A request for cost data from one or more potential suppliers during a procurement process. The results are usually non-binding, so should be taken “with a grain of salt”. An RFQ can also include the request for schedule data, because there is often a trade-off between cost and schedule. RFQ’s are used, in part, to set and manage expectations within the procuring customer. They also effectively alert the potential technical base of the solicitor’s increasing maturity and seriousness.
An RFQ often follows an RFI and (if the cost-benefit trade appears advantageous to the solicitor) precedes an RFP. It can, however, be skipped if the solicitor possess sufficient insight to reliably estimate the cost of the material (or services) being procured. An RFQ is sometimes solicited concurrently with an RFI, occasionally as a single document.