What is the general purpose of an evaluation factor weight?

• A. It determines the maximum price allowed.
• B. It conveys the relative importance of each criterion in the overall evaluation.
• C. It defines the procurement timeline.
• D. It estimates the contractor's profit margin.

Answer: (B)

Evaluation factor weights express the relative importance of each criterion in the overall evaluation. They show evaluators how much influence a score on one criterion should have compared with others, and they’re used to multiply each criterion’s score and combine them into a final, comparative result. This ensures the agency emphasizes what matters most for the procurement, rather than treating all criteria as equally important. The other options don’t fit because maximum price, timeline, and profit margin are not about how much weight each criterion carries in the evaluation.