Request for Quotation (RFQ)
Also called: RFQ, request for quote, quote request
A Request for Quotation asks vendors for a price and delivery terms on a defined item or service. A quote is not an offer, so the government forms a contract only when it issues an order the vendor accepts.
Federal RFQs are the workhorse of simplified acquisition under FAR Part 13 and of orders against GSA schedules under FAR 8.405. FAR 13.004 is the section that says a quotation is not an offer, which is why an RFQ award arrives as a purchase order you can still decline. DLA issues most of its small buys as RFQs on DIBBS, often with automated evaluation.
What to check: the delivery date, the packaging and marking requirements, whether the buy is set aside, whether the item has an approved source or a part number restriction, and the evaluation basis (many RFQs are lowest price among technically acceptable quotes).
What it is not: an RFP. An RFQ rarely wants a narrative; it wants a price, a lead time and the representations. Sending a twenty-page proposal to an RFQ is a common first-year mistake.
See also: Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid (IFB), DIBBS and DLA, Simplified acquisition threshold (SAT)
Questions that use this term
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