Price a bid that works for the contract and your business
A traceable route from quantities and time to a complete price sheet, without unrealistic low-price promises.
After this guide, you can …
- Record costs and assumptions clearly
- Reconcile price sheet and scope
- Check commercial viability
1. Cost the service actually required
Read quantities, frequencies, duration, locations, response times and ancillary tasks. Distinguish guaranteed quantities from estimates or possible call-offs. Check whether the buyer requests unit rates, lump sums, hourly rates, options or lifecycle costs. Complete the prescribed fields. Your own lump-sum total does not replace a required itemised schedule. Clarify discrepancies rather than silently inventing quantities.
2. Include more than direct labour
Include personnel and applicable pay and employment conditions, materials, equipment, travel, cover, management, insurance and other contract costs. Add a reasoned allowance for risk and a margin appropriate to your business. Review payment terms and funding needed before payment. The price sheet and your circumstances determine tax treatment and required entries. Allowances belong in a compliant pricing model, not in hidden changes to contract terms.
3. Review the arithmetic independently
Check units, quantities, decimal separators, rounding, subtotals, options and totals. Reopen exported files. Have another person reconcile the technical response with the costing: daily checks promised in the narrative need resources in the model. Keep the calculation trail internally. Within the VgV’s scope, apparently abnormally low prices can require explanation. Depending on an unsustainable price is not a reliable strategy.
4. Understand how price enters evaluation
The lowest total price does not automatically win every procedure. Published award criteria and the stated evaluation method govern. Some procedures assess price or cost alone; others combine them with quality. Do not invent a pricing formula or assume a bonus for an attractive presentation. Calculation tools are aids; approval and responsibility remain with your business.
A competitive price must fit the evaluated service and support reliable delivery.
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Go to the original source
Editorially checked on 27 October 2026. The current original documents of your procedure govern.
- VgV § 53 — Form und Übermittlung der AngeboteBundesamt für Justiz / Gesetze im Internet
- VgV § 58 — Zuschlag und ZuschlagskriterienBundesamt für Justiz / Gesetze im Internet
- VgV § 60 — Ungewöhnlich niedrige AngeboteBundesamt für Justiz / Gesetze im Internet
- VgV — insbesondere §§ 29 und 47: Unterlagen und EignungsleiheBundesamt für Justiz / Gesetze im Internet