The weights change after the bids are in
Criteria written down only after the numbers are known tend to favor the bid someone already preferred. The sheet has to exist, with its weights, before anyone scores a bid.
Bid evaluation
Bid evaluation criteria for construction
Bids have to be compared on the same weighted criteria, and the choice has to be written down with its reason. This page treats the evaluation as a document: the criteria and their weights, the 0 to 5 scale, how the total and the rank are worked out, and what Fidrel records when the award is made. It also says what the sheet leaves out.
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Where evaluation sheets fail
Price points that nobody can reproduce
When price is scored by a formula in one person’s spreadsheet, a second reader cannot check it. A rule everyone can restate, from the lowest responsive bid, is easier to defend.
A decision with no reason attached
Months later someone asks why the second-ranked bidder won. The score is in one file, the discussion in a meeting, and the reason in nobody’s notes.
What each criterion needs
A criterion has a name of up to 120 characters, a type, a weight above 0 and at most 100, and an optional description of what is judged and how points are given. Only one criterion can be about price. The standard setup is a starting point: Price at 60, Qualifications and approach at 25 and Schedule at 15. Rename them and change the weights to fit the project, as long as the total stays 100. Criteria can be set up while the bids are still sealed. Once an award is made they are locked, and you must rescind the award to change them.
Procurement
How the points and the rank are worked out
Price is scored against the lowest responsive bid: that bid earns the full weight, and any other bid earns the weight multiplied by the lowest amount and divided by its own. A bid 25 percent above the lowest therefore earns 48 of 60 points. A quality criterion earns its weight times the score divided by 5, so a 4 on a weight of 25 is 20 points. The total is the sum, and bids are ranked from highest to lowest. Equal totals share a rank. A bid is ranked only when it is responsive and every criterion has a value; the rest are shown as Incomplete.
Building the criteria sheet and scoring the bids
Step 1
Set the criteria and weights
Open Bid evaluation in the bid request and find Evaluation criteria. Use a standard setup or Add criterion. Give each a name, a Type of Price or Quality, a Weight (%) and an optional description. The weights must add up to 100%. Then choose Save criteria.
Step 2
Enter amounts and scores in the tabulation
After the bids open, the Bid tabulation lists the bidders. Enter each Bid amount and a score from 0 to 5 for every quality criterion. Scores are saved, and a comment can be added to explain a score.
Step 3
Mark non-responsive bids
If a bid does not respond to the request, choose Reject bid and give a Reason, for example a missing bid bond. A rejected bid is not ranked and cannot be awarded, and the reason stays with the evaluation.
Step 4
Award and print the report
Read the total score and rank, choose Award the bid and add a justification if you are not choosing the top-ranked bid. Then use Export to Excel, or the Bid evaluation report, which prints with lines for signature, printed name and date.
Recording the decision
The award is chosen from responsive bidders who have submitted a bid, after the bid deadline or once the request is closed. Choosing a bid that is not top-ranked prompts you to explain the decision; the justification is optional but the prompt is there. The decision is saved with the date and who made it, and it can be rescinded, which keeps the evaluation and lets a new decision be made. The exported Bid evaluation report puts the criteria, the scores and the award on one page with signature lines to fill in.
What the evaluation sheet is not
This is a weighted sheet for the owner’s own evaluation, not a comparison of line items. The evaluator enters one total per bidder, so Fidrel does not do bid leveling and does not set line-item prices side by side. There is one shared score per criterion rather than a score from each evaluator. Nothing is sent to bidders when the award is saved, so no notice of award goes out. Fidrel makes no claim to meet any public procurement rule and gives no legal advice about how an award must be made.
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The factors an owner uses to compare bids, such as price, qualifications and schedule, each with a weight. In Fidrel the weights add up to 100% and each quality criterion is scored from 0 to 5.
Against the lowest responsive bid. The lowest earns the full price weight, and a higher bid earns the weight multiplied by the lowest amount divided by its own amount.
No. Only one criterion can be about price. Add as many quality criteria as you need, such as schedule, safety or project team.
No. You can award to another responsive bidder. Fidrel prompts you to explain the decision, and the award is saved with the date and who decided.
No. There is one shared score per criterion, so agree the scores among the evaluators first and enter them once.
Yes, with Export to Excel, or as a Bid evaluation report that prints or saves as a PDF with lines for signature, printed name and date.