Abnormally low tenders: preparing your explanation

Pricing · This guide was generated with the help of an AI system. Its legal references were checked against the official EU texts listed under Sources on 9 October 2026. Next review due by 9 October 2027, or sooner if the law changes. EU rules only. Not legal advice.

Short answer. If your tender appears abnormally low, the buyer must ask you to explain your price or costs before it can reject you (Article 69(1)). The Directive sets no percentage that makes a bid “abnormally low”. The buyer may reject you only if your evidence doesn’t satisfactorily account for the low price, and it must reject you if the price is low because you don’t comply with environmental, social or labour law. The Directive doesn’t say how long you get to answer. The buyer sets the time limit, so build the explanation file while you build the price.

EU law · What Article 69 requires

The buyer “shall require economic operators to explain the price or costs proposed in the tender where tenders appear to be abnormally low in relation to the works, supplies or services” (Article 69(1)). Read the last part carefully. The Directive frames the question as your price against what’s being bought. It doesn’t frame it as your price against the other bids. A comparison with the other bids may be how a low price gets noticed, but the legal question is whether your price is credible for the job.

Your explanation may rest on, among other things (Article 69(2)):

1. the economics of the manufacturing process, the services provided or the construction method;
2. the technical solutions you’ve chosen, or exceptionally favourable conditions available to you;
3. the originality of what you’re offering;
4. compliance with the environmental, social and labour obligations referred to in Article 18(2);
5. compliance with the subcontracting rules in Article 71;
6. the possibility of your obtaining State aid.

The buyer must then assess what you’ve sent “by consulting the tenderer”, and it may reject the tender only where the evidence “does not satisfactorily account for the low level of price or costs proposed” (Article 69(3)). There’s one mandatory rejection: if the buyer establishes that the tender is abnormally low because it doesn’t comply with the obligations in Article 18(2), it must reject it. Those are the obligations in environmental, social and labour law set by EU law, national law, collective agreements, or the international conventions listed in Annex X to the Directive.

State aid has its own rule. A tender that is abnormally low because of State aid can be rejected on that ground alone only after consultation, and only if you can’t prove, within a sufficient time limit set by the buyer, that the aid was compatible with the internal market. If the buyer rejects you on that basis, it must inform the European Commission (Article 69(4)).

What the Court has added

• A €0 bid is not automatically out. The Court held that a tender can’t be automatically rejected on the sole ground that its price is €0.00. It may be abnormally low, so the buyer has to follow Article 69, ask for an explanation and assess whether the bid “will not impair the proper performance of the contract” (Tax‑Fin‑Lex, C‑367/19).
• A buyer that suspects a low bid has to check it. In a defence case under a different Directive (2009/81/EC), the Court held that where there’s a suspicion that a tender is abnormally low, the buyer must verify it, even if a national calculation method can’t be applied and even if there are only two tenders. A failure to start that verification can be challenged in a review of the award decision (Veridos, C‑669/20). The wording of the two Directives differs, so treat this as a strong indication for Directive 2014/24 contracts, not a ruling on them.

Latest analysis: abnormally low tenders in the EU case law sets out each stage of the procedure as the courts have described it, including what to ask when a rival’s price looks too low.

National law · Numerical triggers

The Directive has no numerical trigger, such as a percentage below the average of the bids, that decides when a buyer must look more closely. Any trigger you meet comes from national rules or from the tender documents, and we haven’t verified the national ones. If the documents or the national rules use a trigger, work out before you submit whether your price falls below it.

Our analysis · Why a very low bid matters even when it isn’t yours

Most price formulas score you against the lowest price (see how price becomes points). A very low bid that survives the Article 69 check resets the scale for everyone. With a proportional formula, if you were the cheapest and a new bid arrives at 64% of your price, your price score drops from 40 to 25.6. So the question of whether a rival’s bid is abnormally low isn’t only a fairness question. It can decide the contract. If the buyer didn’t ask that rival for an explanation, you can ask why after the decision (see after the decision).

The order in which buyers handle these steps varies. Some check for abnormally low bids before scoring and some after. If a bid is rejected after scoring, the price scores of the others may have to be recalculated without it. The documents don’t always say which applies. If it matters to your bid, it’s a fair clarification question.

Practice · Build the explanation file before you submit

When the request comes, you answer within the time the buyer sets. Article 69 doesn’t fix a period, so a file prepared while you priced the bid is the only part you control. Organise the file around the grounds in Article 69(2), because that’s what the buyer will use to assess it.

A few habits help:

• Answer the question you were asked. If the buyer flags one cost line, lead with that line, then give the rest.
• Keep it consistent with your tender. The explanation should show why your price works, not change what you offered. If preparing it reveals that the tender itself has a problem, take advice before you reply. Changing a tender after the deadline is tightly restricted (see when the buyer asks you to clarify your tender).
• Use numbers that someone can check. Quotes, payslips, rate cards and contracts beat assertions.
• Watch the deadline. If the time set is too short to produce real evidence, say so in writing and explain what you need. The Directive’s State aid rule speaks of a “sufficient time limit”, and Article 69(3) requires the buyer to assess your evidence by consulting you. Both are hard to do properly against an unrealistic deadline.

What this page doesn’t cover

National numerical triggers and procedures. Utilities and defence contracts, which have their own Directives. The detailed rules on State aid. If your tender is at risk of rejection, a procurement lawyer in the country concerned can tell you how the national review rules work.