Which compliance gates actually void a bid?
The ones written as mandatories: ISO 27001, ISO 9001, SOC 2 Type II, DISP membership, named security clearances, a licence the work cannot start without. If the evaluation table lists them as pass/fail, they are. If the conditions say the respondent must hold them at lodgement, they are. At award is still “today” for a bid/no-bid unless the path is named, dated, and owned.
The DISP glossary entry is the short version for defence. The long version is the same as any other mandatory: you hold it this morning, or you do not. Question 6 on the scorecard does not care that the application is in the post.
What does “held” mean for a certificate?
In date. In the bidding entity, or with a deed that lets you rely on the parent. Scope that covers the work, not a neighbouring office’s management system. A PDF of a certificate that expired in March is a no. A certificate in a related company with no flow-down is a no until legal says otherwise.
Clearances attach to people. Name them. A team that “can be cleared” is a review. A team that is cleared, free, and on the matrix is a yes on that line. Mixing the two in one row is how rooms hide.
When is pending a review, not a no?
When a named person will produce a named artefact by a named date, and the pack allows it. After that date it is a no-bid without another meeting. Starting the response on the hope that ASIO is quick is how a voided bid gets a week of people.
If the pack says held at lodgement, pending is a no. Do not invent a reading. The red flags include a mandatory you do not hold today for this reason.
How does this sit on defence work?
DISP, clearances, and often local-content or sovereignty language arrive together. The commercial clauses still sit underneath. Compliance is capacity. Indemnity is risk. Do not let a clean DISP tick rescue an uncapped deed. selrob’s defence and infrastructure page is that split as a product. This page is the tick on day one.
If you do not play in defence, the same logic applies to ISO and SOC 2 on a civilian pack. The letters change. The gate does not.