Schedule of Rates (SoR)

The Schedule of Rates (SoR) is the government's official published schedule of unit rates for construction work items. It represents the government's estimate of what each unit of work should cost under standard conditions, and is used to prepare project cost estimates (the government's estimated cost used in the NIT), to evaluate whether bid rates are reasonable, and in percentage-rate contract tendering where bidders quote above or below the SoR.

What is the Schedule of Rates in government procurement?

Every major government construction agency publishes its own SoR, covering the items most frequently used in its works. The principal SoRs in India are:

CPWD Delhi Schedule of Rates (DSR): Published by CPWD, revised every two to three years, covering approximately 5,000 items of building construction (civil, electrical, plumbing, horticulture). The DSR is the most widely used benchmark for central government building works and is adopted (with local amendments) by many state PWDs.

MoRTH Standard Data Book (SDB): Published annually by MoRTH, providing material, labour, and plant consumption norms (not finished rates) for highway construction items. Highway engineers use SDB norms with current market prices to calculate estimated rates.

State PWD SoRs: Each state publishes its own SoR, revised annually or biannually, covering local construction items with state-specific material rates and wage rates.

Railway SoR: Published by Indian Railways for track maintenance and railway construction items.

SoR rates are calculated by government teams using the AoR methodology, identifying the material, labour, and plant inputs for each item, applying current input prices, adding overhead and profit margins. The rates are specific to the geographic area the agency covers and a particular base year.

In a percentage-rate contract, bidders quote a single percentage above or below the SoR rates. A bidder quoting "5 percent below SoR" is offering to execute all the items in the BOQ at 95 percent of the published SoR rate. L1 is the bidder with the lowest effective total (or highest "below SoR" percentage).

In an item-rate contract, the SoR is used by the government to prepare its own estimate and as the benchmark for comparing with submitted bid rates. A bid rate more than 25 percent above the SoR rate for an item triggers scrutiny. Significantly above-SoR rates may indicate unbalanced bidding.

Why it matters for bidders

SoR is the pricing intelligence baseline for government contract bids. Before finalizing item rates in a BOQ, every experienced contractor compares their AoR-derived rates against the applicable SoR. If their AoR gives a rate 30 percent above SoR, it signals either that input prices have risen significantly since the SoR was published (justifying the difference) or that there is an error in the AoR that needs correction.

For percentage-rate contracts, the SoR IS the pricing document. The only decision is the percentage. A contractor who can execute work at 12 percent below SoR rates will quote "12 percent below" and win if that is the highest below-SoR quote among technically qualified bidders.

SoR revision lag is a real risk: when steel prices rise 30 percent in a year but the SoR was published 18 months ago, the SoR rate for reinforcement-intensive items may be significantly below current cost. Contractors bidding percentage-rate must do an item-by-item AoR analysis even for percentage-rate contracts to ensure the quoted percentage above/below SoR generates profitable margins on every material item.

Example

Bihar State PWD's SoR shows earthwork in ordinary soil at Rs 180 per cubic meter (the benchmark rate including overhead and profit). A contractor calculates from their own AoR that they can execute earthwork at Rs 155 per cubic meter all-in. In a percentage-rate tender, the SoR for the full project totals Rs 5 crore. The contractor determines their effective execution cost at Rs 4.3 crore, about 14 percent below SoR. They quote "12 percent below SoR," allowing a 2 percent margin for risk and contingency. Their effective bid is Rs 4.4 crore. If this is the highest below-SoR quotation among qualified bidders, they win.

Key rules / thresholds

• SoR rates are the government's own cost benchmark, not mandatory ceilings for bidder rates.
• For percentage-rate contracts, the SoR is the pricing document and all items are priced at the bid percentage above or below SoR.
• Item rates deviating more than 25 percent from SoR (in either direction) trigger TEC scrutiny for unbalanced bidding.
• SoR is revised periodically, check the revision year when using for bid pricing; outdated SoR rates can create large material cost exposure.