Bid Validity Period

The bid validity period is the number of days after the bid submission deadline during which a bidder is bound by the price, terms, and conditions stated in its offer, giving the buyer enough time to complete evaluation, obtain approvals, and issue an award without the risk that bidders withdraw or reprice.

What is Bid Validity Period?

Every solicitation for goods, works, or services states a bid validity period, usually expressed as a number of calendar days from the submission deadline. Common periods are 90 days for smaller contracts, 120 days for larger goods and works procurements, and up to 180 days or more for complex public-private-partnership-ppp-international competitions or those requiring significant government approvals before award. During this window the bidder cannot withdraw its offer, modify its price, or impose new conditions without forfeiting its bid-security-bid-bond. The buyer is not obligated to award within the period but cannot bind the bidder beyond it unless both parties agree to an extension.

Extensions of bid validity are common when evaluation or approval processes take longer than anticipated. The buyer issues a formal request for extension to all bidders; each bidder can accept or decline. A bidder that declines is not penalised other than being excluded from further consideration; its bid security is returned. A bidder that accepts must extend its bid security for the same additional period and is still bound by its original prices. The power-of-attorney-bid-signing that authorises the bid also authorises any validity extension if properly worded, so checking the scope of the authorisation document matters before signing an extension.

Why Bid Validity Period matters for bidders

Pricing a bid involves locking in supplier quotations and exchange rates for the validity window. If the period is 120 days but the evaluation consistently takes longer, the effective risk window is longer than the documents suggest. Suppliers bidding on imported goods in volatile-currency markets should model the foreign exchange exposure across the full validity period and consider how hedging or currency clauses in the bid reduce that risk. Firms should also track all validity and extension deadlines across their active bid portfolio so they are never caught extending a security for a contract they would not pursue at original prices.

FAQ

Can a bidder withdraw its offer before the validity period expires?

Not without forfeiting the bid security. Withdrawal after the submission deadline and within the validity window is one of the triggers that allows the buyer to call the bid security.

What happens if the buyer needs more time than the validity period allows?

The buyer sends each bidder a formal request to extend bid validity and the associated bid security. Bidders may accept or decline; declining excludes them from consideration but does not result in penalty.

Is the bid validity period the same as the bid security validity period?

They are related but not identical. The bid security must remain valid for the full bid validity period plus a small buffer, commonly 30 days, so that the buyer retains the ability to call the security at any point during the evaluation.