Request for quotation procedure

You can use the request for quotation (RFQ) procedure to request bidders (buy-from business partners) to provide you with an offer for goods and services. You can compare the received RFQ responses (bids) to select the one that best fits your requirements.

These RFQ procedures are available:

  • Manual RFQ procedure
    Use this procedure to manually create RFQs and send them to bidders. You can select the bidders to whom you want to send an RFQ manually, or based on the approved supplier list.
  • Generate RFQ procedure
    Use this procedure to automatically generate RFQs and send them to bidders. The creation of RFQs and the assignment to bidders is performed in one of the generate sessions.

Use the manual RFQ procedure to create an RFQ for one item. If you want to create an RFQ for several items and/or several item groups, the generate RFQ procedure is more suitable.

The request for quotation (RFQ) procedure includes these phases:

  1. Creating and sending RFQs to bidders
  2. Receiving, negotiating, comparing, and selecting the bidders' responses
Note

On a request for quotation (RFQ) line, the item code can be blank. Therefore, the requester can request to bid for a new item. When the status of a response line that is linked to the RFQ line is Accepted, the item code becomes mandatory.

Creating and sending RFQs
Step 1. Purchase Request for Quotation - Lines (tdpur1600m000)

Use the Request for Quotation (tdpur1600m000) session to:

Step 2. RFQ Bidders (tdpur1505m000)/ Add Bidders to RFQ (tdpur1221m000)

This step only applies to the manual RFQ procedure. In the generate RFQ procedure, the generated RFQs are directly linked to the selected bidders.

In the manual RFQ procedure, you can link bidders to RFQs as follows:

On the Bidders tab in the Purchase Request for Quotation - Lines (tdpur1600m000) session, you can view which bidders are linked to the RFQ.

Step 3. Print Request for Quotations (tdpur1401m000)

After the RFQ is created and bidders are linked, you must print the RFQ in the Print Request for Quotations (tdpur1401m000) session to send it to the bidders.

Receiving, negotiating, comparing, and selecting RFQ responses
Step 1. RFQ Responses (tdpur1506m000)

RFQ responses received from a bidder can be specified in the RFQ Responses (tdpur1506m000) session. An RFQ response includes one or more response lines.

Step 2. RFQ Negotiations (tdpur1606m000)

Optionally, you can negotiate the bidder's responses and specify your counter proposals in the RFQ Negotiations (tdpur1606m000) session.

The latest negotiation response information, which includes prices, discounts, and dates is synchronized to the RFQ Responses (tdpur1506m000) session. Counter proposal information is not synchronized.

Step 3. RFQ Compare Responses (tdpur1600m100)

You can compare and rank the RFQ responses using the RFQ line, RFQ bidder, and RFQ response sessions.

In the RFQ Compare Responses (tdpur1600m100) session, the response lines with the status Responded, Negotiating, or Accepted can be compared and ranked. This session helps you select the best responses for conversion. You can perform an analysis for a single line or all the lines of the RFQ.

The response lines are compared and ranked based on:

  • Objective and subjective criteria, if a criteria set is specified for the RFQ.
  • Prices and amounts. Prices and amounts can also include landed costs (bidder and third party).

Note: Although no criteria set is required for a comparison based on prices and amounts, you can also specify prices as criteria in a criteria set.

Step 4. Convert RFQs (tdpur1202m000)

After accepting a response line, for which you set the status to Accepted, you can use the Convert RFQs (tdpur1202m000) session to convert the response line to a purchase order, purchase contract, or price book.

For a selected response line, you can start this session as follows:

  • By clicking Convert RFQs on the appropriate menu of the RFQ Responses (tdpur1506m000) session. This command is enabled only if the Conversion Action field is set to Convert and the Conversion Type field is specified in the RFQ Responses (tdpur1506m000) session.
  • By clicking Convert and then Convert to Order, Convert to Contract, or Convert to Price Book on the appropriate menu of the RFQ Compare Responses Based on Criteria Set (tdpur1511m000), RFQ Compare Responses Based on Prices (tdpur1511m100), RFQ Compare Responses Based on Criteria Set Grouped by Bidder (tdpur1511m200), or RFQ Compare Responses Based on Amounts Grouped by Bidder (tdpur1511m300) sessions.
Step 5. Delete Request for Quotations (tdpur1205m000)/ Process Non-Converted RFQ Responses (tdpur1223m000)

Use the Delete Requests for Quotation (tdpur1205m000) session to delete RFQs that are expired, have no response returned, or were never linked to a bidder.

Use the Process Non-Converted RFQ Responses (tdpur1223m000) session to process response lines for which the Conversion Action is Ignore, or delete response lines for which the Conversion Action is Delete.