Tender terms, explained

Award criteria and weighting

UK, Ireland and the EU

Also called: Evaluation criteria, scoring criteria, quality/price split

The criteria your tender is scored against, such as quality, price and social value. When there is more than one, the buyer has to say how much each counts, usually as a percentage weighting. Writing to the weighting is how a bid scores well.

Central Digital Platform (Find a Tender)

UK

Also called: Find a Tender service

The government website where UK tender notices are published and where suppliers register their core company details once, to share with the buyers they choose. Under the Procurement Act 2023, a competitive tender starts with a notice published here.

Competitive flexible procedure

UK

Any competitive tender under the Procurement Act 2023 that isn't the single-stage open procedure. The buyer designs the stages, for example a first round on conditions of participation, then tenders, then negotiation, and must set them out in advance.

Conditions of participation

UK (the EU and Ireland use selection criteria and the ESPD)

Also called: Selection criteria, selection questionnaire (SQ or SSQ), pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ); in Ireland and the EU, checked with the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD)

The minimum a supplier must meet to take part: legal and financial capacity, and the technical ability to do the work. They are usually pass/fail. Under the earlier UK rules these were answered in a standard selection questionnaire; the Act no longer prescribes one form.

Conflicts of interest

UK

A buyer must look for, and keep checking for, conflicts of interest throughout a procurement, and prepare a conflicts assessment before it starts. A supplier can be asked to take reasonable steps to avoid a conflict, and one that refuses can be excluded.

Dynamic market

UK

Also called: Dynamic purchasing system (DPS), under the earlier UK rules

A list of qualified suppliers who can bid for future contracts. Unlike a framework, suppliers can apply to join while it runs. Under the Procurement Act 2023 it replaces the dynamic purchasing system.

Exclusion grounds

UK (the EU and Ireland have their own grounds for exclusion)

Also called: Mandatory and discretionary exclusions

Reasons a buyer must, or may, turn a supplier away whatever its tender says, such as certain convictions or serious failures on past contracts. Mandatory grounds make a supplier excluded; discretionary grounds make it excludable. Buyers check them before awarding.

Framework

UK, Ireland and the EU

Also called: Framework agreement

An agreement with one or more suppliers that sets the terms for contracts awarded later, often through a short mini-competition. In the UK most frameworks can last up to four years, and defence, security and utilities frameworks generally up to eight. Open frameworks re-open to new suppliers.

Lots

UK, Ireland and the EU

Parts of a larger procurement, each awarded as its own contract, for example by region or by service. Buyers must consider splitting a contract into lots, or give reasons why not, and lots often make a tender easier for a small business to bid for.

Most advantageous tender (MAT)

UK (MAT); the EU and Ireland (MEAT)

Also called: Most economically advantageous tender (MEAT), in the EU, Ireland and the earlier UK rules

The tender that scores best against the published award criteria, which can include quality, price and social value, not just the cheapest. The UK renamed MEAT as MAT in 2025, without changing the policy.

Open procedure

UK, Ireland and the EU

A single-stage tender: any interested supplier can submit a full tender, which the buyer then assesses against the conditions of participation and the award criteria together.

Procurement Act 2023

UK

The law behind most UK public procurement since 24 February 2025. It brought new names for familiar ideas (most advantageous tender, conditions of participation, dynamic markets) and moved notices and supplier registration onto the Central Digital Platform.

Social value

UK

The wider good a contract can deliver, such as jobs, training or apprenticeships, and environmental benefits. UK central government buyers must give social value at least 10% of the total score in procurements started from 1 October 2025.

Standstill period

UK (the EU and Ireland also have a standstill period)

A pause between the buyer announcing who it intends to award the contract to and signing it, so other bidders can check the decision. In the UK it is at least eight working days, and bidders receive an assessment summary of how their tender was assessed.

Technical specification

UK

Also called: Specification, statement of requirements

The part of the tender that describes what the buyer needs. Where it names a standard, it must use international or UK standards, and an equivalent must be accepted, so a named certificate doesn't shut out a supplier with an equivalent one.

Tender notice

UK

Also called: Contract notice; the documents that come with it are often called the tender pack or invitation to tender (ITT)

The published notice that starts a competitive tender and tells suppliers what is being bought, by when, and how to take part. In the UK it must be published on the Central Digital Platform.