Weighting (80:20, 70:30, etc.)

Weighting is the percentage split between the technical score and the financial score that buyers publish in tender documents to show bidders how much each dimension contributes to the final combined score. Common ratios are 80:20, 70:30, and 90:10, with the first number always representing technical quality.

What is Weighting (80:20, 70:30, etc.)?

In any procurement that scores both quality and price, the buyer must declare upfront how heavily each dimension counts. An 80:20 weighting means 80 percent of the combined-score is derived from the technical-evaluation score and 20 percent from the financial-evaluation score. A 70:30 split gives more influence to price, useful where the technical requirements are relatively standard and competing firms are expected to be broadly equivalent in quality. A 90:10 split reserves weight-dominant influence for quality, typically used for highly complex or critical assignments where a cheap but weak deliverable is unacceptable.

The weighting is set by the buyer before the notice is issued and cannot be changed after bids are received. Under qcbs rules, the World Bank and most other MDBs require that the technical weight is always higher than the financial weight. The EU's meat framework allows a wider range of non-price criteria and weightings, including options where quality carries less than 50 percent if the contract subject justifies it.

Why Weighting matters for bidders

The weighting ratio is the first thing a bidding firm should extract from the tender documents, because it governs where to invest proposal effort. Under 80:20, the technical proposal is eight times more influential than the price per unit of score, so a firm that cuts corners on methodology to spend time on fee optimisation is misallocating effort. Under 70:30, price becomes more significant and should be modelled more carefully. A firm that always prices as if weighting is 50:50 will systematically over-price under quality-heavy ratios and under-price under price-heavy ones. Read the weighting, then build the plan.

FAQ

Can the buyer use a weighting other than 80:20?

Yes. Buyers choose the ratio to suit the assignment. Complex, high-risk consulting often uses 90:10 or 80:20. More routine or commoditised work may use 70:30. The ratio must be published in the request for proposals and cannot be altered after bids close.

Does weighting apply to goods and works contracts?

Weighting in the 80:20 sense is specific to quality-and-cost methods for consulting services. Goods and works contracts typically use a lowest-evaluated-bid approach where price is the sole ranking criterion among technically responsive offers, though evaluated cost may include lifecycle factors.

What happens to a firm's score if it submits the lowest price?

The firm with the lowest offered price receives the maximum financial score equal to the financial weight (for example, 20 points in an 80:20 scheme). All other firms receive a proportionally reduced financial score based on how much higher their price is relative to the lowest offer.