Two-bid system in government tenders, GFR Rule 163
Two-bid system (Two packet bid, technical and financial covers). A tendering method under GFR 2017 Rule 163 in which the technical bid and the financial bid are submitted separately, and financial bids are opened only for bidders whose technical bids are acceptable.
Checked against its sources on 23 September 2026.
How it runs
Bidders submit two covers. The technical cover carries eligibility documents, specifications and compliance; the financial cover carries the price. The buyer opens and evaluates technical bids first, then opens financial bids only for those found technically acceptable, and ranks those prices to find L1.
On GeM the equivalent is a two packet bid, and a reverse auction can follow among the qualified bidders.
What it means for preparing a bid
A missing document in the technical cover ends the bid before anyone sees the price, however good it is. That is why eligibility terms, OEM authorisation and the required documents list deserve the first hour of any bid, and pricing the last.
- Read next:
- What is the two-bid system?
Where ScanX reads this for you
For every GeM match, ScanX opens the bid document and puts this field in the row you receive, read from the document itself rather than typed by us.