Procurement & finance
Unbalanced Bid
A tender whose total is competitive but whose individual rates are distorted — loaded onto early or likely-to-increase items, cut on items expected to reduce. The total looks fine. The outcome does not.
Two mechanisms make it profitable. Front-loading rates on early items improves the bidder’s cash flow at your expense. And loading rates on items whose quantities are likely to grow means that every re-measurement moves money in one direction.
It is detectable, and detecting it takes a rate-by-rate comparison against the other bids rather than a look at the bottom line. Which is why the total is the least interesting number on a tender summary.