What it does
A request for quotation is easy to send and hard to compare. One supplier quotes per kilogram, another per pouch; one includes freight, another does not; one answers in a week and one does not answer at all. By the time the replies are in, the comparison is a spreadsheet somebody built by hand.
The RFQ module removes the retyping and the reformatting. You build the job once from an estimate you have already costed, send it to the suppliers you pick, and every answer comes back on the same basis — because the basis travelled with the job.
Building an RFQ
- Open RFQ in SCM and choose New RFQ.
- Give it a title and a currency — your own by default, with USD as the alternative.
- Add a job for each thing you want quoted, built from a saved estimate.
- Choose the suppliers, and send.
A job's specification is frozen when you add it. Editing that estimate next week does not change an RFQ already sitting with suppliers — they must keep quoting what you actually sent them.
Why the answers compare
- One basis per job Per kilogram, per pouch or per box, taken from your own estimate. Every supplier quoting that job quotes on the same footing, so the comparison is not adding kilos to pouches.
- One currency Set on the RFQ, not per supplier.
- Job by job Price, minimum order and lead time for each job; validity, freight, payment terms and remarks once for the whole request.
- Lowest marked, or nothing marked Where a price cannot be read as a number, or two suppliers tie, no lowest is shown and the reason is given.
What suppliers see, and what they do not
Suppliers receive the specification: structure, dimensions, quantity, print, finish, the unit to quote in, and anything you attach. They do not receive your costing. Your margin and price adjustment live on your estimate and never travel with the request.
A supplier can read only their own quote — enforced in the database rules rather than by what a screen happens to show. Clarification threads are private per supplier as well, so a question one supplier asks is not visible to their competitors.
Questions, and revised quotes
Either side can raise a clarification, and the thread stays attached to the RFQ. Quoting remains open while a clarification is open — that is precisely when a price is most likely to move. A revised quote is what compares and awards, and the earlier one is kept, so you can see that a price changed after a conversation.
For suppliers: quoting from the calculator
A supplier with calculator access can price an RFQ job from their own cost model rather than typing a figure. New Quote opens the calculator with the job already filled in — name, unit, quantity, dimensions, the buyer as customer and the RFQ number as the reference — and they pick their own structure and rates, because they are pricing against their own costs. The estimate stays linked to the quote, so the working behind a price is still there months later.
None of that is required. A supplier without calculator access quotes by typing the price, and always can — the module is for reaching suppliers, not for requiring them to subscribe to anything.
Awarding, and what you learn
- Compare Every supplier side by side, job by job, with the lowest marked where marking one is honest.
- Award Closes the RFQ, and everybody who quoted is told the outcome — including the ones who did not win.
- Documents The request and the comparison both print or share as a PDF on your own letterhead.
- Your numbers RFQs sent, how many are active, how quickly suppliers answer, how many invited suppliers answer at all, the value you have awarded, and how it compares with your own estimate.
Who uses it
- Packaging buyers and procurement managers One specification out, comparable answers back, and a record of who answered and how fast.
- Startup and D2C brand owners Reach several suppliers without knowing the trade's shorthand — the estimate you already built carries the specification for you.
- Suppliers Requests arrive with the specification complete and the unit stated, so there is less to chase before quoting.
The use cases on the home page cover all eight roles and which modules answer each.