Question

2.

Which of the following statements is incorrect?

a.

The more detailed an RFQ is, the more accurate and comparable the quotes will be.

b.

Request for Information can be used in sourcing to help determine a supplier’s capabilities and financial health.

c.

RFQ responses can be used to form the buyer’s own Statement of Work.

d.

An RFQ can follow an RFP to help buyers to get more accurate quotes.

3.

Below information is cited from the website of the Purchasing Department of University of Nevada, Las Vegas: “If the purchase is a small dollar non-recurring purchase and meets all criteria for an allowable purchase, it may be made by authorized personnel within departments through the use of the PCard (the University’s purchasing card program). Typically, items like books, office, and lab supplies, can be purchased in-store, by mail, phone, or Internet with a PCard. Suppliers listed under Campus Contracts should be used whenever possible.” It is important that “suppliers listed under Campus Contracts” be used. However, there are situations where suppliers not listed under Campus Contracts are used, this kind of purchase is known as _________.

a.

Spot buying

b.

Small expenditure

c.

Bottleneck item

d.

Maverick spending

4.

The Purchasing Department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas also states that for purchases of equipment, supplies and services that are $25,000 or more but less than $50,000, a minimum of two written quotes are required. For purchases of personal, professional, and consultant services that are more than $25,000, but less than $50,000, at least two informal proposals are required. With respect to Request for Quotation (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP), which of the following statements is correct?

a.

RFQ cannot be used for service requirements.

b.

Both can be used with a Request for Information (RFI).

c.

RFP can only be used for service requirements.

d.

Both can be used for small random purchases.

Answer 1

Answer 2 :

Option d) is incorrect.

RFI - Request for Information - is a procedure in the procurement and sourcing process wherein the buyer intends to gather information about the suppliers.

RFQ - Request for Quotation - is used when the buyer is clear about what he wants to buy and price is the sole consideration to determine the prospective supplier.

RFP - Request for Proposal - is an invitation for suppliers mostly through a bidding process, seeking proposals to provide a specific product or service. At this stage, the overview of the requirement is understood but details is yet to be finalised by the buyer. The supplier is asked to provide possible solution and pricing is not the only consideration for the buyer.

From the above it is understood that RFP is a larger process than RFQ and usually RFQ maybe part of the RFP process in itself. While RP focusses on vendors to help with the solution to your business problem (the qualitative information ), while an RFQ asks vendors to price their solutions competetively.

Answer 3:

Option d) Maverick Spending is the correct choice which describes the type of purchases made by the university staff. When purchases are supposed to made only with contracted suppliers and and a purchase is made in contravention to this from an uncontracted supplier, it is termed as Maverick spending.

Answer 4:

Option b) is correct. As already explained in Answer while an RFQ focusses on pricing an RFP focusses on product/solution to be offered by the supplier. There is no disctinction as to RFQ being used for procurement in nature of goods or RFP used for procurement in nature of service. And generally both are not used for small purchases. However both can be used with a RFI in order to better understand the suppliers capability to meet demand.