the purchase price, but at the total cost over the lifetime of the product, work or service. This includes:
- Acquisition costs
- Usage costs (energy, maintenance, consumables)
- End-of-life costs (disposal, recycling)
- External environmental costs (CO2 emissions, water consumption), where objectively measurable
This approach is gaining importance for contracts where sustainability plays a role. A more expensive but energy-efficient installation may turn out cheaper on a life-cycle basis than a cheap alternative with high operating costs.
Key point for tenderers: support your tender with concrete calculations of total cost of ownership. Energy labels, maintenance contracts and warranty conditions become strategically important here.
3. Award based on the best price-quality ratio (BPQR)
The most commonly used award method for more complex contracts. The authority evaluates tenders on multiple criteria, combining price or cost with qualitative criteria. The law explicitly mentions:
- Technical quality and value
- Aesthetic and functional characteristics
- Environmental characteristics and sustainability
- Social characteristics (e.g. employment of disadvantaged groups)
- Innovative characteristics
- Execution period
- After-sales service and technical assistance
- Delivery conditions
The authority must state in the specifications which criteria are used, what their relative weighting is, and how they are assessed. This transparency is a legal obligation: criteria may not be changed or added afterwards.
How does weighting work?
With BPQR, the authority assigns a weight to each criterion, expressed in points or percentages. A typical example:
| Criterion | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Price | 40% |
| Technical quality | 30% |
| Approach / methodology | 20% |
| Execution period | 10% |
The weighting largely determines the outcome. With 60% weighting on price, the cheapest tenderer almost always wins, even if the quality is average. With 40% on price and 60% on quality, a more expensive but substantively stronger tender has a real chance.
Some authorities work not with percentages but with a points system or a formula combining price and quality. Methods vary, but the principle remains: the tender achieving the best total score wins.
Commonly used qualitative criteria
Technical quality
The authority assesses whether your technical approach meets the stated requirements and goes beyond the minimum. Think of the quality of materials, conformity with standards, or the technical specifications of your proposal.
Approach / methodology
You describe how you will execute the contract: the phasing, project organisation, risk management, communication with the client. This criterion rewards tenderers who demonstrate they have understood the project and propose a realistic execution plan.
Execution period
For time-sensitive contracts, the authority may include the lead time as a criterion. Faster execution then earns extra points — but note: an unrealistically short schedule may be flagged as a risk by the evaluation committee.
Sustainability and environment
Increasingly, authorities include environment-related criteria: CO2 reduction, use of recycled materials, energy efficiency, or circular principles. Article 81, §2, 3° explicitly allows this, provided there is a link with the subject of the contract.
Social criteria
The law permits social considerations to be weighed in the award: employment of long-term unemployed, social economy, diversity policy. These criteria must be linked to the execution of the contract and may not be discriminatory.
Rules for award criteria
The law sets a number of conditions that award criteria must meet:
Link with the subject of the contract. A criterion must be relevant to what you are buying. An authority may not award points for a tenderer’s parking policy in an IT contract.
Transparency. All criteria, sub-criteria and their weighting must be stated in advance in the specifications. The authority may not change them afterwards.
Objectivity. Assessment must take place on objective, verifiable grounds. Purely subjective judgements are vulnerable in the event of an appeal.
Non-discrimination. Criteria may not favour or exclude tenderers on the basis of nationality, place of establishment or other irrelevant characteristics.
Strategy tips for tenderers
Read the weighting before you write. The weighting tells you where the points are. Allocate your writing time proportionally to the weighted criteria. If technical quality weighs 30% and execution period 10%, do not invest most effort in your planning.
Answer exactly what is asked. Evaluation committees assess based on the specifications, not on what you would like to tell them. Structure your tender according to the criteria and sub-criteria in the specifications.
Substantiate qualitative claims. Do not write “we deliver high quality” but demonstrate it: certifications, measurement results, references from comparable contracts, concrete methodologies.
Adjust your pricing strategy. With heavy weighting on quality (50%+), it is sometimes wiser to bid slightly higher and invest that budget in a qualitatively stronger execution.