Why qualification matters

A quotation proves that someone is offering a part; it does not establish who owns the stock, how it reached the supplier, or whether your quality team will accept it. Qualification connects the seller's identity, the supply route, the offered material, and the acceptance conditions. Complete that review before urgency turns an incomplete offer into a purchase decision.

Start with the original manufacturer's channels when they remain available. TI recommends direct or authorized sourcing and states that its warranty and customer support do not cover parts bought outside those channels. ADI likewise links authorized purchases to its product support. These are manufacturer-specific policies: check the policy for the brand in your RFQ rather than assuming every supply route carries the same support.

If obsolete stock must come through an independent source, identify the evidence gaps and their owner. NIST's ICT due-diligence guidance includes provenance and supply-chain tiers among its assessment topics. It supports asking about upstream visibility; it does not certify a seller or authenticate a component.

What to verify before ordering

Build a supplier record using independent channels, not only the contact who sent the quotation. The checklist below is a practical purchasing recommendation. Record the answer, how you checked it, and any unresolved difference so another buyer can review the same evidence.

  • Registered identity: obtain the legal business name, registration details, trading address, and invoice entity. Check the relevant official company register where accessible; explain any difference between the trading name and the legal entity.
  • Independent contacts: confirm the business through a separately obtained website or telephone contact. Check that the email domain, company details, quotation, and payment instructions are consistent. A familiar-looking email or one responsive salesperson is not sufficient verification.
  • Authorization claims: check the manufacturer's own distributor directory or ask the manufacturer through its official channel. A brand logo on a supplier website does not establish authorization for the quoted product.
  • Supply route: ask whether the seller holds the offered stock or will procure it from another party. Request the known upstream source and record what can be disclosed and what remains unverified.
  • Order scope: confirm the complete manufacturer part number, suffix, package, quantity, condition, and proposed delivery terms. Resolve mismatches before comparing price; an abbreviated family name is not an orderable specification.

Documentation & inspection

Ask which documents are available for the specific offered lot, and agree which must accompany delivery. Useful items may include original purchase or shipping records, packaging labels, date and lot information, storage history, a certificate of conformity, and relevant inspection or test reports. Availability varies. Record missing evidence instead of treating a generic promise of paperwork as a completed traceability chain.

For each report, establish who issued it, which part and lot it covers, the sample quantity, the checks performed, the acceptance limits, and the result. A report for another lot or an unspecified test cannot answer your current acceptance question. Agree any independent evaluation, its scope, responsibility, timing, and costs before committing to it.

NASA's counterfeit-parts procurement clause illustrates a more demanding, contract-specific approach: covered contractors using approved sources outside the preferred route retain responsibility for authenticity, evaluation, and traceability. That clause does not automatically apply to a commercial RFQ. Your purchase should follow the requirements of your customer, application, and agreed quality process.

Put the agreed documents and inspection criteria into the purchase terms, together with how discrepancies, rejection, and returns will be handled. Do not assume a right to reject or return exists until the parties have agreed it. This guide does not promise that SENICO supplies a particular report or testing service; confirm the available scope for each RFQ.

Sample testing & records

Select sample evaluation according to the application's consequences of failure, the source evidence, and your engineering and quality requirements. Before ordering samples, define what the result must demonstrate and who may approve it. A basic functional test can address selected performance questions; it does not by itself establish the identity, history, or acceptability of every unit in a shipment.

Keep replacement qualification separate from supplier qualification. NXP's 202601026DN notice explains that a listed replacement is reference information until customers or distributors qualify it to their specifications. A supplier's suggested alternative therefore needs the buyer's engineering review of the actual design requirements; a successful sourcing enquiry is not a drop-in approval.

Retain the quotation, supplier identity checks, source disclosures, agreed documents, delivered lot references, evaluation results, and acceptance decision under the same order record. Record who approved an exception and which uncertainty remains. Revisit qualification when the seller, upstream source, offered condition, or requirements change rather than carrying a previous approval onto a different offer.

For an RFQ to SENICO, send the exact part number, quantity, destination, application constraints, and required documents. Explain whether independent sourcing or alternatives are permitted. The enquiry can then establish what is available and what still needs confirmation before you decide to order.

Sources and further reading

Manufacturer documents support the technical guidance above. They do not confirm our stock, authorisation or the condition of any offered lot.