RFQ meaning: what a request for quote is and how a plant answers it
RFQ meaning: a request for quote (RFQ) is a document in which a customer asks suppliers to price parts it has already specified. This guide reads the RFQ from the manufacturer’s side: what it asks, how it differs from an RFP, and how to answer it fast.
What RFQ means
RFQ stands for request for quote, also written request for quotation. Carleton University’s financial services glossary calls it a direct solicitation to a vendor for pricing on goods or services the buyer plans to buy.
The Government of Canada’s buyer’s guide adds the condition that makes a request an RFQ. The requirement is clearly defined, so offers can be compared on price and delivery. The contract can then go to the lowest-priced offer that meets it.
For a manufacturer, that means the design work is done before the RFQ arrives. The customer sends a drawing, a quantity and a date, and asks what you would charge to make the part. Your answer is a quote: a price for each quantity, a lead time, a validity date and your terms.
Who sends an RFQ, and who answers it
The buyer sends the RFQ. At a company that buys parts, it comes from purchasing or from the engineer responsible for the part. It can go to one supplier or to several at once. The supplier answers: a machine shop, a fabricator, a molder or a distributor.
On the supplier’s side, the RFQ lands with the estimator or the owner, who turns a drawing into a price by the due date. Price is one of several things the buyer weighs. Carleton’s glossary tells its own buyers to consider price, quality, delivery, warranty and service standards when they choose between quotes.
RFQ vs RFP vs RFI
The three requests differ in how much the buyer already knows. The Government of Canada’s guide to types of bid solicitations sets out when its buyers use each one. Its page on the request for information covers the first step.
| Request | The buyer uses it when | The supplier sends back | How the buyer chooses |
|---|---|---|---|
| RFI, request for information | It needs detailed information and feedback before it settles the requirement | How it could meet the need, and ideas on how to structure the purchase | No award. It can lead to a short list and a later RFP |
| RFP, request for proposal | The requirement is not clear-cut, or terms have to be negotiated | A proposed solution to the problem, with its price | On how well the solution works, not on price alone |
| RFQ, request for quote | The requirement is clearly defined | A price and a delivery date for the defined item | On price and delivery. The lowest-priced offer that meets the requirement can win |
In manufacturing, the line between an RFQ and an RFP runs through the drawing. A finished drawing makes the request an RFQ, whatever the email calls it. A problem to solve, such as a load to carry, with the design left to you, makes it closer to an RFP.
One more difference matters on public work. CanadaBuys states that quotations are not offers to supply, and that a contract needs an offer and an acceptance of that offer. Read each RFQ’s terms for what your quote commits you to.
What a good RFQ includes
A complete RFQ lets you price the part without a phone call. Check every package against this list on the day it arrives, and send all your questions in one email.
The part
- The drawing, with its revision. The revision in the title block tells you which version you are pricing.
- The 3D model, often a STEP file, when the drawing does not dimension every surface.
- Material and finish, with the specification and any plating, coating or heat treatment.
- Tolerances and critical features, including the general tolerance note and any GD&T. What are tolerances and engineering drawing symbols cover how to read them.
- Inspection and documents, such as a first article report, material certificates or a certificate of conformance.
The order
- Quantities: the first order, the release size and the expected annual volume.
- Dates: when the first parts are due and how often releases follow.
- Delivery: where the parts go and who pays the freight.
The terms
- The due date for your quote, and the person to send it to.
- Payment terms, and how long your price has to hold.
- Confidentiality: whether the drawing comes under a non-disclosure agreement.
When an item is missing and the due date is close, quote with a stated assumption rather than wait. Write the assumption on the quote, such as the material you priced when the drawing names none.
Name the drawing number and the revision on every line of your quote. If the customer sends a new revision later, the quote shows which version the price covers.
How a plant answers an RFQ
A quote moves through six steps. Delay builds up between them, while the quote waits for a person, a price or an answer.
The cost and the price are separate steps for a reason. Costing vs pricing explains what each one answers and why a quote keeps them apart.
The first two steps decide how much of the window the rest can use. A package checked on the day it arrives leaves the estimator the full time to price it.
Where quote turnaround is lost
These are the waits that hold a quote back, and what shortens each one.
| The quote waits on | Why | What shortens the wait |
|---|---|---|
| The customer | A missing revision, quantity or finish | Check the package on day one and ask every question at once |
| An outside supplier | Plating, heat treatment or coating priced by another company | Keep recent prices by process and part size, and ask again only when they are stale |
| A material price | The last purchase of that material is months old | Price from recent invoices, and flag any price older than your limit |
| One estimator | Every quote goes through the same person | Write the price rules down, so a second person can apply them |
| Retyping | Data from the PDF drawing is keyed into a spreadsheet, then into the ERP | Read the drawing once, and link the quote to the ERP item |
| An approval | The owner signs every quote | Set approval limits by value or by margin |
To find your own longest wait, take five recent quotes. Note when each one arrived, when it went out and what it waited for in between.
Where software and AI fit
Quoting software keeps the price rules and the past jobs in one place, so the estimator starts from your own history. Manufacturing quoting software explains where the price on a quote comes from, and how to check the rule behind it.
AI can take on the reading. It can pull the customer, part number, revision, material, quantity and due date from the RFQ email and its drawings. It can also find the closest parts you made before and draft a price, line by line, from your own costs. AI quoting software describes that build, with an estimator approving every quote before it goes out.
In a ThriveAI build, your data is designed to stay at rest on your own server in Canada. Inference runs on that same server with an open-weight model, or through a frontier model under a written zero-data-retention control.