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Start with a clear brief before you question contractors
A contractor can only demonstrate suitability against a defined requirement. Before issuing a tender, record the project’s location, structural scope, approximate tonnage or element types where known, interfaces with concrete and other trades, site access, lifting restrictions, working hours, sequencing, temporary works assumptions, design status, required completion date and handover expectations.
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Do not invent an execution class, engineering design criterion or certification requirement because a contractor mentions one. Those decisions belong in the project specification and with the competent design team. Ask bidders to identify assumptions and exclusions so that technically different offers can be compared fairly.
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Public and private procurement are not interchangeable. In UK public procurement, use the current regime and guidance that applies to the buyer and contract. Government steel-procurement guidance refers to the Procurement Act 2023 and says the Common Assessment Standard may be used for works contracts when it meets the Act’s requirements and is proportionate. Older guidance associated with PPN 03/24 relates to the earlier Public Contracts Regulations 2015 context; do not mix the two regimes. For a private project, the contract and employer’s requirements should define the evidence you need.
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1. Have you completed projects genuinely comparable to ours?
Ask for examples that match more than the material. A warehouse frame, a constrained city-centre alteration and a heavily sequenced industrial installation may all involve steel, but they create different risks and management demands.
- Request recent references for comparable scale, complexity, interfaces and installation conditions.
- Ask what the named contractor actually delivered: design, detailing, fabrication, logistics, erection, temporary works coordination or only one package.
- Identify the project manager, design lead, detailing team and site supervisor proposed for your work, then ask which parts of each reference they worked on.
- Ask how access, lifting, occupied buildings, traffic management, weather, neighbouring properties or restricted working hours affected the previous job.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identifies references from previous construction work as one way to demonstrate skills and experience. A polished project list without a clear account of the named team’s role is weak evidence.
2. Who is responsible for design, detailing, fabrication and erection?
Make the scope split explicit before comparing prices. Ask the bidder to mark up a responsibility matrix showing who owns design calculations, connection design, shop drawings, temporary stability, surveys, setting-out information, fabrication, corrosion or fire-protection interfaces, transport, lifting plans, erection and as-built information.
Test the interfaces
- Who checks existing structures and site dimensions before fabrication?
- Who reviews and approves connection details, and what is the review period?
- Who answers site queries and issues revised drawings when conditions change?
- How are design changes priced, authorised, recorded and communicated to the fabricator and erector?
- What information must the principal contractor, structural engineer and other trades provide, and by what dates?
There is no universal contract allocation established by the guidance. The signed scope, project specification and competent design team must decide it. If a bidder says “design included” without defining deliverables, assumptions and approval gates, treat that as an unresolved commercial and technical risk.
3. How will you demonstrate technical competence for this specific work?
Ask for evidence proportionate to the project’s complexity and risks, not a stack of unrelated certificates. HSE guidance says the required skills, knowledge, experience and training should be proportionate to the work. Useful evidence can include training and continuing professional development records, professional membership, relevant personnel qualifications, technical resources, quality arrangements and references from comparable work.
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Questions for the proposed team
- Who will lead engineering, detailing, quality, fabrication and erection?
- What qualifications, training and recent experience do those people have for this type of frame or alteration?
- Which tasks are performed in-house, and which are subcontracted?
- How do you maintain competence when staff, subcontractors or production facilities change?
- What technical resources are available for checking drawings, resolving clashes and responding to site conditions?
Ask for examples of a problem the team encountered on a comparable project, the decision taken, and the records produced. This tests applied judgement better than a generic statement that the business is “fully competent.”
4. What are your health-and-safety arrangements for this project?
Request the arrangements that will govern the actual work, including significant risks in fabrication, transport, lifting, work at height, temporary stability, hot works, exclusion zones, interfaces with other contractors and work near the public or occupied premises. Ask how the arrangements will be briefed, monitored and updated.
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- Who has authority for site safety and who is the day-to-day supervisor?
- How are lift plans, method statements, permits, inspections and emergency arrangements prepared and approved?
- How are near misses, incidents, unsafe conditions and corrective actions reported to the project team?
- How are competence, induction and supervision checked for agency workers and subcontractors?
- How will changes in sequence, weather, access or surrounding work trigger a review?
For public steel procurements, the Standard Selection Questionnaire material includes health-and-safety arrangements and asks about relevant past breaches for both the bidder and supply-chain members involved in producing or supplying steel. Ask for relevant enforcement or breach history directly; a generic policy does not answer that question.
“The required level of skills, knowledge and experience (and training where required) should be proportionate to the complexity of the work and the range and nature of the risks involved.”
— Health and Safety Executive contractor guidance
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5. Which firms, mills and facilities are in your supply chain?
Ask the contractor to identify the organisations and facilities expected to produce, process, coat, transport and erect the steel. The answer should distinguish the proposed source from a general list of approved suppliers.
- Who is the steel producer or merchant, and where will fabrication take place?
- Which detailing, machining, welding, coating, transport and erection activities are subcontracted?
- What happens if a named facility loses capacity or a material source changes?
- How are technical requirements, inspection points and safety expectations passed down the chain?
- Who approves substitutions, and how are changes recorded before manufacture?
Government steel guidance stresses cascading technical requirements through specification and contract conditions where appropriate. Put the required information, notification duties and approval process into the tender and contract rather than relying on an informal promise.
6. What evidence supports your prequalification claims?
Ask which assessment scheme, industry qualification or prequalification process the contractor holds, what was assessed, when it was assessed and whether its scope matches the proposed work. Check that the legal entity named on the certificate is the entity contracting with you and that any stated scope covers the relevant activities.
HSE cautions that a scheme is only one way of demonstrating competence and is not proof that an organisation can manage project-specific site risks. Its guidance states:
“For construction work, assessment against a scheme (whether under Safety Schemes in Procurement or otherwise) is not proof that an organisation can properly manage the risks presented by the work on site.”
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— Health and Safety Executive regulator guidance
Use scheme evidence to support, not replace, checks on project requirements, skills, resources, track record and site arrangements. Ask for the underlying evidence when a bidder relies heavily on a logo or membership badge.
7. Can you support the programme and commercial commitments?
Ask for a delivery plan that connects design release, approvals, procurement, fabrication, coating, transport, site readiness and erection. A date at the end of a proposal is not a programme.
Programme questions
- What information is needed from the client and design team, and by when?
- What are the longest-lead materials, approvals or fabrication operations?
- How much float is allowed for design comments, rework, weather and access restrictions?
- What site resources and lifting equipment are assumed?
- How will progress, changes and recovery actions be reported?
Capacity and financial questions
Request evidence of technical and professional ability, economic and financial standing and available resources appropriate to the requirement. Cabinet Office selection guidance emphasises proportionality: any participation condition should be a proportionate means of ensuring the supplier’s ability, having regard to the contract’s nature, complexity and cost.
Ask how many concurrent projects the proposed team and facility are carrying, what capacity is reserved for your work, and who has authority to commit additional resources if the programme slips. For public procurement, set insurance levels case by case to reflect the work and risks; avoid requirements that screen out capable suppliers without a project-related reason.
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8. How will you control quality, traceability and nonconformities?
Ask bidders to map their quality arrangements to the project specification. The answer should explain hold points, inspections, checks, records, release for delivery, handling of nonconforming work and responsibility for closing defects.
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- How are drawings, revisions and fabrication instructions controlled?
- What inspections and checks occur before, during and after fabrication?
- How are materials and components identified and traced through fabrication and delivery?
- Who records nonconformities, decides corrective action and verifies closure?
- How are repairs, rework or approved deviations documented?
The evidence available here does not establish a universal inspection or handover checklist. The project specification, applicable standards and contract should define the required records. Ask the contractor to price and programme those obligations explicitly instead of treating them as an afterthought.
9. What will you provide at completion?
Agree the handover package before award. Ask for a proposed index of completion records and the format, timing and review process for each item. Depending on the project documents, this may include approved drawings, revisions, inspection records, material traceability, delivery records, coating or protection records, test results, nonconformity close-out and as-built information.
Confirm who compiles the package, who checks it, and whether partial handovers are possible where areas are completed in stages. If the contractor cannot state what will be delivered and when, the project may reach physical completion without the information needed for operation, maintenance or future alteration.
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Send the same clarification questions to each bidder and score evidence rather than presentation quality. The following framework synthesises the selection and competence dimensions in the UK guidance; it is not a mandated universal scoring rubric.
| Assessment area | Ask every bidder | Evidence to compare |
|---|---|---|
| Comparable experience | Which completed projects match our scale, complexity, sequencing and access? | References, project roles and outcomes for the named team |
| Responsibility split | Who owns design, detailing, fabrication, erection, changes and approvals? | Marked-up scope, responsibility matrix and interface process |
| Technical competence | What skills, training, resources and quality arrangements support this work? | Personnel records, CPD or training evidence, technical resources and relevant examples |
| Health and safety | How will significant risks be controlled, and what relevant breaches exist? | Project arrangements, supervision structure, incident process and disclosed history |
| Supply chain | Which firms and facilities will produce, process, transport and erect the steel? | Named organisations, flow-down controls and substitution procedure |
| Prequalification | What was assessed, by whom and for which scope? | Current scheme or qualification evidence plus project-specific checks |
| Capacity and finance | Can the proposed team, facilities and finances support the programme? | Resource plan, workload information, financial evidence and proportionate insurance |
| Quality and handover | How will inspection, traceability, nonconformities and completion records be managed? | Quality plan, record index, responsibilities and close-out process |
A practical tender process
- Define the requirement. Issue the current drawings, specification, constraints, programme assumptions, responsibility boundaries and required evidence.
- Ask identical core questions. Allow bidders to identify assumptions, exclusions, alternatives and risks separately from their compliant offer.
- Verify references. Speak to clients or project contacts about delivery, communication, defects, changes, safety and the actual involvement of the proposed team.
- Check the supply chain. Confirm named facilities, subcontracted activities, capacity and the process for substitutions or late changes.
- Clarify before scoring. Resolve ambiguous design scope, programme dates, insurance, record requirements and provisional sums in writing.
- Score proportionately. Weight the criteria that matter most to this project’s risks and complexity; do not let a generic certificate outweigh relevant evidence.
- Document the award decision. Keep the questions, answers, clarifications, reference checks and reasons for selection with the contract records.
Warning signs that warrant clarification
- References describe the company but not the people proposed for your project.
- “Design and build” is offered without a defined responsibility matrix or approval process.
- The bidder will not identify fabrication, coating or erection subcontractors before award.
- A prequalification badge is presented as proof of site-specific competence.
- The programme contains an installation date but no design-release, procurement or fabrication logic.
- Safety answers quote policy statements but omit project hazards, supervision and breach history.
- Quality and handover records are described as “to be agreed” without acknowledging the specification.
- Insurance or financial requirements appear unrelated to the project’s value, complexity or risk.
Public-sector checks to keep current
For a UK public contract, confirm the buyer’s current procurement route, applicable legislation and selection documents before issuing the tender. The 2024 Standard Selection Questionnaire material includes questions relevant to health-and-safety arrangements and, for steel procurements, relevant past breaches involving the bidder and supply-chain members producing or supplying steel. Government guidance also supports asking relevant steel-supply questions where proportionate.
Do not transfer those public-sector questions mechanically into every private tender. Select requirements that are relevant, evidence-based and proportionate to the work, and obtain current legal or procurement advice where the regime or contract value is uncertain.
Make the final decision on evidence, not the lowest headline price
Before appointment, make sure the preferred contractor’s price includes the responsibilities, reviews, inspections, logistics, records and resources your brief requires. Record unresolved assumptions as contract clarifications or exclusions with an owner and deadline. A lower price that depends on an undefined design boundary, unnamed subcontractor or unrealistic fabrication sequence is not a like-for-like offer.
The strongest appointment file shows why the selected contractor is capable of performing this specific work, how risks will be controlled, who is responsible at every interface, and what evidence will prove completion.
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