Planning

Source selection criteria

Source selection criteria is a set of attributes desired by the buyer that a seller must meet or exceed to be selected for a contract. The source selection criteria form is an aid in determining and rating the criteria that will be used to evaluate bid proposals. This is a multistep process.

The criteria to evaluate bid responses are determined.
A weight is assigned to each The sum of all the criteria must equal 100 percent.
The range of ratings for each criterion is determined, such as 1–5 or 1–10.
The performance necessary for each rating is defined.
Each proposal is evaluated against the criteria and is rated accordingly.
The weight is multiplied by the rate and a score for each criterion is derived.
The scores are totaled and the highest total score is the winner of the bid.

Evaluation criteria commonly include such items as:

Capability and capacity
Product cost and life cycle cost
Delivery dates
Technical expertise
Prior experience
Proposed approach and work plan
Key staff qualifications, availability, and competence
Financial stability
Management experience
Training and knowledge transfer

The source selection criteria is an output from process 12.1 Plan Procurement Management in the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition. Source selection criteria is established for each major procurement.

Tailoring tips

Consider the following tips to help tailor the source selection criteria to meet your needs:

For a small procurement that is not complex, you likely won't need to develop a weighted source selection criteria form.
For international procurements you may also want to include familiarity with local laws and regulations, as well as experience and relationships in the locations involved.
For construction projects, or projects with many logistical concerns, you could include logistics han- dling as a selection criteria.

Alignment

The source selection criteria should be aligned and consistent with the following documents:

Requirements documentation
Scope baseline
Project schedule
Resource management plan
Resource requirements
Procurement management plan
Procurement strategy

Document element	Description
Criteria	1	Describe what a 1 means for the criteria. For example, for experience, it may mean that the bidder has no prior experience.
	2	Describe what a 2 means for the For example, for experience, it may mean that the bidder has done 1 similar job.
	3	Describe what a 3 means for the For example, for experience, it may mean that the bidder has done 3 to 5 similar jobs.
	4	Describe what a 4 means for the For example, for experience, it may mean that the bidder has done 5 to 10 similar jobs.
	5	Describe what a 5 means for the For example, for experience, it may mean that the job is the bidder’s core competency.
Weight	Enter the weight for each criterion. Total weight for all criteria must equal 100 percent.
Candidate rating	Enter the rating per the criteria above.
Candidate score	Multiply the weight times the rating.
Total	Sum the scores for each candidate.