Winston IntelligenceQualification and decision guide
A bid/no-bid checklist has two stages: an eligibility screen that asks whether you can bid, and a decision that asks whether you should. Winston helps you find and read the opportunity; the qualification judgement stays with your organisation.
Stage one: eligibility screen
If any of these fails and cannot be resolved, a no-bid is the honest answer.
Read the legal, financial and technical conditions the buyer has set. Under the Procurement Act 2023 these must relate to your ability to perform and be proportionate to the contract; check whether your organisation, or an associated supplier you can rely on, meets each one.
Check the mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds and the debarment list. If a ground may apply to your organisation or a connected person, resolve whether self-cleaning evidence is possible before you commit bid effort.
Compare the buyer's stated financial requirements with your most recent accounts. A buyer cannot demand insurance be in place before award, but it can require you to commit to holding it; note what you would have to arrange.
Confirm the requirement, the specific lot and the delivery area are ones you actually serve. Treat the estimated value as the buyer's published estimate, not guaranteed revenue.
Check the submission deadline is achievable with your current capacity, and that you can register and respond through the named portal. A summary page is not the response workspace.
Stage two: the bid/no-bid decision
Score these consistently across opportunities so a strong pipeline is not crowded out by a weak habit of bidding.
Does the work match your target market, references and growth plan, or would winning it stretch you into delivery you do not want?
Can you resource both the response and the contract without displacing committed work? Name the people, not a hope.
Be honest about incumbents, framework alternatives and price position. Research the buyer's award history rather than assuming an open field.
Model the response cost, delivery margin and payment terms. A low-margin win that consumes senior time can be worse than a considered no-bid.
List the case studies, policies, accreditations and prior answers a strong response needs, and whether they exist and are current today.
What this guide does and does not do
Organisation-specific qualification, compliance conclusions, evidence work and drafting are deliberately outside Scout.
| Area | In this guide | Not in this guide |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility screen | This guide teaches you what to read and in what order. | It does not confirm that your organisation meets a specific condition or exclusion test. |
| Bid/no-bid decision | This guide gives a general framework any supplier can apply. | It does not score your fit, weigh your capacity or recommend a decision for a named tender. |
| Compliance and evidence work | Public guidance can describe what strong evidence looks like. | Organisation-specific compliance conclusions, evidence synthesis and gap analysis are paid Winston bid-assistance work, which is not available yet. |
| Response drafting | You can learn the structure a buyer expects. | Winston does not write, review or submit your tender response. |
Cross-industry examples
These are illustrative scenarios, not specific notices. Apply the two stages to the real opportunity and its official documents.
Appointment to the parent framework clears part of the eligibility screen, but the call-off can still carry its own conditions, social-value expectations and delivery window. Run the bid decision on this specific requirement, not the framework in general.
The buyer's award records show a long-standing supplier. That is not a reason to skip automatically, but it should change your competitiveness and commercial assumptions and the effort you are willing to spend.
One lot fits; the rest bundles services you would subcontract at thin margin. A partial-fit bundle is often where a disciplined no-bid, or a considered consortium approach, protects the year.
Primary sources
Winston checked this official guidance on 1 September 2026. The Procurement Act 2023 regime has applied since 24 February 2025.
Learn the documents in a tender pack, then see how the response will be evaluated.