How to specify a cold-chain project and compare supplier proposals

Part 1 — What a cold-chain project specification should contain

A specification is the question every supplier answers. If it leaves room for interpretation, each proposal answers a slightly different question and the prices stop being comparable. Fix these items before asking for prices, and say clearly which ones are still open:

• Application and product: what is cooled or stored (food, fresh produce, pharmaceutical products, other), in what packaging and handling format.
• Facility and location: country, city, climate at the site, and site status — new building, existing building to convert, or extension.
• Temperature classes: each room's set point and the tolerance band you need, plus product entry temperature where products arrive warm.
• Capacity and throughput: pallet positions or volume, and the daily or hourly intake and dispatch that drive the refrigeration load.
• Dimensions: room sizes, clear height and any layout drawings you already have.
• Operating conditions: operating hours or shifts, door traffic, seasonal peaks and the maximum site ambient temperature to design for.
• Energy and refrigerant constraints: available grid capacity, backup power expectations and any refrigerant policy (for example no HFCs) set by you or your local rules.
• Standards and documents: the standards you work to and the documents you will ask suppliers to provide — named by you, not assumed by the supplier.
• Scope: design or engineering, equipment supply, installation and commissioning, and maintenance or service — priced separately where possible.
• Budget range, schedule and files: an indicative budget, the date you need the facility, and drawings, layouts or site photos.

Write the brief so suppliers cannot answer a different question

Small wording choices decide whether proposals line up. State units (kW, m³, pallet positions, °C), the design ambient, and which items are fixed and which a supplier may propose alternatives for. Ask every supplier for the same things in the same form:

• A price breakdown in a stated currency, with the delivery term (Incoterm) the price is based on.
• A written list of exclusions — what is not included is as important as what is.
• The lead time and what it runs from (order, deposit or drawing approval).
• Who installs and commissions, and what service or maintenance is available near the site.
• Each document you need, requested by name, so a missing document is visible.

Part 2 — Put every proposal into one comparison sheet

Lay proposals side by side against the same rows. Do not rank them until every row is either filled in or clearly marked as pending. A practical sheet uses these rows:

• Application fit — how the offer lines up with your brief: products, rooms and process.
• Temperature and capacity offered — the set points, duty and storage capacity actually offered, not the ones requested.
• Supplier quote and scope — the price exactly as quoted, with what it covers.
• Currency — the currency of each price; do not silently convert.
• Freight and installation assumptions — delivery term, freight, duties, site works and who installs.
• Delivery time — the lead time and what it is counted from.
• Refrigerant — the refrigerant and system type proposed.
• Installation and service coverage — commissioning, training, warranty handling and local service.
• Energy use — only where the supplier documents it, with the document named.
• Compliance documents — which were requested, received and reviewed.
• Exclusions — items the supplier does not include.
• Risks — observations that could change cost, schedule or operation.
• Open questions — what still needs an answer before a decision.

Label every entry by where it comes from

A comparison misleads when a supplier's claim, a reviewer's check and a planning estimate sit in the same cell without a label. Give every entry one of four labels and keep the label with the value wherever it is shown:

• Supplier-submitted — as stated by the supplier; not independently checked.
• Checked — compared by the reviewer against a named document or the brief; the note says what was checked. A check is not an engineering approval.
• Estimate — a planning figure prepared by the reviewer with the assumption written next to it; never a supplier price or commitment.
• Pending — not provided yet, or not reviewed yet. Pending is not zero and not “included”.

Energy figures: compare only what is documented

Energy claims are easy to state and hard to compare. Compare an energy figure only when the supplier documents it and states its basis — design ambient, set points, operating hours and load profile. A component efficiency at one rating point and an annual consumption figure for a whole facility are different quantities and should not share a row. Where no documented figure exists, leave the row pending and ask for one. Planning calculators can help you understand orders of magnitude, but their results are your estimates, not the supplier's.

Compliance documents: received is not reviewed, and reviewed is not certified

Track each requested document through four states: requested, received but not yet reviewed, reviewed and matching the request, and reviewed with an issue noted. Reading a declaration or certificate shows what the supplier provided; it does not make the reviewer a certifying body. Confirm validity with the issuing organisation where it matters, and involve your own quality, validation or engineering staff in the decision. For pharmaceutical storage, temperature mapping and qualification records are deliverables to request and schedule, not features to assume.

Currency, freight and installation: normalise the assumptions, not just the numbers

Two prices are comparable only when they cover the same scope on the same delivery basis. Keep each price in its quoted currency and record the delivery term next to it. Where a proposal leaves freight, duties, site works or installation out, record that as an exclusion or a pending item rather than adding your own number silently. If you add an estimate to make proposals comparable, label it as an estimate and write down how it was made.

Exclusions, risks and open questions

Turn every exclusion and every pending row into a written question. Typical open questions concern what the lead time runs from, who supplies electrical connections and civil works, how defrost and condensate are handled, what spare parts and service response are offered, and which documents will be delivered at handover. Risks recorded during review are observations to clarify, not predictions; ask the supplier to respond to each one in writing before you rank proposals.

Sector notes: food, pharma, fresh produce and industrial refrigeration

The method stays the same across sectors; the questions that matter most change. Food facilities usually need hygiene, wash-down and product-state details (chilled, frozen or both). Pharmaceutical storage adds temperature bands, distribution-practice scope, mapping and qualification deliverables, and monitoring and alarm requirements. Fresh-produce stores add pre-cooling method, humidity and mixed or ethylene-sensitive products. Larger industrial refrigeration projects add refrigerant choice, machine-room and safety requirements, and redundancy. Write the relevant ones into the brief so every supplier prices them.

Temperature integrity across storage, transfers and transit

When products move through storage, transfers and transport, the main buyer risks are temperature excursions, handling at each handoff, time in transit, delays and the total delivered cost. Write these requirements into the brief and mark anything you do not know yet as an assumption:

• Product and the required temperature range.
• Acceptable excursion limits — only if you set them; suppliers should not assume them.
• Storage duration and transit duration.
• Origin, destination and every transfer point.
• The monitoring and records you need, and in what form.
• Packaging and handling format.
• Volume and the delivery window.
• Contingency needs — backup power, spare equipment or an alternative route.
• The cost components you want quoted separately.

Evidence you may request — confirmed per provider and route

Monitoring, records, facilities and contingency options differ by provider and route, so confirm them in each proposal rather than assuming them. Depending on the project you may ask for the items below. A document shows what was supplied; a proposal does not establish an uninterrupted cold chain, zero spoilage, regulatory compliance or a guaranteed transit time unless that exact claim is documented and its scope is stated.

• Sample temperature or monitoring logs.
• A handling plan for each transfer point.
• Equipment or facility details.
• Insurance or other relevant documents, where applicable.

How ColdMatch applies this method

For commercial and industrial projects from USD 250,000, the ColdMatch team reviews your brief, approaches potential suppliers on your behalf and lays the proposals it receives into this kind of comparison, with every entry labelled as supplier-submitted, checked by ColdMatch or a ColdMatch estimate, and missing information marked pending. Supplier contact and negotiation stay coordinated by ColdMatch; supplier names are shared after the team approves the introduction. Buyer access is free. ColdMatch does not guarantee a timeline, supplier participation, prices or a particular outcome, and the comparison is not an engineering approval or a certification.