Priced schedule with notional quantities
Buyers apply notional quantities to a bidder's rates to compare tenders on a measured contract. What the model tells you, its limits and how to price it.
Updated on September 5, 2026
A priced schedule with notional quantities, often called the pricing model, the evaluation basket or a schedule of estimated quantities, is a comparison tool used on public contracts priced by rates. The buyer applies quantities it has chosen to each bidder's schedule of rates so that every tender produces a single comparable total.
How it works
On a rates-based contract, such as a framework called off by order or a term maintenance contract, nobody knows the real quantities in advance. A rate card with several hundred lines cannot be compared line by line, so the buyer builds a model: a representative basket of items, with quantities reflecting a typical order or a year of work.
Each bidder prices the model with its own rates, or the buyer calculates the totals itself from the submitted rate card. The resulting figure is what feeds the price score in the award criteria. The model is not a commitment: the quantities in it bind nobody and the contractor is paid only for what is actually ordered, at the rates in the contract.
The instructions to tenderers say whether the model must be returned, whether it forms part of the contract and exactly how it is scored. Read that section carefully, because buyers structure it in very different ways.
What it means for a bidder
The model tells you what the buyer expects to order. Analyse it to see which lines carry most weight in the comparison, and concentrate your sharpest pricing there while keeping every rate realistic.
Resist the temptation to price the basket at cost and recover margin on the rest of the rate card. Buyers know the tactic, can treat the bid as non-compliant, may open an abnormally low tender enquiry, and nothing guarantees that actual orders will follow the model. On long term contracts the rates you enter also set your baseline for years, subject only to the indexation clause.
Check that the rate card and the model agree: same descriptions, same units, same figures. A transcription error can distort your score or make the bid ambiguous. Raise anything odd as a clarification question before the deadline.
Example
Grand Ravel City Council sets up a four-year framework for electrical materials for its buildings, with a ceiling of £500,000. The rate card has 300 lines. The pricing model uses 40 of them with estimated annual quantities, for a notional total of about £90,000. A regional wholesaler prices the full card, transfers the same rates into the model and reaches £84,200, which is what its price score is based on. In delivery it is paid on actual orders.
Frequently asked questions
Do the notional quantities commit me?
No. Only the rates are contractual. The quantities exist to compare bids.
How does it differ from a lump-sum pricing breakdown?
The model is a simulation on a rates contract. A pricing breakdown splits a real lump sum on a fixed-price contract.
What if the model contains an error?
Ask the buyer during the clarification period. It will issue a corrigendum if needed. Do not correct the document yourself.