How to quote for a security or manpower tender
To quote for a security or manpower tender, fill the buyer's own price bid format, but build your own costing beside it first. Start from the minimum wage the tender names (or your state's rate for that category and zone). Add every statutory cost, the reliever, uniform and the costs the bid format does not show. Only then decide your service charge. Quote a rate you can still afford after the next wage revision and a late payment.
Part of our guide: Manpower costing and billing: how contractors price and bill staff
By HaazriPro Team · Last updated
What does a manpower tender usually ask you to quote?
Government, PSU and large private buyers usually attach a price bid format, often called a BOQ (bill of quantities) or financial bid. The common patterns are:
| Format | What you fill | Where the risk is |
|---|---|---|
| Full cost build-up | Every line: wages, reliever, PF, ESI, bonus, uniform, service charge | Missing a line, or using the wrong wage category or zone |
| Statutory lines fixed by buyer | Only your service charge (a % or an amount per post) | Costs the buyer's lines leave out still come out of your margin |
| All-in rate per post or per staff-day | One number | Everything must be inside it, including future wage revisions unless the contract allows them |
Read the tender documents fully before you open a spreadsheet. The scope of work, the payment terms and the penalty clauses matter as much as the price bid.
Which tender clauses change your cost?
- Wage category and zone. Which minimum wage applies: unskilled, semi-skilled or skilled, and which zone of the state. Security work is often notified separately from general categories.
- Working days and weekly offs. Is the post manned 6 or 7 days? Is a reliever included in the buyer's format, or must you absorb it?
- Shift length and overtime. A 12-hour post costs more than an 8-hour post if the law treats the extra hours as overtime. Check whether the tender pays for it.
- National and festival holidays. Who pays if staff work on a holiday?
- Supervisors, uniform and equipment. Torches, raincoats, registers, phones: who supplies them?
- Wage revisions. Does the contract increase your rate when the statutory wage rises? Without that clause, every revision during the contract is your loss.
- Payment terms and penalties. How many days after the bill, what deductions for absent posts, and what documents must go with each bill (wage register, PF and ESI challans).
- Earnest money and performance security. The amounts and how long they are held tie up your working capital.
How do you build your own costing beside the bid?
Even when the buyer fixes the statutory lines, build a full costing in your own sheet. That is the only way to see your real margin. The free manpower costing sheet and the manpower rate calculator give you the standard lines. Then add what tenders commonly leave out:
| Hidden cost | How to estimate it |
|---|---|
| Supervision | The cost of a supervisor shared across the posts they cover |
| Finance cost | You pay wages by the 7th of the next month; the buyer may pay 30–60 days after your bill |
| Recruitment and training | Replacing staff who leave, and training new joiners before deployment |
| Leave and absence cover | Paid leave and unplanned absence beyond the reliever |
| Compliance overhead | PF and ESI filings, registers, returns, and professional fees |
| Penalties | A realistic allowance for the tender's deductions |
Worked example: a tender with fixed statutory lines
A buyer fixes wages, reliever, PF, ESI and bonus for 10 seven-day posts at ₹18,000 basic + VDA, and asks bidders to quote a service charge. From the calculator, the fixed lines plus ₹500 uniform come to ₹26,661.80 per post. Your own sheet adds a supervisor share of ₹900 per post and a finance cost of about ₹450 per post (45 days of wages funded before payment), so your true cost is about ₹28,011.80.
| Service charge quoted | Charge per post | Left after hidden costs |
|---|---|---|
| 3% | ₹799.85 | −₹550.15 (a loss) |
| 6% | ₹1,599.71 | ₹249.71 |
| 10% | ₹2,666.18 | ₹1,316.18 |
A 3% bid may win, but it loses money every month before the first wage revision. Know your floor before you bid.
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What documents does a manpower tender usually ask for?
Requirements vary by buyer, but most security and manpower tenders ask for some of these:
- registration of the firm or company, PAN and GST registration;
- PF and ESI registration numbers, and recent challans;
- a PSARA licence for security services, valid for the districts of the work;
- a contract labour licence where the number of workers requires one (see the contractor licence guide);
- work orders and completion certificates from similar contracts, and turnover statements;
- the earnest money deposit, in the form the tender specifies.
When should you walk away from a tender?
- The contract has no wage revision clause and runs past the next VDA revision.
- Payment terms are long and you cannot fund the wages in between.
- The winning range from past results is below your cost floor.
- Penalties are open-ended or depend on the buyer's own unverified records.
What happens after you win?
The quote assumes a number of staff-days per post every month. Your margin depends on supplying them, proving it, and billing them on time. Agree with the buyer, before the first bill, how attendance will be recorded and certified at each site. Then bill straight from that record; our guide to billing a client for manpower covers the monthly routine.
Sources
- Code on Wages, 2019: minimum wages, overtime and wage payment (India Code)
- Code on Social Security, 2020: PF and ESI (India Code)
- ESIC: contribution rates
- PIB, 16 Sept 2026: EPF wage ceiling raised to ₹25,000
- Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005 (India Code)
This guide explains the rules in plain language. It is not legal or tax advice. Laws and rates change, so read each tender's own terms, and confirm statutory costs with your CA before you act on it.
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