An RFQ (request for quote) asks vendors to price a list of materials before you buy. Each vendor gets their own copy.
Before you start
You need the Admin or Purchaser role by default. Your company can change this per role in Company Settings.
RFQs are available on some plans. If Create RFQ is missing from the + menu, ask your account team.
You need a project, your materials, and at least 1 vendor contact.
Steps
Click + in the top navigation bar, then Create RFQ.
Select the Project and enter an Order Name.
Choose delivery or pickup, then set the Address and Requested Delivery Date.
Add materials with Search materials, Add Material or Import Materials.
Enter the Qty and confirm the Unit on every line.
Add a Cost Code and phase if your company uses them.
Under Vendors, search for and select every vendor contact you want to quote.
Write your message to the vendors, and add attachments if you have them.
Click Send RFQ.
What happens next
Each vendor gets their own copy of the RFQ with its own Ref Number, and an email link they can open without a SubBase account. The RFQ moves to Quote Requested, the default label for that status.
As soon as 1 vendor responds it moves to Quote Provided. Your company can rename both labels, so yours may read differently.
Attachments and the point of contact
Public Attachments go to the vendors. Internal Attachments stay with your team. The Point of Contact is who the vendor comes to with questions about the RFQ, and it starts as you.
Notes and limits
Click Save Draft to keep an RFQ without sending it.
Use Add delivery date if the materials arrive in more than 1 drop.
Vendors decide how long their quote stays valid. If the vendor set a date you see Valid Until on the quote. If they did not, the quote has no expiration date.
If a material is not in your database yet, use Create Material at the bottom of the material search. If your role cannot create materials the button reads Request New Material.
Best practices
Put every vendor you want to compare on the same RFQ. RFQ Leveling only appears when an RFQ went to more than 1 vendor, so quotes you send as separate RFQs can never be compared side by side.
Put scope and schedule detail in the message to the vendors, not in an attachment. Vendors never see Internal Attachments, and a vendor quoting the wrong scope is the most expensive kind of fast reply.
Leave Unit Cost empty on an RFQ. If a line already carries a price, the vendor's quoted price is not applied to it, and the banner reports that prices were skipped rather than applied.
If this doesn't work
Start a chat from the Messenger in the bottom-left of this page, or email help@subbase.io. Include the order or project number and what you expected to happen.