How to write case studies for tenders

Case studies for tenders are short, checkable accounts of similar work you’ve done, written to answer a specific question in the tender. They do two jobs, and the rules differ: a buyer can use them as a pass/fail check on your experience, or score them as part of a quality answer.

This guide covers where each use comes from in the Procurement Act 2023, how to choose the right job, and a blank template to fill in. It doesn’t re-teach answer structure: for that, see how to write a tender response. We don’t publish sample case studies, and you’ll see why below.

Case studies for tenders: two places they’re used

To pass a condition of participation

A condition of participation is a pass/fail check on whether you can perform the contract. A condition about technical ability “may relate to suppliers’ qualifications, experience or technical ability” (section 22(4)). The government’s e-learning on supplier selection lists “Experience & past performance” among the conditions relating to technical ability.

Formerly, the government’s standard selection questionnaire asked suppliers for “details of up to three contracts” (PPN 03/24, Annex B). Under the Act, each buyer sets its own conditions, so the number of examples, if any, is in the pack. Where the pack uses a Procurement Specific Questionnaire, look there first. See what the PSQ asks.

To score on the award criteria

Award criteria must relate to the subject-matter of the contract. The Act says that includes “how or when those goods, services or works are to be supplied” and the qualifications, experience, ability, management or organisation of staff, where those factors are likely to make a material difference to the quality of what’s supplied (section 23(5)(b)-(c)). So a question about your method or your team can be scored, and a case study is one way to evidence it.

The buyer must describe how tenders will be assessed, and, if there is more than one criterion, how important each is (section 23(3)). See how tenders are scored.

Government guidance says responses to conditions of participation “must be assessed separately from the tender response and award criteria” (para 22). Treat the two as separate questions, even if you reuse the same job.

Choosing which job to use

Pick the job from the question, not from your favourite project.

1. List the parts of the question: what it asks for, in what order.
2. List the key words in the specification: the type of work, the setting, the scale, the timescale.
3. Choose the job that matches the most of them.

If two jobs match equally, take the more recent one and give its dates, so the evaluator can see how recent it is. Don’t stretch an old job to fit. Write one line saying why you chose it. That line becomes your “What carries over” sentence in the template below.

One rule is worth knowing. A condition about experience may not require suppliers to have been awarded a contract by a particular contracting authority (section 22(4)(a)). The guidance puts it as conditions that “cannot relate to a prior award by a particular contracting authority” (para 13(a)). That stops a buyer insisting you have already won work from it. It doesn’t tell you whether a private-sector or overseas job counts, so check what the question accepts.

Before you spend a day on this, check can you win it?

A structure evaluators can score

Use the same headings every time, so the evaluator can find what they are marking. Copy this and fill the blanks with true, evidenced facts:

• Client and contract: [client name, only with their agreement] · [what you supplied] · [value band] · [start and end dates] · [your role: main contractor / sub-contractor / consortium member]
• The requirement: [what the client needed, in their words]
• What you did: [method, in steps]
• Who did it: [roles, qualifications, experience]
• Results: [measurable outcomes you can evidence: dates met, KPIs, volumes]
• What carries over to this contract: [one or two sentences, using the buyer’s words]
• Contact: [named referee who has agreed to be contacted]

The “Who did it” line matters because staff qualifications and experience can be scored where they make a material difference to quality (section 23(5)(c)). The “What carries over” line does the evaluator’s joining-up for them.

For the results line, say what changed and how you know. A figure with its source can be checked; an adjective can’t.

We don’t publish sample case studies. A made-up one would teach the wrong lesson: everything in yours has to be true and checkable.

Keep to the word or page limit the pack sets. A tender that breaches a procedural requirement in the tender notice or documents may be disregarded (section 19(3)(d)).

Make it checkable: evidence and references

A condition of participation “may require the provision of evidence that is verifiable by a person other than the supplier” (section 22(6)). Write every case study as if someone will check it.

The government’s e-learning notes that “The Act permits a wider range of evidence to be considered as means of proof” than the old rules did. What counts for your bid is whatever the pack asks for.

Practical habits:

• Keep records of each job: completion certificates, KPI reports, client emails.
• Ask referees before you name them, and tell them what the bid is for.
• Make sure the figures in your case study match your records.

Using a partner’s or sub-contractor’s experience

You are treated as satisfying a condition of participation to the extent that a supplier associated with you satisfies it (section 22(8)). Two suppliers are associated if they are submitting a tender together, or if the buyer is satisfied they will enter into legally binding arrangements for one to sub-contract the work to the other, or to guarantee its performance (section 22(9)).

So a consortium partner’s job can support your bid. Say whose job it was and what your part in it will be. Don’t present a partner’s work as yours. Check with the partner that they agree to the wording, and that they can provide the same evidence you would.

Associated persons are also checked for exclusion grounds. A supplier you rely on to meet the conditions of participation is an associated person, other than a guarantor (exclusions guidance, paras 33-34). See exclusion grounds. See subcontracting to tier-one suppliers.

Stay truthful: your record follows you

Poor performance can have consequences beyond one contract. A discretionary exclusion ground applies to a supplier that has not performed a relevant contract to the regulated authority’s satisfaction, was given proper opportunity to improve, and failed to do so (Schedule 7, paragraph 12(3), headed “Breach of contract and poor performance”).

Buyers also have a duty to publish information about a particular breach or failure to perform (section 71(5)). See contract performance notice.

Schedule 7 paragraph 13 has a further discretionary ground headed “Acting improperly in procurement”. The practical rule is simple: everything in a case study should be true, and something you can show. See exclusions and debarment.

Case study mistakes to avoid

• A generic job that doesn’t match the question.
• No numbers: dates, volumes, KPIs.
• Claims you can’t evidence.
• Going over the word or page limit.
• A referee who doesn’t know the bid is coming.
• Naming a client who hasn’t agreed to it.
• Old work presented as if it were current.

Build a case study bank

Keep five to eight recent jobs written up in the template above, and update each after a contract milestone. That number is our suggestion, not a rule. For each job, note the referee and the date you last spoke to them. The point is that when a tender arrives with a short deadline, you are choosing from written, checked material rather than starting from memory.

The first-tender checklist lists references and case studies among the evidence to have ready.

Your next step

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.