RFQ or RFP when buying from event suppliers

When an organiser should ask caterers, AV and décor suppliers for a quote or a proposal, how to make quotes comparable, and how the choice is recorded.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Events businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

An events team buys from the same handful of supplier types over and over: caterers, sound and lighting companies, stage builders, décor and floral studios, marquee hire, security. Yet the way each purchase starts is often improvised. Someone sends a WhatsApp message asking "what would you charge?", three suppliers reply with three different kinds of answer, and the decision ends up resting on whoever replied fastest.

The fix starts with asking the right question in the first place. A request for quote and a request for proposal invite very different replies, and choosing the wrong one makes comparison almost impossible. This article sets out when to use each, how to make replies comparable, and how to keep a record of why a supplier was chosen.

Quote when you know, proposal when you want ideas

Investopedia draws the line clearly. A request for quote (RFQ) is used when a buyer knows exactly what it needs and is looking for the best price, specifying the quality, quantity and timing required. A request for proposal (RFP) is more open-ended: it invites vendors to propose their approach, timeline and cost.

Applied to an event:

• RFQ territory. Hiring a set number of round tables, chairs and linen for a gala dinner on a fixed date. Renting a specified PA system and two operators for a conference day. Buying branded lanyards in a set quantity. You can describe exactly what you want, so price, delivery and quality are what separate the bids.
• RFP territory. Designing the look of a product launch. Proposing a lighting concept for an awards night. Planning catering for a three-day festival where the supplier's experience with volume and logistics matters as much as the menu. Here you want the supplier's thinking, so the answer cannot be reduced to a unit price.

Many purchases mix the two. A sensible pattern is to run an RFP to choose a décor concept, then an RFQ to price the agreed design with two or three suppliers who can build it.

Use quiet months to build a supplier list

Investopedia defines a request for information (RFI) as a solicitation to suppliers for written information on the products and services they can provide, which may be used to build a database of suppliers for future reference.

Event seasons are compressed. When the peak arrives, there is no time to discover who owns a generator, who can supply halal catering at scale, or which AV company actually holds stock rather than subcontracting. An RFI sent in the slow months answers those questions in advance:

• what the supplier provides and what it subcontracts;
• the size of event it has handled;
• the areas it will travel to;
• lead times, deposit terms and cancellation terms;
• the business details you need to set it up as a supplier.

File the replies with the supplier's contact record, so the next RFQ goes to people already known to be able to deliver.

Make the quotes comparable

A quote from a caterer that says "approximately per head" and one that lists every item, delivery charge and service fee are not comparable. Investopedia explains that competitive bids for goods generally require suppliers to state the per-unit price along with shipping and delivery terms. The same discipline works for event services.

In each RFQ, ask every supplier to show:

• the unit price for each line (per chair, per head, per day of equipment hire);
• delivery, set-up and collection charges, shown separately;
• staff included and any overtime rate;
• the deposit, when the balance is due, and the cancellation terms;
• whether prices include VAT, so you compare like with like.

Send the same RFQ document to every supplier, with the same deadline. If one supplier asks a question that changes the scope, send the answer to all of them.

The cheapest bid need not win

Investopedia states that in competitive bidding the buyer chooses one or more suppliers based on cost and other factors, and that the lowest bidder will not necessarily get the business. For events, the "other factors" are often decisive: a caterer who has served your venue before, an AV company with backup equipment on site, a décor supplier whose sample matched the brief.

Choosing a dearer supplier is a legitimate decision. What causes trouble later, with a client, an auditor or your own team, is a choice nobody can explain. Write the reason down at the time: "second-cheapest; only supplier with a standby generator" is enough.

From request to approved order in Achekam

Investopedia lists the steps of procurement as specifying requirements, soliciting bids, negotiating price and contract, the purchase transaction and payment processing. Achekam's procurement follows that path for a business's own purchases, with a check at each step.

1. Requisition. A staff member raises a purchase requisition saying what is needed, why, and the estimated cost. Someone other than the requester approves or declines it.
2. Quotes. The suppliers' quotations are captured against the approved requisition and one is selected. Choosing a quotation that is not the cheapest needs a written reason, which is kept. A quotation can also be disqualified with a reason, for example when a supplier cannot meet the date.
3. Purchase order. A purchase order is raised from the selected quotation. The person who raised it cannot approve it, and an approved order can be cancelled with a reason if plans change.

The RFQ or RFP itself is your own document, sent the way you normally reach suppliers; what Achekam keeps is the requisition, the quotes received, the choice and its reason, and the order that follows. Getting that approved order to the supplier is covered in getting an approved order to a vendor, and watching what has been committed against the event budget in keeping vendor spend inside the event budget.

For more on the difference between the three request types, the Investopedia guide to requests for proposal explains RFPs, RFQs and RFIs side by side, with the requirements a proposal request usually sets out.

A short checklist for the next event

• Decide for each purchase whether you know exactly what you want (RFQ) or want the supplier's approach (RFP).
• Send RFIs in the quiet months and keep the replies with each supplier.
• Ask for unit prices, delivery terms and VAT treatment in the same format from everyone.
• Record why the winning supplier won, especially when it was not the cheapest.
• Raise the order only from an approved requisition and a selected quote.

Run it once for the next event's catering and AV, and the habit tends to spread to every other supplier the team uses.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.