Glossary: terms from tenders, orders and product data

A Bedarfsposition (also Eventualposition) is an item in a German bill of quantities for work that is only carried out if the client orders it during construction. Without total, the bidder states a unit price only.

A bid tabulation (Preisspiegel) is a table that sets the received bids side by side, usually item by item with unit prices and totals, so the client can compare them after the bids are opened.

A bid validity period (Bindefrist) is the period during which a bidder is bound to its bid and the client can accept it. After it ends, the bidder is no longer bound.

A bill of quantities (German: Leistungsverzeichnis, LV) lists the work of a tender item by item, each with an item number, a description and a quantity, so that bidders can make an offer.

A change order is a change to the work, or extra work, that the client orders after the contract has been awarded. In Germany the contractor’s price for it is the Nachtragsangebot (Nachtrag).

A D83 is a request for quotation in the older GAEB 90 format, a text file with fixed fields. It carries the same kind of content as an X83.

GAEB is the German standard for exchanging bills of quantities in construction, named after the Gemeinsamer Ausschuss Elektronik im Bauwesen. Files end in X8x (GAEB DA XML), D8x (GAEB 90) or P8x (GAEB 2000).

GAEB numbers the steps of a tender as exchange phases, for example 81 Leistungsbeschreibung, 83 request for quotation, 84 bid and 86 contract award. The letter in front shows the format: X, D or P.

Kurztext and Langtext are the two texts of every item in a German bill of quantities. The Kurztext is a one-line label, and the Langtext is the full description of the work with material, dimensions, norms and scope.

A Leistungsbeschreibung describes the work being tendered. It is the umbrella term: a Leistungsverzeichnis, with quantities for each item, is one form of it, and a Leistungsprogramm, with goals and requirements, is the other.

MasterFormat is the system of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) for numbering and organising the specifications of construction projects in the US and Canada. It has 50 divisions, 00 to 49.

A material takeoff (Mengenermittlung, quantity takeoff) is the counting and measuring of the quantities of work and material for a project, from the drawings before construction and by measuring what was built afterwards (Aufmaß).

A Nebenangebot is the bidder's own alternative proposal to a tender, for example with another design, method or product. The tender documents state whether it is allowed, and whether only together with a main offer.

An Ordnungszahl (OZ) is the unique number of an item in a German bill of quantities. It shows where the item sits, for example 01.02.0030 for item 0030 under levels 01 and 02.

Positionsarten are the item types of a German bill of quantities, such as normal, base, alternative and provisional items. The type decides whether an item counts toward the bid total.

STLB-Bau (Standardleistungsbuch für das Bauwesen) is a digital, dynamic text system with standard wording for VOB-compliant tender texts. Its texts are organised by trade.

A unit price (Einheitspreis, EP) is the price for one unit of a bill of quantities position, such as one metre or one piece. Quantity times unit price gives the item total, and the item totals add up to the bid total.

A Wahlposition (also Alternativposition) is an alternative to a Grundposition in a German bill of quantities. The bidder gives a price for both, and the client decides later which one is commissioned.

An X83 is the GAEB DA XML file a client sends to bidders with a request for quotation: the bill of quantities with texts and quantities, but without prices.

An X84 is the bidder's answer to an X83 in GAEB DA XML: unit prices and totals for each item plus bidder text additions, without the item texts.

A line card is the list of manufacturers and product lines that a distributor carries and is authorised to sell. Distributors publish it as a PDF or as a web page.

Objektgeschäft (project business) is business tied to one specific construction project, the Objekt or Bauvorhaben. It usually starts with a tender that includes a bill of quantities, unlike the day-to-day stock and counter business.

Or equal (brand name or equal) is a specification clause that names a product as the standard and allows an equal product that meets the salient characteristics stated in the specification. The offer has to identify the product it offers.

A request for quotation (RFQ) is a buyer’s request asking suppliers to make an offer for defined goods or services, with quantities and dates. The request itself does not bind. The offer does.

A Streckengeschäft (drop shipment) is a sale in which the wholesaler buys and sells the goods, but the manufacturer delivers them directly to the customer or the construction site. The goods never pass through the wholesaler’s warehouse.

A submittal is a US construction term for the documents a contractor sends to the architect and engineer for approval before ordering or installing products. Typical contents are product data, shop drawings and samples.

TGA (building services, MEP) is the Technische Gebäudeausrüstung of a building: its technical systems, from water, gas and wastewater pipes to heating, ventilation, electrical power and building automation.

A Werksanfrage is a wholesaler’s request to a manufacturer about the items of a project: project conditions, availability, delivery times, technical questions or an equivalent product.

A Lieferavis (advance ship notice, ASN) is the supplier's electronic notice that goods have been dispatched or are ready for dispatch. It is sent before the goods arrive and says which order, packages and items are on the way.

ANSI X12 (ASC X12) is the EDI standard used mainly in North America. It defines numbered transaction sets for business documents, such as the 850 purchase order and the 855 purchase order acknowledgment.

CPQ (configure, price, quote) is software that helps sales teams configure products from a product model, apply price rules and generate quotes.

The EDI 810 is the ANSI X12 transaction set for an invoice: the billing for goods and services delivered.

The EDI 850 is the ANSI X12 transaction set for a purchase order: the buyer's order with items, quantities, prices and delivery details.

The EDI 855 is the ANSI X12 transaction set with which a seller acknowledges a buyer's purchase order, accepting, changing or rejecting its lines.

The EDI 856 is the ANSI X12 ship notice/manifest, also called advance ship notice (ASN): it tells the buyer what is in a shipment before it arrives.

EDIFACT (UN/EDIFACT) is the international EDI standard of the United Nations, maintained by UN/CEFACT. Its syntax rules are set out in ISO 9735, and it defines messages such as orders and invoices.

The IDS interface, also called IDS Connect, links a wholesaler's web shop with installer software in the German plumbing and heating (SHK) trade. The installer fills a shopping cart in the shop and sends it back into their software.

openTRANS is an XML standard for business documents in the order process, such as orders, order responses, dispatch notifications and invoices. It is built on BMEcat, the format for product catalogues.

An order acknowledgement (Auftragsbestätigung, AB) is the seller's confirmation of a customer's order. It states the items, quantities, prices, delivery dates and terms.

Order entry is the step in which an incoming customer order is entered into the seller's ERP as a sales order, by hand, by EDI or by software that reads emails and PDFs.

A punchout catalog lets a buyer’s procurement system use a supplier’s online shop. The buyer jumps into the shop, fills a cart, and the cart returns to the buyer’s system, where the order is placed.

A purchase order (PO) is the buyer's document that orders goods or services from a supplier. It states the PO number, the buyer, the ship-to address, the line items, the requested dates and the terms.

A sales order is the record a seller keeps of a customer order in its own ERP system. It is created from the customer’s purchase order or from an accepted quote.

Touchless order processing (German: Dunkelverarbeitung) is a business process that runs fully automatically, without anyone touching it. An incoming order is read, checked against master data and created in the ERP without manual work.

UGL (Übergabeschnittstelle lang) is a data exchange format between installer software and wholesalers in the German SHK and electrical trades. It carries the documents of a job, from the price request and offer to the order and the invoice.

BMEcat is an XML format for electronic product catalogues, used mainly by manufacturers to deliver article data, often with ETIM or ECLASS features, to wholesalers and buyers.

Datanorm is a file format for article and price data in the German plumbing, heating and electrical trade, exchanged between wholesalers and the installers they supply. Versions 4 and 5 are in use.

ECLASS is a data standard for classifying and describing goods and services with classes and properties. Every product or service can be given an 8-digit code, and the standard is maintained by ECLASS e.V. in Cologne.

ETIM is the international classification standard for technical products. It sorts products into classes and describes each class with a fixed set of features, so that products of different manufacturers can be compared by their technical data.

A packaging unit (pack size) is the quantity of an article that is packed and sold together, for example a box of 100 screws, a pack of 6 or a coil of 50 m. Orders are placed in whole packaging units.

A part number cross reference is a table that maps one part number to an equivalent one: the product of a competitor to your own, a customer number to your article number, or an old number to its successor.

A spec sheet, also called a data sheet, is the manufacturer’s document with the technical data of one product or product series: dimensions, materials, ratings, norms, certificates, options and order codes.

A unit of measure (UoM) is the unit in which a quantity is counted or measured, such as piece, metre, square metre, kilogram or pack. Every order line, LV position and catalogue article has one.