Capability statement template for Australian government tenders

A capability statement is a one or two page document that tells a government buyer what you do, who you have done it for, and why you can be trusted with their contract. It is the single most useful marketing asset a business chasing government work can own — you attach it to tender responses, email it to head contractors chasing subcontractors, and hand it over at industry briefings.

Most capability statements fail for the same reason: they describe the business instead of answering the buyer's question. This template is structured to answer the question.

The template structure

Six sections, in this order. The order matters — buyers skim, and the sections are sequenced so that a ten second skim still delivers the important information.

1. Company snapshot

A header block, not prose. The buyer needs to confirm you are a real, eligible business within seconds.

• Legal entity name and trading name
• ABN, and whether you are registered for GST
• Business structure and year established
• Number of employees, and whether they are employed or subcontracted
• Geographic service area — be specific, "NSW" is less useful than "Sydney metro and Illawarra, with crews mobilised to regional NSW"
• Any supplier registrations or prequalifications you hold

If you are unsure whether your ABN details are current and correctly registered, check before you publish anything — our guide to ABNs and licences for tenders covers what buyers verify and how.

2. Core capabilities

Three to six capability areas, each a short heading with two or three lines beneath. Use the language the buyer uses, not your internal language. If the agency calls it "hydraulic services", do not call it "plumbing work".

The test for this section: could a buyer read it and immediately know whether to shortlist you for a specific job? Vague statements like "a full range of building services" fail that test. "Backflow prevention testing and thermostatic mixing valve servicing across school and health portfolios" passes it.

3. Past performance

This is the section that wins work, and the section most businesses under-invest in. Three to five projects, each with client name, scope, contract value or size indicator, dates, and — critically — an outcome.

Quantify. "Completed on time and under budget" is an assertion. "Delivered 14 amenities refurbishments across 9 school sites within a 6 week holiday window, all handed over before term start" is evidence. If you have referees who will take a call, say so.

If you have limited government past performance, use comparable private work and be explicit about the comparability. Buyers understand new entrants; they do not accept vagueness. Council contracts are the fastest way to build genuine government references, which is why our guide to council tenders is usually where we tell new bidders to start.

4. Differentiators

Why you rather than the other three compliant bidders. This must be specific and, ideally, verifiable. Genuine differentiators include:

• Geographic coverage competitors cannot match — regional presence is a real advantage on remote work, as our WA civil tenders guide explains
• Accreditations or licences that narrow the field
• Response times backed by depot locations and crew numbers
• Specialist technical capability — heritage, cleared personnel, cyclone-rated construction
• Indigenous business status, social enterprise status, or local content credentials

"Committed to quality and customer service" is not a differentiator. Every competitor writes that sentence.

5. Compliance, licences and insurance

A clean list of what you hold, with numbers and expiry dates where relevant.

• Trade or contractor licences with licence numbers and issuing body
• Public liability cover amount, professional indemnity if applicable
• Workers compensation scheme and policy status
• Certifications — ISO 9001, ISO 45001, ISO 27001 for ICT
• Screening — Working with Children Checks, police checks, security clearances

Insurance limits are frequently the first thing checked and a common source of elimination. Our guide to tender insurance requirements sets out typical limits by sector and jurisdiction.

6. Contact

A named person with a direct phone number and email. Not "info@". A buyer with a live opportunity and a deadline will call whoever is easiest to reach.

Worked example: a trade business

Here is the same content applied to a fictional plumbing contractor. Note how specific every claim is.

Section	Content
Snapshot	Meridian Hydraulic Services Pty Ltd · ABN 12 345 678 901 · GST registered · Established 2014 · 11 employees, 3 crews · Sydney metro and Illawarra · NSW Fair Trading plumbing licence 123456C
Capabilities	Hydraulic services maintenance for education and health portfolios · Backflow prevention testing and TMV servicing · Amenities and bathroom refurbishment · Sewer and stormwater relining · 24 hour emergency response across Sydney metro
Past performance	Amenities refurbishment, 9 primary schools, Sydney South region, 2025, $840k — all sites handed over within the July holiday window · Backflow compliance program, 140 devices, local council, 2024–2026 ongoing — 100% compliance reporting submitted on schedule
Differentiators	Three crews with TMV and backflow accreditation, enabling parallel multi-site delivery in compressed holiday windows · Illawarra depot supporting genuine 2 hour regional response
Compliance	Public liability $20m · Workers comp via icare NSW, current · ISO 45001 certified · All staff hold Working with Children Checks
Contact	Sam Whitfield, Contracts Manager · 02 XXXX XXXX · [email protected]

That fits on two pages with room for a logo and a project photo. Compare it against the weaker versions in our capability statement examples, which show good and poor wording side by side for three different industries.

Formatting rules that matter

• Two pages maximum. One is better. Buyers skim; length reduces the chance the important parts are read.
• PDF, not Word. It preserves your formatting and looks deliberate.
• Name the file properly. "Meridian-Hydraulic-Capability-Statement-2026.pdf" beats "capability statement final v3.pdf".
• Update the date. A statement with 2022 projects as its most recent work suggests nothing has happened since.
• Tailor it. Keep a master version and adjust the capabilities and past performance emphasis for each opportunity. A statement aimed at a cleaning tender should lead with different projects than one aimed at a construction package.

Where the capability statement fits in the bid process

The capability statement does three jobs. It supports an EOI or tender response as an attachment. It is your introduction when approaching head contractors for subcontract work. And it is what you leave behind after an industry briefing.

It is not a substitute for a tender response. Responses must answer the published evaluation criteria in the buyer's required format — see our tender response template and how to win government tenders for that process. The capability statement establishes credibility; the response wins the contract.

Before submitting, run through the capability statement checklist — it catches the twenty things that most commonly weaken an otherwise good document. And if you want to see live opportunities to aim it at, browse open work by state and trade on our tender feeds or start with construction tenders.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a capability statement be?

One to two pages. Government buyers review many of these and skim rather than read. Anything longer than two pages dilutes the important information, and a three page statement is usually a sign the past performance section has been padded with narrative instead of evidence.

Do I need a different capability statement for each tender?

You need one master document and a habit of tailoring it. Reorder the capabilities so the most relevant appears first, swap in the most comparable past projects, and adjust the differentiators to speak to that buyer's context. The compliance and snapshot sections rarely change.

What if I have no government past performance?

Use comparable private sector work and state the comparability explicitly — scale, complexity, client type. Then prioritise winning small council contracts to build genuine government references, since councils have lighter compliance requirements and less competition than state agency work.

Should the capability statement include pricing?

No. Pricing is contract-specific and including indicative rates in a general document either undercuts you or dates badly. Keep pricing in the tender response where it belongs, informed by the method in how to price a tender.

Is a capability statement the same as a tender response?

No. A capability statement is a general credibility document you control the format of. A tender response answers specific published evaluation criteria in the buyer's mandated format and structure. Submitting a capability statement in place of a proper response is a reliable way to score poorly.