guide
How to Price a Tender
7 min readBy Helen MarshReviewed by David OkonjoPublished 2026-04-28Last reviewed 2026-07-05
In short
Price a tender by building a full cost base, adding a quantified risk allowance for the contract terms, testing the number against the buyer's published price formula, and entering it in exactly the format the pricing schedule requires.
Cost base before commercial strategy
Direct delivery cost, management overhead, mobilisation, KPI exposure and contract-specific insurance all belong in the model before anyone discusses margin.
Compliance with the pricing schedule
Altering the pricing schedule structure, adding caveats or leaving cells blank is one of the most common causes of disqualification. If the schedule does not fit your model, raise a clarification.
Frequently asked questions
Should we ever bid at cost?
Only with an explicit, board-level reason such as entering a framework you will exploit later. Record the decision so it is not repeated by default.
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