CPWD DSR explained: schedule of rates, analysis of rates and your quote

What is CPWD DSR?

DSR stands for Delhi Schedule of Rates. CPWD (opens in a new tab) publishes it as the rate book for its own works: thousands of standard items grouped by sub-head (earthwork, concrete, masonry, flooring, finishing, plumbing and so on), each with an item number, a full description, a unit of measurement and a rate based on Delhi prices.

Civil works are covered in a multi-volume schedule, and electrical and mechanical works have their own DSR (E&M). CPWD brings out a new edition every few years, and each edition is known by its year. Item numbers and wording change between editions, so an item number only means something next to the edition it came from.

The DSR is not only a CPWD tool. Railways, other central departments and several state PWDs adopt it for their own estimates, usually with their own index for location. If you have not yet compared a schedule of rates with a bill of quantities, our BOQ guide covers that difference first; this article goes into how the rates themselves are made and used.

What is the CPWD analysis of rates, and how is a DSR rate built?

The Delhi Analysis of Rates (DAR) is the working behind the schedule. For each DSR item it lists the quantity of every material and every category of labour needed for one unit (or a convenient batch, such as 10 sqm), prices them at basic rates, and then adds fixed percentages.

CPWD's operating procedures set contractor's profit and overheads (CP&OH) at 15%, made up of 7.5% profit and 7.5% overheads, in the analysis of all schedule and non-schedule items for civil, electrical and horticulture work. The overheads part is meant to cover things such as the contractor's engineering establishment.

This layout matters to you for one reason: it is the language the department uses whenever a rate has to be worked out rather than read off the schedule. If you can present your own costs the same way, your arguments about extra items and deviations become far easier to accept.

DSR cost index: how Delhi rates are used outside Delhi

DSR rates are Delhi rates at the time of the edition. To use them elsewhere, or later, CPWD applies a cost index. The index is measured against CPWD's Plinth Area Rates, which carry a base of 100 on a stated date, and each DSR edition states its own reference cost index on that base.

For an estimate, the procedure is simple. The schedule-based items are added up at DSR rates. Then the effect of the prevailing cost index for the place, over the reference cost index of the DSR edition, is applied to that amount. Non-schedule items, priced from analyzed market rates, are added without any cost index.

How CPWD builds an estimate from the DSR

CPWD's standard operating procedures describe three numbers, made at different times, and it helps to know which one you are looking at.

1. Preliminary estimate: a rough figure for approval, worked out from Plinth Area Rates or a cost per unit length or number, plus the prevailing cost index, contingencies and departmental charges.
2. Detailed estimate: item by item, using the prevailing schedule of rates for items it covers and analyzed market rates for the rest, with measurements and quantities in the department's standard forms. Technical sanction is given for the total including the cost index effect. This is the basis for the estimated cost put to tender.
3. Justification: prepared just before bids are opened, using market rates of materials and labour on the last date of submission, worked through the CPWD analysis of rates. It covers the largest items, in descending order of value, until at least 90% of the estimated cost put to tender is reached. Road and bridge works use the MoRTH Standard Data Book instead.

So the estimate you see in the notice is DSR-based, but the figure your quote is weighed against at acceptance is the justification, which reflects market rates on your closing date. When market prices have moved since the DSR edition, the two can differ noticeably.

Illustrative example: from DSR rates to the estimate, and to your quote

A CPWD division in Shillong tenders an extension to a hostel on a central campus as a percentage rate tender. The figures below are invented to show the arithmetic; they are not real index values or rates.

• Schedule items at DSR rates: ₹1,84,00,000.
• Reference cost index of the DSR edition: 105. Prevailing cost index for the place: 126. Effect: 126 ÷ 105 = 1.20, so schedule items become ₹2,20,80,000.
• Non-schedule items (a rainwater harvesting package) at analyzed market rates, no cost index: ₹16,00,000.
• Estimated cost put to tender: ₹2,36,80,000.

Rohan, the estimator for a Class II contractor, prices the same scope from his own supplier quotes, crew outputs and site overheads, laid out like the analysis of rates. His full cost with profit comes to ₹2,28,00,000. That is ₹8,80,000 under the estimate, or about 3.7% below, so he quotes 3.70% below.

He then checks the ten largest items against current market rates, the way the department's justification will. Steel and cement have risen since the DSR edition, so the justification will likely sit above the DSR estimate. His quote is defensible on both counts. Our guide to item rate vs percentage rate tenders covers how a single percentage spreads across items.

How bidders should use the DSR (and where it misleads)

• Read DSR descriptions as scope. The wording, together with the CPWD specifications it refers to, decides what is included: lead, lift, curing, scaffolding, testing. Price what the words say.
• Rebuild the estimate. In a percentage rate tender, knowing the edition and the cost index lets you rebuild the department's number and see which items carry it.
• Mirror the justification. Analyze your top items covering about 90% of value at today's market rates. If your price sits far above that figure, expect questions.
• Keep your own analysis in DAR format for extra items, substituted items and quantities beyond the deviation limit, where rates are worked out from analysis with 15% CP&OH.
• Do not treat the cost index as item-specific. It is an average movement in building cost. Steel, cement, bitumen and labour each move differently, and your site may not match the average at all.
• Watch the edition gap. A DSR published two years before your closing date is a description of older prices, however neat the numbers look.

State public works departments that publish their own schedules follow the same logic with different books; our PWD e-tenders guide covers them. For CPWD enlistment and where CPWD notices appear, see CPWD tenders.

How AI tools help with DSR-based tenders, and what estimators decide

The hard part of a DSR-based tender is not finding a rate. It is matching a long schedule of quantities to drawings and specifications, spotting scope the descriptions miss, and checking quantities before anyone prices them.

TenderGenie's Drawing & BOQ Intelligence reads engineering drawings and organizes BOQ line items, so engineers can check quantities and scope against the tender schedule before pricing starts. Document Intelligence in TenderGenie extracts requirements and clauses from the tender pack and keeps a reference to the source page.

The rates are yours. Estimators choose the edition to compare with, build the analysis from real supplier quotes and crew outputs, decide the percentage or item rates, and sign the bid. No tool should pick your rates for you.

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