BOQ vs RFQ: the difference in ELV procurement

A BOQ (bill of quantities) lists what a package contains and how much of it, line by line. An RFQ (request for quotation) asks subcontractors to price those lines and sets the commercial terms they price against. The BOQ defines the scope; the RFQ turns it into bids you can compare.

On UAE ELV packages the two documents travel together: the BOQ usually becomes the line-item schedule inside the RFQ. This guide sets out what each one contains, who produces it, how one becomes the other, and the mistakes that leave ELV bids impossible to compare.

What is the difference between a BOQ and an RFQ?

The short version: a BOQ says what is being bought, an RFQ asks what it will cost and on what terms. People in the GCC market often use the two words for the same file, because the RFQ that goes out is usually the BOQ with commercial pages added. They still do different jobs.

What a BOQ looks like on an ELV package

An ELV BOQ is grouped by system. A typical villa or office package has a CCTV section (cameras by type, recorders, storage, monitors), an access control section (readers, controllers, locks, exit buttons), and a structured cabling section (outlets, patch panels, racks, cable by the metre). Each section closes with containment, testing and commissioning, and documentation lines.

Every line carries a description, a unit (nos, m, set or lot) and a quantity. Lines the designer cannot yet measure are marked provisional so nobody mistakes them for firm quantities. A ready layout with formula-driven amounts is in the free BOQ template.

What an RFQ adds to the BOQ

A BOQ on its own does not tell a subcontractor how to price. The RFQ adds the frame that makes every price mean the same thing:

• Supply only or supply and install, stated per section rather than assumed.
• Currency and tax basis, for example AED excluding VAT, and how long the quote must stay valid.
• The delivery or installation window, site access, and whether offloading and storage are included.
• Whether approved equals are allowed and how a substitution must be flagged.
• Authority compliance the price must cover, such as SIRA requirements for CCTV in Dubai or Civil Defence approval for fire-related ELV items.
• The submission deadline, the clarification contact, the response format and how bids will be evaluated.

The full section-by-section structure is in how to write an RFQ, and the definition of the document itself is in what an RFQ is in construction.

How a BOQ becomes an RFQ

• Check the BOQ against the latest drawings and specification. A quantity taken off a superseded revision is priced as faithfully as a correct one.
• Split it into the packages subcontractors actually price. CCTV, access control and structured cabling often go to different specialists, so each gets its own RFQ or its own clearly separated section.
• Keep the BOQ line references in the RFQ lines. When a bid comes back, every price then maps to one BOQ item without interpretation.
• Carry the provisional flags into the RFQ and say how those lines will be remeasured after award.
• Attach the drawings and specification, and ask for unit price, total, lead time and compliance notes on every line.

With the line references kept, the returned bids line up against each other and against the BOQ, which is the point of the exercise.

Do you need both?

For a defined ELV package, yes. A BOQ without an RFQ is only an internal estimate: it says nothing about terms, so any prices it attracts arrive on different assumptions. An RFQ without a BOQ asks each subcontractor to take off its own quantities, so the bids price different scopes and cannot be compared fairly.

The exception is work where the solution is still open, for example a design-and-build package where the subcontractor proposes the system. That calls for a proposal, not a quotation; see RFQ vs RFP vs RFI for where the line falls.

Common mistakes when ELV packages go out

• Sending the BOQ without the RFQ terms, so subcontractors guess the timeline, the award criteria and the response format.
• Sending RFQ terms without the BOQ, so each subcontractor prices its own reading of the drawings.
• Mixing supply-only and supply-and-install lines in one section without saying which is which.
• Removing the BOQ line references when the schedule is retyped, which makes the returned bids hard to reconcile.
• Pricing all cabling as a single lot, which hides the metre rate that is easiest to compare between bids.

Where RFQsNow fits

On RFQsNow a contractor posts the package once, with the BOQ lines as RFQ line items and the full BOQ attached. Subcontractors whose categories match the package price the same lines, so their bids arrive side by side. Posting, comparing and awarding are free for contractors. See how it works for contractors, from posting to award.