Best value

Best value is an award method that weighs price against qualitative factors — quality, capability, risk, delivery — rather than awarding to the lowest number. The buyer defines the trade-off in advance, through the evaluation criteria and their weighting.

Best value is not a licence for buyers to choose whom they like: in public procurement the formula is published and must be applied mechanically. For suppliers it changes the economics of the bid — a higher price can win if the technical or risk score justifies it, which rewards proof over price-cutting: past performance, named personnel, methodology. The discipline is to price to the grid, knowing how many technical points a price concession would have to buy before it pays. Where the published weighting makes price dominant, best value in name is lowest price in practice.

@misc{pi-2026-definitions-best-value,
  author = {{The Procurement Institution}},
  title  = {Best value — definition},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://procurementinstitution.org/definitions/best-value},
  note   = {Release 2026.10}
}