Requests for Quote
When you need the same items priced by more than one supplier, a request for quote lets you write the list once, send it to everyone you want to hear from, and compare what comes back side by side. Award the one you want and Iraca turns it into a purchase order at the quoted prices.
Requests for quote are part of the Invoicing & Bookkeeping add-on. If you already have that active, they're available — look for Requests for Quote under Finance in the sidebar.
What makes this different from a purchase order
A purchase order says what you're buying and what you're paying. A request for quote is the step before that: you know what you need, but the price is exactly what you're asking the suppliers to tell you. So you send it without prices, and each supplier fills them in.
That's why one request can go to several suppliers at once. They each answer the same list of items with their own numbers, and you decide afterwards.
Creating a request
Go to Finance → Requests for Quote and click New request.
- Title — what you're buying, in a few words. Suppliers see this.
- Description — anything they need to know: delivery location, quality requirements, whether you'll consider alternatives.
- Needed by — when you need the goods.
- Response due — the date after which the request stops accepting quotes. Leave it blank if you don't want a deadline.
Items
List what you need and how much. There's no price column, because prices are the whole point of asking.
Target price is optional and is for you alone. It's a benchmark to compare quotes against — suppliers never see it, and it never appears on anything sent to them.
Inviting suppliers
Tick the suppliers you want to hear from. Each one gets their own private link.
Suppliers cannot see each other. A supplier following their link sees your request, their own quote, and nothing else — not who else you invited, not how many, and not what anyone else charged. Each invitation is sent as a separate email with no one copied in.
A supplier with no email address on file can be invited, but won't receive anything until you add one.
Saving creates the request as a draft. Nothing is sent yet, and you can keep editing.
Sending it out
Open the draft and click Send to suppliers. Each invited supplier receives their own email with a link to a simple form where they enter their prices.
Once sent, the request is locked — the items and dates can't be changed, because suppliers may already be quoting against them. If you need something different, cancel the request and create a new one. You can still invite an extra supplier after sending; they get their own link and email just like the others.
Watching responses come in
The detail page shows each invited supplier and where they've got to:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not sent | Invited, but the request hasn't gone out yet |
| Sent | The invitation has been emailed |
| Viewed | They've opened their link |
| Quoted | They've submitted prices |
| Declined | They've told you they're not quoting |
Comparing quotes
Below that, the comparison table puts your items down the side and each supplier across the top, with the cheapest price for each line highlighted.
The highlight is per line, not per supplier. It's common for one supplier to be cheaper on some items and dearer on others, and seeing that clearly is the point of sending the request to several people. The total row is highlighted the same way, so you can see who's cheapest overall as well as line by line.
If a supplier quoted something slightly different from what you asked for, their note about the substitution appears under the price.
Awarding
Click Award in the column of the supplier you're choosing. Iraca confirms who you're awarding to and for how much, then:
- marks the request Awarded
- creates a purchase order for that supplier at their quoted prices
- links the two, so you can jump straight to the order
From there it's a normal purchase order: receive the goods against it, and when the supplier's bill arrives, link the bill to that purchase order so everything reconciles. See Accounts Payable for that side.
Suppliers who didn't win are not notified. Whether and how to tell them is your call, so Iraca leaves it to you.
What suppliers see
Your suppliers don't need an Iraca account. Their link opens a page showing your business name, the request, and the list of items, with a box for the price of each one. They can also enter shipping, tax, lead time, how long their quote is valid, payment terms, and any notes.
They can submit a revised quote any time before the deadline — the new one replaces the old, so you're never comparing against a stale price. They can also decline, which tells you not to wait for them.
After the response deadline passes, the form stops accepting submissions.
Things to know
- One award per request. Splitting an award across suppliers — taking one item from one and another from someone else — isn't supported yet. If you need that, award to one supplier and raise a separate purchase order for the rest.
- Cancelling stops a request that's gone out. An awarded request can't be cancelled, since a purchase order already exists.
- Draft links don't work. A supplier's link only becomes live when you send the request, so there's no risk of a half-finished request being seen early.
- Internal notes stay internal. The notes field on the request, like target prices, is only ever visible to your team.