The transaction
How to write an RFQ that gets answered in one round
Twelve fields decide whether an enquiry comes back as a quotation or as a list of questions.
The second round is nearly always the same three questions
"Please quote 11 kV outdoor termination kits, 240 sq mm, 300 nos" cannot be priced. Nothing in it is wrong. It is simply not a specification, and what comes back is a questionnaire. Three fields are doing the damage: size, voltage and quantity.
Size is the worst word you can put in a cable accessory enquiry, because two selection charts in the same catalogue use it to mean two different quantities. Joint and termination kits are chosen on conductor cross-section in square millimetres. Caps, repair sleeves and wrap-arounds are chosen on the cable's outside diameter in millimetres. Written bare, "16" is both: kit code GXO-11 covers 16 to 35 sq mm, and end cap GEC 101 covers a cable range of 10 to 16 mm.
Give the cross-section per core and the measured diameter over the outer sheath, and both charts resolve. Do not assume the bands are stable across a range, because they move with voltage class and with cable construction. A 240 sq mm core falls in GXO-14 on the 12 kV chart and in GXO-24 on the 24 kV chart. The paper-insulated GPO-21 band starts at 25 sq mm where the XLPE GXO-21 band starts at 16.
Voltage is the third. Write the cable's own designation as printed on the drum, and the highest system voltage beside it. Kits are built and quoted against Umax, so one part number covers several cable ratings: GXO/E-1112 is quoted against Umax 12 kV and covers 6.35/11 kV and 6.6/6.6 kV cable, while GXO/E-1524 is quoted against Umax 24 kV and covers 8.7/15 kV, 11/11 kV and 12.7/22 kV. Give both figures and the system earthing arrangement, then ask which rating has been priced.
The twelve fields
Each one either changes the part number, changes the count, or changes what you are allowed to reject on delivery.
Accessory and function
Say what the part has to do: terminate a cable end, joint two lengths end to end, transition between two constructions, seal a cut end, or break out cores. A competitor's part number is not a specification. It makes the supplier guess the mapping, and the guess arrives as a question.
Cable insulation
XLPE, EPR, PVC or paper-insulated lead-covered. The kit series splits on exactly this: GXO/E for extruded XLPE and EPR, GPO/E for PILC, and as above their cross-section bands are not the same.
Screening and armour
Screened or unscreened, armoured or unarmoured. Both are supplied, but the standard kit carries two distinct earthing sets: tinned copper braid with a back-up ring and jubilee clamp for the armour, and a small copper braid with solder and flux for the metal shield.
Number of cores
One, two, three, three-and-a-half or four. The GLT-1100 low voltage family covers all five in one kit family; GXO/E and GPO/E are three-core, with separate single-core series for terminations and for joints.
Conductor cross-section per core, in square millimetres
This is the axis every joint and termination selection chart is keyed on. Give the figure per core, not the sum.
Cable outside diameter over the sheath, in millimetres
Measured, not taken from a cable catalogue, and given as a range if drums vary. End caps, repair sleeves and wrap-arounds are ordered on this figure and nothing else: GEC 101 covers 10 to 16 mm and GEC 101 A covers 10 to 20 mm, so a 15 mm sheath sits inside both.
Voltage and earthing
The cable designation U0/U as printed, the system Umax in kV, and whether the system is solidly earthed, resistance earthed or unearthed. The last is the one buyers leave out most often and the one that decides which designation the kit is priced against.
Indoor or outdoor
A different part number, not a packing note: outdoor and indoor kits carry separate codes, GXO-21 against GXE-21. The rain shed count moves with it, nine sheds in the 24 kV outdoor kit and twelve in the 36 kV. The catalogue's indoor note is not consistent between voltage classes, so ask for the shed count on the acknowledgement.
Tail length required, in millimetres
Standard lengths are published per voltage class and special lengths are made on request. An unstated tail length is quoted at standard and argued about on site, after the drum is cut.
Quantity in complete kits
Write "kits", say what one kit does, and give the number of cable ends. One termination kit terminates one three-core cable end, and holds three terminal sleeves, three stress control tubings, three lugs and one breakout. Against a three-core job, "300 nos" is either 100 kits or 300 sleeves, a factor of three between two otherwise identical quotations.
Lugs and connectors
Terminal lugs and lug sealing tape are part of the standard bill of material. State the conductor material and the palm drilling you need, or say plainly that lugs are excluded and you are supplying your own.
Documents required with the quotation
Type test report number, issuing laboratory, date, and the voltage class the report covers; utility approval letters with their voltage band and date; material datasheets; packing and marking specification. Ask with the price. Asked after award, each becomes a delay, and a report covering 33 kV does not cover a 36 kV order however good it is.
The block to paste into the email
Twelve lines, in this order, above your commercial terms. Leave nothing blank — "as per drawing" is a blank.
- Accessory and function:
- Cable insulation — XLPE / EPR / PVC / PILC:
- Screened or unscreened; armoured or unarmoured:
- Number of cores:
- Conductor cross-section per core, sq mm:
- Cable outside diameter over the sheath, mm:
- Cable designation U0/U, system Umax, earthing arrangement:
- Indoor or outdoor:
- Tail length required, mm:
- Quantity in complete kits, and number of cable ends:
- Lugs required — conductor material and palm drilling:
- Documents required with the quotation:
The same enquiry, before and after
The left column is a real shape of enquiry. Every entry marked added is a field the sender left the supplier to guess.
| Field | As sent | As it should read |
|---|---|---|
| Accessory | 11 kV outdoor termination kit | Heat shrinkable outdoor termination, three-core, screened, armoured, extruded XLPE (added: construction) |
| Voltage | 11 kV | 6.35/11 kV cable, Umax 12 kV, solidly earthed system (added: designation and earthing) |
| Size | 240 sq mm | 240 sq mm per core, plus the measured outside diameter over the sheath in mm (added: diameter) |
| Location | not stated | Outdoor; confirm the standard tail length for this voltage class on the acknowledgement (added) |
| Quantity | 300 nos | 100 complete kits, one per cable end, three cores each (added: the unit) |
| Documents | not stated | Type test report number, laboratory, date and voltage class; approval letters with band and date; packing specification (added) |
| Delivery | urgent | Required-at-site date and destination, with the supplier asked to state a lead time in writing (added) |
Sources disagree on the standard tail length — state the one you need
The manufacturer's own 24 kV XLPE termination page gives a standard tail length of 600 mm outdoor and 450 mm indoor. The master catalogue gives 800 mm and 550 mm for that same 24 kV series, and lists 600/450 as the 12 kV figure. Both documents are published by Gala Thermo Shrink Pvt. Ltd. Neither is a safe assumption to buy against: put the length you require in millimetres into the enquiry, and ask for it back on the order acknowledgement.
No price, minimum order, lead time or stock position is published here
There is no source for any of the four that would survive being quoted back at a supplier, so this site does not print them. Put it directly, in one email: quote per complete kit, ex-works and FOB, naming the port; state the minimum order quantity; state the lead time in working days counted from technical clearance rather than from the enquiry; and state how long the price holds. Four answers in the same reply as the price, or the price is not yet a price.
Send it once
An enquiry carrying these twelve fields is answerable without a follow-up round. What the goods must then pass before you are obliged to accept them is a separate document, and it belongs in the purchase order.