A free bid suitability check, before you spend the weekend on it

Upload the tender and your business details. BidShortlist checks your evidence gaps, tells you honestly whether it’s worth bidding, and sets a strategy. If it is, your first full bid is free too.

Check a tender for free See a sample check first

No credit card. Works with federal, state and local tenders.

Three checks before you write a word

A lot of bids are lost before drafting starts: the wrong tender, or the right one without the evidence to back it.

Step 1: Evidence gap check
What proof the tender asks for (policies, case studies, licences, certificates, insurances) and where your evidence is strong, thin or missing.
Step 2: Bid suitability
An honest bid or no-bid: how well the opportunity fits your capability, experience and risk, with a fit score and the reasons for and against.
Step 3: Bid strategy
Win themes tied to your real proof, what the buyer cares about, weaknesses to manage, and an angle for every criterion.

See a real sample check

The tender and the supplier are made up. The analysis is what BidShortlist produced for them.

Department of Regional Services

Provision of Commercial Cleaning ServicesRFQ-2026-0148

A made-up supplier, Coastal Commercial Cleaning, checks this tender before writing a word: 4 weighted criteria and 3 pass/fail requirements. Everything below is real BidShortlist output for this sample.

Before anything is written, BidShortlist checks the supplier’s evidence against every requirement: what’s proven, what’s thin, and what would sink the bid.

Evidence strength per requirement

Strong
M1. Public liability insurance. The supplier must hold public liability insurance of at least $20 million. Con…
Cover of $20,000,000 any one occurrence meets the $20 million minimum and is current. Have the certificate of currency ready to attach.
Strong
M2. Workers compensation. The supplier must hold current workers compensation insurance as required by law. Ar…
Current workers compensation cover under the Workers Compensation Act 1987, renewed annually. Confirm the current renewal date when responding.
Strong
C1. Relevant experience. Describe your experience delivering commercial cleaning services to comparable govern…40%
Two government projects give site scale, contract value and outcomes, and there is a named referee. The health district contract ran 2019 to 2024, so only part of it falls within the last three years. Make the recency explicit in the response.
Moderate
C2. Methodology and quality. Outline your approach to delivering and maintaining a consistently high standard …30%
The approach elements are present: QA certification, supervisor model, digital scheduling and issue response time. There is no detailed documented QA, scheduling or escalation process, so these will need to be written up in the response.
Strong
C3. Workforce and capability. Describe how you recruit, train and retain suitably qualified cleaning staff, an…20%
Evidence covers recruitment checks, induction, training and retention. Coverage and relief arrangements for absences are not described, so add a short explanation of them.
Needs your input
C4. Value for money. Explain how your pricing represents value for money for the Department.10%
Pricing for this tender is supplier-specific and must come from the supplier. Past contract values and outcomes can support a value-for-money narrative, but there is no pricing model or rate evidence yet.

No disqualifying gaps for this supplier. Anything thin or needing their input is flagged above, so it gets dealt with honestly instead of papered over.

That’s the sample. To run the same check on your own tender with your own evidence, create a free account. Your first bid is free, no card needed, and your documents stay private.

Check a tender for free

What a chatbot leaves to you

We gave a general chatbot the same question, the same company details and a good prompt, on the same AI model BidShortlist uses. Our AI panel reviewer scored its answer 66. BidShortlist’s answer, checked and fixed before you see it, scored 88. Same model, different process. Here is the whole job, side by side.

A general chatbot, asked well

One request, one reply

Its reply, as written

# C1. Relevant Experience Coastal Commercial Cleaning Pty Ltd is an Australian-owned commercial cleaning company established in 2012. We have 140 staff and service government, education and healthcare sites across NSW and the ACT. We specialise in daily office cleaning, periodic deep cleans and infection-control cleaning for occupied…

See exactly what we asked

I'm responding to a government tender and need help with one of the selection criteria. Please write my response using only the information about my business below. Don't make anything up. The response has a limit of 500 words. Selection criterion (weighted 40%): C1. Relevant experience. Describe your experience delivering commercial cleaning services to comparable government or commercial sites in the last three years. Include the scale of sites, contract value and outcomes achieved. Word limit: 500 words. About my business: Business: Coastal Commercial Cleaning Pty Ltd ABN: 54 612 908 331 Industry: Commercial cleaning and facilities services Capability statement: Coastal Commercial Cleaning is an Australian-owned commercial cleaning company established in 2012, with 140 staff servicing government, education and healthcare sites across NSW and the ACT. We specialise in daily office cleaning, periodic deep cleans, and infection-control cleaning for occupied government buildings. We hold ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 45001 (WHS) certification, and all field staff complete police checks and an accredited cleaning induction before deployment. Our model combines a dedicated site supervisor, digital scheduling and a 2-hour response standard for ad hoc requests. More detail: - Public liability insurance — $20 million: Public and products liability cover of $20,000,000 any one occurrence with Allianz Australia, policy PLI-884217, current to 30 September 2027. Certificate of currency available on request. - Workers compensation insurance: Current workers compensation insurance with icare NSW, policy WC-5521903, covering all 140 employees as required under the Workers Compensation Act 1987. Renewed annually. - ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 certification: Certified to ISO 9001:2015 (Quality) and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health and Safety) by SAI Global, certificate QEC-22841, audited annually. A documented Work Health and Safety management system governs all sites. - Department of Education regional offices, NSW: Daily commercial cleaning across 18 regional office sites since 2021, contract value $480,000 per year. Maintained an average monthly quality-audit score of 96% and reduced cleaning-related complaints by 40% in the first year through a fixed supervisor model and digital issue logging. - Central Coast Local Health District clinics: Infection-control cleaning of 9 community health clinics, 2019 to 2024, contract value $310,000 per year. Delivered to National Safety and Quality Health Service standards with zero critical audit findings across five years. - Trained, police-checked workforce: All 140 field staff hold a current National Police Check and complete an accredited cleaning and WHS induction before deployment. Staff turnover is 12%, well below the industry average, supported by above-award pay and ongoing training. - Referee — Department of Education: David Nguyen, Facilities Manager, NSW Department of Education, 02 5550 1647, available to confirm performance on the regional offices contract.

Left to you: 1 of 9 requirements. You find the other 8 and ask about each one.
Left to you: 526 words against a 500-word limit. Over it, so you cut it yourself.
Left to you: A markdown heading to tidy before it goes in a portal.
Left to you: Each claim is checked only if you check it. (Our panel found 5 of 8 backed this time.)
Left to you: AI panel score 66, needs work. Any fix is another conversation.

BidShortlist, on the same tender

Five AI specialists, six stages

Read: Tender read, done
Evidence: Evidence checked, done
Plan: Bid planned, done
Draft: Answers drafted, done
Review: Panel review, done
Fix: Fixed and re-scored, done

Done for you: 9 of 9 requirements found: 3 mandatory, 4 weighted criteria and 2 attachments.
Done for you: 369 of 500 words, counted by software and kept inside the limit.
Done for you: Plain text for the portal, with no markdown or em dashes.
Done for you: 8 of 8 claims checked against the evidence, each linked to its source.
Done for you: AI panel score 88, win-ready: checked and fixed before you saw it, with the reason for every change.
Done for you: A Word bid pack with a compliance summary and a lodgement checklist.

How we compared: the chatbot (Claude Sonnet 5.5) got one request, with the prompt shown above. BidShortlist drafts and reviews with the same model. Both answers were scored by BidShortlist’s own AI panel reviewer, on the same criterion and the same evidence. A panel score is an AI assessment of one answer, not a prediction of who wins a tender. Run on 5 October 2026.

No capability statement? Start anyway

Upload what you already have, like certificates, insurance and policies, and the facts are pulled out for you. Or answer a few questions about your business and a capability statement is written for you.

Start free

Upload up to 10 PDF or Word documents at a time
Check the facts it pulls out, then the files are deleted
Your evidence is reused on every bid after this one

What happens after you sign up

Step 1: Add your evidence
Upload documents, paste your capability statement or build one with us. Do it once; it’s reused on every bid.
Step 2: Upload the tender
The whole pack, up to 10 PDF or Word files, or paste the text. It’s read for the criteria, mandatory items, weightings and word limits.
Step 3: Check, then draft
Run the gap check, suitability and strategy. If it’s worth chasing, your first full bid, review and Word export are free.

Common questions

Is the bid suitability check really free?

Yes. Your first bid is free and includes the whole plan (evidence gap check, bid suitability and bid strategy), then an answer to every criterion, panel-style review, compliance checks and the Word export. No credit card needed.

What do I need to run a check on my own tender?

The tender documents and your business details. Upload the whole tender pack, up to 10 PDF or Word files, or paste the text. For your evidence, upload certificates, insurance and policies as PDF or Word, paste your capability statement, or answer a few questions and one is written for you.

Does it work for any Australian government tender?

Yes: federal (AusTender), state and territory, and local government. It reads the selection criteria, mandatory requirements, weightings and word limits straight from the documents you upload, and tells you if the tender mentions a document you didn’t include.

What does the suitability check actually assess?

Three things before you write a word. An evidence gap check: what proof the tender needs against what you have. A bid or no-bid call with an overall fit score and honest reasons for and against. And a bid strategy: win themes tied to your real proof, the buyer’s priorities, weaknesses to manage and an angle for each criterion.

Are my tender and business documents kept private?

Yes. They’re private to your account, encrypted in transit and at rest, and used only to run your checks and drafts. Evidence documents are deleted once the facts are pulled out. You can delete a bid and its documents, or your whole account, at any time.

What happens after my free first bid?

Pay as you go at $149 per bid, or subscribe: Professional at $199 a month for up to 15 bids, or Teams at $499 a month for up to 30. You only pay when you want to run more bids.

Not ready to upload anything?

Ask a question first. Tell us about the tender you’re looking at and a real person will reply.

Check it before you commit the hours

Evidence gaps, suitability and strategy, then your first full bid free.

Check a tender for free

No credit card. Your first bid is free.

A free bid suitability check, before you spend the weekend on it

Three checks before you write a word

Step 1: Evidence gap check

Step 2: Bid suitability

Step 3: Bid strategy