A Quotation from a Potential Client

The other day, I received a request for a quotation from a potential client — a local government. They asked for an estimate on work that had previously been handled internally, but due to the heavy workload involved, they decided to seek outside assistance this time.

When the request came in, I was tied up with other projects, so instead of preparing the estimate right away, I emailed them to ask for additional information and decided to wait for their reply.

My first question concerned the schedule. Our firm would be in charge of an intermediate stage of data processing. Since the local government handles the initial phase, we would take over the preprocessed data from them and deliver the results back to them. Therefore, the key points were when we would receive the preprocessed data and when we would be expected to deliver the final output.

This period happens to fall during our busy season, so if our process time is too short, we may have to decline the project.

The second point was the budget. In many cases, when a client asks for a quotation, they already have a budget in mind or are collecting multiple bids. Asking for a rough budget figure in advance helps us decide quickly whether the project is feasible.  This time, however, the local government had not yet decide a budget and was requesting an estimate for the first time.

The third point was to clarify the scope of work. Since the task had been done internally until now, their internal team could handle things flexibly. But if our firm takes on the intermediate processing, we need the data to be provided in a consistent format.

If data arrives in various unstructured forms, we would have to spend extra time organizing it — which is outside our main area of expertise — and that would lower our efficiency and increase the estimated cost.

To address this, I proposed a standardized data format and prepared a detailed quotation based on that assumption. I submitted both the draft format and the estimate to the client.

Even if this particular order doesn’t result in a contract, I believe that handling the request carefully and professionally will help build a long-term relationship with the local government.