Bid review checklist: a defensible price and delivery decision

Start with a versioned scope

Identify the deliverables, acceptance criteria, exclusions, client inputs and review rounds. Record which version of the plan the price and date describe. A quote for one scope cannot validate a promise for a larger one. Compare the plan with the proposal checklist; keep unresolved decisions visible rather than silently assuming they favor the estimate.

Reconcile the cost model

Check labor cost rates, direct expenses and overhead allocation. A client billing rate is not an internal cost rate. Confirm that the same risk is not included in both a pessimistic task range and a separate event. Use cost rate versus billing rate and the contingency guide for examples of double-counting.

Name the confidence and the margin

For an illustrative 75,000 P80 cost, a 25% target margin implies a 100,000 price. That result is conditional on the modeled scope, cost assumptions and risk treatment. It does not mean an 80% chance of winning the work. Check the calculation with the bid-price tool and interpret P50 and P80 consistently.

Review the delivery path and availability

Check dependencies, external waits, specialist bottlenecks and competing commitments. A sufficient count of total hours does not prove the deadline is achievable. Use the capacity calculator as an initial check, then inspect the schedule model. A project can meet its budget threshold or its date individually without meeting both together; read joint probability before combining the two statements.

Inspect the decision-changing risks

Ask which task range or named event most changes cost or completion. Identify a practical action, its cost, an owner and the evidence of completion. The mitigation tool compares expected monetary costs for one risk. It does not replace a tail-risk or non-monetary impact review. If the action is essential to the quote, make its completion an explicit assumption.

Check funding and the negotiated alternative

Review collections against the timing of costs with the cash-flow tool. Then test the proposed client discount or change in scope. Record the final price, scope, staffing and payment plan together. A discount evaluated against an old cost basis is not a review of the final bid.

Record the decision and revisit trigger

Write down the bid/no-bid decision, authority, unresolved conditions and the change that would require another review. Examples include a delayed client dependency, a changed vendor interface or an extra review round. Download the checklist below alongside a calculator decision brief. It is a local review aid; it does not approve a bid or create a shared audit system.

These guides were prepared with AI assistance. Examples are illustrative calculations checked against the calculator code, not client case studies or market benchmarks.