An arc flash study RFQ should specify the scope, the data-collection responsibility and the deliverables as three separate clauses. NFPA 70E requires the study; IEEE 1584 calculates it; IEEE 1584.1 tells you how to specify it. VB Engineering writes RFQ scopes against all three and publishes the template below.
Which three documents does arc flash procurement need?
Most plants issue one document and call it the enquiry. Three exist, and they do different jobs. Issuing one in place of three is why the replies come back in shapes you cannot lay side by side.
| Document | What it settles | Who writes it |
|---|---|---|
| The RFQ | What is being bought, over how much of the plant, to which standard, and what must come back | The owner. Once |
| The data sheet | What information exists already, what has to be collected on site, and who opens the panels to collect it | The owner and the maintenance lead, together |
| The terms of reference | The same content, in the form a Qatari or GCC tender process expects to receive it | Procurement, from the RFQ |
The third one surprises people. In the Gulf this document is usually called a terms of reference, not an RFQ. A tender team that asks for one and receives the other sends it back. Same content, local name.
This page is about the paperwork. If the question underneath it is what an arc flash study actually is, what it contains and what it is priced against, that is answered in full on our arc flash study services page.
Which eleven clauses belong in an arc flash RFQ?
IEEE 1584.1 is published as a Guide for the Specification of Scope and Deliverable Requirements for an Arc-Flash Hazard Calculation Study. A standard written for the document you are about to issue. Almost nobody buys against it. Most enquiries we receive are three lines of email.
A usable RFQ carries eleven clauses. The scope of work is one of them, not the whole document.
| # | Clause | What goes wrong when it is missing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purpose, and the standard the study is performed to | Two bidders price against two different standards |
| 2 | Boundary of the electrical system in scope, named by bus | The commonest cause of a variation claim |
| 3 | Equipment classes included, and those explicitly excluded | Excluded is the word that saves the argument later |
| 4 | Voltage levels covered, and the convention used to report them | See the Qatar section below. Here it is not a formality |
| 5 | Source data the owner will supply, listed by document | The programme slips before it starts |
| 6 | Site data collection · access, escort, and who opens equipment | The single biggest hidden cost in any quotation |
| 7 | Software to be used, and whether the model file is handed over | You own a study you cannot update |
| 8 | What comes back, itemised, with the format of each item | A report arrives where labels were expected |
| 9 | Label specification · content, material, language, fixing | Labels that do not survive the first summer |
| 10 | Review and signature requirements | Nobody senior is accountable for the numbers |
| 11 | Revalidation trigger and interval | The study quietly stops being true |
Clause 7 is the one experienced buyers add and first-time buyers forget. A study is a model plus a set of results. If the model file stays with the consultant, every future change to your network is a new engagement. We build in ETAP, SKM PTW and CYME, and we hand over the model.
How is site data collected and verified for an arc flash study?
Digitally, at the panel, with a photograph behind every figure. Our engineers capture into structured fields on a tablet and photograph each nameplate, relay display and setting as it is read. The photo pack is handed over with the study, so any number in the report traces back to the picture it came from.
An arc flash study is a calculation built on data that does not yet sit in one place. Somebody has to walk the plant, open equipment and read what is on the nameplate. How that walk is recorded decides whether the study can still be defended three years later.
What digitised capture gives you
- A photograph as witness for every reading. Nameplate, relay display and panel identification, captured at the moment the value is written down.
- Every record stamped. Equipment tag, date, and the engineer who captured it. No anonymous entries in the model.
- Structured fields, not free text. The same fields every time, so the model is built from data rather than from interpretation.
- A traceable report. Any figure an auditor questions resolves to a photograph in seconds, years after the survey.
- Faster revalidation. When a breaker or a protection setting changes, you re-shoot what changed instead of re-surveying the plant.
Ask for it in the RFQ. Clause 6 should require digitised capture with photographic evidence, and clause 8 should require the photo pack as part of what comes back. It is the difference between a study you can defend and a spreadsheet you have to trust.
Planning the access
Panels are opened for the readings, and the RFQ should name who opens them. Both routes work, and we deliver under either.
- Your electrical team opens and closes, our engineer records. Fastest on site, and switching authority stays with your own people.
- We open under your permit, with your escort. Agree the permit route before mobilisation and the survey runs to plan.
Naming the route in the RFQ is what keeps the programme predictable, and it is the clause most enquiries leave out.
What the data sheet asks for
- Utility fault level and protection settings at the point of supply.
- Transformer nameplates, with impedance and vector group.
- Cable types, sizes and lengths between buses.
- Protective device makes, models and current settings.
- The switching configurations the plant actually runs in, not only the design case.
That last item is where most studies drift from reality. A plant with two incomers has more than one operating configuration. Incident energy differs in each. The RFQ should name the configurations to be modelled. The honest answer is usually all of the ones you run.
IEEE 1584.2 is published as a Guide and Checklists for Data Collection for exactly this step. Our checklist follows the same logic and is written to be handed to a maintenance team rather than to an engineer.
How does a Qatar terms of reference differ from an RFQ?
Everything above is universal. This part is not.
Qatar runs on a 50 Hz IEC system. KAHRAMAA supplies the low-voltage network and operates transmission at 11 kV, 33 kV, 132 kV and 400 kV. IEEE 1584 is the calculation model the world uses for incident energy, and its origins are in 60 Hz North American practice.
So a Qatari plant sits across two standards families at once. An IEC network, assessed with an IEEE method, protected by clothing rated to IEC 61482 classes or to NFPA 70E in cal/cm². Both families are used here, and both are correct. What matters is that the RFQ names one convention for the report and the labels, so the plant ends up with one set of numbers everybody reads the same way.
Three clauses to add for a Qatar terms of reference
- Name the rating convention for protective clothing. cal/cm², or IEC 61482 arc protection class, or both · stated once and used consistently on every label and in every table.
- Name the label language. Arabic and English is the working standard for Qatari operations, and it is not a translation added at the end. It changes the label size, so it changes the fixing.
- Name the environment the label has to survive. Coastal and industrial air at Mesaieed and Ras Laffan is harder on a printed label than the specification most suppliers quote against. A label that has faded is a label that is no longer doing its job.
What should you require back, and in what format?
Write clause 8 as a list of items, each with a format. Not as a sentence saying a report will be provided.
| Item | Format to require |
|---|---|
| The study report | PDF, with the model assumptions stated, not buried |
| The calculation model | Native software file. Ask for it explicitly |
| Results, bus by bus | Spreadsheet, so you can sort and audit |
| Warning labels | Printed and installed, not supplied loose |
| Photographic record | A photograph of every installed label, in position |
| Conformance matrix | Each requirement mapped to where it is satisfied |
| Signature page | Named Chartered Engineer, plus independent reviewer |
Almost no RFQ asks for the photographic record. Almost every audit eventually wants it. A label that was printed is not evidence. A label photographed on the panel it belongs to, on a stated date, is. We do it as standard.
What each of these items should contain is set out on our arc flash study services page.
How do you compare the responses you get back?
When the replies arrive, the instinct is to compare figures first. Compare completeness first. A response that has quietly dropped three of your eleven clauses is not cheaper. It is different work.
Score each response against the clause list, in order. Mark every clause answered, partly answered or silent. The spread almost always sits in clauses 6, 7 and 9 · who opens equipment, whether you get the model, and what the labels are made of. Those three carry the real differences, and a headline figure hides all of them.
Only then look at who signed. Who is qualified to sign an arc flash study, and what that signature commits them to, is covered on our services page.
If you are looking for firms who do this work in the region and want a straight answer about coverage, ask us. We will tell you where our engineers are and when they can be on your site.
Request the RFQ template and the data checklist
Tell us the plant and our Practice Lead sends the pack by email, usually the same working day. The eleven-clause RFQ template with guidance notes against each clause, the blank data collection checklist your maintenance team can fill in, and a Qatar terms of reference annex for the tender version.
Issue it as it stands, or lift the clauses into your own format. Either way the replies you get back can be laid side by side.
Sent by a person, not an autoresponder. We read what you send us first, so the pack that arrives is the one that fits your plant.
What do buyers check before issuing an RFQ?
What should an arc flash study RFQ contain?
Eleven clauses. Purpose and standard, system boundary by bus, equipment included and excluded, voltage levels, owner-supplied data, site access and who opens equipment, software and model handover, itemised returns with formats, label specification, review and signature, and the revalidation trigger. The template above carries all eleven.
What data must I provide before an arc flash study starts?
Utility fault level and protection settings, transformer nameplate data, cable schedules, protective device details with settings, and your operating configurations. Anything missing is collected on site. That is why the site-access clause decides your programme. The checklist tells you which of these you already hold.
How do I choose an arc flash study consultant?
Score the responses against your clause list before you look at anything else. Then check who signs. Ask for a photograph of installed labels from previous work, and for the model file policy in writing. Both answers come back quickly. Both are revealing.
What information goes on an arc flash label?
Incident energy at a stated working distance, the arc flash boundary, the approach distances, equipment identification and the assessment date. Specify the material, the fixing and the language in the label clause. The label has to stay readable for years, not weeks.
Do arc flash labels survive Gulf ambient and corrosive conditions?
Only if they are specified for it. NFPA 70E requires a label durable enough for the environment it sits in. Coastal industrial air is a demanding environment. State the substrate, the adhesive and the expected service life in the RFQ. Ask each bidder to confirm all three.
Does VB Engineering have engineers in Qatar?
Yes. VB Engineering delivers arc flash studies in Qatar, and our engineers mobilise to site · in Doha overnight. We operate globally. Our teams deliver arc flash studies in more than 20 countries, and our systems are digitised end to end, from data capture through modelling and independent review to label production. We can assess a plant and deliver the arc flash report anywhere in the world. Proximity decides the travel plan. It does not decide whether the work can be done. What matters is that the team that walked your plant is the team that builds the model, and the engineer who saw the panel is the one who answers for the number.
Who wrote this, and who checked it
Written by the VB Engineering power systems practice, from the enquiry documents we receive and the ones we are asked to write. Technical review by the Practice Lead, Power System Studies · CEng MIE India. Independent review by the Principal Reviewer · CEng MIE FIE MIET. Every arc flash study we deliver carries the same two signatures.
Published 25 August 2026 · last reviewed 25 August 2026.
Issue the right document and the replies compare themselves.
Send us what you have. We will mark it up against the eleven clauses and tell you what is missing before it goes to bidders.