The Key Points in Brief
- The contract goes to the most economically advantageous bid, not automatically the cheapest (§ 127 GWB).
- Besides price, qualitative, environmental and social criteria count.
- Life-cycle costs (§ 59 VgV) can beat the lowest purchase price.
- Award criteria and their weighting must be known in advance (§ 127 para. 5 GWB); they are stated in the documents.
- Anyone who reads the evaluation scheme before writing calculates and formulates in a more targeted way.
“The cheapest bid wins”: this sentence regularly costs contracts. Under procurement law the contract goes to the most economically advantageous bid, and that is rarely just the price. Anyone who reads a tender’s award criteria only while writing has already given away the most important lever, even though they are in the documents from the start, weighting included.
What “Most Economically Advantageous Bid” Really Means (§ 127 GWB)
§ 127 para. 1 GWB is unambiguous: the contract is awarded to the most economically advantageous bid, determined by the best price-performance ratio. Besides price or cost, qualitative, environmental and social aspects may expressly be included in the evaluation. These criteria must be linked to the subject matter of the contract (para. 3), which also applies to the life cycle of the service. For you this means: price is one factor, not the only one. You can find the exact wording at dejure.org.
Price vs. Life-Cycle Costs: Why Cheap Can Be Expensive (§ 59 VgV)
§ 59 VgV allows the contracting authority to evaluate life-cycle costs instead of the purchase price alone. These include acquisition, use (above all energy and resource consumption), maintenance, disposal or recycling – and in some cases external environmental costs such as CO₂ emissions. The method must be objective, non-discriminatory and accessible to everyone.
An example: with a street sweeper, the vehicle with the lowest purchase price can turn out to be the most expensive over eight years – higher consumption, more maintenance. If the municipality evaluates life-cycle costs, the bid that is more expensive to buy may well win. Anyone who recognises this calculates and argues differently than by looking at the unit price alone.
The criteria are in the documents – read them first
§ 127 (5) GWB obliges the contracting authority to state the award criteria and their weighting in the contract notice or the tender documents. So you don’t have to guess how bids will be scored – it’s all there. Whether price counts for 70% and quality for 30% or the other way round determines where your effort goes. That is exactly why the evaluation matrix belongs at the start of every bid process, not at the end.
Does your bid fit the evaluation?
In the free AI consultation we look at a real tender from your field – chance of success, award criteria and completed mandatory fields, shown on a live example.
How to align your bid with the evaluation
Two steps make the difference. First, the honest go/no-go assessment: if quality is weighted heavily and you can prove it, the tender is winnable. If it is pure price competition and you are above the market, you save yourself the effort. Second, targeted completion: quality criteria need to be backed up with references, concepts and evidence. This is exactly where aiconver comes in – we fill in mandatory fields from your own company knowledge and supply the evidence, instead of you hunting for it in old bids.
FAQ
Does the cheapest bid always win a tender?
No. Under § 127 GWB, the most economically advantageous bid with the best value for money wins. Price is one criterion, but quality, environmental and social aspects can also be evaluated.
What are life-cycle costs?
Under § 59 VgV, the total costs over the service life: acquisition, use (e.g. energy), maintenance, disposal and, in some cases, external environmental costs. They can beat the lowest purchase price in the evaluation.
Where are the award criteria of a tender stated?
In the contract notice or the tender documents. § 127 (5) GWB obliges the contracting authority to state the criteria and weighting in advance.
Does the contracting authority have to state the weighting of the criteria?
Yes. Criteria and their weighting must be announced in advance so that the evaluation is transparent and verifiable.
Conclusion
Award criteria decide the contract long before you submit your bid. Anyone who knows that the most economically advantageous – not the cheapest – bid wins, and factors in the weighting from the documents right from the start, writes more precisely and calculates more sharply. The most expensive mistake is to read the evaluation criteria only at the end.
Does your bid fit the evaluation?
In the free AI consultation we look at a real tender from your field – chance of success, award criteria and completed mandatory fields, shown on a live example.