The quick answer
Go to Transactions > Purchases > Enter Requests For Quote. Enter a memo, the Start Date and End Date the winning prices should cover, and the Bid Open Date and Bid Close Date for bidding. On Items, set Number of Pricing Tiers, add each item and put its quantity breaks in Additional Pricing. There's no quantity or rate on the line, because the vendors supply the rates. Add payment terms on Terms and any delivery note on Special Instructions. On Vendors, add each vendor with a contact and check Email. Save. The emails go out on the Bid Open Date, so with an open date of today the request saves as Bid Open and each vendor line gets a Sent Date once its email is sent.
The screenshots show sample data. The company, user, vendor, contact and item names are fictional. Use your own vendors and items when following the steps.
Before you start
Cobalt Ridge Irrigation buys its brass gate valves and PVC ball valves from one vendor, Harrow Metals, at 42.60 each for the gate valve. Before it signs up for next season, purchasing wants competing prices from Harrow Metals, Pinecrest Supply and Duval Flow Products, all on the same request.
Requests for quote need the Request for Quote feature on the Transactions subtab of Setup > Company > Enable Features. If you'll award the winning bids in NetSuite, enable Purchase Contracts too, because an award creates purchase contracts. You also need a role that can create requests for quote and select the items, vendors and contacts you'll use. If the menu entry isn't there, check the feature and the role's permissions.
Each vendor you invite needs a contact with a valid email address, and that contact needs an active Vendor Center login to respond. Without one, the vendor can read the email but has nowhere to answer it.
The example uses one subsidiary, US Dollar and the unit Ea, with an Administrator role and the standard request for quote form. Field names, required fields and subtabs can differ with your role, custom form and enabled features. If your form requires Department, Class or Location, fill them in too. This guide stops when the request is out for bids. The vendors' responses and the award are separate steps.
01. See who supplies the items today
Go to Lists > Accounting > Items and open Brass Gate Valve 2 in. On the Purchasing/Inventory subtab, Purchase Price is 42.60. That's what Cobalt Ridge pays now, and it's the number the bids have to beat.
Scroll to the item's own Vendors subtab at the bottom of the same tab. It lists one vendor, Harrow Metals, preferred, at US Dollar: 42.60. The PVC Ball Valve 1.5 in comes from the same vendor. Those are the two items going out for bid.
02. Start the request for quote
Go to Transactions > Purchases > Enter Requests For Quote. Employee defaults to you, here Marisol Okafor, with Date 10/05/2026 and Subsidiary Cobalt Ridge US. Request for Quote # shows To Be Generated until you save.
Enter Memo Q4 valve restock bids. Leave Effectivity Based On at Order Date, then enter Start Date 11/01/2026 and End Date 04/30/2027. These three fields have nothing to do with bidding. They set the effective period of the purchase contract that an award creates later. With Order Date, a purchase order qualifies for the contract price when its date falls inside that range. With Expected Receipt Date, the receipt date counts instead.
03. Set the bid window
Under Transaction Information, check Bid Open Date. It has to be today or later, never in the past. In the example it's 10/05/2026, the day the request is entered. Enter Bid Close Date 10/16/2026, which has to be after the open date. Vendors can submit or change a response only between those two dates. You can extend the close date later if you need to.
04. List the items and their quantity breaks
On the Items subtab, change Number of Pricing Tiers from 3 to 2. Every item on the request gets that many price rows, so pick the number that fits all of them. Two tiers means one quantity break per item.
Select Item Brass Gate Valve 2 in. Description and Units (Ea) fill in. There's no quantity or rate to enter. You're listing what you want priced, and each vendor enters its own rates. Vendor Name stays blank here, and the vendors on the item record don't limit who you can invite. You pick the vendors on the Vendors subtab.
Click the Additional Pricing icon on the line. Calculate Quantity Discounts is by Line Quantity and Price Using is Rate. You don't enter any rates here. The first tier already starts at From Quantity 0. Add the second tier with From Quantity 200, so vendors price 0 to 199 and 200 and up separately. Click Add, then OK. Back on the line, click Add to commit it.
Do the same for PVC Ball Valve 1.5 in, with its break at From Quantity 500. Every item needs the same number of tiers, but the break quantities can differ by item. Both valves are now on the request, each with an edit icon under Additional Pricing.
05. Add the terms and instructions
On the Terms subtab, select Payment Terms Net 30. Incoterm, Carrier and the Discount rows are there too if you need them. These are the conditions every vendor quotes against. A vendor can still propose different terms or discounts in its response, so check them when you compare bids.
On the Special Instructions subtab, enter Purchase Order Instructions: Quote delivered pricing to Clovis Warehouse. That way every vendor prices delivery to the same place. Product Labeling Instructions, Packing List Instructions and Billing Instructions sit on the same subtab.
06. Invite the vendors
On the Vendors subtab, check Email, select Vendor Harrow Metals and Contact Dana Whitlock, and click Add. The Contact list shows that vendor's contacts. Checking Email queues the vendor for the request email, which carries the bid dates and a Vendor Center link. Email Introduction adds an optional note to that email; the example leaves it blank.
Repeat for Pinecrest Supply with Luis Ferreira, and Duval Flow Products with Kira Maddox, each with Email checked. Sent Date and Response Date stay empty. Nothing has gone out yet.
07. Save and confirm the request is out for bids
Click Save. The request gets the next number, here RFQ14, and the status Bid Open because the bid window starts today. A request saved with a later Bid Open Date isn't open yet, and its emails can't go out before that date. The header keeps the bid dates, 10/05/2026 to 10/16/2026, and the contract dates, 11/01/2026 to 04/30/2027.
Click the Vendors subtab. All three vendors and their contacts show Sent Date 10/05/2026, because the emails went out on the open date. A blank Sent Date means that vendor hasn't been emailed yet. Check that the line has Email checked, the Bid Open Date has arrived and the contact has a valid email address. Response Date fills in when a vendor saves a response in the Vendor Center, links to it, and moves to the latest date if the vendor changes its response.
Once the first email has gone out, NetSuite locks the items, terms, instructions and other key fields so every vendor bids on the same request. Until the close date you can still add vendors and change the Bid Close Date. If you move the date, tell the vendors.
Check the result
- The saved request has a number, here RFQ14, and the status Bid Open.
- Bid Open Date and Bid Close Date read 10/05/2026 and 10/16/2026, and Start Date and End Date read 11/01/2026 and 04/30/2027.
- Every vendor line on the Vendors subtab has a contact and, once the emails go out, a Sent Date. Response Date is still blank.
- The Items subtab lists both valves with Number of Pricing Tiers 2.
Click the Items subtab. Both valves are listed for the vendors to price, with Number of Pricing Tiers 2.
Common questions
What's the difference between the bid dates and the Start and End Dates on an RFQ?
Bid Open Date and Bid Close Date set when vendors can respond. Start Date and End Date are for later: they become the effective period of the purchase contract an award creates. With Effectivity Based On set to Order Date, a purchase order gets the contract price when its date falls inside that range.
Why is there no quantity or rate on a request for quote line?
You're asking vendors for prices, so you don't set them. The buyer lists the items and the quantity breaks, and each vendor enters its rates in its own response.
What does Number of Pricing Tiers do?
It sets how many price rows every item gets, and every item must have that many. In the example it's 2, with tiers starting at 0 and 200 for the gate valve and 0 and 500 for the ball valve. The break quantities can differ by item; the count can't.
Why does each vendor line need a contact?
The contact is the person who gets the request email and answers it in the Vendor Center. The contact needs a valid email address, and the line needs Email checked or nothing goes out.
When does Sent Date fill in?
When NetSuite sends that vendor the request email. The emails go out on the Bid Open Date, so a request saved with today's open date gets its Sent Dates right away, here 10/05/2026. A request saved with a later open date shows a blank Sent Date until that date.
How do I know which vendors have responded?
Look at Response Date on the Vendors subtab. It's blank until the vendor saves a response, then shows the date of the latest response. In this example all three are still blank.
Can I change an RFQ after it's been sent?
Not the parts the vendors are bidding on. Once the first email goes out, the items, terms and instructions are locked so everyone quotes the same request. Until the close date you can still add vendors and move the Bid Close Date. If you move it, tell the vendors.
What happens after the Bid Close Date?
Vendors can't submit or change responses anymore. You review the responses on the request and decide what to award, which is a separate step.