Evaluation Factors for Award
Also known as: Evaluation criteria; basis for award
Your role here: Where you learn how you'll be scored
At a Glance
- Part
- Part IV — Representations & Instructions
- What it contains
- The evaluation factors, subfactors, and basis for award
- Basis for award
- Best-value tradeoff or lowest-price technically-acceptable (LPTA)
- You…
- Write to it — every point you earn is defined here
- Governing authority
- FAR 15.204-5(c); FAR 15.304
What It Is
Section M is the scoring rubric — the section that tells you exactly how the government will evaluate proposals and pick a winner. Under FAR 15.204-5(c) and FAR 15.304 it lists the evaluation factors and any subfactors (typically technical or mission capability, past performance, and price or cost), states their relative importance to one another, and identifies the basis for award: a best-value tradeoff in which the government may pay a premium for a superior proposal, or lowest-price technically-acceptable (LPTA) in which the cheapest acceptable offer wins. Section M is the most strategically important section in the solicitation, because it defines what 'winning' means. It disciplines the source selection authority — who must evaluate consistent with the disclosed factors and their weights — and it tells you where to invest your proposal effort. Read together, Section M defines the target and Section L defines how to present your shot at it; a proposal written to Section C alone, without mapping to Section M, routinely loses to a weaker solution that was written to the rubric.
What’s In It
- The evaluation factors and subfactors (e.g., technical, past performance, price).
- The relative importance of each factor and how non-price factors compare to price.
- The basis for award — best-value tradeoff or lowest-price technically-acceptable.
- The rating method (adjectival, color, or numeric) and how risk is assessed.
- How past performance and price/cost will be evaluated (e.g., realism or reasonableness).
What Goes Here
| Component | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Factors and their weights | Section M states each factor and how important it is relative to the others and to price. Invest your proposal effort where the points are — the weights tell you where. |
| Tradeoff vs LPTA | Best-value tradeoff lets the government pay more for a better proposal; LPTA gives the award to the lowest-priced acceptable offer. Your strategy — discriminate vs be acceptable and cheap — depends entirely on which one Section M sets. |
| The discriminators | In a tradeoff, evaluators reward strengths that exceed the requirement in a beneficial way. Section M tells you which strengths count, so build your proposal around discriminators that map to the factors. |
| Section M disciplines the SSA | The source selection authority must evaluate and award consistent with Section M's disclosed factors and weights. A departure from the stated scheme is a classic bid-protest ground. |
What It Means for an SDVOSB
Section M is where an SDVOSB should start its proposal, not finish it. Before writing a word, read Section M to learn the basis for award and the factor weights, because they dictate strategy: in a best-value tradeoff you must give evaluators discriminators — quantified benefits, reduced risk, genuinely relevant past performance — that justify selecting you, while in an LPTA competition your job is to be cleanly acceptable at the lowest defensible price, and gold-plating your technical volume only raises your cost without earning credit. For a newer SDVOSB, pay attention to how Section M evaluates past performance: many solicitations require evaluators to assign a neutral (neither favorable nor unfavorable) rating to an offeror with no relevant record, which protects new entrants — know whether Section M does this before you assume a thin past-performance history is fatal. Finally, if you lose, Section M is the yardstick for your debrief and any protest: an award that departs from the disclosed factors and weights is a recognized protest ground.
Watch Out For
- Writing to Section C without mapping to Section M — evaluators score the rubric, not your effort.
- Gold-plating a technical volume in an LPTA buy — extra quality earns no credit and raises your price.
- Ignoring the factor weights and over-investing in a lightly weighted factor.
- Assuming a thin past-performance record is fatal without checking whether Section M requires a neutral rating for new offerors.
Run the Numbers
Frequently Asked
What is Section M of a solicitation?
Section M, under FAR 15.204-5(c) and FAR 15.304, is the evaluation factors for award — the scoring rubric of the competition. It lists the evaluation factors and subfactors (typically technical or mission capability, past performance, and price), states their relative importance, and identifies the basis for award: best-value tradeoff, where the government may pay a premium for a superior proposal, or lowest-price technically-acceptable (LPTA), where the cheapest acceptable offer wins. Section M is the most strategically important section, because it defines what winning means and disciplines the source selection authority to evaluate consistent with the disclosed factors.
How should an SDVOSB use Section M to write a winning proposal?
Start with Section M. First determine the basis for award: in a best-value tradeoff, build your proposal around discriminators — quantified benefits, reduced risk, and relevant past performance — that justify selecting you, potentially at a premium. In an LPTA competition, focus on being clearly acceptable at the lowest defensible price and avoid gold-plating, which earns no credit. Weight your effort toward the most important factors, and if you are a newer firm, check whether Section M requires a neutral past-performance rating for offerors with no relevant record. Mapping every proposal element to a Section M factor is how small firms win.
Primary Sources
- FAR 15.204-5 — Part IV — Representations and Instructions (Section M)
- FAR 15.304 — Evaluation factors and significant subfactors
- FAR 15.101 — Best value continuum
Plain-English reference, not legal advice. The Uniform Contract Format is tailored by agencies, and the FAR sections that define it are amended from time to time — always read the actual solicitation and confirm each section against the official source before relying on it, and consult qualified counsel for your specific situation.
Change log (1)
- LaunchedPublished the federal solicitation sections reference covering the thirteen sections of the Uniform Contract Format under FAR 15.204 — Section A (the SF 33 / SF 1449 cover form), B (prices and CLINs), C (the statement of work / PWS / SOO), D (packaging and marking), E (inspection and acceptance), F (deliveries and period of performance), G (contract administration data and invoicing), H (special contract requirements), I (the FAR clauses, including the SDVOSB set-aside and limitations on subcontracting), J (the list of attachments and wage determinations), K (representations and certifications, where SDVOSB status is certified), L (instructions to offerors), and M (evaluation factors for award) — each with an at-a-glance quick-facts card, a what's-in-it list, a what-goes-here table, an SDVOSB-specific angle, watch-outs, FAQPage, Article, Dataset, and BreadcrumbList structured data, primary-source FAR citations, and cross-links into the glossary, how-to guides, forms, clauses, solicitation types, source-selection methods, FAQ, and the set-aside eligibility, win-probability, price-to-win, and limitations-on-subcontracting calculators.