Capability statement checklist

A capability statement is usually written once and then sent for years. That makes the quality of the final review disproportionately important — an unquantified claim or a stale project list gets repeated to every buyer you approach.

Run this checklist against your document now. If you are building one from scratch, start with the capability statement template and return here before sending.

The snapshot

• Legal entity name is exactly as registered, and matches your insurance and licences
• ABN shown, and verified as active on the Australian Business Register
• Trading name registered against your ABN if you tender under one
• GST registration status stated
• Employee numbers stated, and whether staff are employed or subcontracted
• Service area is specific — suburbs, regions or a radius, not just a state
• Licence numbers included with the issuing body named

Entity name consistency across the statement, the insurance certificate and the licence is a recurring source of non-compliance, particularly with trust structures. See ABNs and licences for tenders.

Capabilities

• Between three and six capability areas — not a list of twenty services
• Each uses the buyer's terminology, not your internal terminology
• Each is specific enough that a buyer could match it to a requirement
• No catch-all phrases like "all aspects of" or "a full range of"
• The capability most relevant to the recipient appears first

Past performance

• Three to five projects, each with client, scope, value or scale, and dates
• Each entry names the constraint that mattered — holiday access, live site, compliance deadline
• Outcomes are quantified rather than asserted
• The most recent project is within the last twelve to eighteen months
• Projects chosen for comparability to the target work, not for size
• Referees contacted, willing, and briefed on which project is relevant

Stale past performance is the most common weakness. A statement whose newest project is from three years ago suggests nothing has happened since, regardless of how busy you have actually been.

Differentiators

• Each one would fail if a competitor tried to write it
• None are generic values statements — no "quality", "passion" or "customer focus"
• Each is verifiable if questioned
• Accreditations that genuinely narrow the field are highlighted

The test from our writing guide: could your three closest competitors write this same sentence? If yes, delete it and find something real. The worked examples show what survives this test across three industries.

Compliance and insurance

• Insurance types and limits stated, matching your target contracts
• Workers compensation scheme named for each state you operate in
• Certifications listed with certifying body — ISO 9001, 45001, 27001
• Personnel screening stated for the site types you attend
• Nothing listed that has expired

Check your limits against what your target market actually requires before claiming readiness — $10m public liability will exclude you from most state agency work. See insurance requirements.

Presentation and mechanics

• Two pages maximum, one preferred
• Named contact with a direct phone number and email, not a generic inbox
• Dated, so the recipient knows it is current
• PDF format, with a professional file name identifying your business and year
• No spelling errors in client names, agency names or trade terminology
• No previous recipient's name left in from a tailored version

That last check matters more than it sounds. Tailoring means multiple versions exist, and sending one addressed to a different agency is a credibility problem you cannot recover from in the same approach.

The final read

Read every sentence and ask one question: would a buyer choosing between us and a competitor change their mind because of this sentence? Anything that would not is occupying space that evidence could fill.

Then hand it to someone who does not work in your business and ask them what you do and who you have done it for. If they cannot answer both from a thirty-second skim, the structure needs work rather than the wording.

Before you send it

Decide what you are sending it for. Attached to a tender response it supports the criteria answers but does not replace them — see the tender response template and response checklist. Sent to a head contractor it is a subcontracting approach. Sent to a panel manager it supports a panel application.

Each use benefits from a slightly different emphasis, which takes fifteen minutes. Then find live opportunities to aim it at on our tender feeds — try cleaning, construction or your state feed such as Queensland. Trade-specific expectations are covered in guides like Victorian painting tenders.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I review my capability statement?

Refresh past performance whenever you complete a notable project, and run this full checklist at least annually or whenever insurance and licences renew. Because the document is reused for years, an outdated statement quietly undermines every approach you make.

What is the fastest improvement I can make?

Replace every adjective with a number. "Extensive experience" becomes a project count, "fast response" becomes an average attendance time against an SLA. This single pass typically does more than any amount of rewriting or redesign.

Should I list every service I offer?

No. Three to six focused capability areas read as expertise; twenty read as a business with no particular strength. If you genuinely serve distinct markets, maintain separate versions rather than one document attempting to cover everything.

Does my capability statement need a designer?

Clean, readable formatting with your logo is sufficient. Buyers score content, not design. Investing in professional design before the claims are quantified is optimising the wrong variable.

Can one capability statement work for every buyer?

A master version works as a baseline, but tailoring the capability order and past performance selection to each recipient measurably improves how it lands. The compliance and snapshot sections stay constant, so tailoring is quick once the master is solid.