SLT Under PPR 2025: The Exact Formula That Decides If Your Low Bid Survives
Under PPR 2025, submitting the lowest price no longer means winning. A formula now decides whether your price is credible — and if it falls below a calculated cut-off, your tender is rejected as a Significantly Low-priced Tender (SLT).
This guide sets out the actual calculation as published in Schedule-18 of PPR 2025 (framed under Rule 118(25) and (26)), gazetted on 28 September 2025.
What Schedule-18 Defines as an SLT
An SLT is a tender where the price and its components are so low — measured against the official cost estimate, recent market price indices, and the prices of other acceptable bidders — that the procuring entity has serious concern the bidder cannot perform the contract at that price.
The Schedule is explicit about why this matters. A very low bid may look attractive on paper, but in practice it can lead to cost escalation, low-quality output, delays, and even contract termination. Some bidders quote unrealistically low simply to win, then cannot finish — leaving the procuring entity to manage a non-performing contractor or start over, costing more time and money.
Where SLT Applies
Schedule-18 is headed as the process for identification and evaluation of significantly low-priced tenders by the Tender Evaluation Committee in domestic (national) procurement. That heading is your scope indicator: the mechanism sits with the TEC and is framed for domestic procurement.
One related detail appears in paragraph 6. When the national price index is computed, procurement processes conducted under the limited tendering method in domestic procurement are excluded from that index calculation.
Beyond this, do not assume. If your tender document is silent on how a low price will be treated, that is precisely the question to raise at the pre-bid meeting.
When the Index Figure Becomes Available
Paragraph 6 and the Gazette's example together give the timing. The index is computed for the tender opening day plus the preceding 27 days, and the e-GP portal publishes the figure shortly after midnight following the opening day.
The practical consequence is unavoidable: the index that will be applied to your tender is not published until after you have already submitted and the tender has opened. You cannot price against it. You can only price against your own costs.
Step 1: The 10% Upper Filter (Applied First)
Before any averaging happens, Schedule-18 paragraph 7 applies a filter to prevent distortion:
Any tender priced more than 10% above the official cost estimate is excluded from both formulas — and is itself treated as non-responsive.
This matters in two directions. A very high bid cannot be used to inflate the average and drag the cut-off upward. And if you bid more than 10% above the estimate, you are out at preliminary evaluation regardless of everything else.
Step 2: The Weighted Average (x̄)
The weighted average is calculated from three inputs:
x̄ = 0.5 × (Σxᵢ / n) + 0.2 × x_OCE + 0.3 × x_NPPI
Where:
- xᵢ = the price quoted by each technically acceptable (responsive) tenderer
- n = the number of acceptable tenders
- x_OCE = the official cost estimate for the package
- x_NPPI = the price derived from the recent public procurement price index on the e-GP portal
The weights are fixed by the Schedule:
| Component | Weight | |---|---| | Average price of acceptable tenderers | 0.50 | | Price index (NPPI) based figure | 0.30 | | Official cost estimate (OCE) | 0.20 |
Note the balance: half the weight rests on what your competitors actually bid. The other half is anchored to the official estimate and current market movement.
How x_NPPI Is Determined
The index is calculated per procurement category (goods, works, or physical services). For a given tender, it uses the tender opening day plus the preceding 27 days — 28 days in total.
Across that window, the system takes all procurement processes in that category where a notification of award was issued (excluding limited tendering method cases in domestic procurement), and computes the national average percentage deviation between the official cost estimate and the awarded price.
That national average deviation is then applied to your tender's official estimate to produce x_NPPI. In practice, if recent awards in your category have been settling around 8.32% below estimate, the index factor is 0.9168.
Step 3: The Weighted Standard Deviation (Sd)
Sd = √{ Σ(xᵢ − x̄)² / n }
Where xᵢ is each tenderer's quoted price, x̄ is the weighted average from Step 2, and n is the number of acceptable tenders.
Step 4: The Cut-off
Lower limit of acceptable price = x̄ − Sd
Any tender priced below this line is classified as a Significantly Low-priced Tender and is cancelled. Evaluation then proceeds among the tenders above the line.
The Gazette's Own Worked Example
Schedule-18 includes a full example. It is worth following closely, because it shows how quickly a competitive-looking bid can fall out.
The setup: A procuring entity invites tenders for works with an official estimate of Tk. 4,00,00,000. Tender invited 20 August; submission and opening on 15 September. Seven bidders submit.
The index: For 15 September and the preceding 27 days, the NPPI works out to 8.32% below estimate — a factor of 0.9168.
Preliminary and technical screening:
| Bidder | Price (Tk.) | Status | |---|---|---| | ক | 3,40,57,525 | Acceptable | | খ | 3,65,37,500 | Acceptable | | গ | 3,82,58,655 | Acceptable | | ঘ | 4,11,45,689 | Acceptable | | ঙ | 4,48,76,900 | Rejected — more than 10% above estimate | | চ | 3,60,04,268 | Not acceptable | | ছ | 3,77,89,320 | Acceptable |
Five bidders remain. Note that ঙ, at roughly 12% above the estimate, is knocked out by the 10% filter before any averaging.
The calculation:
- Average of the five acceptable prices = Tk. 3,75,56,937.80
- x_OCE = Tk. 4,00,00,000
- x_NPPI = 4,00,00,000 × 0.9168 = Tk. 3,66,72,000
Weighted average: x̄ = 0.5 × 3,75,56,937.80 + 0.3 × 3,66,72,000 + 0.2 × 4,00,00,000 x̄ ≈ Tk. 3,77,80,068.90
Weighted standard deviation: Sd ≈ Tk. 23,21,810.79
Cut-off: 3,77,80,068.90 − 23,21,810.79 = Tk. 3,54,58,267.10
The outcome: Bidder ক, at Tk. 3,40,57,525, is the lowest price in the room — and falls below the cut-off. Bidder ক is declared an SLT and rejected. The award goes to the lowest bidder above the line.
That is the whole point of the rule in one example: the lowest bidder lost.
How the Process Works Beyond Schedule-18 (Rule 118)
Schedule-18 gives the SLT calculation. Rule 118 — the main evaluation rule — governs what happens around it. Reading them together answers the questions the Schedule alone leaves open.
Which price is tested — submitted or corrected? The corrected one. Rule 118(25) is explicit: SLT identification happens after applying arithmetic correction, discounts, and other financial adjustments to the acceptable tenders. So the figure that goes into the formula is your evaluated price, not your raw submitted price. Rule 118(13) adds that any discount you offer is applied after arithmetic errors are corrected.
Do you get to explain a low price? Not in the way many bidders hope. Under Rule 118(8), the evaluation committee chairman may ask you to clarify a point or provide a breakdown of your quoted unit rates — but the same sub-rule prohibits any clarification that would change the substance of the tender, such as price or delivery schedule. Rule 118(9) requires every clarification to be in writing over the chairman's signature. In short: you can be asked to break down your rates, but you cannot revise your price to escape the SLT cut-off.
What if the committee thinks your pricing is unbalanced? Rule 118(15) covers this separately from SLT. If prices are not quoted in a balanced way, the committee can direct you to provide a full price breakdown, and in cases of front-loaded unit rates, it can recommend an increased performance security. This is a distinct mechanism from the SLT cut-off — one manages risk on an accepted bid, the other rejects a bid outright.
What happens after SLT bids are removed? Rule 118(26) is clear: once significantly low-priced tenders are identified and treated as non-responsive, the lowest bidder among the remaining acceptable tenders is recommended for award. That is the direct consequence the worked example above demonstrated — the lowest overall bidder was cut, and the award moved up the list.
When must the committee stop evaluating you entirely? Rule 118(17): if you fail to prove qualification under Rule 65, or you do not accept an arithmetic correction under 118(12), or your tender is simply not responsive, evaluation of your tender does not continue.
What Still Sits Outside These Rules
Even with Rule 118 and Schedule-18 together, two things are governed elsewhere and should be confirmed against the tender document and the Act:
Formal complaint and review. If you believe the SLT calculation was applied wrongly, the complaint and review mechanism under the Public Procurement Act and Rules applies — but the specific steps and deadlines are outside Rule 118 itself.
Collusion checks. Rule 118(31) notes that in tie situations the committee first examines for possible collusive practice and, if found, proceeds under Rule 149. If low bids across a tender look coordinated, that is a separate track from SLT.
When any of this affects your bid, ask at the pre-bid meeting and keep the written clarification. The procuring entity's clarification is authoritative; an assumption is not.
A Practical Pre-Submission Checklist
The following is practical guidance, not a requirement of the Rules. It is aimed at one thing: being able to defend your price if it is ever questioned.
Build the price from the bottom up. Materials, labour, plant and equipment, transport, overhead, and a real margin. A rate you cannot reconstruct is a rate you cannot defend.
Keep the evidence behind unusually efficient rates. If you can genuinely do a line item cheaper — because you own the plant, have a supply agreement, or the site is close to your yard — write down why and keep the supporting quotation or agreement.
Sanity-check against the official estimate. Remember the upper filter: more than 10% above and you are out immediately. Far below and you risk the SLT cut-off. Know where you sit relative to the estimate before you submit.
Do not price to beat a number you cannot see. The cut-off depends on competitors' prices and an index published after opening. Pricing to "just clear" an imagined threshold is guesswork.
Retain your working papers. If your bid is rejected and you want an explanation, your own cost build-up is the first document you will need.
What This Means for How You Price
You cannot calculate the cut-off in advance. Half the weight depends on what your competitors bid, which you do not know until opening. Any figure you work out beforehand is an estimate, not a threshold.
Both extremes are now dangerous. More than 10% above estimate and you are out immediately. Below the calculated cut-off and you are out as an SLT. The safe zone is between them — and it is defined by real costs, not by guessing.
Price from your build-up. Materials, labour, plant, overhead, and a genuine margin. If that honest number cannot win, the tender was not yours.
But Price Is the Last Battle, Not the First
SLT only becomes relevant if your tender reaches financial evaluation at all. Most do not.
They fail earlier — liquid assets short once ongoing commitments are deducted, a required Site Engineer missing, an equipment list without ownership documents, a certificate that expired last month. In the example above, bidder চ never reached the formula: it was already not acceptable.
eGPTenderHub checks that first battle for you. Upload the tender notice and the AI evaluates every criterion against your company profile — net available liquid assets, tender capacity, key personnel, equipment, and mandatory documents — and tells you plainly whether you qualify and what is missing.
Get past eligibility before you worry about the cut-off. Check your position at egptenderhub.com.
Source: Public Procurement Rules 2025, Schedule-18 (framed under Rule 118(25) and (26)), Bangladesh Gazette, 28 September 2025, published by BPPA. Confirm the applicable provisions against your specific tender document and raise any ambiguity at the pre-bid meeting — the procuring entity's clarification is authoritative.