# How to price a tender in public procurement

Price a tender on three things: your own cost, the procurement's evaluation model and what similar contracts were awarded for where the price is public. Historical prices are guidance with major caveats, because roughly half of award notices publish no price.

Updated 2026-10-25 · Source: https://useprocura.com/en/guides/pricing-a-tender · Omega Software Group AB

There is no right price to look up. This guide gives you no figure. It gives you a way of working that makes the price you submit defensible: it covers your costs, it fits the evaluation model, and it is not so low that the authority has to question it.

## How do I go about it step by step?

1. **Read the evaluation model first.** Find out whether the contract goes to the lowest price, the lowest cost or the best price-quality ratio (LOU chapter 16, section 1). See how the price is calculated: total price, hourly rate times a notional volume, a basket price or a weighting across several price items. That decides which figures actually affect the outcome.
2. **Work out your own cost.** Cost materials, labour hours, subcontractors, travel, administration, risk and a margin you can live with for the whole contract period. Think about indexation and price adjustment: does the contract say how the price may change over time, and what happens if it does not?
3. **Check the authority's estimated value.** Many notices state an estimated contract value or a budget. That says something about the level the authority expects. If your costing is far above it, ask yourself whether you have understood the scope correctly.
4. **Look up previous award decisions.** Search for the same authority's previous procurement of the same thing, and for similar procurements by others. Contract award notices on TED and in Swedish notice databases sometimes state the contract value. Where nothing is stated, you can request the award decision and the tenders from the authority as public documents.
5. **Understand what secrecy hides.** Tenders are covered by absolute secrecy until the award decision has been issued (OSL chapter 19, section 3). After that, information can be withheld under OSL chapter 31, section 16 if disclosure would harm the supplier. In practice the total price is often released, while unit prices and hourly rates can be redacted. Expect gaps.
6. **Set the price against the model.** Under best price-quality ratio, a somewhat higher price can win if the quality part is strong, and vice versa. Run the model with your own figure and with a couple of plausible competitor prices before you decide.
7. **Avoid an abnormally low tender.** If a tender appears abnormally low, the authority must ask you to explain it, and can reject it if the explanation does not hold. A price below your cost is also a loss every month the contract runs. Do not submit a price you cannot deliver at.

## Which costs are most often forgotten?

- **Time for administration:** reporting, follow-up meetings and invoicing according to the authority's criteria.
- **Contract terms:** penalties, insurance, low-emission vehicles or security-vetted staff.
- **Start-up and close-out:** staff induction, inventory and handover when the contract ends.
- **Volume risk:** in a framework agreement the volume is often an estimate. Work out what happens if only half is called off.
- **The tender itself:** the time it takes to write the tender, and the tenders you lose along the way. See [what it costs to win a public contract](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/cost-of-a-tender).
- **Price adjustment:** if the contract only allows adjustment once a year against a given index, you carry the cost increase until then.

## How do I request award decisions and tenders?

Award decisions and tenders in a completed procurement are public documents. Email the authority's registry or the contact person named in the notice and ask for the award decision, the evaluation report and the winning tender in the procurement with the given case number. You do not need to say who you are or why you want them.

The authority carries out a secrecy assessment for each item of information. Expect some parts to be redacted, often detailed price annexes. If you are refused, you can ask for a written decision that can be appealed. More on this in the guide on [award decisions](https://useprocura.com/en/guides/award-decision).

## How reliable are historical prices?

A previous winning price tells you what one supplier offered under different conditions: a different volume, a different contract period, a different cost level. It is a reference point, not an answer key.

- **Missing data.** Roughly half of award notices publish no price, so what you find is a selection.
- **Small samples.** Three or four comparable contracts say very little about the spread.
- **Different measures.** A total contract value over four years is not comparable with an annual value or an hourly rate.
- **Framework agreements.** The value in a framework agreement notice is often an estimate of possible call-offs, not what was actually bought.

> In short: use previous awards to check whether your level is reasonable, never to copy a figure. Your price must be built on your own costing.

## What does Procura do here?

Procura is a Swedish service that shows suppliers which public tenders they qualify for and, where the price has been published, what similar contracts were awarded for. The price insight shows what comparable contracts were awarded for, who won and how many tenders came in, where that is published. Every price band shows how many of the awards published a price and how large the sample is. If the sample is too small, no figures are shown at all. It is guidance based on published awards, never a recommended price, and no AI works on prices. Read more about [award prices (in Swedish)](https://useprocura.com/losningar/tilldelningspriser).

## Sources

- [Swedish Public Procurement Act (2016:1145), riksdagen.se](https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/lag-20161145-om-offentlig-upphandling_sfs-2016-1145/): chapter 16, section 1
- [Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400), riksdagen.se](https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/offentlighets-och-sekretesslag-2009400_sfs-2009-400/): chapter 19, section 3, chapter 31, section 16
- [Upphandlingsmyndigheten](https://www.upphandlingsmyndigheten.se/): guidance on evaluation and abnormally low tenders
- [TED, Tenders Electronic Daily](https://ted.europa.eu/)

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I change my price after the tender has been submitted?

No, not in an open or simplified procedure. As a rule a tender can only be clarified or supplemented to a limited extent, and the price is not something you may adjust afterwards. Finish your numbers before you submit.

### Can I demand that my price is kept secret?

No. You can ask for confidentiality and explain why disclosure would harm you, but the authority assesses each request case by case under OSL chapter 31, section 16. Total prices are often released, so assume competitors can see yours.

### Is it wrong to submit a lower price to win a first contract?

Squeezing your margin is allowed, but the price must hold for the whole contract period and be explainable if the authority asks. A contract that runs at a loss for two to four years can cost more than it gives back in references.

### What does it mean if the authority gives no estimated value?

It is not unusual. Ask during the tender period about approximate volumes, because they affect both your costing and how the price model plays out. The answer is published to all tenderers.