Pentest Report for a Tender: What Buyers Accept
A tender or client has asked for a penetration test report. Not just any document will pass their due diligence — here's what buyers actually accept, what they reject, and how to hand over something that clears procurement first time.
What buyers actually want to see
Procurement teams and client security reviewers look for a handful of things, and a report that misses them stalls the deal:
- Independent and accredited. A report from a recognised third party — ideally CREST-accredited — not a self-assessment. C3.3-style questions ask specifically whether testing was internal or third-party.
- Recent. Usually within the last 12 months, and re-tested after any significant change. A stale report gets rejected.
- The right scope. It must cover the system the buyer cares about — the application or service you're bidding to provide — not a token sample.
- Clear risk ratings. Findings scored consistently (typically CVSS), an executive summary a non-technical buyer can read, and detail your engineers can action.
- Evidence of fixes. A remediation plan and, ideally, a re-test confirming Critical and High issues are closed. Buyers want to see you acted, not just that you tested.
What gets a report rejected
The usual reasons: it's an automated vulnerability scan dressed up as a pentest; it's internal/self-tested with no independent name on it; it's out of date; it tests the wrong scope; or it lists findings with no evidence they were fixed. Any one of these can send you back to the start of a procurement round.
Tender-ready by design
We write reports to survive buyer scrutiny: CREST-accredited, scoped to what you're bidding to deliver, findings rated with CVSS, a board-readable summary, a remediation plan, and re-test evidence for the serious issues. You hand it over and procurement moves on.
Talk to us about testing
Tell us what you need looked at and we will tell you what the work actually involves, what it costs and when we can do it. CREST accredited, and the testing is done by the person you speak to.
Common questions
Will a vulnerability scan pass a tender?
Rarely. Buyers increasingly distinguish a manual penetration test from an automated scan, and many reject scan output presented as a pentest. If the tender says ‘penetration test’, give them a real one.
How recent does the report need to be?
Usually within 12 months, and re-tested after any major change to the system. If yours is older, most buyers will want a fresh test.
Does it need to be CREST-accredited?
Many buyers specifically ask for independent, accredited testing, and CREST is the recognised mark. Even where it's not mandated, an accredited report carries far more weight in due diligence.
Do buyers want to see the fixes, not just the findings?
Yes — increasingly they want a remediation plan and evidence that Critical and High issues were re-tested and closed. We include that so the report shows action, not just problems.
Related
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Understand your exposure
An attacker’s first move is not an attack, it is a look. So we look first, and send you what we find, worst first.
- Services and ports you did not know were open
- Security misconfigurations on anything public facing
- Known vulnerabilities already indexed by engines like Shodan
- Company credentials sitting in known breach data
The only question is: do you know where and how to look?
We reply within one business day. Prefer to talk first? 01902 288763 or info@solusec.co.uk.
Nothing is touched on your systems. It is all public and already indexed, just scattered. We pull it together, which is what an attacker does first.
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Tell us what you're bidding for and the buyer's requirement. We'll deliver a report built to clear their due diligence.