Combined Score (Technical + Financial)

The combined score is the aggregate evaluation result produced by merging a proposal's technical score and its financial score using a pre-published weighting formula, allowing buyers to select the offer with the highest overall value rather than simply the lowest price.

What is Combined Score (Technical + Financial)?

Combined scoring is the defining mechanism of methods such as Quality and Cost-Based Selection (qcbs) and similar frameworks used by development banks and UN agencies for consulting services and complex technical contracts. After technical proposals are evaluated against criteria such as methodology, key personnel qualifications, and relevant experience, each qualifying firm receives a technical score expressed as a number out of 100. Financial proposals are opened only for firms that pass the minimum technical threshold, and each is converted to a financial score by dividing the lowest-priced compliant offer by the firm's price, so the cheapest bidder scores 100 on the financial dimension and all others score proportionally lower.

The combined score is then calculated as: (technical score multiplied by the technical weight) plus (financial score multiplied by the financial weight). Under the most common weighting-8020-7030-etc formula, a firm scoring 85 on the technical dimension and 90 on the financial dimension under an 80:20 weighting would achieve a combined score of (85 x 0.80) plus (90 x 0.20) = 68 plus 18 = 86. The firm with the highest combined score is recommended for award. The pass-fail-evaluation gate that precedes scoring ensures only technically compliant proposals reach the combined-score stage.

Why Combined Score (Technical + Financial) matters for bidders

Understanding how your combined score will behave under the stated weighting before you finalise your price is one of the most practically useful analytical steps in consulting procurement. If technical quality is weighted at 80 percent, a superior technical score can overcome a meaningful price disadvantage: a firm priced 20 percent higher than the cheapest competitor but scoring 10 points more on the technical dimension will often still win. Bidders should model their expected combined score using realistic technical score assumptions and test different price points to find the range where they are competitive without sacrificing the staff quality that earns the technical marks.

FAQ

Can a firm with a lower price always win on combined score?

No. Because technical quality is typically weighted at 70 to 80 percent, a firm with a weaker technical proposal will rarely overcome a strong technical competitor by undercutting on price alone. The financial weight is not large enough to compensate for a large technical gap.

Is the financial score based on the absolute price or the relative price?

The financial score is always relative. The lowest-priced compliant offer scores 100, and every other offer scores proportionally less, so only the difference between your price and the cheapest compliant competitor's price affects your financial score.

What happens when two firms produce the same combined score?

Solicitation documents usually specify a tiebreaker, most commonly the higher technical score, as the deciding factor when combined scores are equal or fall within a stated rounding margin.