Selection vs award criteria in UK tenders explained

What is the difference between selection criteria and award criteria in UK tenders?

Confused because both sound like “the criteria”? Fair enough. In UK tenders, selection criteria test whether your organisation is suitable to take part. They cover matters like legal status, financial standing, experience, and grounds for exclusion.

Award criteria come later. They score the tender itself to decide which acceptable bid offers the best overall solution for the contract, usually across quality, price, and delivery.

So, the selection criteria is whether you can bid. The award criteria is whether you can win. This guide shows where the line sits, why teams blur it, and how to answer each stage without wasting time or marks.

The simplest way to separate selection criteria from award criteria

Strip the jargon away and it gets much easier. Selection is the door you need to get through, and award is the scoreboard once you’re inside.

GOV.UK’s supplier selection module explains the supplier checks used to decide whether an organisation is suitable to participate. By contrast, section 23 of the Procurement Act 2023 defines award criteria as the measures used to assess tenders for contract award.

If your tender is run under the Procurement Act 2023, which applies to procurements that started on or after 24th February 2025, you’ll see the selection stage called “conditions of participation” (section 22). Older procurements under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 still use “selection criteria”, and plenty of buyers still use the phrase day to day. The principle is the same either way.

What selection criteria usually test

Selection questions focus on your organisation as a whole. Expect questions on financial standing, insurance, relevant experience and exclusions, plus whether you have the basic capacity to deliver.

What award criteria usually test

Award questions focus on the bid you’re submitting for this contract. Buyers want to see your method, how well you understand the contract, who will deliver it and how you’ll manage risk. Social value, quality and price sit here too, and all of it needs to tie back to the brief.

This quick view helps:

Stage	Main question	Typical evidence	Result
Selection	Are you suitable to take part?	Accounts, policies, references, accreditations	Pass, fail, or threshold check
Award	Is your tender the best offer?	Method statements, contract-specific examples, pricing	Scored against published criteria

Selection asks whether you belong in the process. Award decides whether your bid deserves the contract.

If you mix those up, you either over-write the basics or under-cook the scored answers.

Why this matters when your team is already stretched

If tenders help pay the wages, this distinction shapes where your team spends its time.

Most SME leaders are not sitting around waiting for an ITT. You’re running delivery, sorting staffing, answering client issues, and then a tender lands on Tuesday afternoon as if everyone has loads of spare time, which they don’t.

That’s why rejection notes sting. A lot of them come down to things that were fixable: unclear structure, missing proof or answers aimed at the wrong stage. Buyers must follow the published process, and guidance on assessing competitive tenders makes that plain. Evaluators are still human, though, and if they have to hunt for the point, the score suffers.

This is also where many firms become too dependent on outside writers. Each bid starts from scratch, and all the know-how sits outside the business. Bidsmithery™ takes a different line. Your team can keep hold of the bid, while expert review sharpens the structure, clarity, and scoring logic. If you want a sense of how fast buyers form a view, read how evaluators skim UK tenders.

A practical check before anyone starts writing

Before the drafting starts, split the tender into two piles: selection and award. It sounds obvious, but it still gets missed all the time.

Use these questions as a quick sense check:

→ Are we proving basic suitability, or are we competing for marks?
→ Which documents are pass or fail, threshold-based, or mandatory?
→ Which award questions carry the most weight?
→ Where does the buyer want company evidence, and where do they want contract-specific method?
→ Have we backed every scored point with proof?
→ Who owns each section, and who will review it like an evaluator?

That simple split saves time. One person can gather standing evidence while another shapes the scored answers. No one needs to reinvent the company profile at 11.40pm.

Common mistakes when selection and award criteria get blurred

These are the mistakes that make otherwise good bids go flat.

→ Treating award answers like a brochure: plenty of background, very little method. That might work on a website, but it won’t pick up marks in a scored response.

→ Dumping generic credentials into quality questions: accreditations matter, but they don’t replace a clear plan for this contract.

→ Ignoring weightings: teams often spend hours polishing low-value sections and rush the answers worth the most marks.

→ Hiding proof in attachments: if the buyer allows attachments, signpost them clearly. Don’t assume the evaluator will join the dots for you.

→ Thinking compliance equals competitiveness: passing selection gets you into the race. The award answers decide where you finish.

These issues sit alongside other bid proposal mistakes to avoid if you want a wider clean-up. You can also try our free Evaluator’s Eye Test to see your answer the way a buyer will.

Frequently asked questions

Separate suitability from scoring

If selection and award criteria keep getting tangled, separate suitability from scoring before the first draft. That one move makes writing calmer and reviews sharper. If you’d like a second pair of eyes before you submit, our bid and tender review service is built for that. To build your team’s skills so they rely on outside help less over time, take a look at our bid training, or book a fit check call.