MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tender)

MEAT is the EU's preferred award criterion under the 2014 Procurement Directives, explicitly promoted over 'lowest price only' as the standard for most above-threshold contracts. Under MEAT, contracting authorities design a weighted scorecard combining factors such as technical quality, methodology, sustainability, social value, whole-life cost, and price. The balance of weights must be disclosed in the tender notice or documents.

MEAT replaced the older 'MEAT or lowest price' binary choice with a more nuanced framework. In the 2014 directives, 'best price-quality ratio' (BPQR) is used as the primary label, with MEAT retained as a common shorthand. Certain categories — simple commodity purchases — may still use lowest price alone, but authorities must justify this choice.

For vendors, MEAT-based evaluation is generally more favourable to established, quality-focused suppliers than pure price competition. A strong technical score can offset a mid-tier price and still win. Bid strategy under MEAT requires careful scoring analysis: understanding the marginal benefit of improving technical narrative versus reducing price. Some vendors use sensitivity analysis — modelling how different price and quality score combinations rank against expected competitor profiles — to optimize their bid position.