Supplier prequalification: how to pass a buyer's PQQ
In short
A PQQ screens your company details, finances, insurance, experience and policies before price is considered. Build one maintained evidence pack with expiry dates and an owner, so every questionnaire becomes a copy-and-tailor job.
- A PQQ checks company details, financial standing, insurance, experience and policies before price is considered.
- Many PQQ questions are pass or fail, so one missed threshold can end a bid.
- Small suppliers lose by rebuilding the same evidence under deadline for every buyer.
- A maintained pack with named owner and expiry dates answers most PQQs in an afternoon.
- Declare any exclusion ground honestly and explain the corrective action.
Buyers use a prequalification questionnaire to screen suppliers before tender. Learn what a PQQ asks for and how to build a maintained pack of policies, insurances, accounts and case studies that answers any one in an afternoon.
A supplier prequalification questionnaire (PQQ) is a gateway check that a buyer runs before it lets you tender. It asks who you are, whether you are financially stable, whether you are insured, whether you have done similar work, and whether your health and safety, quality and environmental policies hold up. Before one lands, have six things ready: company details, three years of accounts, insurance certificates, current policies, accreditations, and two or three case studies with referees. Most small suppliers do not fail on the facts. They fail because they hunt for each document under a deadline, and the rushed answers come out thin or inconsistent.
What a buyer's PQQ actually asks for
The format changes from buyer to buyer, but the content barely does. According to the construction safety body CHAS, most PQQs cover company information, financial standing, technical and professional capability, health and safety, and quality assurance, with environmental and insurance questions alongside. A UK public sector buyer adds declarations about exclusion grounds such as insolvency or unpaid tax. A private main contractor adds its own supplier portal.
The PQQ is not the tender. It tests capability, compliance and credibility, while the later invitation to tender covers price and method. Many questions are pass or fail: insurance levels, minimum turnover, mandatory accreditations. One missed threshold can end the bid before anyone reads your best answer.
Rules are also moving toward reuse. In England, the Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24 February 2025. For procurements run under it, suppliers register core information once on the Central Digital Platform and share it with buyers, rather than retyping it for every bid. Private buyers and many main contractors still issue their own forms, so the habit of keeping a ready pack still pays.
Same evidence, different form
Health and safety is the clearest case. The SSIP scheme exists so that one accepted assessment is recognized by every member scheme. SSIP says it saved over £10 million in 2023 by cutting duplicate assessments.
Why small suppliers lose at this stage
The thesis of this guide is simple. Small suppliers fail prequalification because they rebuild the same evidence from scratch for every buyer. The accounts are in one inbox, the insurance schedule is with the broker, the health and safety policy was last edited two years ago, and the best case study lives in someone's head.
Three things go wrong. First, deadlines: a PQQ may give you a week or two, and the evidence hunt eats most of it. Second, version drift: you quote one turnover figure in March and a slightly different one in June because you copied from different files. Third, expired paperwork: a certificate lapsed last month and you only notice after submitting. Buyers read inconsistency as weak controls.
The fix is a maintained pack, owned by one person and reviewed on a calendar, from which any PQQ can be answered in an afternoon. The steps below build it.
Collect your core company record
Create one page holding your legal name, registration number, trading address, VAT or tax number, directors, ownership and any connected companies. Add your bank details, key contacts and the names of any subcontractors you rely on. Every PQQ opens with this section, so it should be copy-ready and checked against your official registry entry.
File your financial evidence
Keep the last three years of filed accounts, plus current management figures if the latest accounts are old. Record turnover, profit and net assets in a single summary sheet that you update when accounts are filed. Note any parent company or bank reference you could offer if a buyer sets a minimum turnover you fall short of.
Gather every insurance certificate with its renewal date
Buyers commonly ask for employer's liability, public liability and professional indemnity at stated limits. Save each certificate and a one-line schedule showing insurer, limit and expiry. Ask your broker for a letter confirming you can raise cover to a buyer's level if you win the contract. Set a reminder 60 days before each expiry.
Write and date your core policies
Hold current, signed versions of your health and safety, quality, environmental, equal opportunities, anti-bribery and modern slavery policies, and a data protection statement. Each should carry an issue date and a named owner. A policy copied from a template and never read shows up quickly in follow-up questions, so make each one describe what you actually do.
Register with the shared accreditation your buyers accept
In construction, an SSIP-recognized health and safety assessment aligned to PAS 91 answers a whole section at once. Add quality or environmental certificates such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001 only if your buyers ask for them often. Store certificates with expiry dates, and log the scope each one covers.
Build three case studies and line up referees
Write three short case studies of similar work: the customer's need, what you supplied, value, dates, and the outcome. Include one measurable result in each. Ask each customer in advance whether they will act as referee and record their contact. Buyers usually want two or three examples, so pick ones that differ in size and type.
Keep a library of past answers and review it quarterly
Save every PQQ you complete, with the scores or feedback if you receive them. Tag answers by topic so the next response starts from your best wording. Every quarter, check that expiry dates, figures and names are current. After any submission, add anything new you had to produce to the pack so you never create it twice.
Where the pack lives
The pack only works if people can find it and trust it is current. A shared folder with a fixed structure and a short index sheet is enough for a small team. Many suppliers also keep controlled copies of their policies and insurance letters as standard documents, so that the latest approved version is the only one in circulation. Zigaflow's document templates can hold standard wording that stays consistent across quotes and paperwork, and the contracts feature keeps signed agreements and renewal dates in one place.
If you work in building trades, the pack matters more because main contractors send PQQs routinely. The construction industry overview covers how those buyers work. It also pays to treat the other side of the exchange in the same way: when you request quotes from your own subcontractors through RFQs, ask for the same evidence from them, because your buyer may ask who is in your supply chain.
Never tidy a declaration
If an exclusion ground or past incident applies, declare it and explain what you changed. Undeclared issues found later are treated far more seriously than disclosed ones.
Answering a PQQ in an afternoon
When a PQQ arrives, work in this order. Read the whole form and mark the pass or fail items first: insurance limits, turnover thresholds, mandatory accreditations. If you fail one, decide now whether a fix exists, such as raising cover or offering a guarantee, or whether to walk away. Next, paste the factual answers from your pack. Then spend your real effort on the scored questions about experience and capability, where you tailor a case study to the buyer's contract and quote its scale and result.
Finish by reading the answers for consistency, checking that every attachment is current, and getting a second person to review before you submit. A pack does not make you a better supplier, but it stops you losing on paperwork you could have prepared months earlier.
Sources
- What Is a PQQ in Construction?CHAS · accessed 2026-10-25
- PQQ Guide: How to Pass Pre-Qualification (UK, 2026)MyTender · accessed 2026-10-25
- What is SSIP?SSIP · accessed 2026-10-25