RFQ standard
Feed mill RFQ template and specification guide
Short answer
A feed mill RFQ must define the buyer and project, the site and country, the species and products, feed formats, required tonnes per hour and annual production, the raw-material list, and then every process stage from intake and storage through grinding, batching, mixing, conditioning, pelleting or extrusion, drying, cooling, crumbling, coating, sieving, liquids and premix dosing, automation, bagging, bulk loading, dust control and laboratory. It must also define steel structure, building interface, electrical scope, utilities, installation, commissioning, performance testing, training, documentation, spare parts, warranty, service, freight, delivery, exclusions and commercial terms. Every heading a supplier is allowed to skip becomes a difference you cannot price later.
This is the structure FeedMatch uses in its RFQ workflow. Copy it, or start the structured intake and answer the same headings with guidance and calculators attached to each one. The point is not paperwork — it is that three proposals answer identical questions in the same order.
Build your feed mill RFQA. Buyer and project overview
- Legal entity, country, contact and decision authority
- Project purpose: greenfield, expansion, modernisation or debottlenecking
- Target start, target commissioning and any funding milestone driving the date
- Existing plant description where the project touches it
B. Products and capacity
- Species and products with the share of annual tonnage each represents
- Feed formats: mash, pellet, crumble, extruded, floating, sinking
- Pellet diameters and, for extrusion, density and water-stability targets
- Required tonnes per hour with the recipe basis written out
- Operating hours per day, days per year and resulting annual tonnes
- Expansion reserve required in layout, structure and power
C. Raw materials and intake
- Ingredient list with bulk density, moisture and expected variability
- Intake mode and peak intake rate: bulk truck, rail, big bag, small bag
- Pre-cleaning, magnets, aspiration and sampling point
- Raw-material storage expressed in storage days per ingredient group
- Liquid storage, heating and dosing requirement
D. Process line
- Grinding: hammer or roller mill, pre- or post-grinding, motor rating, screen set
- Batching and dosing: scale ranges, weighing accuracy, micro-dosing
- Mixing: type, batch size, CV specification, liquid addition capacity
- Conditioning: retention time, steam demand, boiler boundary
- Pelleting: die specification, motor rating, guaranteed throughput basis
- Extrusion where relevant: screw configuration, capacity, density control
- Drying, cooling, crumbling, sieving, fines return and coating
- Finished bins, bagging, palletising, bulk loadout
- Dust control, explosion protection and hygiene design level
- Laboratory scope and required test equipment
E. Automation and electrical
- Control philosophy and recipe management depth
- PLC/SCADA platform, licences and source-code ownership
- Traceability from intake to finished product, and retention period
- Production, downtime and energy reporting
- Motor control centre, cabling and the electrical supply boundary
- Interfaces to formulation, ERP and weighbridge systems
F. Site, structure and utilities
- Steel structure, platforms, stairs and access
- Building interface: who designs, who builds, who owns the interface risk
- Civil works, foundations and pits
- Electricity: available kVA, voltage, frequency, transformer boundary
- Steam, water, compressed air, fuel and backup power
- Ambient design conditions, altitude, seismic and wind class
G. Execution
- Mechanical and electrical installation scope and supervision
- Local labour availability and site access constraints
- Commissioning scope, performance test conditions and acceptance criteria
- Training: operators, maintenance, days, language and location
- Documentation: GA drawings, P&ID, single line, foundation loads, manuals, as-builts
H. Aftermarket and commercial
- Commissioning spares and first-year wear parts, priced as a separate line
- Warranty duration, coverage and start trigger
- Service response time and local presence
- Freight, Incoterm, duties and delivery date on site
- Payment terms, price validity and currency
- An explicit written exclusions list — requested, not assumed
- Financing requirement, if part of the CAPEX depends on an independent third party
Questions buyers ask
What should a feed mill RFQ include?
Buyer and project overview, site and country, species and products, feed formats, required tonnes per hour with the recipe basis, annual production, raw-material list, and every process stage from intake through bagging and bulk loading — plus automation, electrical, steel, building interface, utilities, installation, commissioning, performance testing, training, documentation, spare parts, warranty, service, freight, delivery, exclusions and commercial terms.
How many feed mill quotations should I request?
Two or three from qualified suppliers answering one identical scope. That is normally enough to establish a benchmark; more proposals mainly add evaluation workload.
Why request the exclusions list explicitly?
Because exclusions are where proposals diverge most. Civil works, building, electrical supply, boiler, dust ducting, freight, installation labour, training beyond a base allowance and spares are commonly outside a machinery scope. Excluded work does not disappear — it moves to your budget.
Can I reuse this template for an expansion rather than a new plant?
Yes. Keep the same headings and add a section describing the existing plant, its current bottleneck, tie-in points, permitted shutdown windows and what must stay in production during installation.
What should I ask before signing a feed mill contract?
Which throughput figure is guaranteed and on which recipe; what the performance test measures and who witnesses it; what happens if the test fails; the full exclusions list; the scope of the warranty and what voids it; wear-part consumption per tonne; service response commitments; and the delivery and payment milestones.
Continue the decision
Build your feed mill RFQ
Write the requirement once and send the same document to every supplier you are considering, including one you already prefer. FeedMatch sells nothing and takes no part in the contract.
Build your feed mill RFQScope and neutrality
- FeedMatch Group is an independent, supplier-neutral procurement platform. It does not manufacture, install or commission feed-processing equipment and is not an EPC contractor.
- FeedMatch does not sell feed, ingredients, premixes or additives and does not act as a trader.
- FeedMatch is not a bank, lender, credit provider or financial adviser. Financing, where relevant, is arranged by independent third parties.
- Calculator outputs and planning ranges on this site are indicative inputs for your own evaluation, not quotations, nutritional advice or performance guarantees.