Most procurement teams don’t have a standard rfq template. They write a new request for quotation from scratch each time, or worse, they dig up an old one from someone’s email and modify it on the fly. The result? Suppliers respond in completely different formats. Half the quotes are missing information you asked for. And comparing bids side by side turns into an exercise in reformatting rather than actual evaluation.
This guide walks through what a solid RFQ needs to contain, how to write one in five steps, and includes a free rfq template your team can download and use today.
What Is an RFQ? (Quick Definition)
You know exactly what you need. The spec is locked. You just need a price. That’s when you reach for an RFQ. It’s different from an RFP, which asks suppliers how they’d approach a problem where the solution isn’t fully defined yet.
The request for quotation form is the standard instrument for categories where the evaluation is primarily about price, lead time, and commercial terms. Packaging materials. Industrial components. Maintenance contracts with a fixed scope.
What to Include in an RFQ: The 7 Key Sections
Here’s the request for quote format that produces responses you can actually compare. All 7 of these sections are included in the free rfq template below.
1. Company and Project Overview
Keep this short. A supplier reading your RFQ for the first time needs to know who you are, what you’re buying, and roughly how big the engagement is. That’s it. Save the company history for the website.
2. Scope of Work or Product Specifications
This is where most RFQs fail. If the spec isn’t detailed enough, suppliers interpret it differently and you end up with quotes you can’t compare. A packaging RFQ for a food manufacturer in Dallas should specify material type, dimensions, printing requirements, order volume, and quality certifications. Leave any of that out and you’ll get five quotes for five different products.
3. Delivery Requirements
A supplier quoting for delivery to a single warehouse in Chicago is pricing a completely different job than one quoting for split shipments across three sites in the Middle East. Where does it need to arrive, by when, and are there packaging or regulatory requirements at the destination? Spell this out. Ambiguity here turns into price contingencies that inflate every quote.
4. Evaluation Criteria
Tell suppliers how you’ll score their response before they submit it. Price might carry 50%, quality 30%, lead time 20%. Or the weighting might be different for your category. The point is: state it upfront so suppliers optimise their response for what you actually care about.
5. Submission Instructions
Format. Deadline. Who to contact with questions. How clarifications will be handled. If you don’t specify this, somebody will call you directly and get information that the other bidders don’t have. That compromises the process.
6. Terms and Conditions
Put your non-negotiables here. If your payment terms are net-60 and a supplier can’t work with that, you want to know before they spend a week preparing a quote. Cover payment terms, NDA requirements, IP ownership, and insurance minimums.
7. Pricing Format
Itemised or lump sum? Which currency? How long does the quoted price remain valid? A request for quotation template that specifies the pricing format saves your evaluation team hours of reformatting because every response comes back in the same structure.
How to Write an RFQ: Step by Step
Define what you need.
Identify and shortlist suppliers.
Complete the request for quotation form.
Send and manage the process.
Evaluate responses and award.
Run RFQ Via Structured Step-by-Step Approval Workflow
Free RFQ Template: What’s Included
Before you download, here’s exactly what’s in the template. It’s a Word document with all seven sections from above, each with labelled fields and brief instructions explaining what goes in each one. It’s built for procurement teams, not project managers (that’s the gap in every other rfq template out there).
The pricing section includes a pre-formatted table for itemised quotes so you don’t have to build one from scratch. The evaluation criteria section has a sample weighting framework you can adjust. And there’s an rfq example section that shows what a completed company overview and scope of work look like so your team isn’t staring at a blank page.
Download the free RFQ template below.
Fill in your project details and send to suppliers today.
Common RFQ Mistakes to Avoid
Vague scope of work. If two qualified suppliers can reasonably read your spec and quote two completely different products, the RFQ needs another draft. Write specifications to a level where any competent supplier would price the same thing.
Publishing without evaluation criteria is a recipe for arguments at award time. Define the weighting before the RFQ goes out. Price at 50%, quality at 30%, lead time at 20%. Whatever fits the category. Just state it.
We see this constantly: a procurement team sends an RFQ on Monday with a Friday deadline. Good suppliers won’t drop everything for that. Five to seven business days for standard categories. Two to three weeks for complex ones.
Only inviting one or two suppliers kills the competitive dynamic. Three to five qualified bidders minimum. That’s the range where pricing pressure works without creating unnecessary evaluation overhead.
And then there’s the RFQ that goes out, quotes come back, and nothing happens for three weeks. Set an internal evaluation deadline before the RFQ is issued. Communicate the award timeline to suppliers upfront so they know the process isn’t dead. For how supplier management keeps that communication on track.
