Criteria for building contractors to prequalify

Who needs to prequalify

If you're a building industry contractor wishing to do government building projects valued at more than $1 million, you must first be prequalified through Queensland's whole-of-government Prequalification (PQC) System.

Prequalification makes you eligible to compete for government building projects. You still need to go through the tender process in competition with your contractor peers.

Government departments use only prequalified building industry contractors for all building projects valued at more than $1 million.

Note: If you wish to perform building work under our minor works or service maintenance contracts (usually worth less than $1 million), you don't need to be prequalified through the PQC System. However, you would need to register with QBuild.

What's involved in prequalifying

To become prequalified, you must assess yourself against various criteria around experience, systems, people and business, as well as undergo statutory and referee checks as part of the application process.

Successful applicants are awarded 1 of 4 PQC levels, ranging from effective work practices (PQC Level 1) to leading-edge practice in a global context (PQC Level 4).

The services involving government building project contracts are rated according to their risk. Service risk ratings range from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest).

To be eligible to tender (either open or select) for a government building project, you must:

• be appropriately registered on the PQC System
• have a PQC level that matches or exceeds that project's service risk rating
• satisfy financial requirements
• meet project specific criteria.

The project manager for each project determines the service risk rating using guidelines developed for the PQC System.

Note: You can't tender for work as soon as you lodge your application. You must be prequalified and registered on the PQC System to be eligible to tender.