3 Things That Are Hurting Your Subcontractor Prequal Process (And How to Fix Them)

When prequal doesn’t work, most teams point fingers at the Subcontractors. But more often than not, it’s the system itself that’s broken. Here are three common pitfalls that undermine even the best intentions—and what to do about them.

1. You’re Relying on an SOP That Doesn’t Actually Work

If your process isn’t delivering clear, consistent insights, it’s not an SOP—it’s a checklist. Most qualification forms rely on self-reported data that’s incomplete, inconsistent, or irrelevant. If that information can’t be validated, and if it doesn't help you make a confident go/no-go decision, then the process isn’t doing its job.

Fix it: Focus your SOP on outcomes, not paperwork. Ask only for information that directly helps you evaluate risk. If the data can’t be trusted, don’t ask for it—or find a better way to get it.

2. You’re Treating All Subs the Same

A great Sub on one project could be a disaster on another. Applying the same evaluation criteria to every firm—without accounting for project type, size, schedule, or market conditions—turns risk management into a guessing game.

Fix it: Ditch the “one-size-fits-all” approach. Reassess each Sub for each project, and build your SOP to support those nuanced evaluations.

3. You’re Not Using Quantified Risk Data

If your process spits out vague scores or color-coded labels like “medium risk,” you’re leaving decision-makers to fill in the blanks with their own gut instinct. That’s not strategy—that’s roulette.

Fix it: Start measuring risk in financial terms. When you can say, “this Sub represents a $600k risk exposure,” you can actually weigh that risk against the potential reward.

Bottom Line:

Stop blaming the prequal process on Subcontractor performance. If your system isn’t producing actionable, defensible insights, it’s the system that needs a reboot.

Completely Unrelated Trivia Treasure: A 2018 study found that neckties reduce blood flow to the brain by 7.5%.