Definition
Price-Quality Ratio
The balance between cost and quality in the award decision.
The price-quality ratio (sometimes called the MEAT ratio, most economically advantageous tender) is the proportion of the total evaluation score allocated to price versus quality. It is set by the buyer and published in the ITT, and it directly shapes how much a strong technical response can offset a higher price, or vice versa.
How the ratio is expressed
Ratios are usually shown as a simple split such as 70:30 or 50:50 (quality:price), sometimes with cost further broken into elements like whole-life cost or social value. The ratio applies after each element is scored individually and normalised, then combined using the stated weighting.
Why the ratio matters for bid strategy
A high quality weighting rewards bidders who can demonstrate genuine differentiation in delivery approach, risk management or social value, and reduces the ability of a low-price bidder to win purely on cost. A high price weighting does the opposite, meaning cost competitiveness becomes decisive even for otherwise strong bids.
Suppliers should model their own price against the likely market range before finalising it, particularly where the ratio favours price, since even small percentage differences in cost can translate into large scoring gaps.
MEAT under the Procurement Act 2023
The Procurement Act 2023 replaced 'most economically advantageous tender' terminology with 'most advantageous tender' (MAT), removing the implication that price must always be a factor, though in practice most public contracts still use a price-quality ratio as the award mechanism.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a 70:30 price-quality ratio mean in practice?
- It means 70% of the final score comes from quality responses and 30% from price. A bidder with excellent quality scores can still lose to a much cheaper competitor if the price gap is large enough, but quality differences carry more weight than in a 30:70 split.
- Is MEAT still used under the Procurement Act 2023?
- The formal term has changed to 'most advantageous tender' (MAT), but the underlying practice of scoring price and quality against a published ratio continues largely unchanged for most public contracts.
- How can I find the price-quality ratio for a specific tender?
- It is published in the ITT or procurement documents, usually in the evaluation methodology section, accessible via Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, or the buyer's procurement portal once you have registered interest in the opportunity.
Related terms