Glossary
Request for quotation (RFQ)
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.
In short
A request for quotation (RFQ) asks a supplier for price and terms for defined goods or services, with quantities and dates. The request itself does not bind. The answer to it, the offer (Angebot), does.
Under BGB § 145 a person who makes an offer is bound by it, unless that person has excluded being bound.
Three terms need to be told apart. RFQ asks for price and terms for defined items. RFP (request for proposal) asks the supplier to propose a solution. RFI (request for information) asks for information only.
Example
A plumbing installer sends a wholesaler its request by email, with an LV, a PDF list, an Excel file or a GAEB file attached. The request lists the items, the quantities and the date by which the offer is needed. One item could read: panel radiator, type 22, height 600 mm, length 1,200 mm. In public construction tenders the formal version is the Angebotsaufforderung. As a GAEB file it is the X83.
The wholesaler answers each item with a price and a unit, and marks any alternative clearly. Once the offer is made, the wholesaler is bound by it, as described above.
What to watch for
Note the deadline, and answer before it passes.
Answer every item in the request. Each item needs its own answer.
Check units and quantities against the request, so that the offer matches what was asked.
Mark alternatives clearly, and keep the validity period (Bindefrist) in view.
Not to be confused with
Werksanfrage: the wholesaler’s request to the manufacturer. It goes from the wholesaler to the manufacturer, not from the customer to the wholesaler.
Purchase order: the buyer’s order. It is not a request, so it does not ask for an offer.
Functional tender (Leistungsprogramm): a functional description in which the bidder designs the solution from goals and requirements. It is closer to an RFP than to an RFQ.
In Mercura
Mercura reads requests for quotation from email, PDF and GAEB files and suggests a matching article from the customer’s own catalogue for every item.
Related terms
Werksanfrage (supplier quote request to the manufacturer)
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.
Purchase order (PO)
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.
Order acknowledgement
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.
Objektgeschäft (project business in German wholesale)
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.
Bid validity period (bid acceptance period)
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.
UGL (German trade data exchange)
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.
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