Splitting the package into lots
Lots keep specialists competing on what they are good at, instead of forcing one supplier to mark up another supplier's equipment. A typical split covers process equipment, tanks or pond infrastructure, pumps and pipework, oxygen, controls and monitoring, feeding, and — where relevant — processing and cold chain.
- ·Lot scope in one paragraph, with the duty figures from the sizing stage
- ·Interface points: where this lot ends and the next begins
- ·Explicit exclusions the supplier must confirm or price
- ·Documentation: P&ID, layout, O&M manuals, spare parts list, warranty terms
- ·Installation, supervision, commissioning and operator training
- ·Delivery terms, packing, lead time and payment milestones
The questions every supplier must answer
The value of an RFQ is not the specification — it is the identical question set. When each supplier answers the same list, the comparison sheet writes itself and deviations become visible instead of buried in a proposal narrative.
Confidentiality while quoting
Suppliers respond to the scope, not to your contact details. Your identity and site location stay with FishMatch throughout the quoting round, which stops the project being resold, leaked to competitors or turned into a marketing reference before it exists.
Checklists that make the package complete
These equipment checklists are the fastest way to confirm nothing has been left out of a lot before the RFQ goes out.
How to write an aquaculture RFQ suppliers can actually quote
An aquaculture RFQ fails in one of two ways: it is so vague that every supplier quotes a different imaginary project, or it is so prescriptive that only one manufacturer can answer and competition disappears. The working middle ground is a duty-based RFQ — you specify what the equipment must achieve (flow, oxygen transfer, solids capture, temperature holding), the site conditions it must achieve them under, and the documentation and commissioning you expect. Suppliers then propose how, and their proposals can be compared because the 'what' is fixed.
Structure matters as much as content. Split the package into lots that match how manufacturers actually produce — civil and ponds, water treatment, aeration and oxygen, feeding, monitoring, cold chain — with written interface points between lots. Every lot gets the same question set: scope, exclusions, delivery terms, lead time, warranty, commissioning support, spares. When every supplier answers the same questions in the same order, the spreadsheet almost builds itself, and the cheapest headline stops hiding the most exclusions.
- ·Specify duty and site conditions; let suppliers propose the how
- ·One identical question set per lot, sent to every supplier unchanged
- ·Exclusions are part of the price — force them to be declared
An aquaculture RFQ template you can copy
Buyers searching for an aquaculture RFQ template usually want one thing: a field list they can hand to every manufacturer without rewriting it each time. The template below is the same structure the FishMatch RFQ form collects, and it works equally for a RAS, a pond farm, a shrimp project or a hatchery. Copy it into a document, or fill it in once in the buyer portal and let the portal issue it.
Section 1 — Project identity: species, product form, target annual output in tonnes, phase one versus full build. Section 2 — Site: country, site status, land area, existing infrastructure. Section 3 — Resources: water source, seasonal temperature and salinity range, available flow, connected power in kVA, energy cost, backup. Section 4 — Duty table per lot: flow in m³/h, head in metres, oxygen demand in kg/day, solids and ammonia load, aeration kW, holding volumes. Section 5 — Scope split: what the supplier supplies, what the buyer supplies, and the interface point in writing. Section 6 — Commercial: delivery terms, packing, lead time, payment milestones, warranty, spares package, commissioning days, training. Section 7 — Exclusions: a blank section the supplier must complete. Section 8 — Reply format and deadline.
- ·Same eight sections to every supplier — no supplier-specific versions
- ·Duty table instead of model numbers, so competition stays open
- ·A mandatory exclusions section: what is not in the price is part of the price
- ·One deadline, one reply format, one contact route