Read what the criterion really asks
The firm-experience criterion often fits in one sentence. Every word of that sentence filters your projects.
"Present no more than three mandates of a similar nature completed in the last five years for a municipal body." That sentence holds four filters: a number (three, not five), a nature (similar in what way, exactly?), a period (five years, counted from when?) and a type of client. A fourth project will not be read. A six-year-old project may not count.
For a public body, the tender documents must specify the elements required to reach the acceptable level of performance for each criterion. Read them before you choose. They often say what the similarity is about: the size of the mandate, its complexity, the type of client, the method used.
Two different kinds of experience: sector and type of mandate
This distinction often gets blurred, and it costs points.
Sector experience is about the client's field: municipal, health, agri-food, transportation, education. It shows that you know its vocabulary, its constraints, its budget cycles.
Type-of-mandate experience is about the work itself: a life cycle assessment, a survey, a strategic plan, a feasibility study, an audit. It shows that you master the method.
Take a fictional call for tenders. A city wants a life cycle assessment of its organic waste collection scenarios. Your firm has two projects in hand.
| Client sectormatches | Client sectordoes not match | |
|---|---|---|
| Type of mandatematches | Both No project in the library proves both. | The method Packaging LCA, food processor |
| Type of mandatedoes not match | The client Satisfaction survey, municipality | Neither Leave it out for this criterion. |
The first proves the method and the second proves the client, but neither proves both. Both can serve, provided you say clearly what each one demonstrates. "This mandate demonstrates our command of the ISO 14044 standard on a comparable system" is a sentence the evaluator can score. Presenting the municipal survey as a "similar" project without further detail is hoping nobody looks closely.
When the tender documents don't say, read the grid. If one criterion is about methodology and another about knowledge of the setting, the type of mandate mainly serves the first and the sector the second.
Choosing among your projects
List your candidates and look at each one from several angles:
- does the type of mandate match?
- does the sector match?
- does the project fall within the requested period?
- is its size or value comparable?
- was the firm the main contractor or a subcontractor?
- are the people who did it part of the proposed team?
- does the client agree to act as a reference, and is the contact up to date?
Then choose the projects as a set. Three projects that prove the same thing leave an element of the grid without proof, while three complementary projects can cover the method, the sector and the scale of the mandate between them.
How Clarido does it
This is the job of the Positioning screen. For each client expectation drawn from the tender documents, Clarido shows the projects and résumés in your library that answer it, and how well: covered, thin or none. You tick the ones you keep, and unticking removes nothing from the library. The projects you keep move into the proposal's plan, and the first draft draws on them from there.
A missing expectation is flagged before drafting, while you can still look for a partner or decide not to bid.
The project sheet that earns points
An effective project sheet gives the client and the period, the fee value if the tender documents ask for it, the firm's role, the team (naming the people who appear in this proposal), what was done, and a measurable result when there is one.
Above all, add one or two sentences that link this project to the mandate at hand, because the evaluator will not make the connection for you. It is often the part that gets cut when the deadline closes in, and it is the part that earns points.
Finally, check the reference. A client who doesn't remember the project, or a number that no longer answers, undoes the work on the sheet.
The firm's experience and the people's experience
Many tender documents score the firm's experience and the proposed people's experience separately. A mandate your expert carried out at her previous employer counts for her résumé. It does not count as the firm's experience unless the tender documents allow it. Mixing the two is tempting when the firm is young, and an attentive committee notices.
When no project fits
Sometimes no project in the library answers the criterion. Knowing that early is already useful. You can present the closest one and explain what carries over and what doesn't, team up with a firm that has the missing experience, or decide not to bid. That choice is yours. It is easier to make when the gap is seen before drafting rather than the day before filing.
Sources
- Regulation respecting certain service contracts of public bodies, CQLR c. C-65.1, r. 4 (updated to July 1, 2026), Schedule 2, s. (2) (elements of quality required for each criterion). legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/rc/C-65.1,%20r.%204
- Act respecting contracting by municipal bodies, CQLR c. C-65.01 (updated to August 12, 2026), s. 43 (criteria, maximum score and evaluation methods described in the tender documents). legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/lc/C-65.01