The FCDO has a responsibility to maintain stability and avoid distortion of local markets. We must ensure wages are fair in regional contracts and that fees accurately reflect costs of living. We assess wages in categories (international, national or regional) as well as by job ‘family’ at Initiation to Tender Stage as part of commercial pricing schedules as well as taking into account technical and qualitative capability of suppliers throughout the process to allow us to award the Most Economically Advantageous Tender. The importance and value of local and contextual knowledge is assessed as part of the evaluation process.