What are selection criteria?
Selection criteria are the things a buyer asks you to demonstrate: relevant experience, methodology, capability, capacity, value for money. In a tender they are usually weighted, and each answer is scored by an evaluation panel against a rating scale, often 0 to 10 or 0 to 5.
They sit alongside the mandatory requirements, which are pass or fail. Meeting the mandatory requirements gets your bid evaluated. The selection criteria decide where it ranks.
Read the criterion and split it into parts
Most criteria ask several things in one sentence, and each part is usually scored. Before you write, list the parts and note what the panel will be looking for in each. Here is a methodology criterion from a sample request for quote:
Outline your approach to delivering and maintaining a consistently high standard of cleaning, including quality assurance, scheduling and how you respond to issues.
| Part of the criterion | What the panel looks for |
|---|---|
| Delivering a consistently high standard | How the standard is set, supervised and kept the same across sites. |
| Quality assurance | How quality is checked, how often, by whom, and what happens with the results. |
| Scheduling | How work is planned around the buyer’s hours, sites and access. |
| Responding to issues | How problems are reported and fixed, and how quickly. |
Use those parts as subheadings in your answer. It shows the panel at a glance that every part has been answered, and makes it hard to miss one yourself.
How weightings work
Weightings tell you how much each criterion counts towards the total. In the sample tender, relevant experience is worth 40%, methodology 30%, workforce 20% and value for money 10%. Each criterion’s score is multiplied by its weighting, so lifting the 40% answer by two points adds four times as much to the total as the same lift on the 10% answer.
Draft the heaviest criteria first and give them your best evidence. Keep the light ones complete and tight. Never skip one: a criterion worth 10% can still separate two close bids.
The STAR method
STAR is a structure for experience questions: “describe your experience”, “give an example of”, “demonstrate your capability to”. Each example covers four things, in this order:
| What to include | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Situation | The client, the contract and its scale. | NSW Department of Education, daily cleaning of 18 regional offices, $480,000 a year, since 2021. |
| Task | What the contract required of you. | Keep occupied offices clean every day to a standard checked by monthly quality audits. |
| Action | What you did, specifically. | Put a fixed supervisor on each site and moved issue reporting to a digital log. |
| Result | The measurable outcome. | Cleaning-related complaints down 40% in the first year, monthly audits averaging 96%. |
Spend the fewest words on the situation and the most on the action and the result. The result is what the panel scores, so make it a number, a date or an audit outcome they could check with your referee.
One strong STAR example per point the criterion asks about is usually better than several thin ones. Pick the examples closest to this buyer’s work in size, setting and type.
When STAR doesn’t fit
STAR suits questions about what you have done. Many criteria ask what you will do: your methodology, your quality system, your workforce plan, your approach to risk. For those, structure the answer by the parts of the criterion, and inside each part say what you do, how you do it, and the proof that it works.
You can still use a short STAR example inside a process answer as the proof. “We use digital issue logging” is a claim. “Digital issue logging cut complaints by 40% on our Department of Education contract” is evidence.
Worked example: a process criterion
Here is the workforce criterion from the same sample tender, answered two ways. The tender and the supplier, Coastal Commercial Cleaning, are made up. The stronger draft uses only the supplier’s own evidence, and marks the one thing that evidence doesn’t cover.
Describe how you recruit, train and retain suitably qualified cleaning staff, and how you ensure adequate coverage.
We only employ the best people. Our staff are fully trained and highly experienced, and we always have enough staff to cover every site. Our low turnover is well below the industry average.
Why
- Four parts are asked (recruit, train, retain, coverage) and none is explained.
- “The best people” and “fully trained” are claims, with no checks, courses or numbers behind them.
- “Well below the industry average” gives no source for the average, so a panel can’t give it weight.
Recruitment. Every one of our 140 field staff holds a current National Police Check before starting work.
Training. All staff complete an accredited cleaning and WHS induction before deployment, followed by ongoing training, under our ISO 45001-certified WHS management system.
Retention. Staff turnover is 12%, supported by above-award pay and ongoing training, so sites keep cleaners who know them.
Coverage. Each site has a dedicated supervisor, and we respond to ad hoc requests within 2 hours. [ADD: how leave and absences are covered, for example a relief pool, before lodging.]
Why
- Each part of the criterion has its own heading, so the panel can score each one.
- Every fact comes from the supplier’s evidence: staff numbers, checks, induction, certification, turnover.
- The comparison with an industry average is left out because there is no source for it.
- The evidence doesn’t say how leave is covered, so the gap is marked for the supplier to fill with a real fact, not invented.
BidShortlist splits every criterion into its parts, drafts each answer from your evidence and marks the gaps for you to fill. Your first bid is free.
Start your free bidCommon mistakes that cost marks
The same patterns lose marks in almost every tender:
- Answering the first part of a criterion well and the rest briefly or not at all.
- Company copy pasted into every answer instead of evidence for that criterion.
- Claims with no proof: “passionate”, “reliable”, “industry-leading”.
- Comparisons with no source, such as “below industry average” or “above award”, presented as fact.
- The same example reused across several criteria instead of the most relevant one for each.
- A STAR example with no result, or a result that can’t be checked.
- Going over the word limit.
Word limits
Treat every word limit as a hard maximum. Aim for around 90% of it, put the strongest material first, and cut adjectives before you cut evidence. If a criterion has no limit, answer every part fully and stop.
Checklist for each answer
Before you call an answer finished:
- Every part of the criterion has its own answer
- The first sentence answers the question directly
- Experience examples follow STAR and end on a result
- Every fact could be backed by a document or a referee
- No comparison or superlative without a source
- The answer links back to what this buyer needs
- Inside the word limit, in the buyer’s format
Common questions
What does STAR stand for in selection criteria?
Situation, Task, Action, Result. Set out the context, what was required, what you did, and the measurable outcome. It is used for experience-based criteria, where the panel wants proof you have done similar work before.
Is STAR for tenders the same as STAR for job applications?
The method is the same. Public service job applications in Australia often ask candidates to address selection criteria with STAR examples from their own work. In a tender the examples are about your business: contracts, clients, outcomes and the people who delivered them. This guide is written for tenders.
Do I have to use STAR for every criterion?
No. Use it for experience questions. For methodology, quality, workforce or risk questions, structure the answer by the parts of the criterion and use short STAR examples as proof inside it.
How do I address weighted criteria?
Put effort in proportion to the weighting: your strongest evidence and the most care go into the heaviest criteria. Keep lighter ones complete and tight. Answer every part of every criterion, whatever its weighting.
What if I don’t have evidence for part of a criterion?
Say what you do have, or how you would meet the requirement, and make sure it is true. Don’t invent a project, a number or a certification. An over-claim found at evaluation or reference checks can cost you the contract.
Should I use the same examples for every criterion?
No. Choose the most relevant example for each criterion. One project can support several answers, but each answer should use the part of it that fits that question.