What is a Source Selection Criteria?
Source selection criteria are the published, weighted factors used to score seller proposals: technical approach, relevant experience, key personnel, financial capacity, life-cycle cost — not just sticker price. Publishing them before bids arrive is what makes the evaluation defensible.
The discipline: criteria and weights are fixed up front, scoring is documented, and the contract goes to the best score — even when a familiar vendor came second.
Worked example
An RFP for a hospital information system weights: functional fit 30%, implementation methodology 20%, references 15%, total 10-year cost 25%, local support 10%. The cheapest bid scores poorly on references and loses to a proposal 12% more expensive — and the scoring sheet is why the decision survives the vendor's appeal.