Quick answer
The most common selection method for consulting services, scoring technical quality and price together using a published weighting to pick the best overall proposal.
Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) is the most widely used method for choosing consulting firms on development-bank-financed assignments, scoring each proposal on both technical quality and price using a published weighting and awarding to the highest combined score.
What is QCBS?
QCBS applies to consulting services, such as engineering design, feasibility studies, and supervision, rather than to goods or works. Shortlisted firms, usually drawn from an eoi process, submit a technical proposal and a separate financial proposal against published Terms of Reference (tor). The technical proposals are evaluated and scored first, against criteria such as methodology, key staff, and relevant experience, with a minimum qualifying technical mark. Only the financial proposals of firms that pass the technical threshold are opened. The bank then combines the technical and financial scores using a stated weighting, commonly 80 percent technical and 20 percent price, and the highest combined score wins.
QCBS sits in a family of consultant-selection methods. Where quality dominates and price is not weighted, the method is qbs, Quality-Based Selection; QCBS is the balanced default, and other variants exist for least-cost and fixed-budget situations.
Why QCBS matters for bidders
QCBS rewards consulting firms that can demonstrate genuine technical strength, because with technical quality often weighted at 70 to 80 percent, a superior methodology and the right named experts usually beat a cheaper but weaker proposal. The discipline is to read the TOR and the scoring criteria first and build the technical proposal directly against them, since marks are awarded against published sub-criteria, not against general impressiveness. Price still matters at the margin, so firms model how their likely technical score and fee combine under the stated weighting and price to be competitive without undercutting the staff quality that earns the technical marks. The two-envelope structure, technical opened before financial, is the safeguard that keeps the competition about quality.
FAQ
What is the typical weighting in QCBS?
Technical quality is commonly weighted between 70 and 80 percent and price between 20 and 30 percent, though the exact split is set in the request for proposals for each assignment.
How is QCBS different from QBS?
QCBS scores both technical quality and price and combines them; QBS (Quality-Based Selection) selects on technical quality alone and negotiates price with the top-ranked firm afterward.
When is the financial proposal opened in QCBS?
Only after technical evaluation is complete and only for firms that meet the minimum technical score, which protects the quality focus of the method.
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Related terms
Quality-Based Selection (QBS)
A consultant selection method that ranks firms on technical quality alone, then negotiates price with the top-ranked firm, used where expertise outweighs cost.
ViewTerms of Reference (TOR)
The document that defines the objectives, scope, deliverables, and timeline of a consulting assignment, against which proposals are written and evaluated.
ViewExpression of Interest (EOI)
A short submission firms make in response to a notice so the buyer can build a shortlist of qualified consultants before issuing the full request for proposals.
ViewLong-Term Agreement (LTA)
A standing agreement that fixes terms and prices with a supplier for repeated purchases over a set period, letting agencies order quickly without re-tendering each time.
View