# Award criteria and MEAT

- Title: Most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) — Sinal
- URL: https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/glossary/award-criteria-meat
- Language: en
- Updated: 2026-10-26
- Alternate (pt-PT): https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/pt/glossario/criterios-de-adjudicacao (markdown: https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/pt/glossario/criterios-de-adjudicacao.md)
- Alternate (es-ES): https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/es/glosario/criterios-de-adjudicacion (markdown: https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/es/glosario/criterios-de-adjudicacion.md)

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Award criteria compare admissible tenders to identify the most economically advantageous tender under the method stated in the procurement documents.

Reviewed 26 October 2026 · Sinal team

## What it does not mean

MEAT does not always mean the cheapest offer; quality, cost, or price may be assessed under the published method.

## In practice in Portugal

The contract goes to the most advantageous proposal (CCP, Article 74(1)), in one of two modes: *multifator*, a set of factors and sub-factors, or *monofator*, a single aspect such as price.

A multifactor call needs an evaluation model, which sets how the factors are scored (Articles 74(2) and 139).

## In practice in Spain

The LCSP bases the award on several criteria tied to best value for money (Article 145(1)); more than one criterion is mandatory in the cases of Article 145(3), and price alone is allowed only for well-defined supplies and services (Article 145(3)(f) and (g)). Quality criteria must come with a cost criterion, price or life-cycle cost (Article 145(2)).

When criteria depend on judgement as well as on formulas, bids come in two envelopes and the judgement part is assessed first (Articles 157(2) and 146(2)).

## What you see on the notice

- TED: a section “Award criteria” with, for each criterion, a “Type” (such as Price) and a “Category of award weight criterion” (for example “Weight (percentage, exact)”) with its number.
- BASE and PLACSP: the weights are usually in the procedure documents.

## How Sinal shows it

Open the original notice and documents for criteria and weighting; Sinal does not infer scores.

- For PLACSP calls whose award criteria carry weights, the drawer shows a row “Award criterion”: “Price only”, or “Quality counts (price 50%)”.

[Open the Feed in Sinal →](https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/app/feed?lang=en)

## Example in a real notice

[TED notice with published quality and price award criteria (notice text in German) ↗](https://ted.europa.eu/en/notice/106055-2026/pdf)

## Related terms

- [Selection criteria](https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/glossary/selection-criteria)
- [Contract notice](https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/glossary/contract-notice)
- [Framework agreement and call-off](https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/glossary/framework-agreement-call-off)

## Answers that use this term

- [How do you qualify a tender notice before you commit to a bid?](https://sinal-pme.babete.pt/answers/how-to-qualify-a-tender-notice)

## Primary sources

- European Union — [Directive 2014/24/EU, Article 67 ↗](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014L0024)
- Portugal — [CCP, Article 74 ↗](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/legislacao-consolidada/decreto-lei/2008-34455475)
- Spain — [LCSP, Article 145 ↗](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2017-12902)

Sources checked 26 October 2026

General information, not legal advice. The notice and the applicable national law decide.