Eligibility vs award criteria: the distinction that loses bids

A Swiss public procurement notice is a two-stage filter. The first stage decides whether you are even allowed to compete; the second stage decides who wins. Bidders who read both stages as the same thing, or worse, optimise for the wrong one, lose bids they could have won and waste effort on bids they had no chance of winning. Below: the legal distinction, why it matters in practice, and what to do differently.

Two articles, two purposes

The Bundesgesetz über das öffentliche Beschaffungswesen (BöB) handles the two filters in two separate articles.

Art. 27 BöB, Eignungskriterien. “Die Auftraggeberin legt in der Ausschreibung oder in den Ausschreibungsunterlagen die Kriterien zur Eignung der Anbieterin abschliessend fest. Die Kriterien müssen im Hinblick auf das Beschaffungsvorhaben objektiv erforderlich und überprüfbar sein.” The criteria cover, per Abs. 2, the bidder’s “fachliche, finanzielle, wirtschaftliche, technische und organisatorische Leistungsfähigkeit sowie die Erfahrung”. The buyer announces them in advance and judges each bidder pass/fail against them.

Art. 29 BöB, Zuschlagskriterien. “Die Auftraggeberin prüft die Angebote anhand leistungsbezogener Zuschlagskriterien. Sie berücksichtigt neben dem Preis und der Qualität einer Leistung insbesondere Kriterien wie Zweckmässigkeit, Termine, technischer Wert, Wirtschaftlichkeit, Lebenszykluskosten, Ästhetik, Nachhaltigkeit, Plausibilität des Angebots.” The buyer weights these criteria, scores each qualified bid, and ranks them.

The statutory bridge between the two is Art. 40 Abs. 1: “Sofern die Eignungskriterien und die technischen Spezifikationen erfüllt sind, werden die Angebote nach Massgabe der Zuschlagskriterien … bewertet.” The order is mandatory. Eligibility first, scoring second. A bid that fails eligibility never gets to scoring.

Dimension	Eignungskriterien (Art. 27)	Zuschlagskriterien (Art. 29)
Purpose	Filter	Score
Decision shape	Pass/fail per criterion	Weighted score across criteria
What happens if you miss one	Bid is set aside, no scoring	Lower score, still in the running
Typical content	Turnover, references, certifications, Selbstdeklaration	Price, quality, methodology, life-cycle costs, sustainability
Where it appears in the dossier	Eignungsnachweise section	Bewertung / Zuschlagsmethodik section
Order of evaluation	First	Second

A worked example

Imagine the canton of Bern publishes an open procedure for a CHF 1.2 million IT-services contract.

The Eignungskriterien section asks for:

• Three references for IT-services projects of CHF 500’000 or more in the last five years.
• Annual turnover of CHF 3 million or more in each of the last three years.
• ISO 27001 certification.
• A current Selbstdeklaration (more on self-declaration).

The Zuschlagskriterien section weights:

• Price: 40%
• Project methodology: 25%
• Team profile and references: 20%
• Sustainability concept: 15%

If you submit a bid for this tender without ISO 27001, you fail Eignung. Your price could be 30% below every competitor, your methodology could be world-class, your references could be flawless. None of it gets scored. The buyer sets the bid aside.

Conversely, if you meet all four Eignung gates, your score depends entirely on the Zuschlag weighting. A competitor with weaker eligibility but a sharper methodology section will outscore you. The price weight of 40% is high but not absolute. A 60% margin on quality criteria can decide the contract.

Where SMEs go wrong

Treating eligibility as scoring. SMEs sometimes write a long, well-argued case for why their two CHF 400’000 references should “count” for a three-references-at-CHF-500’000 requirement. Eligibility criteria are not negotiable. Buyers cannot give partial credit for partial fit without exposing the award to a Beschwerde. If you do not meet the threshold, do not bid.

Treating scoring as eligibility. The other direction is equally costly. A bidder who meets all Eignung gates sometimes assumes the bid is “in” and writes a thin Zuschlag section. The Zuschlag is where the contract is won. That is where the writing effort should concentrate.

Missing the weight signal. A Zuschlag weighting of 70% on price tells you the buyer wants a price tender. A weighting of 70% on quality tells you the buyer wants a methodology-led tender. SMEs that write the same bid for both kinds of tender waste effort on whichever dimension does not matter. Read the weighting before you start writing.

What changed in 2021

The 2021 BöB reform tightened the framing in two ways relevant to SMEs.

The Zuschlag standard is no longer “wirtschaftlich günstigstes” or “billigstes”. Art. 41 now reads, in a single sentence: “Das vorteilhafteste Angebot erhält den Zuschlag.” Best-value, not lowest-price. Lowest-price-only awards are explicitly restricted to “standardisierte Leistungen” and require high sustainability standards (Art. 29 Abs. 4). For most Swiss public contracts after 2021, price is one criterion among several. Optimising solely for price is the wrong mental model. The 2021 reform piece covers the full set of changes.

The Eignung side gained an explicit anti-discrimination clause. Art. 27 Abs. 4: “Sie darf nicht zur Bedingung machen, dass die Anbieterin bereits einen oder mehrere öffentliche Aufträge einer diesem Gesetz unterstellten Auftraggeberin erhalten hat.” Buyers cannot legally require prior federal-contract wins as an eligibility gate. If you see such a clause in a federal tender, it is unlawful, and useful Beschwerde material.

The Selbstdeklaration as a Eignung shortcut

Under Art. 26 Abs. 2 BöB, the buyer can accept a Selbstdeklaration (a signed self-declaration) as evidence that the bidder meets the Teilnahmebedingungen. Most federal Eignung requirements can be discharged by ticking the boxes on the BKB federal Selbstdeklaration form. The certified backup documents (tax certificate, social-security certificate, GAV compliance) are only requested if the bidder makes the short-list. SMEs that have a current Selbstdeklaration on file save days of administrative work per bid.

In practice

Before you start writing, do three things in order. Read the Eignung section line by line and confirm each gate is met. Read the Zuschlag section line by line and identify the heaviest-weighted criteria. Then, and only then, decide what to put in the bid. If you cannot get past gate one, do not put in the bid. The post on the 90-minute qualification checklist is the workflow version of this rule.

The TenderLift fit-scoring feature reads a tender’s Eignung section against your past work and your business profile and gives you a confidence-scored read on whether the gate is realistic before you open the dossier. A free preview is enough to see which Swiss tenders you actually qualify for.

Sources checked

• Federal procurement law. Bundesgesetz über das öffentliche Beschaffungswesen (BöB), SR 172.056.1: Art. 26 (Teilnahmebedingungen), Art. 27 (Eignungskriterien), Art. 29 (Zuschlagskriterien), Art. 40 (Bewertungsreihenfolge), Art. 41 (Zuschlag).
• Last reviewed: 28 May 2026.