While procuring the piping material, one needs to go through the request for quotation phase. And whenever we prepare an enquiry specification/request for quotation (RFQ) there are many key points which needs to be considered and included in the specification so that all the project requirements are followed and met by the vendor/supplier during the delivery of the final product.
Before preparing the enquiry specification the engineer should read all the project specification and the applicable codes and standards so that they are covered in the specification. If there is any requirement in the project which is not a standard practice then that should be covered and highlighted to the vendor in the specification. Specification engineer should always refer and follow the latest version of the code and standard available.
Key topics which need to be explicitly mentioned in an enquiry specification/Request for quotation (RFQ) are mentioned below:
1. Product fabrication guidelines. (what can be done & what cannot be done, For ex.: cold work / hot work / drawing etc)
2. Product chemical composition control. (For ex.: Codes applicable / Max % of elements etc)
3. Product Governing codes (For ex.: ASME / ASTM / NACE / Chapter IX etc)
4. Product heat treatment / stress relieving requirements. (For ex.: Tempering / Normalizing etc)
5. Product Surface treatment requirements (For ex.: Galvanizing / Pickling / Passivation etc)
6. Product production Quality assurance, quality control & quality management requirements (For ex.: ISO Quality management system / Quality plans / Min. info. in Quality record manual etc)
7. Product inspection plan / inspection frequency / (For ex.: Inspection methods / frequency / Inspectors qualifying procedures etc)
8. Product testing requirements (For ex.: Codes applicable / PMI / NDE / Hydrotest / sampling etc)
9. Product certification requirements (For ex.: EN10204 3.1 or 3.2 etc)
10. Product marking requirements (For ex.: Color code / tagging etc)
11. Product Preservation requirements (For ex.: preservation methods / Preservation requirements etc)
12. Products minimum documentation to be submitted for approval (For ex.: As per SDRL)
13. Product packing requirements (For ex.: Packing for sea / land / road transportation etc)
14. Product delivery information (For ex.: Final destination / Delivery period etc)
15. Product shipping information (For ex.: Weight & volume of product / Freight charges etc)
16. Size compatibility between Nominal sizes API 6A Sizes
Request for quotation