Businesses lose tenders they were qualified to win because they treat the bid as a price submission with paperwork attached. Where functionality is used, it is the opposite: the paperwork decides whether anyone ever looks at your price.
Evaluation happens in stages
Where a tender includes functionality, only the bids that meet the minimum functionality criteria go through to the stage where points are awarded on price and preference.
Practically, that means the order is:
- Compliance / responsiveness — is the bid complete and are the mandatory documents there.
- Functionality — scored against the criteria published in the tender. Below the minimum, the bid is declared non-responsive.
- Price and preference — only for the bids that survived stage two.
This is why the cheapest bid often loses. It was not beaten on price. Its price was never read.
The minimum qualifying score
The minimum is set by the organ of state in each tender document, and it differs between tenders. Published examples vary widely, so there is no general number worth memorising — and assuming one is how businesses talk themselves into bids they cannot qualify for.
Find the stated minimum in the bid document before you commit to bidding. It is a go / no-go decision, and it is free to make early.
How functionality is actually scored
The tender publishes the criteria and the weight of each. Commonly they cover things like relevant experience, the capacity and qualifications of the people who will do the work, methodology or approach, and equipment or resources available.
Each criterion is scored against what you submitted, then weighted, and the weighted scores add up to your functionality score. The important word is submitted. An evaluation committee scores the document in front of them.
Why good businesses score badly
- Experience claimed but not evidenced. "We have done this for ten years" scores far lower than three named, contactable, comparable projects with values and dates.
- CVs missing or generic. If the criterion is the qualifications of key personnel, an unnamed team scores against you.
- Answering a different question. Methodology sections that describe the company rather than how this job will be done.
- Ignoring the weightings. Ten pages on the lowest-weighted criterion and one paragraph on the highest is a self-inflicted low score.
- No proof of resources. Claiming equipment or capacity without evidence of it.
How to score better
- Read the scoring table first — before the scope, before the price. It tells you what the bid is actually about.
- Write to the criteria, in their order and language. Make it easy to find and award the points.
- Evidence every claim — references with contact details, project values, dates, CVs, certificates, proof of equipment.
- Weight your effort to the weightings. Spend the most words where the most points are.
- Score your own bid against the table before you submit, honestly, as if you were the committee. If you cannot reach the minimum, do not bid — spend the time on one you can win.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I win on price if my functionality score is low?
- No. Where functionality is used, it is evaluated first. A bid that scores below the minimum qualifying score is declared non-responsive and does not proceed to the price and preference stage at all - so the price is never compared.
- What is the minimum qualifying score?
- It is set by the organ of state in each tender document, and it varies from tender to tender. Do not assume a number: find the stated minimum in the bid document before you decide whether to bid.
- Is functionality the same as preference points?
- No. They are separate. Functionality decides whether your bid is considered at all; price and preference points then decide who wins among the bids that qualified.
- Why did we score low when we do this work every day?
- Because functionality scores the evidence in your bid document, not your actual capability. Evaluators may only score what is in front of them, so experience you did not evidence is experience you did not have.
Next steps
Once you know you can clear functionality, the next question is what to charge — read pricing a tender without losing money, or take the free tender readiness check.