PAS 91 was the form. The 60-page beige PDF that landed in your inbox before every council cleaning bid. You filled it in once, you saved it, you re-used it. Then in April 2023 BSI withdrew it.
It did not die a clean death. Some buyers still attach it. Most have moved on. If you're a small cleaning or FM contractor and a council has just asked for "your PAS 91", here's what that question actually means in 2026.
- PAS 91 was BSI's standard pre-qualification questionnaire for construction-adjacent work, including FM and cleaning.
- BSI formally withdrew PAS 91 in April 2023. It's no longer maintained or updated.
- For most public-sector cleaning and FM tenders, the replacement is the Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) under PPN 03/23.
- For high-value construction work over £5 million, PPN 03/24 brought in the Common Assessment Standard (CAS) as of 27 June 2024.
- Some buyers still attach the old PAS 91 form. Read the cover letter. Answer the version they ask for, not the one a competitor used last year.
What's in this guide¶
- What PAS 91 was, plainly
- Why BSI pulled it
- What replaced it for FM and cleaning
- Why you'll still see PAS 91 in tender packs
- Sections that bite cleaning firms hardest
- Build a profile once, reuse it forever
- When to step up to CAS
What PAS 91 was, plainly¶
PAS stands for Publicly Available Specification. BSI publishes them as light-touch standards that fall short of full British Standards but carry the same authority for the bits they cover. The number 91 is just a serial.
The job of PAS 91 was to give construction and FM buyers a single common pre-qualification form. Suppliers got to fill in one version instead of five different ones for five different councils. It covered company details, exclusion grounds, financial standing, insurance, health and safety, equality, environment and quality.
Most cleaning contractors only ever saw it as a PDF attached to a tender pack. The form sat in front of the bid itself, gating who was allowed to submit a priced response.
Why BSI pulled it¶
BSI formally withdrew PAS 91 in April 2023. The procurement world had moved on. The Standard Selection Questionnaire under PPN 03/23 already covered the same ground for in-scope public buyers. Tightening H&S requirements after the Building Safety Act made parts of PAS 91 stale.
Withdrawn doesn't mean banned. PAS 91 is still legally permitted because it stays consistent with the procurement regulations. Buyers can keep using it. They just can't expect updates or fixes.
What replaced PAS 91 for FM and cleaning¶
Three replacements matter, depending on the size and shape of the work.
- Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) under PPN 03/23. The default for most public-sector cleaning and FM tenders. Same questions in a tidier format.
- Common Assessment Standard (CAS) under PPN 03/24. In force from 27 June 2024. Required on public-sector construction-adjacent projects over £5 million. SSIP grades that map to it include CHAS Elite and Worksafe Pro.
- Specialist FM systems like Facilitiesline. Used on certain FM frameworks where the buyer wants sector evidence beyond what the SQ asks for.
All three ask similar questions: insurance, accounts, H&S, equality, environment, quality. The difference is depth and threshold. The SQ is the working horse. CAS is for higher-risk, higher-value work. Specialist tools sit on top of either, not instead.
Why you'll still see PAS 91 in tender packs¶
Two reasons. Some councils are slow to refresh their tender templates. They republish last year's pack with PAS 91 attached because nobody's been told to swap it out.
Some public-sector frameworks said openly they'd keep using PAS 91 in the interim while migrating to CAS. YORhub is one named example. There are others.
What to do when it happens: read the cover letter. Answer the version they actually ask for. If the pack attaches both PAS 91 and an SQ, raise a clarification question. Buyers have to publish their answer to every bidder, so you give nothing away by asking.
The over-policing problem¶
Most small cleaning firms are over-policed on pre-qualification for the risk they pose. A two-person window-cleaning company doesn't need the same H&S documentation as a national firm running NHS sites with 300 cleaners. The procurement world hasn't fully caught up.
Templates get written for the worst-case supplier and applied to everyone. If a council asks you to prove £10m public liability cover for a £30k school cleaning contract, push back. Send a clarification question and cite proportionate requirements under the Procurement Act 2023. You won't always win the argument. But you'll often save yourself from buying cover you don't need.
Sections that bite cleaning firms hardest¶
PAS 91 had the same five sections that almost every successor form still carries. The questions that catch small cleaning firms out are usually the same ones.
| Section | What the buyer wants | What you send |
|---|---|---|
| Health and safety | Proof of competent management of safety risks. Accident record. Named competent person. | One SSIP accreditation (CHAS, SMAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline). RIDDOR record for the last three years. H&S policy signed and dated. |
| Financial standing | Confidence the firm won't fold mid-contract. | Last two years of accounts. Sometimes a turnover ratio test (turnover at least 2x annual contract value). Bank reference for larger contracts. |
| Insurance | Cover that protects the buyer if something goes wrong. | £10m employer's liability (legal minimum if you employ anyone). £5m public liability as a floor. Sometimes £10m public liability for NHS or large estates. |
| Environment | Evidence you handle waste and chemicals responsibly. | Written environmental policy. Waste handling procedure. ISO 14001 if you have it. Real Living Wage commitment is increasingly expected. |
| Quality | A method for delivering consistent service and dealing with complaints. | Quality management policy. KPI plan. Complaints handling process. ISO 9001 helps but isn't a deal-breaker for sub-£100k council work. |
The five sections that show up in every PAS-91-shaped form, and what a small cleaning firm typically needs to send.
NHS-facing cleaning tenders go further. They reference the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness and ask for product evidence against BS EN 1276 (bactericidal) and EN 14476 (virucidal) disinfectant standards. If you're chasing NHS work, get your supplier to send you the test certificates and keep them on file.
Build a profile once, reuse it forever¶
The trick with PAS 91 and every successor form is to maintain a single, dated profile and copy-paste from it. When a tender drops, swap in the paragraphs that change per contract and submit.
Refresh the profile when accounts roll over and insurance renews. Twice a year, half a morning each time. The first SQ takes you a weekend. The fifth one takes an hour.
When to step up to CAS¶
For a small UK cleaning contractor working below £5m turnover, CAS is overkill on most jobs. CHAS Standard or Worksafe SSIP gets you through the door for council and school cleaning. The fee is a fraction of CAS-level memberships.
Step up to CAS-level accreditation if you're chasing high-value NHS work, sub-contracting under a Tier 1 FM provider that mandates it, or moving towards multi-million-pound contracts. Until then, basic SSIP plus a tidy compliance pack will hold most of what you bid for.
What this means for your next bid¶
PAS 91 isn't gone. It just isn't being updated. For most small cleaning and FM contractors, the SQ under PPN 03/23 is the form you'll actually fill in this year. Build the profile once. Keep it current. Reuse it.
Once your PAS 91 answers are tidy and ready, the bid itself becomes the easy part. For the mechanics of writing one that wins, see our step-by-step guide to bidding for cleaning contracts. If the whole tender process is still new to you, the primer on what a tender actually is is a faster read.
Sources
- Procurement Policy Notes (Cabinet Office collection) · PPN 03/23 (SQ), PPN 03/24 (Common Assessment Standard)
- Procurement Act 2023 (legislation.gov.uk) · Proportionality principle for SQ requirements
- BSI Group · Publisher of PAS 91 (withdrawn April 2023)
- Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) · CHAS, SMAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline + Deem to Satisfy
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
- The British Standards Institution withdrew PAS 91 in April 2023. The standard is no longer maintained or updated. Buyers can still use it because it stays consistent with the procurement regulations, but for most public-sector cleaning and FM tenders the Standard Selection Questionnaire under PPN 03/23 has taken its place.
- The Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) under PPN 03/23 is the main replacement for most public-sector cleaning and FM tenders. For high-value construction-adjacent work over £5 million, PPN 03/24 introduced the Common Assessment Standard (CAS), in force from 27 June 2024. Both cover similar ground but apply at different value thresholds.
- Send what they ask for. Some councils still attach old PAS 91 forms because their procurement templates haven't been refreshed. If the pack attaches both PAS 91 and an SQ, raise a clarification question. Buyers have to publish the answer to every bidder, so you give nothing away. Whichever version they confirm, fill that one in cleanly.
- Probably not. PPN 03/24 mandates CAS-level accreditation on public-sector projects over £5 million. Below that threshold, an entry-level SSIP membership like CHAS Standard or Worksafe SSIP is normally enough for council and school cleaning work. If a buyer asks for CAS on a contract under £5 million, ask them to justify it under the proportionality principle in the Procurement Act 2023.
- Health and safety, financial standing, insurance, environment, and quality. Most buyers ask for one SSIP accreditation, last two years of accounts, £10m employer's liability and £5m public liability, a written environmental policy, and a quality management process. NHS-facing work also asks for product evidence against BS EN 1276 and EN 14476 disinfectant standards.
- Yes, and you should. Almost every public buyer asks the same questions in slightly different boxes. Maintain one master profile. Accounts, insurance certificates, SSIP membership, equality and environmental policies, three named referees. Update it when accounts roll over and insurance renews. Each new bid is then mostly copy-paste with a few paragraphs that change per contract.