MEP Quotation Comparison Calculator
Three quotations are rarely three prices for the same scope. Put them on one: the same items and quantities, each bidder's rates, and an explicit allowance for whatever a bid leaves out. The tool keeps tax apart, refuses to count an item twice, and does not rank a bid while any of its allowances is unknown.
What this tool estimates
Each bid's price before tax on one defined scope — common quantities × the bidder's rates, plus your allowances for missing scope and the same provisional sums — and the gaps between the complete bids.
What it cannot decide
- Which bidder to appoint: price on a defined scope is one input; makes, programme, capability and terms are others.
- Whether a bidder's quantities or exclusions are right — only the documents can show that.
- What a missing item will really cost: the allowance is your estimate.
- Which GST rate applies — it uses the rate stated on each quotation.
Result
This orders price on the scope you defined — nothing more. Makes, programme, capability, payment terms and each bid's exclusions are not scored: compare them, and the notes below, before any award.
Method version 6 October 2026. A screening estimate, not a design: see the limits below.
How this calculator works — and where it stops
What it calculates
Each of 2 to 4 MEP quotations as a price before tax on one defined scope — the same items and quantities at each bidder's rates, plus your explicit allowances for scope a bid leaves out and the same provisional sums — and the gaps between the bids that are complete.
Inputs
- For each bidder: a name, whether the quotation's rates include GST (or that it does not say), the GST rate it states, and optional non-price notes, which are reported and never scored.
- Common scope items with the quantity you will build to — your tender BOQ, or quantities checked against the drawings. A lump-sum quotation is one item with quantity 1.
- For each item and bidder, one of: priced at a rate (₹ per unit, multiplied by the quantity); included in another line of the same bid; not priced, with your allowance (a ₹ lump sum before tax); or not priced, allowance unknown.
- Optional provisional sums, added the same to every bid.
Method
- Priced items for a bid = Σ common quantity × the bidder's rate. Where the quotation's rates include GST, it is taken out once (÷ (1 + rate)).
- Normalised price before tax = priced items + your allowances for that bid's missing scope + the provisional sums.
- An item marked 'included in another line' adds nothing, and an amount entered against it is refused: it would count the item twice.
- A bid with any unknown allowance is incomplete, and a bid whose quotation does not say whether its rates include GST cannot be put on a pre-tax basis. Neither is ranked; with fewer than two rankable bids, nothing is ranked.
- Rankable bids are ordered by normalised price; equal prices share a rank. Each bid's gap to the lowest is shown in rupees and as a share of the lowest price.
- GST on each bid's priced items, at the quotation's own rate, is shown apart and does not affect the order.
- Sensitivity: every allowance is scaled ×0.5, ×0.75, ×1.25 and ×1.5 to show whether the order depends on them, and each bid above the lowest is given the reduction in its allowances that would close its gap.
Assumptions
- The common quantities are the right ones; a bidder's own quantities are replaced by them, which is the point of normalising.
- Allowances are your estimates, entered before tax. A common reference is another bidder's price for the same item, but the figure is yours.
- No GST rate is assumed; each bid uses the rate its quotation states.
Limitations
- It never names a winner. Makes, programme, capability, payment terms, warranty and the wording of each exclusions sheet are not scored — the non-price notes sit beside the prices for that reason.
- It cannot tell whether a bidder's exclusions or quantities are right; only the documents can.
- It does not check that a bid marked 'included in another line' really includes the item — that is a question for the bidder, in writing.
- Escalation clauses, payment terms and the time value of money are not modelled.
Worked example
Produced by running this calculator with the inputs below.
Inputs
- Two bidders; both quotations exclude GST and state no rate
- Item 1, quoted MEP scope (lump sum), 1 LS: A ₹10,00,000; B ₹11,50,000
- Item 2, fire alarm and detection, 1 LS: A has left it out — allowance ₹2,00,000; B includes it in item 1
- No provisional sums
Working
- A: priced items 1 × ₹10,00,000 = ₹10,00,000; plus the ₹2,00,000 allowance = ₹12,00,000 before tax.
- B: priced items 1 × ₹11,50,000 = ₹11,50,000; item 2 is included, so it adds ₹0 (an amount there would be refused) = ₹11,50,000.
- Both bids are complete and state their tax basis, so both are ranked: B at ₹11,50,000, then A.
- Gap: ₹12,00,000 − ₹11,50,000 = ₹50,000, or 4.3% of B's price.
Result. On this defined scope, B is ₹50,000 (4.3%) lower than A before tax. That is a price result on one scope, not an award decision.
Sensitivity — what moves the answer
- The order rests on A's allowance: at half of it (₹1,00,000), A is lower at ₹11,00,000; at three-quarters (₹1,50,000) the two are level at ₹11,50,000; at the full allowance and above, B is lower.
- Put another way, A would match B if the fire alarm scope cost ₹50,000 less than allowed — 25% of A's allowance. Pin that figure down before relying on the gap.
- A provisional sum added to both bids raises both totals by the same amount and leaves the ₹50,000 gap unchanged.
- If A's allowance were unknown, A would not be ranked — and with one complete bid there is no comparison at all.
How engineers use the result
As a comparative statement before a technical and commercial review: it shows which part of each gap is real price and which is scope a bid left out, and which allowances the order depends on — so the questions to each bidder can be put before an award, not after.
When a professional design must replace it
Before any award: an engineer checks the quantities and makes line by line, confirms in writing what each 'included' item covers, prices the allowances from evidence, and reviews the non-price terms.
Sources
- Method: arithmetic only — common quantity × rate, sums, and GST taken out at each quotation's stated rate — no external rate or code clause is applied by this tool
Questions people ask before using it
What do I need before comparing MEP quotations here?
The quotations with their BOQs or item lists; one common list of scope items with the quantities you will build to — your tender BOQ, or the most complete bid's quantities checked against the drawings; each bidder's rate for each item; their exclusions and assumptions sheets; and whether each quotation's rates include GST, and at what rate. For anything a bid leaves out, you need an allowance: your own estimate of what that scope will cost.
Which site or project conditions could change the comparison?
Quantities that grow once the drawings are measured; scope a bidder stayed silent on — statutory approvals, testing and commissioning, as-built drawings, builder's work; makes that differ from the specification; work on an occupied site or in shutdown windows; escalation clauses on copper and steel; and payment terms. Each changes an allowance or a rate, so run the comparison again when it becomes known.
What should I send an engineer for a bid review?
The tender BOQ or scope document, every quotation with its exclusions and make list, the drawings the bidders priced from, and this tool's CSV or JSON export. An engineer checks the quantities and makes line by line, prices the gaps, and lists the questions to put to each bidder before any award.
Why does the calculator refuse to rank some bids?
A bid with an unknown allowance, or one whose quotation does not say whether its rates include GST, cannot be put on the same footing as the others — ranking it would compare different scopes or different tax bases. Get the missing figure, from the bidder or as your own allowance, and the bid joins the comparison. Even then the tool only orders prices on the scope you defined; it never names a winner.
Optional: ask an engineer to look at it
The result above is yours with no form. If you want an engineer to check it against your drawings, schedules or bills, send a request. Nothing is sent until you press the button.
Request saved
It reached our team with exactly what the preview showed. An engineer will use the number you gave if they need your drawings or data.
Prefer to talk? WhatsApp or the contact form.
Got your number — what next?
A calculator gives you a first figure. These take it further.