Schedule of Quantities

A Schedule of Quantities (SoQ) is the itemised document forming part of a government works tender that lists every individual item of work to be executed under the contract, with the estimated quantities for each item. Bidders price each item by entering a rate per unit (in item rate contracts) or a single percentage premium/discount (in percentage rate contracts) against the quantities provided by the government. The SoQ is the financial heart of a works bid.

What is a Schedule of Quantities in government procurement?

The Schedule of Quantities and the Bill of Quantities (BOQ) are used interchangeably in Indian government procurement practice, though some departments distinguish between them: the SoQ is the government's pre-bid document (quantities only, no rates), while the BOQ refers to the same document after the contractor has filled in rates. In everyday usage, both terms refer to the same document.

The SoQ is prepared by the government engineer based on the Detailed Estimate and the drawings. Every measurable item of work is listed: its description (referencing the applicable schedule of rates item number), the unit (cubic metre, square metre, running metre, number, etc.), and the estimated quantity. The quantities are computed from the approved drawings using standard measurement norms.

For a building project, the SoQ may have 200-500 items covering every trade: earthwork, plain cement concrete, reinforced cement concrete, brickwork, plastering, flooring, woodwork, painting, external works, and service connections. For a road project, the SoQ includes items like earthwork in embankment, GSB (granular sub-base), WMM (wet mix macadam), DBM (dense bituminous macadam), and BC (bituminous concrete), each at the specific nominal thickness and grade specified in MoRTH standards.

In item rate contracts, the contractor's total bid price is the sum of (rate × quantity) for all SoQ items. In percentage rate contracts, the contractor quotes a single percentage and applies it to the total abstract cost of all items priced at the official SoR rates.

Why it matters for bidders

The SoQ is the primary document bidders use for estimating their bid price. A thorough quantity take-off review of the SoQ, checking whether the estimated quantities match the drawings, often reveals errors: items where quantities are understated (creating a risk of underbidding on those items) or overstated (creating an opportunity if the contractor's cost is below the SoR rate for those items). In item rate contracts, this analysis directly affects which items the contractor prices high and which it prices low.

Bidders should also check the SoQ for items that are likely to change significantly during execution, due to design development, ground conditions, or employer scope changes. Understanding which items carry high variation risk helps in structuring the bid strategy.

Example

A CPWD item rate tender for a government guesthouse includes a SoQ with 310 items. A contractor's estimating team goes through each item, calculates the expected cost against the CPWD SoR rate, and identifies 28 items where the government's estimated quantity appears understated (based on the contractor's own quantity take-off from the drawings). The contractor prices those items at a slightly higher rate to recover the expected additional quantity through variations or claims, while pricing high-quantity items competitively to win the bid.