PQQ Checklist: Pre-Qualification Questions Made Simple

PQQs are the gatekeepers. Fail here and your proposal never gets read. The buyer never sees your pricing, your methodology, or your case studies. You are out before the race even starts.

Yet most teams treat the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire as a box-ticking exercise, and it shows. They recycle old answers, skip optional fields, attach expired certificates, and then wonder why they never make the shortlist.

This guide breaks down what a PQQ actually is, walks through the standard sections, and gives you a practical checklist to run through before you hit submit.

What Is a PQQ?

A Pre-Qualification Questionnaire is a screening document. Buyers use it to whittle down a large pool of interested suppliers to a shortlist of qualified ones. Only those who pass the PQQ stage get invited to submit a full tender response (the ITT, or Invitation to Tender).

PQQs are standard in UK public sector procurement and common across the EU. They also appear in large private sector contracts, especially in construction, IT, facilities management, and professional services. If you are targeting government work, our guide on winning public sector contracts as an SME covers the broader strategy. The format varies, but the intent is always the same: prove you are capable, stable, and compliant before we invest time evaluating your proposal.

Worth knowing: In UK public procurement, many contracting authorities now use the standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) published by the Cabinet Office. The structure is very similar to a traditional PQQ, and the advice in this article applies to both.

Standard PQQ Sections

Most PQQs follow a predictable structure. Here is what you will typically find, along with what evaluators are actually looking for in each section.

1. Company Information

Legal name, registered address, company number, VAT registration, key contacts. This is admin, but get it wrong and you look careless. Make sure details match what appears on Companies House or your equivalent register.

2. Financial Standing

Usually two to three years of audited accounts, turnover figures, and sometimes a credit reference. Evaluators want to see that your business is financially stable enough to deliver the contract without folding halfway through. If your turnover is significantly below the contract value, expect questions.

3. Insurance

Employers' liability, public liability, professional indemnity, and sometimes product liability. They will specify minimum cover levels. Your certificates must be current on the submission date, not "due for renewal next week."

4. Health and Safety

Your H&S policy, accident records, RIDDOR reports, and any relevant accreditations (CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS). Evaluators want evidence of a functioning safety management system, not just a dusty policy document on a shelf. For construction bids, see our construction tender compliance guide for what you need to have ready.

5. Quality Management

ISO 9001 certification or equivalent quality procedures. If you do not hold formal accreditation, describe your quality management processes clearly. Some PQQs will accept "equivalent measures" if you explain them well enough.

6. Environmental Policy

ISO 14001 or your environmental management approach. Increasingly scored rather than pass/fail, especially in public sector contracts. Carbon reduction targets and sustainability initiatives carry weight here.

7. Equal Opportunities and Modern Slavery

Your equality and diversity policy, plus a Modern Slavery Act statement if your turnover exceeds the threshold. These are typically pass/fail. Have the policies, make sure they are dated and signed, and you will be fine.

8. Technical Capability

This is where the scoring usually happens. You will be asked to demonstrate relevant experience, specialist skills, staff qualifications, and capacity to deliver. Be specific. Generic statements like "we have extensive experience" score poorly compared to "we delivered a similar 12-month contract for [client] in 2023 valued at [amount]."

9. References and Case Studies

Usually two to three references from contracts similar in scope and value. Evaluators may actually contact your referees, so pick people who will respond promptly and speak positively. Case studies should match the contract type as closely as possible.

The Pre-Submission Checklist

Run through this list before every PQQ submission. For a more detailed approach to tracking every requirement, see our compliance matrix guide. Print it out, tape it to your monitor, whatever works. It takes ten minutes and saves you from the kind of rejection that stings because it was entirely avoidable.

PQQ Submission Checklist

#	Item	Why It Matters
1	Every field completed (including optional ones)	Blank fields signal laziness. Optional fields are scoring opportunities.
2	Financial documents are current and cover the required period	Out-of-date accounts can be an automatic fail.
3	All insurance certificates are in date on submission day	Expired certificates = instant disqualification on many PQQs.
4	Insurance cover meets minimum levels specified	Having insurance is not enough. The amounts must match or exceed what they asked for.
5	Case studies match the contract type, value, and sector	A case study about office cleaning will not help you win a construction PQQ.
6	Word counts and page limits respected	Evaluators may stop reading at the word limit. Everything after that is wasted effort.
7	All required attachments uploaded	Missing attachments are the most common reason for failed submissions.
8	Declarations signed by an authorised person	Unsigned declarations are treated as incomplete submissions.
9	Named referees contacted in advance and willing to respond	A referee who does not reply makes you look bad. Worse, some buyers treat non-response as a failed reference.
10	File formats match the requirements (PDF, Word, Excel)	Submitting a PDF when they asked for Word can prevent the portal from accepting your file.
11	Company details match your official registration exactly	Mismatched company names between your PQQ and Companies House raise red flags.
12	Accreditation certificates are valid and relevant	An expired ISO certificate is worse than no certificate. It suggests your system lapsed.
13	Submission deadline confirmed (time zone, portal cutoff)	Portals lock at the deadline. There is no grace period and no appeal.

Common Failures (and How to Avoid Them)

Having reviewed hundreds of PQQ submissions over the years, the same mistakes come up again and again. Most of them are preventable with five minutes of proofreading.

Wrong file format

The PQQ says submit in Word. You submit a PDF. The procurement portal rejects the upload, or the evaluator cannot open it in their system. Always check the required format for each attachment.

Missing or unsigned declarations

The declaration page at the back of the PQQ is not decoration. If it needs a wet signature or an electronic signature from a director, make sure that person is available before deadline day. Do not leave this until the last hour.

Expired insurance certificates

Your public liability expired two weeks ago and you have not chased the renewal. For many buyers, this is an automatic fail regardless of how good the rest of your submission looks. Set calendar reminders for renewal dates.

Generic case studies

You are bidding for a hospital cleaning contract but your case study describes an office block. Evaluators score relevance. Pick case studies that match the sector, scale, and type of work as closely as possible. If you do not have an exact match, explain how your experience transfers.

Referees who do not respond

You named a referee. The buyer contacts them. Silence. Now the buyer wonders what that says about your working relationships. Always phone your referees before submitting. Confirm they are happy to be contacted, give them a heads-up on timing, and make sure their contact details are correct.

Submitting at the last minute

Procurement portals crash. Internet connections drop. Files fail to upload. Aim to submit at least 24 hours before the deadline. If something goes wrong, you still have time to fix it.

Keeping a PQQ Library

If you bid regularly, you will answer the same questions over and over. Company history, financial standing, H&S policy, quality accreditations. Writing these from scratch every time is a waste of everyone's time.

Build a master PQQ library: a single document (or folder) containing pre-written, approved answers for every standard PQQ section. Here is how to set one up.

What to include in your PQQ library:

→Company boilerplate (registered name, address, company number, VAT, SIC codes)
→Financial summary with latest turnover and profit figures, updated after each year-end
→Insurance schedule showing policy types, cover levels, insurers, and expiry dates
→H&S policy summary with accident statistics for the last three years
→Quality and environmental policy summaries, including accreditation numbers and expiry dates
→A bank of six to ten case studies across different sectors and contract types, each in a 300-word and 500-word version
→A list of approved referees with current contact details, last confirmed date, and the contracts they relate to
→Scanned copies of all certificates (ISO, CHAS, Constructionline, etc.) with renewal dates flagged

Review the library quarterly. Update financial figures after year-end. Refresh case studies when you complete new contracts. Check certificate expiry dates. A stale library is almost as bad as no library at all.

With a well-maintained library, a standard PQQ that used to take two days can be completed in half a day. That frees your team to focus on tailoring the scored sections rather than retyping your company address for the hundredth time.

From PQQ to ITT

Passing the PQQ is just the first hurdle. Once you make the shortlist, the real work begins with the ITT response. That means tracking dozens (sometimes hundreds) of requirements, coordinating input from subject matter experts, and making sure nothing falls through the cracks.

This is where a lot of teams lose control. Requirements get missed. Version control breaks down. Deadlines get tight.

Track requirements from PQQ through ITT

RFP Matrix extracts requirements from tender documents automatically and organises them into a structured tracker. You can see at a glance what has been answered, what is outstanding, and who is responsible for each section.

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