weighting

Weighting refers to how much significance different award criteria carry when a contracting authority decides which supplier wins a tender. This is particularly important in public tenders, where there must be transparency about how bids are evaluated.

How does weighting work?

When a contracting authority prepares a tender document, they set out which criteria are important to them. Each criterion is assigned a percentage weight that indicates how much it counts in the final evaluation. For example:

• Price: 40%
• Quality: 30%
• Environment: 30%

In this example, we see that price is the most important criterion, but quality and environment also carry significant weight. The total weighting must always add up to 100%.

Example of weighting in practice

Let's say a municipality is purchasing new furniture for the town hall. They have set up the following weighting:

• Price: 40%
• Quality and durability: 35%
• Delivery time: 15%
• Environmental certifications: 10%

If three suppliers submit bids, each will receive scores for every criterion. A supplier with a high price but excellent quality can still win if the quality scores outweigh the price difference.

How to approach weighting

As a supplier, it is important to:

• Read through the weighting in the tender documents carefully
• Focus extra attention on the criteria with the highest weighting
• Document clearly how your bid meets the criteria

Modern tools like Cobrief can help you identify and analyse the weighting in tenders, so you can focus your efforts where they yield the greatest return.

Weighting is a central element in the tendering process that ensures fair competition and transparent decisions. By understanding how weighting works, you can deliver more targeted and competitive bids.