Public bids are usually won on price, and the lowest price is easy to reach by accident. A bid priced from a quick guess can win and then lose money on every unit delivered. Pricing line by line, from what each item really costs you, is the fix.
Start From Landed Cost
Landed cost is what an item costs you by the time it reaches the agency: the unit price from your supplier, plus shipping, plus anything else you pay to get it there. Freight is the cost most often left out, and on heavy or bulky items it can be larger than your margin.
Price from a real quote or a current listing, not from memory. Supplier prices change, and a bid can take weeks to be awarded.
Margin Is Not Markup
Markup is a percentage of your cost. Margin is a percentage of your price. A $100 item marked up 15% sells for $115, which is a margin of about 13%. To earn a true 15% margin you need to charge about $117.65. On a bid with dozens of lines, the difference adds up.
Decide the margin you need first, then set each price from it. Check that the total covers your freight, your time to prepare the bid, and the time between delivering and being paid.
Rate Cards and Estimated Quantities
Some bids ask for unit prices against estimated quantities, with orders placed later as needed, often under a not-to-exceed total. Price each unit to stand on its own, because the agency may order far fewer of the profitable items than the estimate suggests.
Lead Time and Stock
Confirm that your supplier can deliver by the required date, and leave yourself a few business days of buffer. If an item is backordered, a winning bid becomes a late delivery. Confirm stock before you submit, not after you win.
Bid Only the Lines You Can Supply
When a bid allows partial responses, pass on the lines you cannot source well. A strong price on half the lines usually beats a weak price on all of them.
When to Pass
Pass quickly when the margin does not cover freight, when you cannot confirm stock or lead time, when a referenced term or document is missing and unanswered, or when the work needs a license or certification you do not hold. A fast no is time saved for the next bid.
After the Award
Request the bid tabulation whether you win or lose. Other vendors' prices show where your margin can tighten and where it does not need to.
If you are still building your list of sources, start with How to Find Government Bids in Ohio.
Pricing in One Place
Bid Management Software prices every line from your landed cost and freight, shows the margin on each line and on the whole bid as you type, flags lines that lose money, and checks stock and lead time before a bid is marked ready.