Prepaid API supplier RFP template for South African buyers
Send every supplier the same basket and ask each one to show you what happens when an order stalls. A dated quote tells you what you’ll pay. A sample order and statement show whether your team can follow the purchase through to the account.
| Ask for | Require with the reply |
|---|---|
| Product and price | Dated quote for the same basket, plus charges and exclusions |
| Funding and account access | Funding instructions, account controls and balance evidence |
| Order and status | Sample order and status records with identifiers linked |
| Finance evidence | A sample report or statement and its posting cut-off |
| Support and exit | Written escalation route and balance or data handover process |
By Freepaid · Published
Write the request around a common basket
Send each bidder the product category, networks where relevant, face values, expected monthly count and estimated peak. Separate direct airtime, data and voucher PINs in the basket. Give each bidder the same volume assumptions and state who needs to operate the account. If an item is unavailable, ask the supplier to mark it as excluded and price any proposed substitute separately.
Ask each bidder to show the full price, with separate lines for products, access, transactions and funding. Ask how long the quote is valid, when a bank transfer becomes usable and where staff can see the money has arrived. Get those terms for the account you’ll actually use.
Require a trace from approval to statement
Give each supplier the same example. Your company approves ten R30 rewards. Nine go through and one has no confirmed result. Ask the supplier to show where staff would look up the original order and what finance would see for any debit or credit. The approved face value is R300. The nine confirmed rewards account for R270 and the open order for R30. Use the statement to check what you’d actually pay.
Have your operator use the sample to find the first order without placing another. Have finance show what the statement settled and what remains open. Ask which identifier you’ll have at each step for the products in your quote. SIMcloud airtime API supplier evaluation
Decide what would rule out a bid
| Status | What the evaluation team records |
|---|---|
| Demonstrated | What staff saw, when they saw it and which product it applied to |
| Documented | A dated contract, specification or account term the buyer can retain |
| Open | The question, the supplier contact and the date an answer is due |
| Failed | The mandatory requirement the offer could not meet |
Agree on the minimum requirements and how you’ll score offers before opening the bids. If a bidder cannot supply part of the basket or show how you’d trace an unresolved purchase, record that gap and decide whether it stops approval. Among qualifying bids, compare the final price, staff time and support.
Sign the handover before enabling the account
Before turning on the account, have procurement sign off the price and terms, the product owner check the basket, finance check funding and reporting, and the technical owner approve the release conditions. Give each open question an owner and due date. Record which issues stop the release and which can stay open during a small pilot.