The Cold Chain RFQ Process, Step by Step: Documents, Timeline and Bid Evaluation

An RFQ is not an email asking for a price. On a cold storage, freezer or industrial refrigeration project it is a document set that makes several suppliers quote the same thing, so their prices mean something. This is the process we run on ColdMatch projects, from brief to award.

Stage 1 — Brief and technical basis (week 0–1)

Product, temperature zones, storage volume or pallet positions, daily throughput, pull-down requirement, country and site, power supply and backup autonomy, refrigerant constraints, compliance regime, timeline and budget band. Fix the duty with the cooling load calculator and the layout with the cold room planner. The six stages of a cold chain project puts this in context.

Stage 2 — The RFQ document set (week 1–2)

A supplier-ready package normally contains: the project brief and design basis; room or plant schedule with temperature and humidity per zone; throughput and loading profile; site drawings or dimensions with door and dock positions; electrical supply data and generator autonomy; refrigerant and safety requirements; controls and monitoring expectations; compliance and validation scope (HACCP, GDP, IQ/OQ/PQ where relevant); commissioning, training and warranty requirements; a pricing schedule with fixed line items; and the evaluation criteria. The RFQ builder collects these fields and produces a downloadable brief; pharma teams can start from the pharma EPC RFQ template.

Stage 3 — Issue to a reviewed shortlist (week 2)

Issue to three to five bidders, not fifteen. ColdMatch reviews the project manually before any supplier is approached, and the shortlist is built from capability and reference fit rather than from a directory listing. Give every bidder the same documents, the same clarification deadline and the same pricing schedule.

Stage 4 — Clarification round (week 3–4)

Collect questions in writing, answer them once, and circulate every answer to every bidder as a numbered addendum. This is where most scope gaps surface: floor insulation, electrical termination points, who supplies the racking, whether commissioning includes validation, what the warranty actually covers.

Stage 5 — Bid receipt and normalisation (week 4–6)

Build a bid tab with one row per scope line and one column per bidder, marking every exclusion as a cost to be carried by someone. Add energy: design duty, specific consumption and part-load behaviour, converted into annual cost at the local tariff via the country OPEX calculators. The quotation comparison guide walks through a worked example.

Stage 6 — Scoring and award (week 6–8)

Score against the weighted criteria published in the RFQ — see the supplier selection scorecard. Hold a technical clarification meeting with the top two before award, and confirm the delivery programme, payment milestones, liquidated damages and spare-part package in writing.

Realistic timelines

Small cold rooms can run brief to award in four to six weeks. Distribution centres and freezing plants typically take eight to twelve. Regulated pharma facilities take longer because validation scope has to be agreed inside the RFQ, not after award.

What ColdMatch does in the process

ColdMatch reviews each request, prepares the brief, and only then searches for and approaches suitable suppliers. Supplier and manufacturer listings on this site are for research, transparency and discovery only; introductions are made manually after internal approval. You can follow the review status of a submitted brief at RFQ status.

Next step

Build the RFQ with the fields above, or read the project sourcing playbook first if the sourcing model is still open.