PQQ meaning: pre-qualification questionnaire
PQQ stands for pre-qualification questionnaire: a buyer's pass/fail checks on a supplier — legal standing, finances, insurance, experience, accreditations — before or alongside the tender itself. Under the Procurement Act 2023 these checks are conditions of participation, and a supplier's core information is shared once through Find a Tender instead of retyped for every buyer. 248 UK public notices carry it in their title, from 108 buyers.
UK notices counted · 28 Sept 2026
Definition
Pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ)
A questionnaire used to check a supplier's suitability — legal, financial and technical — before or alongside a tender; under the Procurement Act 2023, conditions of participation.
- UK notice titles using it
- 248
- Buyers using it
- 108
01/ The Act's rules
What a buyer may, and may not, ask at qualification
The Procurement Act 2023 lets a buyer set conditions of participation only where they are a proportionate way to check legal and financial capacity or technical ability — and it rules some asks out.
- May: legal and financial capacityProportionate to the contract's nature, complexity and cost.
- May: technical abilityQualifications, experience or technical ability.
- May: verifiable evidenceEvidence a third party can check.
- May not: audited accounts from everyoneOnly from suppliers the Companies Act requires to have them audited.
- May not: insurance before awardContract insurance cannot be required before the contract is awarded.
- May not: a named buyer's contractExperience can't be limited to contracts with one particular authority.
- May not: refuse equivalentsA required qualification must allow its equivalents.
Source: Procurement Act 2023, section 22, read 28 Sep 2026.
02/ The UK record
How often UK buyers say PQQ
UK public notices with “pre-qualification questionnaire”, “PQQ” or “selection questionnaire” in the title, each full year.
Notice titles, Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Rates are per 10,000 notices classified that year, the Requirements Observatory’s denominator. Titles only: a description mentions the term far more often.
Per 10,000 notices: 2019 2.7 · 2020 4.9 · 2021 2.6 · 2022 2.8 · 2023 3.4 · 2024 3.5 · 2025 3.1
| Period | Titles using PQQ | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 14 | 14 |
| 2020 | 20 | 20 |
| 2021 | 16 | 16 |
| 2022 | 26 | 26 |
| 2023 | 33 | 33 |
| 2024 | 35 | 35 |
| 2025 | 27 | 27 |
03/ Who says it
The buyers who say PQQ
108 buyers have used it in 248 notice titles. These eight use it most.
Notice title contains “pre-qualification questionnaire”, “PQQ” or “selection questionnaire”, grouped by buyer as published.
04/ Recent
PQQs published lately
The most recent UK public notices with PQQ in the title. Each opens the full notice.
05/ In practice
How to pass qualification
- 01
Register once
Enter your core supplier information on Find a Tender; buyers under the Act ask for the identifier it gives you.
- 02
Read the conditions
Each pass/fail condition is in the tender notice or its documents — check every one before writing a word.
- 03
Evidence, not assertion
Have certificates, accounts and references ready in the form asked; conditions can require third-party-verifiable evidence.
- 04
Mind the gap
In a competitive flexible procedure a buyer may let a supplier progress while it works towards a condition — it must be met before award.
06/ Questions
PQQ, answered
07/ Method
How this page is made
Live figures
Counts are UK public notices — Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, all years — whose title contains “pre-qualification questionnaire”, “PQQ” or “selection questionnaire”. Titles are where a buyer names the document, and they can be counted exactly and quickly; descriptions mention the term far more often.
Rates are per 10,000 notices classified that year, the same denominator the Requirements Observatory uses. Figures are cached for up to 24 hours.
Outside sources
- Procurement Act 2023, section 22 (conditions of participation) — what conditions may and may not require, read 28 Sep 2026.
- Cabinet Office, Guidance: competitive tendering procedures — conditions of participation in the open and competitive flexible procedures, and core supplier information, read 28 Sep 2026.
- Cabinet Office, Guidance: dynamic markets — the section 85 bar on suitability assessment below threshold, read 28 Sep 2026.
- Find a Tender and Contracts Finder — every notice counted on this page, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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