Understand price across the period of use
Compare purchase, operation and other costs using visibly consistent assumptions.
Compare costs against the same performance and usage assumptions. Include purchase, consumption, maintenance and end-of-use costs where relevant, and state the period, quantities and price assumptions. This exercise uses a simple undiscounted sum and excludes uncertain future changes. In a real competition, the published method and requested inputs govern; our simplified calculator and any internally chosen extra weights do not replace that method.
A reason to think further
The method is useful, with or without a matching headline.
This prepared version contains no suitable dated news reference for the lesson. The original learning exercise below stands on its own.
A topical news connection does not establish an open contract. The original procurement documents establish binding requirements and deadlines.
Here is how to approach it.
Five practical steps, always grounded in the original documents.
- 01
Define the comparison basis
Describe the same required output, duration and intensity of use for every option. Check whether accessories, installation and training are included. Different service scopes must not disappear behind an apparently precise total that is actually comparing materially different offers or equipment packages.
- 02
List separate cost categories
Record relevant acquisition, operation, maintenance and end-of-use costs individually. State units and tax basis. Check which categories the actual procedure includes; an additional cost that matters internally is not automatically part of the buyer's formal assessment or the information requested from bidders.
- 03
Support the inputs
Connect consumption and maintenance figures to identifiable data sheets, quotations or explicit assumptions. Record measurement conditions. An advertised ideal consumption figure must not silently become an asserted real-world consumption figure for a customer's future operating environment without examining the conditions behind it.
- 04
Calculate simply and visibly
For this exercise use purchase plus annual running cost multiplied by years, plus end-of-use cost. Keep currency and duration consistent. State that interest, changing prices, failure risk and environmental externalities are excluded. Simplicity supports learning; it does not make the model a comprehensive financial appraisal.
- 05
Explore uncertainty
Change duration or running cost one at a time and inspect the outcome. Record when the order changes. For a live assessment use only the specified inputs and rules, while retaining your internal sensitivity exercise separately so that its assumptions cannot be mistaken for the official submission method.
Fictional: Two devices over five years
All euro values are invented and undiscounted. Running cost combines the annual categories used in this simplified exercise.
| Option | Purchase | Annual running cost | End of use |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1,000 euros | 300 euros | 100 euros |
| B | 1,400 euros | 180 euros | 100 euros |
A: 1,000 + 5 × 300 + 100 = 2,600 euros. B: 1,400 + 5 × 180 + 100 = 2,400 euros. B is 200 euros lower within this exercise; changing assumptions can change the result.
What does the full period cost?
Variant A from the example, undiscounted: purchase price + annual operating costs × years + end costs. It excludes inflation, interest, tax and any prescribed procurement formula.
| Component | Amount (€) |
|---|---|
| Purchase | 1.000 |
| Operations over 5 years | 1.500 |
| End costs | 100 |
Not a quotation. For an actual procurement, follow its required method and verify every input.
Three common
pitfalls.
- Mixing net and gross prices, different usage periods or materially different performance assumptions in one apparently comparable total.
- Publishing invented consumption assumptions as measured product data or as a customer's expected real saving.
- Presenting a simple undiscounted total as the official lifecycle-cost assessment method for every purchasing procedure.
Your next practical step.
The exercise
Reproduce the two totals and change the duration to three years. Check whether the order stays the same. List three additional inputs needed for a reliable real comparison. Distinguish measured technical information, assumptions about future prices and the procedure's calculation method. Write one sentence reporting the exercise result accurately with its limited scope rather than presenting it as a general product recommendation.
Replace one unclear assumption in your costing with an identifiable and checkable source.
The CSV contains empty working fields, no confidential information. Download and print controls require JavaScript; all tasks remain fully readable here.
My practical checklist
A personal note on this device. No assessment credit or CPD award.
0 of 4 tasks marked
What will you take away?
Read the answer and explanations
Check this assumption: 1,400 euros with no additional costs.
That counts acquisition only and omits the exercise running costs.
Check this assumption: A guaranteed saving for every customer.
The figures and assumptions are invented and apply only to the exercise.
Appropriate answer: 2,400 euros.
1,400 plus five times 180 plus 100 equals 2,400, without discounting.
What else should you know?
Is lifecycle costing always compulsory?
This lesson does not claim a universal obligation for every purchase. Check the individual documents and the requirements applicable to the type of procurement and the particular buying organisation.
Can environmental costs be included?
That depends on the method and acceptable data. Do not add a carbon price of your own to the official assessment if the published procedure does not provide for it.
What if running-cost information is missing?
Mark the gap and clarify the required basis. Entering zero would misleadingly suggest cost-free operation and could materially distort both the comparison and the business decision based on it.
This lesson’s reference sources
Vergabezone authored the lesson independently. These references support the context; their content is not copied as course material.
- VgV § 59 – LebenszykluskostenGesetze im Internet · reviewed 28 October 2026
- Umweltbundesamt – LebenszykluskostenUmweltbundesamt · reviewed 28 October 2026