Guide · Building a bid

Alternative bids in public procurement – room for innovation within strict rules

The starting point in public procurement is strict conformity: a bidder must respond exactly to the technical specification and solution model the contracting authority set out in its tender documents. The Procurement Act (section 74) nevertheless recognises that the market may offer a solution that is technically more advanced, cheaper over its life cycle or otherwise more efficient than the buyer's original idea.

Updated 7 July 2026 · Tendera

For this, the law allows alternative bids to be submitted. It is, however, a procedure bound by very strict administrative conditions. A bidder must understand the rules precisely so that an alternative, innovative solution does not lead to immediate rejection on a formal defect.

1. The main rule: allowed only when expressly stated

For alternative bids the main rule in the legislation is absolute: a bidder may not submit an alternative bid unless the contracting authority has expressly allowed or required one in the contract notice or the tender documents.

If the tender documents say nothing about allowing alternative bids and the bidder nevertheless decides to offer a different solution, the bid is automatically rejected as non-conforming. The practice common in B2B sales — challenging the customer's original need and offering a completely different concept instead — is therefore not permitted in public procurement without the buyer's advance permission.

2. Limits set by the award criteria

Alternative bids cannot be used in every tender. The Procurement Act limits their use in principle to situations where the basis for the most economically advantageous tender is the best price-quality ratio or cost-effectiveness (life-cycle costs).

If the contracting authority has chosen the lowest price alone as the award criterion, allowing alternative bids is prohibited. A pure price comparison makes it practically impossible to compare technically different solutions objectively and without discrimination.

3. Meeting the minimum requirements

Even where the contracting authority allows alternative bids, the bidder does not have a completely free hand. The Procurement Act requires the authority to define in the tender documents the minimum requirements that alternative bids must also meet, along with the requirements for how bids are presented.

An alternative bid must always achieve the same basic functionality or target level the buyer sought in the original requirements specification.

4. A bidder's checklist for handling alternative bids

If you are considering an alternative bid, take the following into account before drafting it:

Confirm what is allowed with clarification questions: If you already have a clearly better or cheaper solution model but the tender documents do not allow alternative bids, raise it in the public question and answer period. You can reasonably suggest that the authority allow alternative bids in order to make use of the market's full potential.
Check whether a base bid is required: The contracting authority may require the bidder to submit a base bid conforming to the tender documents in order to submit an alternative alongside it. Where that is stipulated, submitting only an alternative bid leads to rejection.
A change in contract type is permitted: The law protects the bidder with an interesting detail. A contracting authority may not reject an alternative bid solely because accepting it would turn a goods procurement into a services procurement or vice versa. If the buyer asked for bids to purchase servers and a bidder offers, as a permitted alternative, to provide the capacity as a cloud service (SaaS/IaaS), the bid cannot be rejected merely because the nature of the purchase changes from buying hardware to a service contract.

Frequently asked questions

May I offer a better alternative than what the tender documents asked for?

Only if the contracting authority has expressly allowed or required alternative bids in the contract notice or the tender documents (section 74). Otherwise a bid that differs from what was asked is automatically rejected as non-conforming.

When are alternative bids not possible?

When the award criterion is the lowest price alone. Allowing alternatives requires the comparison to be based on the best price-quality ratio or on life-cycle costs.

Does permission for alternatives release you from the minimum requirements?

No. An alternative bid must also meet the minimum requirements set by the contracting authority — the permission does not give a free hand.