How to write an RFQ that gets good supplier responses

A good RFQ has eight parts: a project header, a scope summary, a line-item schedule, technical references, commercial terms, a required response format, a deadline, and one named contact. Get those right and suppliers return bids you can compare line by line. Get them wrong and every bid arrives on different assumptions, which costs you either money or a week of clarification emails. This guide walks each section with the details that matter on UAE and GCC packages.

Start with a header suppliers can qualify against

The header tells a supplier whether this RFQ is worth their estimating time: project name and location, buyer entity, package name, required delivery window, and whether the scope is supply only or supply and install. In the UAE, location matters more than buyers assume, because delivery to a Dubai free zone, an Abu Dhabi island site, and a Sharjah industrial area are three different logistics problems.

If the project has a consultant and an approved brand list, say so here. Serious suppliers price differently, and more accurately, when they know a submittal review is coming.

Write the scope summary in five sentences or fewer

One short paragraph: what is being bought, for what building type, at what stage. A supplier reading "supply of IP CCTV equipment for a 24-storey residential tower in Business Bay, handover Q1 2027, SIRA-compliant design already approved" knows instantly what to check before pricing.

The scope summary is not the specification. It exists so the right person at the supplier opens the attachment, and the wrong supplier declines quickly instead of ghosting you at the deadline. If you are still deciding whether the package needs an RFQ or an RFP, our guide to picking the right request type settles that first.

Structure line items so pricing cannot hide

Line items are where comparability is won or lost. The rules that hold up across AV, ELV, and lighting packages:

• One product or activity per line, with a model reference or specification clause, a quantity, and a unit.
• Group lines by system or by room, matching how the BOQ and drawings are organised.
• Separate equipment from labour: installation, programming, testing, and commissioning each get their own lines.
• State provisional quantities explicitly and name the assumption to price against.
• Include accessories that suppliers otherwise treat as excluded: mounts, licences, racks, patch cords, spare stock.

The difference between a BOQ and an RFQ schedule trips up many teams. A BOQ measures the works; an RFQ schedule asks for market pricing on a package extracted from it. Our guide on BOQ vs RFQ for ELV packages covers the translation.

Reference specifications, do not restate them

Attach the relevant spec sections and drawings, and reference them by number on the affected lines. Restating specifications inside the RFQ creates two versions of the truth, and suppliers will price whichever is cheaper to meet.

State the brand position explicitly: specified brands, approved equals allowed with flagged substitutions, or open. On GCC projects with authority-controlled systems, note the compliance regime on the face of the RFQ. A CCTV line that must meet SIRA requirements in Dubai is a different product from the same camera bought without that constraint.

Set commercial terms suppliers can price against

Every term you omit becomes an assumption, and assumptions differ per supplier. That is the root cause of most "cheapest bid turned out expensive" stories, a pattern procurement bodies like CIPS document consistently.

Dictate the response format

Tell suppliers exactly what to return: unit and total price per line, lead time per line or per system, brand confirmation, substitutions flagged with datasheets, exclusions stated, validity confirmed. If you issue the schedule as a spreadsheet, ask for it back in the same file.

This one instruction saves more evaluation time than anything else in the document. It is also the core of how RFQsNow works: suppliers bid inside a fixed structure, so the comparison step of the RFQ process takes minutes instead of days.

Deadlines, clarifications, and the last mile

Give five to ten working days for supply packages, longer where design assistance is involved. Name one contact for questions, and circulate every answer to all bidders. Close with the submission channel and cut-off time, and hold the line on both.

Before sending, run the two-minute test: could a competent estimator price this package without calling you? If yes, you will get bids you can compare. If no, fix the gap now, not through fifteen clarification emails later. To start from a working document instead of a blank sheet, download our free RFQ template, which carries every section in this guide. For the fundamentals behind the document itself, see what an RFQ is in construction.