Award Decision Letter

The award decision letter marks the transition from evaluation to contract execution. It is one of the most legally significant communications in a procurement process because its dispatch starts the clock on the standstill period, the window during which the contract cannot be signed and during which unsuccessful bidders may seek information and challenge the decision.

What is an award decision letter?

An award decision letter (sometimes called an "award notification" or "intention to award" letter) is the written notice that a contracting authority sends simultaneously to all tenderers once the evaluation is complete and an award decision has been made. It must typically contain:

• The identity of the winning tenderer.
• The score or ranking of the receiving tenderer (and, under many national rules, the winning tenderer's score).
• A summary of the relative advantages of the winning bid.
• The duration of the standstill period within which the contract cannot be signed.
• Information about how to request a debriefing or how to obtain further information.

Under Directive 2014/24/EU and the Remedies Directive 2007/66/EC (which amended Directive 89/665/EEC), the award decision must be communicated before the contract is signed. If a contracting authority signs a contract without issuing an award decision and allowing the standstill to expire, the contract is vulnerable to being declared ineffective.

In the UK under the Procurement Act 2023, the award decision letter is supplemented by a mandatory "assessment summary" that must be issued to all participants at the same time. This summary includes individual scores and commentary, making the UK notification more information-rich than the EU minimum standard.

Why it matters for bidders

The award decision letter is your starting gun. From the moment you receive it, two parallel processes begin:

1. You have a fixed window (typically 10 to 15 calendar days in EU jurisdictions, 8 working days in the UK under the Procurement Act 2023) in which the contract cannot be signed. If you believe the decision was wrong, this is your window to act.
2. You can request a debriefing and seek disclosure of your scores to understand the basis for the decision.

Suppliers who receive award decision letters and do not read them carefully, or who assume there is nothing to be done about a loss, may be missing legitimate grounds for challenge or opportunities for immediate competitive intelligence.

Example

An Austrian engineering firm receives an award decision letter informing it that a German competitor has won a public infrastructure design contract. The letter states that the Austrian firm's technical quality score was 68 out of 100 compared to the winner's 84, and that its price was 5% lower. The Austrian firm requests a debriefing the same day. On review, it determines that the evaluation of its methodology was internally inconsistent and files a challenge with the Federal Procurement Office before the standstill period expires.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if the contracting authority fails to send an award decision letter?

Signing the contract without issuing the award decision letter and allowing the standstill period to run is a serious procedural breach. Any tenderer who was excluded without proper notification can apply to have the contract declared ineffective under the Remedies Directive, which can result in the contract being cancelled and the procurement restarted.

Can an authority issue the award decision letter and then change its mind?

In principle, yes, up to the point of contract signature. An authority can withdraw an award decision if it discovers a material error in the evaluation, provided it follows a transparent process, notifies all tenderers, and acts before the contract is signed. Post-signature reversal is far more difficult and legally constrained.

Must the letter include the winning tenderer's actual price?

The EU Directives require disclosure of the characteristics and relative advantages of the winning tender, not necessarily its verbatim price. However, contract award notices published in the OJEU must include the total contract value. The intersection of these obligations means that the price often becomes public, though some authorities will redact commercially sensitive pricing detail at the debriefing stage.