Answering the purposeful public procurement criterion on a Queensland Government tender
On a significant Queensland Government procurement, between ten and twenty per cent of the evaluation is a criterion the policy calls purposeful public procurement: the buyer picks two to four outcomes from a published list, weights each at five to ten per cent, and marks your response only on how it contributes to those outcomes. It is the one criterion whose marking guide is printed in a public document, so the response should be built around the outcomes the tender names, with facts a buyer can verify.
← All guides · Published 12 September 2026 · Written by Helm. Helm is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by any portal named here.
Where the criterion comes from
Rule 20 of the Queensland Procurement Policy requires a purposeful public procurement evaluation criterion on significant procurement, worth a maximum of between ten and twenty per cent of the total, made of two to four outcomes each weighted between five and ten per cent. If an agency does not apply it, it must document why. Whether a procurement is significant is the agency's classification, not yours; the tender documents will show the criterion and its weighting when it applies. A listing on QTenders often shows the split in its details, for example price seventy points and non-price thirty points with the non-price criteria named.
The outcomes the buyer chooses from
The policy's list, in its own order. The tender will name the two to four it is scoring; answer those and only those:
- Local benefits, including local workforces and the use of local suppliers in the supply chain.
- Support for local manufacturing.
- Regional and community benefits, and impacts on communities.
- Increased spend with small and family businesses and medium enterprises.
- Increased spend with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses.
- Increased spend with social enterprises.
- Increased spend with female-owned businesses.
- Improved environmental outcomes, including less waste and more locally recycled materials.
- Commitment to apprentices and trainees.
- Inclusive employment practices: people with disability, women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Spend with Queensland suppliers owned by or employing veterans, or supporting veteran transition.
- Enduring community value, including housing availability and affordability.
What a scoring answer looks like
The policy says the agency must consider only how your response contributes to the specified outcomes. So the answer is a set of commitments with numbers and names, not a values statement. For local benefits: the towns your staff live in with headcounts, the depot or office you will run the work from, the local subcontractors and suppliers you will engage with an estimated share of contract value. For apprentices: how many, in which trades, on this contract. For Indigenous or social enterprise spend: the businesses, what they will supply, the value. For environmental outcomes: the recycled content, the waste diverted, the measure you will report.
Make every commitment one you can report on. Rule 24 says contracts incorporate the specific commitments made in the offer and may require reporting on them, so an overstated local-content figure becomes a contract obligation you cannot meet.
Claims that score nothing
Seen in responses that lost the marks:
- "We are a proud Queensland company" with no address, headcount or supplier named.
- Outcomes the tender did not select. Answering all twelve dilutes the ones being marked.
- Future intentions with no mechanism ("we intend to engage local businesses").
- Copying the policy's wording back to the buyer instead of stating what you will do.
How Helm fits
When you draft a local-benefits, social or environmental section with Tender Mate on a Queensland Government tender, Helm shows the policy's outcome list as authoring guidance and tells the drafter to structure the answer around the outcomes the tender documents actually name. The facts come only from your profile: locations, staff, suppliers, certifications, apprentices. Where the profile has no fact, the draft carries a visible confirm marker rather than an invented figure. Record those facts once in the profile and the evidence library, and every Queensland response draws on the same set.