PM-KUSUM bid cost sheet template: quote your BOQ line by line

The bid you submit is only as good as the cost sheet behind it. A missing line, a stale price, or a forgotten O&M reserve turns a smart bid into a quiet loss. This PM-KUSUM bid cost sheet template lays out every line item an EPC needs to price — from DCR modules to the five-year O&M — so your quote is complete, honest, and inside the cap.

What a bid cost sheet is

A PM-KUSUM bid cost sheet is a line-by-line breakdown of every cost in a solar pump or plant bid, from modules and pump to O&M, EMD, PBG, GST and margin. It is your bill of quantities (BOQ) plus your money. Building it line by line stops hidden costs from eroding margin and keeps the bid inside the benchmark cap.

The cost sheet does two jobs at once. It proves to you that the bid covers every real cost, and it gives you a number you can defend. Without it, you are guessing — and in a tight L1 tender, guessing loses money.

A clean cost sheet also helps when the tender asks for a detailed price breakup, which many do. A jumbled lump-sum quote looks weak and can be questioned; a clear line-item sheet shows the evaluator you know your costs. Good costing is not just internal discipline — it is part of how a serious bid presents itself.

It is also your internal record. When the project is done and you look back at whether it made money, the cost sheet is what you compare against. If the O&M cost more than you reserved, or a part came in over budget, the sheet shows it. That feedback loop is how an EPC gets sharper bid after bid, instead of repeating the same costing mistakes on every tender.

Why a line-by-line BOQ matters

A line-by-line BOQ matters because PM-KUSUM bids run on thin margins under a price cap. When every rupee is visible, you can see where to trim and where you cannot. When costs are lumped together, a single forgotten item — say the O&M reserve — quietly eats the whole profit.

It also makes re-pricing fast. When the benchmark cost is revised or module prices move, a clean line-item sheet lets you update one line and see the new total at once. That speed is an edge when tenders close on short notice.

The cost sheet line items

A complete PM-KUSUM cost sheet includes hardware, services, financial costs and margin. Miss any group and the bid is wrong. Here is the full set of lines every sheet should carry.

• Hardware — modules, pump and motor, USPC, structure, cabling and BOS.
• Services — transport, installation, commissioning and optional monitoring.
• Obligation — the 5-year O&M reserve, priced from spares, travel and labour.
• Financial — EMD blocked, PBG cost, and any LD/penalty risk buffer.
• Margin — your firm overheads plus profit.

Sample cost sheet

Below is a sample line-item structure for a solar pump bid. The rupee values are deliberately not shown as numbers, because every figure is an illustrative estimate that depends on HP, OEM, state and the current benchmark. Use this as the skeleton and fill it with your own verified prices.

GST on the cost sheet

GST in a PM-KUSUM cost sheet should follow the current treatment, often discussed as the 70:30 goods-and-services split for solar pumps, applied line by line. GST changes the effective cost of each item, so model it explicitly rather than as an afterthought. Confirm the current GST rates and split against the latest rules before bidding.

Our GST 70:30 rule guide explains the split and why it matters for the benchmark. Get GST wrong and your "winning" bid can be several percent off — the difference between profit and loss on a capped job.

Adding margin and the O&M reserve

Margin and the O&M reserve are the two lines EPCs most often shortchange, and both decide whether the job pays. The O&M reserve must be real, because the farmer pays no annual fee and you carry the 5-year O&M. Margin must survive the L1 squeeze, not just the benchmark.

Add the financial lines too. The EMD blocks cash until the tender closes, and the PBG ties up money for years. Price those in — see PBG, EMD and LD penalties — so your cost sheet reflects the true cost of carrying the contract, not just building it.

Final bid checklist

Before you submit, run the cost sheet through a short checklist. It takes minutes and catches the errors that cost lakhs.

• Every line priced — no blank or "to be added later" rows.
• Prices current — modules and pump from today's procurement, not last quarter.
• O&M included — five years of spares, travel and labour reserved.
• GST modelled — applied line by line at the current treatment.
• Inside the cap — total at or below a realistic L1 rate and the benchmark.

Reusing the sheet across bids

The real value of a cost sheet is that you build it once and reuse it for every tender. A good template fixes the line items and the formulas, so each new bid only needs fresh prices and a new quantity. That turns hours of error-prone work into minutes, and it makes every bid consistent across your team.

Reuse also builds memory. Over several tenders, your sheet records what each part actually cost and how the O&M played out. That history sharpens your next bid — you stop guessing and start pricing from your own data. Pair the sheet with the bid economics guide to test margin on each new job before you submit.

Version the sheet to the benchmark

Tie each saved sheet to the benchmark it was priced against, so you always know whether a number is current. When MNRE revises the cap, you can see at a glance which bids need re-pricing. A sheet with no version is a trap — it looks current long after the cap has moved. Stamp every sheet with the benchmark date and confirm against the latest MNRE order before reuse.

Costing errors that lose money

The costing errors that lose money are forgetting a line, carrying a stale price, and pricing to the benchmark instead of a realistic L1. Each one quietly turns a winning bid into a loss, and each is easy to make under deadline pressure.

• Forgotten lines — a missing O&M reserve or PBG cost comes straight out of profit.
• Stale prices — last quarter's module rate can be far from today's.
• Pricing to the cap — you will be paid the L1 rate, usually below the benchmark.
• Wrong GST — a misapplied 70:30 split shifts the whole total.
• No contingency — leave a small buffer for site surprises and LD risk.

The discipline that prevents all of these is simple: price every line, refresh every price, and test the total against a realistic winning rate, not the ceiling. A complete, current sheet is the cheapest insurance an EPC can buy on a capped tender.

How SuryaHub helps you cost a bid

SuryaHub builds PM-KUSUM cost sheets and quotes from a reusable line-item template, ties them to live procurement prices, and applies GST and margin consistently. The quotation software turns this template into a repeatable engine, and finance and GST keeps the tax lines correct. SuryaHub is pre-revenue; real pilots are Suryantra Energy and RGESPL, and every rupee figure here is an illustrative estimate to confirm against the current benchmark and rates.

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references

Benchmark cost caps by HP and GST treatment change over time. The rupee figures in this template are illustrative estimates only; always verify the current benchmark cost and GST rates against the sources below before you bid.

• PM-KUSUM National Portal ↗

  Benchmark cost and State_PumpCost data your sheet must respect.

• Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) ↗

  Technical specifications and benchmark cost notifications.

• SECI ↗

  Model tender documents and BOQ formats for solar pumps.