Pre-Qualification Questionnaires are common in the industrial sector of construction. A lot of contracts agreements are developed, where different construction businesses are noted as ideal suppliers for a huge company or local entity. A Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) turns out to be an essential component for choosing construction contractors because several companies are applying for various contracts
Purpose of a Pre-qualification Questionnaire for Contractors
A pre-qualification questionnaire for contractors cover a range of different questions for likely tenderers. They provide the answers about their level of financial capability, potential and experience. In light of the answers in response to the given questions, the client is able to create a list of suppliers having the most suitable qualification for their specific venture. After that, short-listed suppliers can be asked to tender for the contract of the particular project. The PQQ facilitates in decreasing the quantity of possible tenders to those that are actually right for the project. Therefore, it saves us from wasting our time for those prospective tenderers lacking any convincing chance of getting the contract. Moreover, it saves our precious time for the processing of client and evaluating unsuitable tenders.
It is important to note that writing lengthy documents and getting ready and giving all of the required documentation and certification may not be an ideal point for us. If we possess adequate administrative support staff being skilled to cover such tasks effectively and efficiently over their daily routine, then they can be assigned with the task of finalizing our first pre-qualification questionnaire. However, in case we lack the proper talent to do so then it is recommended to consider outsourcing this task.
Vital Features of a PQQ
It must be kept in mind that the PQQ has a very specific task which is excluding candidates for a tender. If the given benchmarks in a PQQ are not met, it will not be possible to get through to the later stage. There are some vital features of a PQQ for the construction industry. Every PQQ includes common elements. For the construction business some of the most important ones consist of Health & Safety policies and procedures, Financial Information and Environmental or Sustainability issues. For Health & Safety policies and procedures it is considered that building sites can be unsafe for constructors as well as by passers, therefore the applicant has to verify that necessary control measures are ready. Financial information is focused to making sure that the contender won’t be incapacitated before the project completion. Environmental or Sustainability issues make sure that the applicant is using the best environmentally friendly materials and discarding waste in a proper way.
A pre-qualification questionnaire must be simple and focused which can be completed without any sort of confusion. It might be considered to give a limit to the number of words that can be provided in the answers to all questions or they may repeat only the tender process while submitting their responses. A proper attention must also be given in making it very clear the specific purpose of tender process which will facilitate potential tenderers to appropriately evaluate their eligibility in light of their financial capability, potential and experience. In addition to that, it can also be helpful to include a scoring and weighting system in order to rate given information and likely tenderers must be notified about the system details being used for that purpose. The required information should be to the point, appropriate and balanced with the contract size. It may require information like organization details, financial standing, and quality assurance policy, technical and professional capability.
Standardized Pre-qualification Questionnaires
Furthermore, the government bodies demand to use PAS 91 which uses standardized wording for PQQ when it comes to public clients. Basically, PAS 91 is a standardized pre-qualification questionnaire being established in order to decrease the need for suppliers to go through a different range of diverse pre-qualification questionnaires for different or the similar clients in specific circumstances. The British Standards Institute (BSI) has formulated this questionnaire; the question set has been ordered by government and is an endorsed well-known minimum standard for finding construction business. By means of offering a standardized design for pre-qualification questionnaire the PAS 91 intends to achieve certain objectives. It facilitates suppliers to clearly apprehend the information required from them at the stage of pre-qualification and help clients to find properly qualified contractors for their projects.
