Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) explained

A Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) is the questionnaire a buyer uses to collect your answers to its conditions of participation, plus any supplier information it can’t get from the Central Digital Platform. The Procurement Act 2023 doesn’t define the term, and the gov.uk guidance on conditions of participation doesn’t use it. It’s the name buyers and their templates use, and it’s the name we use on this site.

If you’ve opened a tender pack and found a document called a PSQ, this guide explains what it is, what the Act lets a buyer ask, and how to prepare answers once and reuse them. It sits within our guide on how to win public sector contracts.

Where the Procurement Specific Questionnaire comes from

Under the Act, a buyer may set conditions of participation only if it is satisfied they are a proportionate way of ensuring suppliers have “the legal and financial capacity to perform the contract” or “the technical ability to perform the contract” (section 22(1)).

The Act leaves the format open. The guidance says the Act “does not prescribe how suppliers should demonstrate that they meet the conditions of participation”, and that buyers can still use participation templates that comply with the Act (para 8). So a PSQ is a buyer’s chosen format for your answers, not a form the law requires. There is a short PSQ glossary entry.

Formerly: the old rules required the Single Procurement Document, which para 8 says in practice meant the Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ). PPN 03/24, published on 27 March 2024, is the SQ version listed in the procurement policy notes collection under “Public Contract Regulations 2015 PPNs”. The official e-learning (module 6) says supplier information in above-threshold procurements will no longer be captured using the SQ used under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Before the SQ, buyers used a PQQ: see the PQQ and selection questionnaire it replaced.

Scotland. Devolved Scottish authorities are generally outside the Act (section 2(5)(a)) and use the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. See tenders in Scotland.

Two halves: the platform, then the buyer’s questions

Core supplier information on the Central Digital Platform has four parts (para 59):

• basic information, such as your name, unique identifier, address and VAT number
• economic and financial standing, drawn from your most recent financial accounts
• connected persons
• exclusion grounds

For competitive tendering, the buyer should ask for this before the end of the tendering period (para 66). It must also obtain confirmation that you have submitted up-to-date core supplier information (conditions of participation guidance para 38).

Anything the buyer needs for its conditions that the platform doesn’t cover, it collects from you directly, for example through its own electronic tendering system (para 39). That second half is the PSQ’s job.

In practice, keep your platform record current so the PSQ only asks what is specific to this contract. Our guide on registering on the Central Digital Platform covers the sign-up.

What a buyer can and can’t ask for

Section 22 sets the limits.

Proportionate, and only two kinds of thing

A condition must be a proportionate way of checking legal and financial capacity, or technical ability. In judging that, the buyer must have regard to “the nature, complexity and cost of the public contract” (section 22(1), (5)).

Accounts

A condition may not require audited annual accounts, except from suppliers who are, or were, required to have them audited under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 or an overseas equivalent (section 22(3)(a)). For other suppliers the guidance says “alternative evidence will need to be assessed” (para 17). See financial standing and turnover tests.

Insurance

A condition may not require insurance relating to performance of the contract to be in place before the award (section 22(3)(b)). The buyer can ask for evidence that you will have the required cover when the contract starts, such as a letter from an insurer (para 19). Insurance you must hold by law, such as employers’ liability, can still be a condition (para 20). See public liability insurance for tenders.

Experience and qualifications

Conditions may relate to qualifications, experience or technical ability. They may not require you to have been awarded a contract by a particular contracting authority, or require particular qualifications without allowing their equivalents (section 22(4)(a), (c)). See ISO 9001 and its equivalents.

Evidence someone else can check

A condition may require evidence that is verifiable by a person other than the supplier (section 22(6)).

Leaning on a partner

You are treated as meeting a condition to the extent that an associated supplier does. That covers a joint bidder, or a supplier that will enter legally binding arrangements to take sub-contracted work or to guarantee performance (section 22(8)–(9)).

PSQ template sections: an example from the old rules

If you’re looking for a PSQ template, the one in your pack is the one that counts. A buyer may use a government or regional template, or write its own. We don’t publish a template or offer a download.

For an example of the structure, take the government’s standard SQ for procurements under the old rules (PPN 03/24, Annex B). Formerly it had three parts: general information, exclusion grounds and selection criteria. The selection criteria part had optional sections on:

• economic and financial standing
• technical and professional ability
• insurance
• data protection
• health and safety
• payment in contracts
• carbon reduction
• skills and apprentices
• steel
• past performance
• modern slavery

Some of those sections were for central government only.

Under the Act, the platform’s core supplier information now covers basic information and exclusion grounds (para 59). So a PSQ may concentrate on contract-specific questions of the old selection-criteria kind. Check the one in your pack.

Pass or fail? What happens to your answers

The buyer must disregard “any tender from a supplier that does not satisfy the conditions of participation” (section 19(3)(a)). In a competitive flexible procedure it may instead exclude you from participating in, or progressing as part of, the procedure (section 22(7)).

Responses to conditions of participation are assessed separately from the tender and award criteria (conditions guidance, para 22). Separately, the assessment methodology for award criteria must say whether failing to meet a criterion disqualifies a tender (section 23(3)(a)). See how tenders are scored.

Build a PSQ answer bank

Keep these ready, so each new PSQ starts from your existing answers:

• Platform record: up to date, because the buyer has to obtain confirmation that it is (para 38).
• Latest accounts: your economic and financial standing is drawn from them (para 59).
• An insurer’s letter: showing the levels of cover you can have in place from contract start (para 19).
• Certificates and equivalents: for any qualification a buyer names, evidence of the equivalent too (section 22(4)(c)).
• Contract examples: formerly the standard SQ asked for details of “up to three contracts” under technical and professional ability.
• Referees: contacts who have agreed to give a reference.
• Policy documents: health and safety and data protection were both sections of the old SQ, so have current copies to hand.

The documents to have ready guide covers the wider list. For the scored answers, see writing the scored answers.

Open or competitive flexible procedure

In an open procedure there is a single stage with no restriction on who can submit a tender (section 20(2)(a)), so expect the PSQ with the tender documents.

In a competitive flexible procedure the buyer can limit the number of participating suppliers (section 20(4)). The guidance describes a participation stage where suppliers that have asked to take part are assessed against conditions of participation (para 40). The PSQ may be the first document you complete.

Your next step

In the week to 10 Oct 2026, 29 of 470 live notices stated insurance requirements in the notice itself (as of 10 Oct 2026; how we count). Where a notice doesn’t state them, check the tender pack and any PSQ.

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.