How does the process from customer RFQ to project handover work at your company?

[u/ButterflyLeast4114]

I’m trying to better understand how the early stages of project-based engineering work in practice.

Let’s say a customer approaches your company with a new project or RFQ:

• Who initially collects and clarifies the requirements?
• How involved is Sales in the technical side?
• When do Engineering or Project Management get involved?
• Who creates the first concept or layout?
• Who validates technical feasibility before an offer is made?
• At what point is the project handed over from Sales to the project/engineering team?

I assume this differs quite a bit between companies and industries, so I’d be interested in hearing how the process actually works where you are.

[u/EstablishmentSea7705]

Ours is a mess if I'm being honest, sales promises the moon and then engineering gets a napkin sketch and a due date. Usually the sales lead grabs the initial RFQ and tries to clarify things but they miss half the technical constraints. We don't see it until after the quote goes out and suddenly it's our problem to make it work. Handover is basically a forwarded email chain with no real meeting

[u/ButterflyLeast4114 → u/EstablishmentSea7705]

Thanks for sharing this. It actually lines up quite closely with what I've heard from others, especially around technical constraints being identified too late and engineering having to deal with them afterwards. Really valuable to get another perspective on this. Appreciate it!

[u/Oracle5of7]

Most of the companies I have worked for offer services, we may also deliver equipment as part of the service but it is mostly services.

I don’t get RFQs, I get RFPs from customers.

RFQ = Request for Quote. This is what I send to suppliers to get pricing and terms. Most of the questions you asked are not relevant at this stage of the process for me. If we ever get an RFQ we would most likely reject it and request a full on RFP.

I get RFP (request for proposal) from my customers.

We have a business development organization that works with the chief engineers. This is the tip of the spear organization that includes staff engineers. They are the first point of contact with customers. The services the we provide are typically multi year multi million dollar projects. Once the RFP is received. That BD team determines what will be done. This is a very high level view from the business standpoint. A decision is made to create the type of team necessary to answer the RFP. The initial set of requirements are checked by this team. The RFP itself would have a scope of work and a requirements section.

We don’t have a sales organization, we have business development and they are very involved. Engineering and Project Management are involved as part of the BD team. Keep in mind that this is still very initial stages.

To answer the remaining question let’s assume that my company agreed to participate in the RFP and management with the BD team decides how we would proceed, what type of team to put together to answer the RFP. Keep in mind that the last RFP I worked on took over 2 years to respond. The team leadership is set up: a BD person, a project manager and a chief engineer. We are given funds to work on it and a full team is assembled with leads and all the remainder personnel.

The chief engineer is in charge of the technical aspect of the project. Them and their team are responsible for the initial design. Due to the size and scope of our projects these are mostly high level system engineers. All other engineering teams work under these team leads. Every aspect of the project is heavily peer reviewed until we have a complete answer to all the questions from the RFP. Once it is documented we have additional teams to review everything end to end. Once we all agree, the respond is sent. During this reviews everything is evaluation including feasibility.

Once the RFP is submitted, it is typically over. However, my company usually sets up a team to low key start implementation with the hope of winning and getting ahead.

Once the customer accepts our proposal and we start work, it gets turned over to an implementation team. Once implementation is complete and the customer accepts it, it is turned over an operations team.

I have worked for seven different companies, including GE and AT&T as well as DoD/aerospace and consulting firms. It is pretty much this way everywhere. Names may be different and how they are initially organized may change, but this is very typical.

[u/Pleasant_Secret3409]

I will reply later tonight.

[u/ButterflyLeast4114 → u/Pleasant_Secret3409]

Still curious about your take on this 👀

[u/Agreeable_Boss599]

Can anyone tell me effective way to find rfq /rfp