Bid or no bid? A 10-question checklist for UK tenders

A tender response takes days. A bid/no-bid decision takes minutes. Do the minutes first.

This checklist is for directors of small firms who have lost time on bids they could never have won. It has one rule: check the stated requirements before you spend a day on the response. A supplier that fails one condition of participation cannot be awarded the contract (para 12), however good the writing.

It is part of our SME guide to winning public contracts. The questions follow what the Procurement Act 2023 says buyers may and may not require.

How to use this checklist

Run the ten questions in three parts, in order:

• Part A: knock-outs (questions 1 to 5). Answer Yes, Fixable or No. Any “No” means stop. Any “Fixable” means write down what you’d need to do and by when.
• Part B: fit (questions 6 to 9). Score each 0, 1 or 2.
• Part C: economics (question 10). Give it a traffic light: green, amber or red.

No fake precision here. The scoring is a prompt for judgement, not a statistical model.

One more thing. Most notices don’t state the requirements. As of 10 Oct 2026, only 29 of 470 live notices (about 6%) stated insurance requirements in the notice itself (how we count). So step zero is often “open the pack and find them”. If you haven’t done that, read the notice in five minutes first.

Part A: Knock-outs. Can you legally and practically bid?

1. Can you meet every condition of participation?

A supplier must meet all of the conditions to be awarded the contract. Failing one bars award even if you meet the rest (guidance, para 12). A buyer may also bar a supplier that fails from progressing (para 58).

List every condition from the pack. Then answer questions 2 to 4 for the ones that matter. Conditions must be a proportionate means of ensuring you have the legal and financial capacity, or technical ability, to do the job (s.22(1)), so if one looks out of scale for the contract, note it for a clarification question.

2. Insurance: can you have the stated cover from contract start?

Don’t stop too early here. On above-threshold contracts, under section 22(3)(b), a buyer can’t require insurance relating to performance of the contract to be in place before award. It can require it from the start of the contract, and ask for evidence such as a certificate, or an insurer’s letter plus your commitment (paras 18 and 19). In that second case it must verify the cover before award. Below threshold, s.85 bars a separate suitability stage before tenders are submitted, but the buyer can still assess suitability, including insurance, at the award stage (below-threshold guidance para 16; exceptions in paras 18 and 20).

So “we don’t hold that level today” is not automatically a “no”. Ask your broker for a quote and a letter. But read the pack for what it requires, and when.

There is one exception. Insurance you must hold by law anyway, such as employers’ liability if you employ staff, can be a condition of participation (para 20). So “fixable by contract start” may not hold for employers’ liability. If you don’t have it and you should, treat that as a “No” for this tender until it is in place.

Answer Yes if you hold it, Fixable if you can buy it by contract start (not for employers’ liability, as above), No if you can’t or won’t. See public liability insurance for tenders, which also covers employers’ liability, and professional indemnity for public contracts.

3. Certifications: do you hold them, or an equivalent?

A buyer can’t require particular qualifications without allowing equivalents (s.22(4)(c); guidance para 13c). If the tender names ISO 9001 and you run an audited quality system without the certificate, ask what evidence the buyer will accept.

Some buyers let a supplier progress while it works towards a condition, as long as it meets the condition before award (para 15). That is the buyer’s choice, so look for it in the notice.

Check ISO 9001, Cyber Essentials and SSIP, CHAS and Constructionline for what each involves. Certifications that take months to obtain are usually a “No” for this tender, not a “Fixable”.

4. Financial standing: turnover tests and accounts

Buyers can set conditions on financial capacity, but a buyer can’t require audited accounts unless you’re already required to have them (s.22(3)(a); guidance paras 16 and 17). If you aren’t, the buyer must assess other evidence.

Work out the contract’s annual value (total value divided by years) and compare it with your turnover. If your turnover is much lower, a smaller lot, a partner or a guarantor might close the gap. See turnover and financial standing tests.

5. Are you excluded or excludable?

The Act has grounds on which a supplier must or may be excluded, in Schedules 6 and 7 and section 57, described in the exclusions guidance. If you know of something that might apply, such as a conviction or a poor-performance termination, take advice before you bid. We don’t go into detail here.

If you’d rather not check insurance, certifications and turnover by hand, our eligibility checker is coming soon. Until then, tell us your trade and postcode to join the free weekly list of live tenders, starting soon.

Part B: Fit. Can you win it?

Score each question 0 (poor), 1 (partial) or 2 (strong).

6. Location: can you deliver where the work is?

Where is the work, and how often must you be there? Add up travel time and cost for the whole contract, not one visit. If the notice lists only “UK” as the place, the real location may be in the documents.

• 0: outside your normal area
• 1: at the edge of it
• 2: well inside it

7. Lots: which one fits, and what are the limits?

If the work is in lots, choose the lot that fits your size and area. A buyer may limit how many lots one supplier can tender for, and must state the maximum in the tender notice (para 14). It may also cap how many lots one supplier can win, and must give a mechanism for choosing which (s.23(4)).

As of 10 Oct 2026, 62 of 470 live notices were multi-lot, so this question comes up often.

• 0: no lot fits
• 1: one lot fits, but marginally
• 2: a lot fits well

8. Scoring: do you understand the criteria, and have you evidence to score well?

The buyer must publish how tenders will be assessed and the relative importance of the criteria (s.23(3)). If failing a criterion disqualifies a tender, it must say so (paras 12 and 13).

Look at the weightings. Do you have evidence for the biggest-scoring areas, such as relevant experience, a method statement you can write from what you already do, or references? A strong price won’t rescue weak quality evidence if quality carries most of the marks. See how tenders are scored.

• 0: you’d be writing from scratch with no evidence
• 1: some evidence
• 2: strong evidence for the highest-weighted criteria

9. Time: is the tendering period enough?

Count the days from today to the deadline, and the days your team can realistically give. The minimum tendering period is 25 days where tenders are submitted electronically and all tender documents come with the notice (para 20(g)). It is 30 days if only one of those is true and 35 if neither (para 20(g)–(j)). It can be as short as 10 in some cases, such as after a qualifying planned procurement notice, and there is no minimum for light touch contracts (para 20(a)). Below threshold, time limits must be reasonable and the same for all suppliers (s.87(6)). Those are minimums, and the notice sets the actual deadline.

• 0: you can’t finish in time without dropping other work
• 1: tight but doable
• 2: comfortable

Part C: Economics. Is it worth it?

10. Margin, cash flow, contract length and strategic value

Work through four things:

• Margin. Price the job honestly, including mobilisation and contract management. If your margin is thin at the likely price, the answer is probably red.
• Cash flow. Public contracts carry an implied term that valid, undisputed invoices are paid within 30 days (s.68). That helps, but you may still fund staff and materials for weeks before the first payment, and the contract may set its own invoicing cycle.
• Contract length. A longer contract gives security, but locks in your price. Check for extensions and break clauses.
• Strategic value. A first public sector reference, or a place on a framework, can be worth something beyond the money. Be honest about whether that’s real or wishful.

Give it green (clearly worth it), amber (worth it with conditions) or red (not worth it at this price).

Scoring your answers

This table is illustrative. We made the thresholds up to give you a starting point, so adjust them to your own appetite for risk.

A “Fixable” item has a deadline: it must be sorted by contract start, or by award where the buyer wants evidence earlier. If you can’t name the date, it’s really a “No”.

A worked example (hypothetical)

This example is invented for illustration. It is not a real tender or a real firm.

Take a six-person electrical firm looking at a council contract for periodic electrical testing, in two lots by area, worth about £300,000 over three years. That is above the £207,720 threshold for services bought by councils, so the full Act rules apply. The firm is based 12 miles from the nearest site.

• Q1 and Q2. The pack asks for public liability cover of a level the firm doesn’t yet hold, from contract start. The buyer accepts an insurer’s letter before award. Fixable: the firm gets a quote and a letter, and notes the date.
• Q3. The pack names an accreditation scheme and accepts equivalents. The firm holds a different scheme and asks what evidence is accepted. Fixable, pending the answer.
• Q4. The annual value is about £100,000, well within the firm’s turnover. Yes.
• Q5. Nothing known. Yes.
• Q6 and Q7. Lot 1 is well inside the firm’s area and fits its size, so it scores 2 on each. Lot 2 is on the edge of the area (1), so the firm drops it.
• Q8 and Q9. The firm has references for similar work, so it scores 2 on evidence, and 27 days to the deadline is comfortable (2). Part B total for lot 1: 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8.
• Q10. Margin is fair, 30-day payment helps, and a first council reference is valuable. Green.

Result: bid for lot 1. Because of the two “Fixable” items, the table above makes it amber until they are done. The firm now has a short to-do list with dates instead of a vague worry.

Common traps

• Deciding on the title. The title says “electrical testing”. The pack says 24-hour call-out. Read the specification before you score.
• Counting a “Fixable” you can’t fix. If a certification takes six months and the deadline is in three weeks, it’s a “No”.
• Scoring Part B generously because you want the work. Ask a colleague to score it independently.
• Ignoring Part C until the price is set. Test the economics at the likely price, not your hoped-for price.

When “no bid” is the right answer, and what to do instead

Sometimes the right answer is no. Instead of just dropping it:

• Ask a clarification question. If a condition looks disproportionate, or you can’t tell from the pack what evidence is accepted, ask. Do it early.
• Partner or subcontract. You count as meeting a condition to the extent an associated supplier does (s.22(8) and (9)). Suppliers are associated if they tender together, or if one subcontracts to the other, or guarantees its performance, under legally binding arrangements.
• Watch for the next round. Note the buyer, the contract end date and the likely re-tender. Fix the gap that stopped you.
• Tell the buyer why. If a requirement looked out of proportion for a firm your size, saying so politely is useful feedback.

Keep a copy of the checklist

Keep your answers for each bid in a simple log: the tender, the date, the ten answers and your decision. After a few, you’ll see patterns: the same condition keeps knocking you out, or one buyer’s tenders fit you. Copy the ten questions above into a document or spreadsheet.

Tell us your trade and postcode to join the free weekly list of live tenders, starting soon. On Pro (£49/month), notices that fit your trade and area are checked against what each states about insurance, certifications and location, and you get an email each morning on days with new matches.

For the full process around this decision, see our first tender checklist.