What Is a Pass/Fail Criterion in a Tender?

A pass/fail criterion is a mandatory requirement that must be met before your response is evaluated on quality and price. Fail one and your bid is disqualified — regardless of how strong the rest of it is.

Pass/fail criteria are not scored. They are binary. You either meet the requirement or you do not. Missing one costs you the entire bid.

Where Pass/Fail Criteria Appear

Pass/fail criteria typically appear at two stages of a procurement process.

The first is the Selection Questionnaire (SQ), sometimes still referred to as a PQQ. This is the pre-qualification stage where buyers assess whether your organisation meets the basic requirements to bid. Common SQ pass/fail criteria include minimum insurance levels, absence of mandatory exclusion grounds, active CQC registration where required and relevant sector accreditations.

The second is within the tender evaluation itself. Some buyers designate specific quality questions as pass/fail — where a response below a defined threshold score results in disqualification even if other sections score well. This is most common in contracts where a minimum quality standard is non-negotiable, such as safeguarding in care contracts or security vetting in defence procurement.

Common Pass/Fail Criteria

Insurance is one of the most frequently failed pass/fail criteria — not because organisations lack insurance, but because the level of cover held does not meet the specified minimum. Always check the required insurance levels against your current policy before submitting. Gaps can usually be resolved quickly, but not if you only notice them at submission time.

Accreditation and registration requirements are another common failure point. A care contract requiring CQC registration, a construction contract requiring CSCS cards for operatives or a technology contract requiring Cyber Essentials certification — failing to hold and evidence the required accreditation results in immediate disqualification.

Mandatory exclusion grounds under the Procurement Act 2023 cover serious criminal convictions, tax non-compliance, insolvency proceedings and other specified grounds. These are checked as pass/fail at the SQ stage. If your organisation or any director has a relevant conviction or proceeding, legal advice is required before bidding.

Financial standing thresholds are sometimes pass/fail — particularly minimum turnover requirements relative to contract value. If you fall below the specified threshold, you cannot proceed regardless of your actual capability to deliver.

How to Handle Pass/Fail Criteria

Read the selection criteria and evaluation methodology in every tender document before you start writing. Identify every pass/fail requirement. Confirm your organisation meets each one before investing time in the quality response.

This sounds obvious. It is regularly skipped. Organisations discover a disqualifying gap at submission time — or after submission, during the evaluation — having invested significant resource in a bid they were never going to be permitted to win.

If you are uncertain whether you meet a pass/fail criterion, raise it as a clarification question. Buyers are required to answer clarification questions about the evaluation process. An early answer saves you from a wasted submission.

Pass/Fail Versus Scored Criteria

Not all minimum thresholds are pass/fail. Some buyers set minimum quality scores — for example, a response that scores below 50% on a quality question receives zero marks for that section rather than disqualification. This is different from a true pass/fail criterion, where the consequence of failure is removal from the competition entirely.

Read the evaluation methodology section of the tender documents carefully. It will specify which criteria are pass/fail and which operate on a scoring basis with minimum thresholds. The distinction matters for how you prioritise your response effort.

Understanding the full evaluation framework — not just the quality questions — is part of what our guide to how to write a bid covers in detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I appeal a pass/fail disqualification?

You can challenge a procurement decision during the standstill period if you believe the pass/fail criterion was applied incorrectly or was not proportionate under the Procurement Act 2023. However, if you genuinely did not meet the criterion — your insurance was below the required level, for example — there are no grounds for challenge. Prevention is the only reliable strategy.

What happens if I meet the pass/fail criteria but submit them late?

Late submissions are rejected without exception. Meeting all pass/fail criteria does not help if your response arrives after the deadline. Build significant time buffers into your submission process, particularly for portal-based submissions where technical issues can cause unexpected delays.

Can pass/fail criteria be waived by the buyer?

No. Pass/fail criteria are mandatory requirements published as part of the procurement documentation. A buyer who waives a pass/fail criterion for one bidder would be breaching procurement law by treating bidders unequally. If you cannot meet a specified criterion, you cannot bid for that contract.

Do pass/fail criteria apply the same way in framework applications?

Yes. Framework applications include the same pass/fail requirements at the SQ stage. Failing a pass/fail criterion in a framework application means you are not listed on the framework — which can exclude you from call-off opportunities for the full framework term. The stakes of a pass/fail failure are therefore higher in framework applications than in standalone tenders.

How do I know which questions in a tender are pass/fail?

The evaluation methodology section of the tender documents will specify which criteria are pass/fail and which are scored. If this is not clear, raise a clarification question before the clarification deadline. Never assume a criterion is scored rather than pass/fail — the consequence of being wrong is disqualification.

If you want expert support navigating evaluation criteria and producing responses that meet every requirement, visit our bid writing services page.

Written by Joshua Smith, a seasoned bid-writing expert with experience across the UK, Middle East and US, helping organisations secure the contracts they deserve through high-quality, competitive tender responses.