Lowest Compliant Bid

A lowest compliant bid is the bid offering the lowest price among the bids that meet all mandatory requirements and technical specifications stated in the solicitation. It is a price-based award method. The buyer first checks each bid for compliance, then compares price only among the bids that passed.

The term is different from simple "lowest price," because a bid that is cheaper but fails a mandatory requirement is never in the running. It is also different from rated or best-value methods, where technical quality, price and other factors are scored against each other. Under a lowest compliant bid approach, once a bid is compliant, only its price decides the result.

How the lowest compliant bid method works

The method runs in two steps. In the first step, the buyer assesses every bid against the mandatory conditions and technical specifications in the solicitation. Bids that miss any of them are set aside. In the second step, the buyer compares the prices of the remaining compliant bids and selects the lowest.

Quality above the minimum earns no extra credit. A compliant bid that exceeds the stated specifications does not gain an advantage over one that simply meets them. The contract goes to the lowest-priced bidder that cleared every requirement.

How Canadian federal buyers word it

The term appears in Canadian federal procurement as a stated basis or strategy of selection. The wording varies slightly between organizations:

• National Research Council of Canada: a procurement for cameras and accessories gave its basis of selection as "Lowest Compliant Bid." See the CanadaBuys tender notice.
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police: a procurement notice stated "Basis of selection: Lowest compliant bid." See the CanadaBuys notice.
• Correctional Service of Canada: a solicitation for physiotherapy services identified its competitive procurement strategy as "lowest-priced compliant bid." See the CanadaBuys tender notice.
• Indigenous Services Canada: its policy for federally funded First Nations capital projects defines the method as the compliant bid or proposal that has the lowest price, also known as the lowest compliant bid or proposal.

These phrasings describe the same approach: compliance first, then lowest price.

NATO and UK equivalents

NATO uses the related term Lowest Price Technically Compliant in its Procedure for NATO Competitive Procurement. The contract is awarded to the bidder offering the lowest price, provided the bid meets all minimum requirements and technical specifications in the solicitation. NATO has also described an awarded proposal for a 2004 communications procurement as the "lowest priced, technically compliant bid" in its archived SATCOM post-2000 page.

UK defence procurement guidance follows the same logic. It defines "lowest price" as considering only commercially compliant tenders, meaning those that meet minimum specifications and accept all contract conditions, and awarding to the tenderer offering the lowest price. The guidance is in DSPCR Chapter 16.

What a lowest compliant bid means for your bid

If a solicitation names lowest compliant bid as its basis of selection, compliance is the gate and price is the decider. Your bid must satisfy every mandatory condition and technical specification identified in the solicitation. You must also submit the required documentation and follow the submission instructions exactly.

• Read the mandatory requirements first and confirm you can meet each one before you work on pricing.
• Do not assume a lower price rescues a gap in compliance. A cheaper but non-compliant bid is not the lowest compliant bid and is not eligible under this method.
• Do not spend effort on features beyond the stated specifications, since they are not scored.
• Check the basis of selection in the notice on CanadaBuys so you know whether price alone decides the award.