What are Award Criteria?
Award criteria (Zuschlagskriterien) are the predefined factors that the contracting authority uses to evaluate and compare submitted bids in order to identify the most economically advantageous tender (wirtschaftlichstes Angebot). Under German and EU procurement law, the award must be based on the best price-quality ratio, which can encompass a wide range of qualitative, quantitative, environmental, and social criteria alongside the price or cost component.
Common award criteria include the bid price or lifecycle costs, the quality of the proposed technical approach or methodology, the qualifications and experience of the proposed personnel, delivery or completion timelines, sustainability and environmental characteristics, after-sales service and support quality, and innovative aspects of the proposed solution. The contracting authority must specify the award criteria, their relative weighting, and the evaluation methodology in the tender documents. The criteria and their weighting cannot be changed after the tender documents have been issued.
The principle of the most economically advantageous tender has replaced the former distinction between awarding on price alone versus awarding on a combination of criteria. Under current law, even when the contracting authority uses only price as the criterion, this is understood as a specific application of the best price-quality ratio principle. However, many procurement procedures, particularly for complex services, use a combination of price and quality criteria, with typical weightings ranging from 30 to 60 percent for price and 40 to 70 percent for qualitative criteria.
Why It Matters for Bidders
Understanding the award criteria is fundamental to bid strategy. Bidders should analyze the criteria, their weightings, and the evaluation methodology before developing their offers. A bid strategy that ignores the stated criteria or misjudges their relative importance is unlikely to succeed, regardless of the objective quality of the proposal.
Bidders should tailor their offers to maximize their score across all criteria. For qualitative criteria, this means providing clear, specific, and evidence-based responses that directly address what the contracting authority has asked for. For the price criterion, bidders must understand whether the evaluation uses a simple price comparison, a formula-based price scoring system, or a lifecycle cost approach, as each requires a different pricing strategy.
Legal Framework
Award criteria are regulated in Sections 58 and 59 VgV for above-threshold procurement. Section 127 GWB establishes the principle of the most economically advantageous tender. EU Directive 2014/24/EU Article 67 provides the European framework. The UVgO contains analogous provisions for below-threshold procurement. For construction works, VOB/A addresses award criteria with particular emphasis on the price criterion.