How to Write an MEP RFQ That Gets Accurate Quotes

A request for quotation is a technical document, not just a shopping list. When an RFQ arrives without enough detail, the supplier has two options: guess, or come back with questions. Both cost days — and on a live site those days are almost never taken out of the procurement float. They come out of the installation programme.

What every line item needs

Each item in your request should carry enough information to be priced without assumption.

• Description and, where known, the item code or model
• Size or rating in the unit your drawings use (DN, inch, mm², kW, BTU/hr)
• Material or grade where it affects price, such as brass versus stainless
• Quantity and unit of measure — pieces, metres, sets
• Any standard or approval the specification demands

A useful test before you send: could someone who has never seen your drawings pick exactly one product off a shelf using this line alone? If not, the line is incomplete.

The details a supplier cannot invent

Beyond the basics, a short list of attributes decides which product is actually being asked for. Omitting them is the most common reason a quotation comes back qualified or provisional.

• End connection. Threaded, flanged, grooved, compression, push-fit or plain end for welding. The same nominal size of valve exists in all of them, at different prices and different installation cost.
• Pressure class and working temperature. These decide body material, seat material and often the whole product family.
• Material grade, stated exactly. For stainless steel items the grade is not a detail: 304 and 316 behave very differently in coastal air, and a specification that says 316 has usually said it for a reason.
• Thread standard. BSP and NPT are not the same thread. Drawings rarely say which one an existing installation uses, and site staff often assume.
• Conductor size, core count, conductor material and insulation type for electrical cable — cross-sectional area alone does not describe a cable.
• Duty point for pumps: flow and head together, plus the fluid and its temperature. A pump requested by motor kW alone can be quoted accurately and still be the wrong machine.

Give context, not just quantities

Suppliers price differently when they understand the application. State the service (chilled water, domestic cold, drainage, fire fighting), the operating pressure and temperature if known, and whether the item is for a new installation or a replacement on a live system.

Environment matters as much as service. Say whether the item is indoors, on a roof in full sun, buried, in a plant room, or in a coastal location. The same plumbing fitting may be entirely suitable in a conditioned riser and a poor choice on an exposed roof, and a supplier who knows the difference can flag it before the order rather than after.

Be explicit about what you will accept

Say plainly whether equivalent brands are acceptable. If the consultant has named a brand and no substitution is allowed, write that down. Silence on this point produces quotations that are technically compliant but commercially uncompetitive, or the opposite — and you will not be able to tell which from the price alone.

Distinguish three positions clearly, because they are not the same request:

• Named product only, no alternative
• Named product or approved equal, alternative to be submitted for approval
• Performance specified, product open — quote what you recommend and state why

The third position gets the most value out of a supplier, but only if you also say what the item has to achieve.

Name the approval route

Most GCC projects require the consultant to approve material before it can be ordered, and some systems face additional authority approval — fire protection work in particular is subject to a civil defence approval regime, and electrical goods sold into GCC markets fall under conformity schemes. Do not try to specify the current requirement yourself in the RFQ. State which authority is approving your project and ask the supplier which documentation they can provide for the offered item. That single question moves the documentation problem to the front of the process instead of the middle of it.

Set the commercial frame

Include the delivery location, the required date on site, and whether the price should include delivery. If the project is phased, say which quantities are needed first. Add the practical details that change a price without changing a product: who offloads, whether there is crane or forklift access, packing requirements for site storage, and the quotation validity period you need.

Where RFQs go wrong in practice

• A BOQ pasted straight into an email with descriptions truncated mid-line
• Mixed units across one list — DN for pipe, inches for fittings, no note of which governs
• "As per attached drawing" with no drawing attached, or a drawing at a superseded revision
• Sending different lists to different suppliers, then comparing the totals
• Sending revisions without a revision number or date, so nobody is certain which list was priced
• Quantities taken net off the model with no allowance for cutting waste on pipe and cable

Practical checklist

1. Project name and reference
2. Item list with sizes, materials, end connections and quantities
3. Service, operating conditions and installation environment
4. Applicable standards or approvals, and the approving authority
5. Substitution policy, stated in one sentence
6. Delivery address, access constraints and required date
7. Phasing, if the requirement is not a single drop
8. Quotation validity required
9. A named technical contact for clarifications

An RFQ built this way usually returns a firm, comparable quotation instead of a provisional one — and just as importantly, it returns quotations that can be compared with each other.