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Answer · Rejection and complaints

What is an abnormally low bid, and what happens next?

An abnormally low bid is a price so low that the buyer doubts you can do the work for it. The buyer asks you to explain the price in writing. If you cannot show that you can deliver at that price, it rejects the bid.

This page uses the World Bank's two-envelope works document (September 2025 edition, ITB 38 and 39). Your tender's own documents always decide.

Create your workspace Reviewed 04/11/26

How does the buyer test the price?

The document does not set a fixed percentage. It looks at the price together with the rest of the bid. It asks whether you can perform the contract at that price.

  1. 1The employer sees a price that may be abnormally low.
  2. 2It asks you for written clarifications, including detailed price analyses.
  3. 3It evaluates your analyses.
  4. 4If you have not shown that you can perform at that price, it rejects the bid.

What should you send?

The employer can ask how your price relates to the scope, method, schedule, risks and other requirements. So tie each number to something real. This list is general advice, not a rule from the document.

  • A rate analysis for the items that drive the price.
  • Supplier and subcontractor quotes with dates.
  • Your method and programme, and how they save money.
  • Plant you already own, or staff you already have nearby.
  • How you have priced the risks the contract gives you.

Answer by the date the buyer gives. Keep to facts you can prove, because a false claim is a far worse problem.

What is an unbalanced or front-loaded bid?

This is a different problem. Your total may look fine, but your rates are out of balance. Front loading puts high rates on early work so that you are paid sooner.

If the lowest bid looks seriously unbalanced or front loaded, the employer may ask for price analyses (ITB 39). It may then accept the bid or reject it. It may also raise the performance security, to no more than 20% of the contract price.

How do you avoid the problem?

A low price is not wrong in itself. An unexplained low price is the risk.

  • Check for a typing error first. See arithmetic errors in a BOQ.
  • Compare your total with any estimate the tender states.
  • Keep your rate build-ups and quotes, so that you can answer quickly.
  • Do not cut a rate only to win. See how to calculate markup.

How can Bidligence help?

Bidligence warns you when the priced BOQ sits far below the tender's estimate, or the estimate you recorded. Every rate stays editable until you submit. The warning is a prompt to check, and the decision on price stays with you.

Questions

Is the lowest bid always abnormally low?
No. It only becomes an issue when the price raises material concerns about your ability to perform the contract.
Is there a percentage that counts as abnormally low?
The World Bank clause gives none. Other buyers or national rules may set their own test, so read your tender.
Can I raise my price if the buyer questions it?
No. The clause asks you to explain the price you bid. It does not offer a chance to change it.

Sources

Rules and portals change. Check the tender’s own documents and the official source before you rely on any of this.

Keep reading

Answer · Tender terms explainedMarkup on a tenderAdd overheads, risk and profit, then divide by direct cost. Markup is a share of cost and margin is a share of price, so a 15% markup is a 13.0% margin.Answer · Preparing a bidRate analysis for a BOQWork out the cost of one unit of the item. Add labour, materials and plant, then overheads, risk and profit. See the steps and a worked example for a BOQ.Answer · Preparing a bidHow bids are evaluatedBids must pass compliance and qualification first. Then price alone, or price plus quality scores, decides. Your tender states which method applies.Guide · EstimatingPricing a BOQBuild unit rates from labour, plant and materials, price the preliminaries, enter provisional sums as printed, add overheads and profit, then check the BOQ.

Check a price before you commit to it

Create a free workspace and analyse a live tender with your welcome credits. Then see how its BOQ pricing works.

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