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Answer · Tender terms explained
A provisional sum is money the employer puts in a BOQ for work it cannot yet fully describe. A contingency is a general allowance for quantity overruns or price rises. World Bank and ADB documents enter contingency as a provisional sum in the Summary. The employer sets both, so you enter them as printed.
Rules here come from standard documents checked in November 2026. The tender's own documents always decide.
This table follows the World Bank's September 2025 works document. ADB's works guide of December 2024 uses the same notes on provisional quantities and sums.
| Item | What it is | Who sets the money | In the evaluated price? |
|---|---|---|---|
Create a free workspace and upload a tender. Bidligence prices its bill and keeps each provisional sum at the employer's figure.
| Named work or supply, such as a nominated subcontractor's work |
| Employer |
| No |
| Contingency allowance | A general provisional sum for quantity overruns or price rises | Employer | No |
|---|
| Provisional quantity or item | A bill item with a high chance of overrun | Employer sets the quantity. You enter the rate. | It sits in the bills, not in the provisional sums |
|---|
| Daywork | Labour, materials and equipment on work the Engineer orders in writing | Employer sets nominal quantities. You enter the rates. | Yes, where priced competitively |
|---|
| Your own risk allowance | Your allowance for risks you carry | You | Yes, inside your price |
|---|
The employer's contingency does not protect your price. It is spent at the Engineer's direction. Your own risks belong in your markup.
Work through the bill in this order. For the rest of the pricing, see how to price a BOQ.
The Engineer does. The Bank's sample preamble says provisional sums are spent in whole or in part, as the Engineer directs. Sub-Clauses 13.4 and 13.5 of the contract apply. So you may not be paid the whole sum.
One exception exists. The Bank's provisional sum for the employer's share of dispute board costs needs no Engineer's instruction. The share is 50%.
Mostly not. The World Bank's ITB 37.1(a) evaluates the bid price without provisional sums and contingencies. It does include daywork where priced competitively. ADB's ITB 37.2(a) says the same.
The Bank's note says competitive daywork is normally 3% to 5% of the estimated base contract price. It also warns that bidders may load daywork rates when they are not competitive. That is why nominal quantities are carried to the Summary.
The employer decides. ADB's works guide recommends a set percentage for unforeseen quantities, usually 5% to 15% of base cost. Where price rises are included, it says commonly 6% to 12% a year on estimated annual payments. These notes guide the employer. The figure in your bill is the one that binds.
These terms come from RICS NRM 2, the UK measurement standard for building work. They change what you must price around the sum.
| Type | What the bill gives | What you allow for |
|---|---|---|
| Defined | The nature of the work, how it is fixed, its scope and any limits | You are assumed to have allowed for it in programming, planning and preliminaries |
| Undefined | Less than that information | You are assumed to have made no such allowance |
NRM 2 sums exclude overheads and profit. The bill should provide separately for your percentage. A prime cost sum is different: it is a supply-only allowance inside your unit rate.
Bidligence prices provisional sums at exactly the employer's figure, with no margin. Every other line is priced, and its build-up says where the rate came from. Your estimator can change any rate before export. See BOQ pricing.
Rules and portals change. Check the tender’s own documents and the official source before you rely on any of this.