L1: lowest price wins
Most goods tenders use L1. Bids are first checked for eligibility and technical compliance. Among the bids that qualify, the lowest evaluated price (L1) is awarded, subject to purchase preferences such as MSE and Make in India.
- Every technical requirement must be met; a lower price does not save a non-compliant bid.
- "Evaluated price" can include taxes, freight or other factors stated in the tender.
QCBS: quality and cost together
Quality and Cost Based Selection is common for consultancy and some services. Each bid gets a technical score and a financial score, combined by weights fixed in the tender, for example 70% technical and 30% financial. The highest combined score wins.
- The technical proposal (team, methodology, past projects) matters as much as price.
- Read the marking scheme and present documents against each scoring point.
How to tell which one applies
Look for the "evaluation criteria" or "method of selection" section in the tender document. It states the method and, for QCBS, the weights.
Sources
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