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Procurement · Sourcing
RFQs that close on time, bids nobody reads early, quotes that expire.
Give a request for quotation a closing time and a quote that arrives after it is refused, whoever tries to enter it. Seal it and no one on the buying side sees a price, or awards a quote, until someone opens the bids after the deadline — and the opening is recorded. A quote past its valid-until date cannot be awarded at all.
Quote deadline · Late quotes refused · Sealed prices · Recorded bid opening · Valid-until checked at award · Web, API and mobile
RFQ #418 · Office furnitureKisumu branch · 4 suppliers invited
Sealed bids Open until 14 Nov 2026 12:00
02DAYS04HRS17MIN
Mwangaza Interiors10 Nov 09:30KES •••••
Lakeview Office Supplies11 Nov 16:05KES •••••
Kitengela Workspace13 Nov 11:48KES •••••
Rift Valley Furnishers · 14 Nov 12:04
Refused: the request for quotation closed at 12:00.
Refused: the request for quotation closed at 12:00.
Every doora late quote is refused from the vendor portal, the supplier’s app and a buyer typing it in on the supplier’s behalf
Who and whenis all a sealed quote shows the buying side — never what it says
Once, on recordbids open after the deadline only, one time, logged with who opened them and how many there were
Valid untila quote past its date is refused at award, by the whole quote or line by line
Why a tender box exists
A competitive quote is only competitive if nobody saw the others first.
When quotes arrive by email, the first one is open on someone’s screen before the second is sent. A supplier who hears the number can undercut it by a shilling, and one who misses the date can still slip a quote in if the buyer is willing. A paper tender box solves this with a slot, a lock and a public opening. Here the RFQ itself is the box: a closing time that the system enforces, prices that stay masked, and an opening that leaves a record.
One sealed RFQ, start to award
Four moments, and what the system allows at each.
An illustrative RFQ for office furniture at a Kisumu branch, sent to four suppliers with sealed bids and a closing time of noon on Friday 14 November. The messages in the panels are the ones the product shows. Amounts in KES.
1 · While the RFQ is open
Quotes go in. Prices stay in the envelope.
Suppliers quote from the vendor portal or the app, and can revise their own quote until the deadline. The buying side sees that a quote arrived, from whom and when. The amount is masked on the quote list, the quote itself, the RFQ page and the approvals hub.
Mwangaza Interiors•••••
Lakeview Office Supplies•••••
Kitengela Workspace•••••
Approve, before the deadlineThis RFQ is sealed and still open for quotes until 14 Nov 2026 12:00. Bids can be opened, and awarded, after that.
2 · The deadline passes
The slot closes. A late quote bounces.
At 12:04 the fourth supplier tries to submit. The portal and the supplier API refuse it; so does the buyer’s own quotation entry, which points at the deadline instead. Quotes already in are frozen: a supplier editing one after the close is refused too.
Supplier portal and appThis request for quotation closed on 14 Nov 2026 12:00, so quotes are no longer accepted.
Buyer entering it for themThis RFQ closed on 14 Nov 2026 12:00. Extend its deadline on the RFQ to accept more quotes.
3 · Opening the bids
Opened once, by someone allowed to, on record.
After the deadline the RFQ offers Open bids to people allowed to approve RFQs. It asks for confirmation, opens every bid together, and writes an audit entry. It cannot be done before the deadline, or twice, and the deadline is fixed from then on.
Actionrfq_bids_opened
ModuleProcurement
When14 Nov 2026 14:10
DetailSealed bids on RFQ #418 (Office furniture) opened by Achieng Otieno: 3 quote(s).
4 · The opened comparison, Mon 24 NovPrices visible, comparison and analysis available, award checked against each quote’s valid-until date.
Bids opened 14 Nov 14:10 | Supplier | Received | Quoted total | Valid until | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeview Office Supplies | 11 Nov 16:05 | 1,196,500.00 | 21 Nov 2026 · lapsed | Refused |
| Kitengela Workspace | 13 Nov 11:48 | 1,239,900.00 | 15 Dec 2026 | Award |
| Mwangaza Interiors | 10 Nov 09:30 | 1,284,000.00 | 12 Dec 2026 | Award |
| Rift Valley Furnishers | 14 Nov 12:04 | — | — | Never received |
The lowest price lapsed on 21 November. Approving it gives: This quote was only valid until 21 Nov 2026. Ask the supplier to confirm or re-quote before awarding it. The other two can be awarded, and the choice between them is yours.
Who sees a price, and when
Sealed means sealed for the whole buying side.
The masking is decided by the RFQ, not by anyone’s role, so an administrator sees the same envelopes as a buyer. Each supplier sees their own quote throughout.
| Where | Before the deadline | Deadline passed, not opened | After opening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quotation list and each quoteweb | Maskedsupplier and received time only | Maskedwith a note that the bids can now be opened | Shown |
| RFQ pagequotes received against it | Maskedcount of quotes so far | MaskedOpen bids offered | Shownwith the opening date |
| Comparison and analysisweb and API: side by side, price only, AI | Refused | Refused | Available |
| Approvals hubpending quotes awaiting a decision | Amount hidden | Amount hidden | Shown |
| RFQ and quotation APIand the AWRA mobile app on it | Null amountflagged sealed | Null amountcan_open_bids for those allowed | Shown |
| Awarding a quotewhole quote or line by line, web and API | Refused | Refusedopen the bids first | Allowedif the quote is still valid |
The rules that hold it shut
Terms you set once, enforced the same way everywhere.
A deadline in the future
Set a closing date and time on the RFQ form, or a closing day in the app. Leave it empty and the RFQ has no deadline. A new deadline must be in the future.
The deadline must be in the future.
Extendable until opened
If a supplier needs more time, extend the deadline on Edit. Once sealed bids are opened the deadline is locked, so it cannot be moved after the prices are known.
The bids on this RFQ have been opened, so its deadline can no longer change.
Sealing needs a deadline
A sealed RFQ must have a closing time, because that is the moment its bids may be opened. Switching sealing on or off is locked once the first quote is in.
Quotes have already been received under the current terms, so sealing cannot be changed.
Late is late, from every door
Submitting from the vendor portal, submitting through the supplier API, a supplier revising a quote, and a buyer entering one on a supplier’s behalf are each refused after the deadline.
This request for quotation closed on 14 Nov 2026 12:00, so quotes are no longer accepted.
One opening, after the close
Only someone with permission to approve RFQs sees Open bids, and only after the deadline. It runs once and is written to the audit log with who, when and the number of quotes.
Bids can only be opened after the deadline (14 Nov 2026 12:00).
Validity checked at award
A quote whose valid-until date has passed cannot be awarded, by the whole quote or by individual lines, on the web or through the API. Ask the supplier to confirm or re-quote.
This quote was only valid until 21 Nov 2026. Ask the supplier to confirm or re-quote before awarding it.
Web, app and API
The same terms wherever the RFQ is touched.
Suppliers are told the terms
The RFQ email states when quotes close and that later quotes cannot be accepted, and for a sealed RFQ that no quoted price is seen until all bids are opened together. The vendor portal and the supplier’s app show the closing time and whether the RFQ is still open.
Buyers in the AWRA app
Create an RFQ with a closing day and sealed bids, see which RFQs are sealed or closing on the list, read Sealed where a price would be, and open the bids from the RFQ once the deadline has passed.
Over the API
RFQ create and update take the same deadline and sealing fields under the same rules. RFQ responses carry the closing time, whether bids are still accepted, the sealed state and the opening time, and a sealed quotation comes back without its amount.
What AWRA OpsHub does today
- A quote deadline on each RFQ, set on the web or in the mobile app, required to be in the future and extendable until sealed bids are opened.
- Late quotes refused at every entry — vendor portal submissions and revisions, the supplier API, and a buyer entering a quote on a supplier’s behalf.
- Sealed bids, which need a deadline and are fixed once the first quote is in.
- Prices masked for the whole buying side on the quotation list, each quote, the RFQ page and the approvals hub, and returned without amounts by the RFQ and quotation API.
- Comparison and analysis refused for a sealed RFQ until its bids are opened, on the web and through the API.
- Award refused while sealed, for a whole quote or line by line, on the web and through the API.
- A recorded bid opening — after the deadline only, once, by someone allowed to approve RFQs, logged with who, when and how many quotes.
- Quote validity checked at award, refusing a quote whose valid-until date has passed.
- The terms in the RFQ email sent to each invited supplier, and on the vendor portal and supplier app.
More we can add to your workspace
- Supplier clarification questions on an RFQ, with each answer published to every invited supplier so nobody quotes on private information.
- Revision rounds after opening, such as a best-and-final offer from a shortlist, each round sealed and opened on its own record.
- Two-envelope opening, with technical proposals opened and scored before the financial envelopes.
- An opening committee, where two or more named people must confirm before the bids open.
- Deadline reminders to invited suppliers a set time before the RFQ closes.
- A validity warning before a quote lapses, with a one-click request to the supplier to extend it.
Where we point you to a specialist
- We will not open a sealed bid early, for anyone. An administrator is held to the same deadline as a buyer; the way to change the terms is to extend the deadline before the bids are opened.
- We will not judge whether your process satisfies a procurement law. Public bodies work to statutes and regulators that set their own tender rules. The system enforces the terms you set, exactly and on record; whether those terms are the ones your law requires is for your procurement officer and counsel.
Clarification questions and revision rounds are the two that most often turn a private-sector RFQ into a full tender. Tell us how your organization runs its tenders today — who opens them, how many rounds, what gets published to bidders — and we will come back with a written spec, a timeline and a price.
Around the tender box
What happens before the RFQ, and after the award.
RFQs and quotation comparisonThe side-by-side, price-only and AI comparison that opens once the bids do. Procurement automationRequest to RFQ to purchase order to receipt, the flow this sits inside. Vendor portalWhere suppliers read the RFQ, see its closing time and submit their quote. Supplier collaborationSupplier performance, documents and the conversation around each order. Strategic sourcingDeciding which suppliers to invite before an RFQ is ever sent. Supplier contracts and call-offsWhen a tender ends in a framework agreement rather than a single order. Approval rules and delegationWho signs off the award once the winning quote is chosen.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to a quote that arrives after the RFQ deadline?
It is refused. A supplier submitting from the vendor portal or the supplier app is told the RFQ has closed and quotes are no longer accepted, a supplier revising a quote they already sent is refused too, and a buyer entering a quote on a supplier’s behalf is told the RFQ has closed and pointed at extending the deadline. If a supplier genuinely needs more time, extend the deadline on the RFQ before it passes, or before the bids are opened.
What does sealed bids hide, and from whom?
Every quoted price on a sealed RFQ, from everyone on the buying side, administrators included, until the bids are opened. The quotation list and each quote show who sent it and when; the RFQ page shows how many quotes are in; the approvals hub hides the amount; the web comparison and analysis screens refuse to run; and the RFQ and quotation API return the amount empty with the quote marked sealed. Each supplier still sees their own quote.
Who can open sealed bids, and when?
Someone with permission to approve RFQs, once the deadline has passed. Opening happens once, reveals every bid together, and is written to the audit log with who opened them, when, and how many quotes there were. From then on the deadline cannot be changed. It can be done from the RFQ on the web or in the AWRA mobile app.
Can we award a quote before the bids are opened?
No. Approving a quote on a sealed RFQ is refused until its bids have been opened, whether you award the whole quote or line by line, on the web or through the API. Before the deadline the message says when the bids can be opened; after it, that they must be opened first.
Can we switch sealing on after quotes have arrived?
No. Sealing can be set when the RFQ is created or edited, but once the first quote is in it is fixed either way — switching it would hide or reveal prices that suppliers submitted under other terms. A sealed RFQ also needs a deadline, because that is the moment its bids may be opened.
What does quote validity do?
Each quote can carry a valid-until date. Once that date has passed the quote cannot be awarded, by the whole quote or line by line, and the message asks you to have the supplier confirm or re-quote. It applies to every RFQ, sealed or not.
Do suppliers know the RFQ is sealed and when it closes?
Yes. The RFQ email to each invited supplier states when quotes close and that later quotes cannot be accepted, and for a sealed RFQ that no quoted price is seen by anyone until all bids are opened together. The vendor portal and the supplier app show the closing time and whether the RFQ is still accepting quotes.
Can suppliers ask clarification questions, or revise after opening?
Clarification questions published to every bidder, and revision rounds such as a best-and-final offer, are things we can add to your workspace. Today a supplier can revise their own quote up to the deadline, and the bids are opened once.
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