Sustainability documents a tender will ask a supplier for

At a glance

Step: 1 statement, 2 declaration, 3 test report, 4 certified (see the drawing). The sorting and last column are our reading of practice.

Sort every document by who has checked it

A tender questionnaire lists documents as if they were equals. They are not. A letter from the supplier, a data sheet from the board maker, a laboratory report and a certificate from an independent body each rest on a different check. The drawing sorts them into four steps by who has looked at the claim:

• 1 Statement. The supplier says so. Honest or not, it is one party’s word. Ask who signed it and what evidence they hold.
• 2 Declaration. The maker states the product’s content or performance in a set format, such as a data sheet. It is checked by nobody outside the maker unless it is audited.
• 3 Test report. A laboratory tested a sample to a named method. Ask what was tested, to what edition, and whether the laboratory is accredited.
• 4 Certified. An independent body audited the organisation or verified the declaration, and keeps a public record you can look up.

A higher step is not automatically better for your question. A step 4 certificate for the wrong product group, or an organisation-level certificate offered as if it described the piece, proves nothing about the piece. The rule is the same at every step: the document must name what it covers, and you check that it covers what you are buying.

What each document does not show

Most disputes over sustainability paperwork come from reading a document as proof of something it does not claim. The checklist above says what each shows; this table says what to avoid reading into it.

On timber, the two sheets that go deeper are specifying FSC and PEFC, which covers claim types, the invoice and the UK Timber Regulations, and, for floors, sustainability paperwork for floors. This sheet does not repeat them.

Where each comes from, and when to ask

Most of these documents start with someone other than the maker: the board maker, the merchant, the finish supplier, a certification body. The maker can pass them on, but cannot create them. So ask early, say which you need, and say what they are for.

Put the list in the tender, as folder 08 of the RFQ pack, so it is priced, and apply four checks to whatever comes back:

1. Name the item. Every document must say which item, material or product group it covers. One that does not cover your item is not evidence for it.
2. Check who issued it, and look up certificates in the issuing body’s own database, not from a copy alone.
3. Read the date and the edition. An old certificate or report may refer to a superseded standard.
4. File it against the item code in the FF&E schedule, and keep the original in the certificate file for the handover pack.

What is realistic for a one-off piece

The International EPD System says a single-product EPD normally applies to a product that has been on the market for at least a year. A piece made once, for one room, is not that. So an EPD for the finished piece is not a realistic ask. What exists are EPDs, certificates and data sheets for the materials: the board, the metal, the glass, the foam, the finish. That is the evidence to request, with a bill of materials that says which of them went into the piece.

Three habits help. Say what the document is for. A project assessed under a building-assessment scheme needs what that scheme’s manual says, for the version in use (we have not read BREEAM’s manuals: check the current one). A client policy needs what the policy says. A public tender needs what the tender says. Ask for a few documents you will use, not every document on a long list. Say whether each is required, scored or optional, so a small workshop is not marked down for a certificate the tender never needed.

An organisation-level document such as a management-system certificate or a modern slavery statement is the same for every item a supplier makes, so it can be asked once at tender. A material-level document is asked for each material, as the drawing, the finish and the board are chosen.

Public-sector tenders and building schemes

Public tenders put the same questions in a standard format, and the format has changed. The Standard Selection Questionnaire in PPN 03/23 (April 2023) was written for procurements under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and gov.uk now lists it as out of date; a later version, PPN 03/24, is listed as live for that regime, and procurements commenced on or after 24 February 2025 fall under the Procurement Act 2023, whose own notes are listed separately. Check which regime a tender is under before you rely on any question you have seen.

The 2023 questionnaire we read shows what central government was asking about. It had an optional question on a carbon reduction plan for contracts of £5 million a year or more, and an optional question on modern slavery in supply chains, asking for a published statement or an equivalent document from suppliers that are not legally required to publish one. It did not name ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. For procurements under the 2023 Act, PPN 006 (published 17 February 2025) covers carbon reduction plans on central government contracts with an estimated value above £5 million a year including VAT, and asks for a net zero by 2050 commitment, emissions reporting and publication on the supplier’s website.

The law on modern slavery statements is narrower than the questions. Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires a statement from commercial organisations carrying on business in the UK above a turnover threshold, which regulations set at £36 million, and requires it to be published on the website where the organisation has one. A smaller supplier has no duty under that section, so a tender that wants something should say what an equivalent document is. Tenders may also score social value: that is a separate set of rules and is not covered here.

With the tender [or: before order], [Supplier] is to submit those of the following that apply to the work, or state for each why it does not: (a) timber, veneer and timber-based board: the evidence in clause [timber clause]; (b) boards: emission class and declaration of performance for each grade [named]; (c) finishes and adhesives: data sheets and [VOC statement / test report to [method named by the project scheme]]; (d) environmental product declarations for the items or, where none exists, for the principal materials, stating the programme, the product category rules and the declared unit; (e) a bill of materials for each item stating species, boards, metals, finishes, fabrics [and recycled content]; (f) a written, dated statement on UK REACH Candidate List substances above 0.1% by weight in articles supplied; (g) [management-system certificates, with scope]; (h) [a modern slavery statement, or an equivalent published document]. Each document is to name the item or material it covers, its issuer and its date.

Documents are checked on receipt by [name]. Certificates are checked in the issuing body's own database. A document that does not name the item or material supplied, or that is out of date, is not accepted as evidence for it. Evidence is filed against the item code in the FF&E schedule and copied into the handover pack, section 03.

Where no environmental product declaration exists for an item, [Supplier] is to give the declarations and certificates that exist for its principal materials and to say what is not covered. No embodied-carbon figure is accepted unless it states the method, the life-cycle stages included, the declared unit and the source of the data.

A supplier's statement is signed by [role], dated, names the products it covers and says what evidence the signatory holds. A statement is accepted in place of a document only where clause [ ] says so.

Standards and sources

• gov.uk: Procurement policy notes (collection), with PPN 03/23 and PPN 006: read 5 Nov 2026; PPN 03/23 (Apr 2023) listed out of date; Procurement Act 2023 notes apply to procurements commenced on or after 24 Feb 2025.
• PPN 006: Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans: published 17 Feb 2025, updated 10 Jul 2025; paras 2, 3, 9 to 11.
• Modern Slavery Act 2015, section 54; SI 2015/1833, regulation 2: read 5 Nov 2026; threshold £36 million (as-made text).
• HSE: UK REACH substances of very high concern: read 5 Nov 2026; Candidate List page updated 9 Mar 2026.
• International EPD System: What is an EPD; ISO 14025:2026 news: read 5 Nov 2026; news item dated 30 Jun 2026.

Questions we are asked

Does a bespoke piece need an EPD?

Not necessarily, and an EPD for a finished one-off piece is rarely realistic: the International EPD System says a single-product EPD normally applies to a product that has been on the market for at least a year. Ask instead for EPDs, certificates and data sheets for the principal materials, with a bill of materials, and say what the client or scheme needs them for.

Is an ISO 14001 certificate proof that a piece is sustainable?

No. A management-system certificate is about how an organisation is run, not about any product. Check the scope, the date and the issuing body, and treat it as one piece of evidence about the supplier. The tender should say whether it is required or only scored.

What is the difference between a certificate and a declaration?

A certificate is issued by an independent body that audited the organisation or product and keeps a public record you can look up. A declaration is made by the maker, usually in a set format such as a data sheet, and is not checked by anyone else unless it is audited. The evidence ladder on this sheet sorts documents that way.

Does FSC or PEFC certification make timber legal under the UK Timber Regulations?

No. Certification can form part of the evidence, but FSC UK says an FSC certificate on its own would not be sufficient as a due diligence system. See specifying FSC and PEFC for the claim types, the invoice checks and the regulations.

What do public-sector tenders ask for?

It depends on the authority and the regime. The 2023 standard questionnaire we read had optional questions on a carbon reduction plan for central government contracts of £5 million a year or more and on modern slavery statements, and it did not name ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. That notice is now out of date, so check the questions in the tender you are answering.

What should I do with the documents once I have them?

Check that each names the item or material it covers, look certificates up in the issuer’s database, file each against the item code in the FF&E schedule, and put the originals in the certificate section of the handover pack.