Delivering the benefits All resources About this toolkit
About Procuring Preparing for and running
a tender exercise Engaging suppliers
and tendering Reviewing
tenders Estimating Total Cost
of Ownership (TCO) Managing relationships
with suppliers Resources
[Preliminary market engagement] | [Writing a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ)] | [Writing an invitation to tender (ITT)]
Writing a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ)
You could potentially have a significant number of suppliers interested in winning your business and you will want to focus your efforts on evaluating those that most closely meet your requirements.
In order to rule out suppliers who do not meet some of your most fundamental requirements you can either:
- run a two-stage process starting with a prequalification questionnaire (PQQ) or;
- run a single stage process with some mandatory requirements in your invitation to tender (ITT).
Writing a PQQ that follows best practice and maximises your chances of a successful outcome is a specialist skill and should be undertaken in collaboration with your procurement department.
The kinds of things you would address in a PQQ include:
- details of the company, its legal status and ownership;
- due diligence with regard to any convictions or outstanding investigations for illegal activity;
- the financial stability of the company;
- evidence of market share;
- evidence of having customers similar to yourselves;
- technical requirements.
Where you do not use a PQQ, you will cover these topics in your invitation to tender (ITT).
