How to read a QTenders listing: codes, criteria weightings, regions and closing times
A QTenders listing packs the facts a bid team needs into one card: the tender code and title, the issuing agency, a reference number, a details block that often states the price and non-price weighting and the licences required, the categories and products, the regions the work covers, and the opening and closing dates. Read in the right order it tells you within a minute whether the tender is yours, what the evaluation will reward, and where the documents live.
← All guides · Published 12 September 2026 · Written by Helm. Helm is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by any portal named here.
The header: code, title, issuer, reference
The code at the start of the title is the issuing program's own identifier and the listing names the issuer beside it, for example QBuild for building maintenance and works. The reference number on the card is the platform reference; QTenders runs on the same platform as the Queensland Supplier Portal, so the same tender carries the same reference on both, and Helm uses that reference to show a tender once even when it is published twice.
The details block: the evaluation in the open
Many listings state the evaluation split in the details, for example price seventy points and non-price thirty points, with the non-price criteria named: local benefits, support of social enterprises, program and methodology. That line is the marking scheme. It also commonly states a mandatory licence (a QBCC builders licence, for instance), the time for commencement and the date for practical completion, and where the tender documents are when they sit on another portal such as the QBuild eTender site. If a listing says the documents are elsewhere, register there before the closing week.
Categories, products and regions
Categories are the buyer's classification of the work and drive the notifications you receive; products and services narrow it. The regions chips list where the work will be delivered, and a listing that names most of the state usually means a program of work across districts rather than one site. Regions matter twice: for whether you can service the work, and for the local-supplier definition, which outside south-east Queensland an agency may apply by radius from the delivery location.
Status, opens and closes
The status badge says open, closed or awarded; only open tenders can be responded to, and Helm collects only those, with the awarded record kept separately. The closing date carries a time, and Queensland does not observe daylight saving, so a bidder in a state that does must convert in summer. A late lodgement is not accepted.
How Helm fits
Every open QTenders listing appears in Helm with an itemised score against your profile, and on Queensland Government tenders the policy panel sits beside it with the rule 20 weighting and the SME target. The deep read on paid tiers reads the full listing against your profile and adjusts the score with quoted evidence. Track it and the closing time joins your calendar with reminders at seven, three and one days, and Helm alerts you if the closing date moves or the listing is withdrawn. The open Queensland tenders are also free to browse by category on Helm's public Queensland page.