How Government Evaluates Tenders: A Complete Guide to Scoring Criteria
Understanding how government evaluates tenders is the single most important insight you can have as a supplier. Tenders are not won purely by price — they are evaluated through a combination of compliance checking, functionality scoring, and preference points. Knowing the exact rules of the evaluation process allows you to craft a bid that scores the maximum available points at each stage.
Stage 1: Administrative Compliance Check
Before any scoring takes place, every bid goes through an administrative compliance check. This involves verifying that all required forms and documents have been submitted and correctly completed. The evaluators check for valid tax clearance status (SARS TCS PIN), valid BBBEE certificate, completed SBD forms (SBD 1, 4, 6.1, 8, and others as required), proof of CSD registration, and any sector-specific mandatory documents such as CIDB grading certificates or professional registrations.
At this stage, the principle is pass/fail — there is no partial credit. A bid that is missing a required document, or has a document that has expired, will typically be disqualified at this stage. Most government entities publish their mandatory compliance requirements clearly in the bid document. Read this section extremely carefully and prepare a checklist before submitting.
- Valid SARS tax clearance TCS PIN is mandatory
- BBBEE certificate must be valid and from a SANAS-accredited agency
- All specified SBD forms must be submitted and signed
- CSD registration must be active and not expired
Stage 2: Functionality (Technical) Evaluation
For tenders with a quality component, Stage 2 involves scoring the technical proposals against pre-published evaluation criteria. The criteria and their weightings must be published in the bid document before submissions close — post-closing amendments to criteria are not permitted. Common functionality criteria include relevant experience and track record, proposed methodology and approach, quality of the management team and key personnel CVs, and quality or environmental certifications.
Most bids with a functionality component set a minimum qualifying score — typically 60% to 70% of the available functionality points. Bids that fall below this minimum are disqualified from further evaluation before prices are even opened. This is a critical filter, and many technically capable companies fail at this stage due to poorly written proposals that do not directly address the evaluation criteria.
- Functionality criteria and weightings must be pre-published
- Minimum qualifying score typically 60-70%
- Failing functionality = price is not even opened
- Address each sub-criterion explicitly in your technical proposal
Stage 3: Price and BBBEE Evaluation (80/20 or 90/10)
The final evaluation stage applies the PPPFA preference point formula. For tenders with a Rand value above R50 million, the 90/10 formula applies: 90 points available for price and 10 points for BBBEE preference. For tenders below R50 million, the 80/20 formula applies: 80 points for price and 20 points for BBBEE. The price points are calculated mathematically — the lowest compliant price gets the maximum price points (90 or 80), and all other prices are scored relative to that lowest price.
BBBEE preference points are straightforward: Level 1 gets 10 or 20 points (depending on the applicable formula), Level 2 gets 9 or 18 points, Level 3 gets 6 or 14 points, Level 4 gets 5 or 12 points, and points decrease to zero for non-compliant entities. The bid with the highest combined score (price points + BBBEE points) wins, subject to the accounting officer's discretion to recommend a different bidder if there are valid procurement policy reasons.
- 90/10: tenders above R50 million (90% price, 10% BBBEE)
- 80/20: tenders below R50 million (80% price, 20% BBBEE)
- Price scoring: lowest compliant bid gets maximum price points
- BBBEE Level 1 = maximum BBBEE points; non-compliant = 0 points
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the government award a tender to a higher-priced bidder?
Yes, subject to conditions. An accounting officer can recommend a higher-priced bidder if the lowest scorer's price is not fair and reasonable, if there are serious concerns about the lowest scorer's ability to deliver, or if there are other legitimate procurement policy objectives. However, this requires a written motivation and is subject to audit scrutiny.
What happens if two bids score exactly the same?
If two or more bids score equally on the PPPFA evaluation, the accounting officer applies discretion to break the tie, typically favouring the bid that better serves the procurement policy objectives of the specific department, including local content, sector transformation, or geographic development objectives.