What is a tender lot?
A tender lot is one independently biddable slice of a larger procurement. In Chinese procurement the unit is called 标段 (biāoduàn); in EU and World Bank practice it is usually called a lot or package. Each lot carries its own scope of supply or works, its own budget cap, its own submission deadline and often its own bid bond — and lots are evaluated and awarded separately. A bidder may bid for one lot, several, or all of them, which is why the per-lot view matters: pricing, bonding and compliance are all decided lot by lot.
Lot vs package — the words change, the structure doesn’t
| Market | Top bidding unit | Sub-unit inside it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese procurement | 标段 (biāoduàn) | 包 / 包件 | Award and evaluation run per 标段; one 标段 may contain several 包 for goods categories |
| EU public procurement (TED) | Lot | — | Bidders may offer for any combination of lots |
| World Bank / ADB | Package / Lot | — | Package and lot are used interchangeably across works and goods |
| US federal | Contract / line item | CLIN | Task-order and IDIQ structures vary by agency |
Whatever the vocabulary, the practical question is the same: which sections of this document do I have to price, and on what terms?
How to split a tender document by lot
- Paste the full document. The more complete the text, the cleaner the boundaries. Text extracted from PDFs works if the headings survived the conversion.
- Pick the sensitivity. Strict for documents with explicit Lot / 标段 headings; normal when the document also uses Part / Section / Volume; loose for messy conversions where headings are imperfect.
- Check the boundaries. The confidence dots and the notes box tell you which splits to verify. Titles are shown exactly as written in the document.
- Export. Copy the summary, download the per-lot metadata as CSV, or the full Markdown with each lot’s complete text.
Heading patterns the splitter recognizes
| Heading family | Examples | Default confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese lot (标段) | 第X标段 · 标段X · 标段：名称 | High |
| English lot | Lot 1 · LOT 2 · Lot B | High |
| Chinese package (包件) | 包件X · 第X包 · 包A： | High |
| English package | Package 1 · PACKAGE B | High |
| Numbered prefix | 一、标段一 · 1. Lot 1 | Medium |
| Part / Section / Volume | Part A · Section 2 · Volume III | Medium |
| Chapter fallback | 第一章 · Chapter 3 | Fallback only |
Boundaries are only recognised at the start of a line. Lines longer than 120 characters, and cross-references such as 标段二 详见第六章 or “Lot 1 covers…”, are not treated as headings — that is the classic source of false splits. If a document uses 包件 headings but no 标段 headings, the splitter uses the packages as the top-level sections and says so.
Why split by lot at all
- Each lot has its own money and clock. Budget cap, submission deadline and bid bond can all differ per lot — pricing the wrong lot’s bond is a classic qualification failure.
- Per-lot extracts map to who prices what. Hand each specialist exactly the sections they own.
- Competitor analysis is per lot. Who bid which lot, at what price, decides where you lost.
- Compliance checks are per lot. Deadline, bond, format and signature requirements must be verified for every lot you bid.
FAQ
What is a tender lot?
A tender lot is one independently biddable slice of a larger procurement. In Chinese procurement the unit is called 标段 (biāoduàn); in EU and World Bank practice it is usually called a lot or package. Each lot has its own scope, budget cap, submission deadline and often its own bid bond, and lots are evaluated and awarded separately — which is exactly why bidders need the document split by lot.
How does the splitter find lot boundaries?
It scans for line-anchored heading patterns rather than searching for the word lot anywhere. Recognised families include 第X标段 / 标段X / Lot 1 / Package A / 包件X, plus Part / Section / Volume headings and numbered-prefix variants, each with a confidence tier. Lines longer than 120 characters, or cross-references such as 标段二 详见第六章 or Lot 1 covers, are not treated as headings. If no lot headings exist it falls back to chapter boundaries, and failing that returns the whole document as one section with a note.
What metadata does it extract per lot?
Budget cap (最高限价 / 预算金额 / lot budget / maximum price), submission deadline (投标截止时间 / bid deadline), bid bond (投标保证金 / bid bond) and project number (项目编号 / project no), each shown as written plus a normalized value where possible — 万元 and 亿元 convert to full amounts, and USD / EUR / GBP amounts are recognised. Extraction is a convenience: always verify every figure against the tender document.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
No. Splitting and metadata extraction run entirely in your browser. The document and your settings are autosaved to this browser local storage only — nothing is sent to a server, and clearing your browser data clears everything.
What if my document has no lot headings?
The tool falls back to chapter headings (第X章 / Chapter N) and tells you it has done so, because chapters are document structure rather than lot boundaries. If there are no chapter headings either, the whole document is returned as a single section with a note — it never invents boundaries. Try the loose sensitivity for messy OCR conversions where headings survived imperfectly.
This tool provides a planning reference only and is not legal advice. All figures are shown as written in your document; the tender document, its amendments and the purchaser’s clarifications always prevail. LotKit is a free tool by the team behind the Gantt chart generator and bid tools at ziliaobiao.cn.