What is a BOQ (Bill of Quantities)?
A BOQ lists every item of work with its measured quantity so bidders price the same scope. How BOQs are used in Indian tenders.
A Bill of Quantities (BOQ) is an itemised list of the work, with measured quantities against each item, issued as part of a tender so that every bidder prices the same thing.
Why it exists
Without a BOQ, two bids for the same job are not comparable — one may have assumed more excavation, another a different grade of material. The BOQ removes the assumption: the buyer measures the work, the bidder supplies only the rate. Total cost becomes rate × quantity, and the difference between bids is genuinely the difference in price.
What a BOQ line contains
- Item description, precise enough to price
- Unit of measurement (cubic metre, running metre, number, kilogram)
- Quantity
- Rate — filled in by the bidder
- Amount — rate × quantity
Where BOQs are used
Standard in construction and infrastructure tenders, and common wherever work is measurable in units. Less useful for outcome-based services, where an RFP is usually the better instrument.
What people get wrong
Quantities that are wrong. The bidder prices what you measured. If the quantity is understated, the low bid wins and the variation claims arrive later.
Descriptions that are too loose. "Supply and install cabling" invites the cheapest possible interpretation.
Assuming a BOQ makes evaluation purely arithmetic. The lowest total can still come from a bidder who cannot deliver — which is why eligibility criteria exist alongside it.
On Bidancer
Tender hosts define the structure bids must follow, so bids arrive comparable in the same way a BOQ makes them comparable — filled against your line items, not free-form documents you have to normalise by hand.