Tender cost calculator

What a tender ties up before it pays you anything.

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Contract value, excluding GST

The base value you are bidding, or the awarded amount.

Try:

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tied up at the peak, before this tender has paid you anything

—EMD, with the bid—Performance security—Retention, at its ceiling

Performance security and retention are held together for most of the job and past the end of it. EMD comes back when you lose, or is adjusted when you win.

Change the percentages

EMD / bid security (%)Often 2%. Many central tenders now take a Bid Security Declaration instead, and registered MSEs are exempt.

Performance security (%)GFR Rule 171 sets 3–5% for goods and services. Works contracts commonly use 5%.

Retention per running bill (%)Deducted from each interim payment.

Retention ceiling (% of contract)The most that is ever held at once.

If you give a bank guarantee instead of cash

How your bank backs the guaranteeThis decides everything below. The RBI directs that banks “refrain from issuing guarantees on behalf of customers who do not enjoy credit facilities with them”, so a partial margin needs an existing limit with that bank.

Margin the bank takes (%)Your bank’s figure, not a standard rate. On a sanctioned limit it is commonly between 10% and 25%, and it is negotiable as your record with the bank builds.

Guarantee commission (% a year)Your bank’s quoted rate.

Validity needed (months)Commonly around 18 months. A guarantee has to run to 60 days past the end of your obligations.

Margin the bank holds	—
Commission, for the whole validity	—
Cash freed for the business	—

What comes off your bills, and what you get back

What comes off your bills

Income tax TDS (%)Section 194C. Commonly 1% where the payee is an individual or HUF and 2% otherwise — confirm your own position with your accountant.

GST TDS (%)Deducted by government deductors under section 51 on contracts above ₹2.5 lakh. Put 0 for a private client who does not deduct it.

Labour cess (%)Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act 1996, levied at 1% of the cost of construction above ₹10 lakh.

Water and electricity recovery (%)Private clients often recover site water and power, by percentage or on meter. Government departments usually do not. Your contract decides it.

Paid once, before the money starts

Tender document fee (₹)Published in the notice. Registered MSEs often get documents free.

Portal and transaction charges (₹)

Stamp duty on the agreement (₹)A state subject, and not small on a large contract.

What actually reaches you

Deducted, but not lost

Income tax TDSAdjusted against your income tax liability	—
GST TDSCredited to your electronic cash ledger	—
Held back from your cash flowYou get this back, but not when you need it	—

Gone for good

Labour cess	—
Water and electricity recovered	—
One-off fees to bid and sign	—
Real cost, off your marginPrice the work knowing this comes out of it	—

— of the contract value reaches you as cash while the job runs, once TDS, cess and retention are taken off. The rest arrives later, or not at all.

Before you rely on this

The tender document overrides every default here. These are the common percentages, not rules that bind the department you are bidding to. Read the notice and put its numbers in.
EMD may not apply at all. Since the Department of Expenditure instruction of 12 November 2020, many central tenders take a written Bid Security Declaration instead of money. State bodies mostly still ask for EMD.
If you are a registered micro or small enterprise you may be exempt from EMD and get the tender documents free, with valid Udyam or NSIC proof covering the work actually tendered. Which open tenders say so is on their own notices — see tenders published with EMD exemption allowed.
Every figure here excludes GST. The percentages are applied to the base contract value. GST is charged on your bills on top, and the department deducts 2% GST TDS from payments over ₹2.5 lakh — see GST on works contracts.
Retention can often be swapped for a guarantee, which frees the cash shown as blocked — see using a bank guarantee to unlock money the client is holding.
This is not the cost of the job. It is the cash you must be able to carry alongside it. For the price itself see pricing a small works tender.

These calculators use the common percentages and the rules as published. The tender document you are bidding on overrides them, and nothing you type here is sent anywhere or saved.