A request for quote asks one or more vendors to price the items in a requisition, so you can compare offers before committing a cent. It is how you shop a need around: the same requirement goes out to several suppliers, and each reply comes back as a vendor quote to line up side by side.
What you will learn
- What an RFQ is for
- What it captures
- How one requisition fans out to several RFQs
Anatomy of the screen
- Vendor – the supplier being asked, with their attention contact and email.
- Document – the RFQ number, a link back to the requisition, the needed-by date and delivery location.
- Items – the lines you want priced, carried over from the requisition.
- Requirements, remarks and attachments.
How it behaves
An RFQ is generated from a requisition and addressed to one vendor; to compare suppliers you issue several, one per vendor, from the same requisition. Each vendor's priced reply is then recorded against its RFQ as a vendor quote. The RFQ runs the usual Draft, Verify, Confirm, Cancelled cycle. In short: the RFQ asks, the quote answers.
Edge cases and good practice
- One vendor per RFQ. Issue several from a requisition to gather competing prices.
- Keep the lines faithful to the requisition so quotes are genuinely comparable.
Related
- How to: Send an RFQ
- Reference: Requisition
- Reference: Vendor Quote