Glossary
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.
In short
A Werksanfrage is a wholesaler’s request to the manufacturer for the items of one project. It asks about project conditions, availability, delivery times, technical questions or an equivalent product.
The usual flow: the wholesaler receives a request for quotation from an installer, picks the items for each manufacturer and sends one Werksanfrage per manufacturer. The manufacturer answers with its offer, often as a PDF, and the wholesaler uses it for its own offer.
A project with products from several manufacturers leads to several Werksanfragen, one for each manufacturer.
Example
A wholesaler receives a request for quotation from an installer for the heating work of a project. The LV names products from several manufacturers. The wholesaler sends each manufacturer only the items that it covers. Each item is listed with its item number (OZ), quantity, long text and any Leitfabrikat.
The manufacturer answers with project conditions, availability, delivery times and its own offer, often as a PDF. The wholesaler takes these answers into its own offer to the installer, item by item.
What to watch for
Send only the items that the manufacturer covers, and send each one with its item number, quantity, long text and Leitfabrikat.
Ask for the lead time and for the validity period of the offer.
Track open requests, and send reminders when answers are late.
Match each answer back to its LV item before you use it in the offer.
Not to be confused with
Request for quotation: the request from the customer to the wholesaler. A Werksanfrage runs the other way, from the wholesaler to the manufacturer.
Purchase order: the buyer’s order. A Werksanfrage asks for conditions and an offer. It is not an order.
Usage: in German wholesale the word is also used for a request to any supplier, not only to a manufacturer.
In Mercura
In Mercura these are called supplier requests (German: Werksanfragen): items from the bill of quantities go to the manufacturer by email, and replies and the manufacturer’s offer PDFs come back to the request.
Related terms
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.
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.
Streckengeschäft (drop shipment in wholesale)
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.
Or equal (brand name or equal)
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.
Bedarfsposition (provisional item)
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.
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.
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