This article shows you as a public buyer how to decide what the bids will be assessed against.
Choose the model
On the Award criteria step you first set the Award criteria model: whether you choose on lowest price alone, or on the balance between price and quality. Price model is a different setting, and appears only once you have chosen price and quality.
If price is part of the calculation, switch on Ask suppliers to enter a price.
Add the criteria
Add them with New criterion and give each one a weight. The weights tell suppliers what you actually value, so they can write the bid accordingly.
The table shows the criterion and its weight, so you see the whole picture while you build it. The weights must add up to 100 %, or the procurement cannot be announced. If a criterion has sub-criteria, their weights must also add up to 100 % within that criterion.
Under Price model you choose how price becomes points. The Proportional method gives the lowest price 10 points and the others 10 × (lowest ÷ their own price). You can pull in ready-made criteria with Choose from the library or Apply template, and the Status column shows which ones are complete.
ℹ️ Note: The criteria are locked on announcement. You cannot change them afterwards without cancelling and announcing again, so spend the time here.
💡 Tip: Only set criteria you can actually score differently. A criterion where every supplier scores the same gives no information and only more work at evaluation.
Next
See Minimum requirements for the next step.