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Most bad battery purchases were approved long before the purchase order — at the moment a supplier was waved onto the list on the strength of a catalogue, a trade-show conversation, or one good-looking sample. Prequalification is the structured review that happens before the first order: a sequence of gates that decides whether a supplier is approved, for which products, into which markets, and on what evidence.
This page is written for the procurement leads at distributors, wholesalers and system integrators who run that review. It covers the workflow itself — the gates, the documents to collect, the decisions to record. Where a gate needs a method — judging whether a supplier is genuine, checking a certificate, testing a sample — we link to the guide that covers that method rather than repeating it here.
What Prequalification Is — and What It Is Not
Prequalification qualifies a supplier for a defined scope: a product family, sold into named destination markets, under stated conditions. Its output is not a feeling of confidence; it is an approval record that a colleague could pick up and audit — what was checked, what evidence was filed, who decided, and when the approval is next reviewed.
It is not three neighbouring tasks, each of which has its own guide on this site. Establishing whether a Chinese battery supplier is real, and what kind of company it is, is covered in our supplier verification guide. Checking whether a certificate or test report is genuine is covered in our certification verification guide. Inspecting goods when they arrive is covered in our incoming inspection guide. Those are methods. Prequalification is the frame that decides when each method is required, who signs off the result, and what the result changes.
The Five Gates at a Glance
| Gate | The question it answers | Evidence it produces | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 — Desk screen | Is this supplier plausibly right for the scope? | Screen note | Proceed, or stop cheaply |
| 1 — Admission file | Can they document what they sell? | Document register | File complete, or gaps logged as conditions |
| 2 — Sample gate | Does the product match the frozen specification? | Sample evaluation record | Pass, conditional, or fail |
| 3 — Pilot batch | Does normal production repeat the sample? | Pilot acceptance record | Pass, or fail before volume |
| 4 — Approval & scope | Are they on the list — for what, on what terms? | Approval record | Approved, conditions, probation, or rejected |
The gates are sequenced so that cost rises as confidence does: the desk screen costs an afternoon, the pilot batch costs real money, and by the time you spend it you should already know the paperwork is in order.
Gate 0 — Desk Screen: Fit Before Paperwork
Start by establishing who you are dealing with: the legal entity, and whether it is a manufacturer, a trading company, or a brand operator coordinating production — each is a legitimate counterparty, but they carry different risks and different questions. The step-by-step identity checks are in the supplier verification guide; this gate only needs their conclusion.
Then test scope fit. A supplier whose range and evidence sit in 12V consumer packs is not thereby qualified for rack-mounted ESS, and a supplier who cannot name the compliance documents for your destination market will not acquire them because you asked twice. Three stop conditions end the review here, at its cheapest: the entity cannot be established; the product scope does not match what you buy; or the supplier will not work to a written specification. Record one paragraph — the screen note — and do not request the full admission file from a supplier who fails the screen.
Gate 1 — The Admission File: Documents You Collect Once
The admission file is collected once per scope and then kept current. It is the documentary evidence behind everything the supplier claims, filed in a register you control — not scattered across email threads and chat logs.
| Document group | What it must establish | Where the checking method lives |
|---|---|---|
| Business licence and export record | Legal existence, and a track record of exporting this product category | Supplier verification guide |
| Compliance documents for your destination market(s) | Test reports and certificates standing behind the specific models in scope — not the supplier’s range in general | Certification verification guide; for the EU, the due-diligence documentation set in our EU Battery Regulation guide |
| Transport documentation | A UN38.3 test summary and an SDS available for the models in scope — without them, the goods cannot be shipped as declared | Requested and filed here; document meanings decoded in the supplier verification guide |
| Cell and component traceability statement | Which cell maker, model and grade goes into the pack, and how production batches are identified | Filed here; why it matters is covered in the supplier verification guide |
| Quality-management evidence | That a managed process stands behind the documents — a quality manual, system certification of the producing partner, or equivalent process evidence | Filed here as process evidence, not as a logo on a slide |
| Commercial terms in writing | Warranty terms, the claims process, and after-sales responsibilities — agreed before money moves, not negotiated after a failure | Agreed and filed here |
Keep the register disciplined: for each document, record the issuer, the issue date, the expiry or review date, and the scope it covers. A document you cannot date, or cannot verify by the methods in the guides above, is an open item, not a pass. Open items do not always stop the review — they follow the supplier to Gate 4 and become conditions attached to the approval.
Gate 2 — The Sample Gate: Test the Product You Will Actually Buy
A sample only means something against a frozen written specification. Before samples are requested, freeze the specification you will actually buy against: voltage platform, capacity, cell model and grade, BMS protection and communication behaviour, dimensions, terminals and labelling. Our OEM/ODM RFQ checklist lists the fields for packs, and the BESS RFQ checklist does the same for storage projects. Agree the acceptance criteria at the same time — what will be measured, against which limits, and by whom — because criteria written after results arrive tend to fit the results.
The testing methods themselves — capacity verification, protection behaviour, build inspection — are covered in the sample-testing section of the supplier verification guide and in the incoming inspection guide. What this gate owns is the decision. Pass: results recorded against the criteria, file moves on. Conditional: one defined point failed — re-sample that point, not the whole programme. Fail: stop. A sample that cannot meet its own written specification is the cheapest failure you will ever buy, and the most informative one.
Gate 3 — The Pilot Batch: Prove the Process, Not the Sample
A sample can be built with unusual care. A pilot batch cannot: it runs through normal production, normal packing, and normal paperwork. Order a small production quantity under the same frozen specification and apply the same acceptance criteria as the sample gate, this time across units rather than to a single piece. What you are really checking is repeatability — unit-to-unit consistency, packing and labelling accuracy, and whether the documents that travel with the goods describe the goods that actually arrive.
Record variance, not just pass or fail: a batch that passes with tightening margins is a different signal from one that passes comfortably. And treat a pilot failure as the gate working, not as a relationship ending — a supplier who passes samples but cannot repeat the result at pilot scale has told you, cheaply, exactly what a first volume order would have told you expensively.
Gate 4 — Approval, Scope and the Approval Matrix
Approval is a decision with a scope, not a status. It has four possible outcomes: approved for the stated families and markets; approved with conditions — for example, valid while a document renewal is pending, or limited to one family until pilot evidence extends it; probation — approved for limited quantities under tightened incoming inspection; or not approved, with the reasons recorded so the decision survives the next enquiry from the same supplier.
The approval matrix keeps each gate’s judgement and signature separate, so no single conversation can carry a supplier through all five gates:
| Gate | Reviewed by | Signed off by | Record kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 — Desk screen | Procurement | Procurement lead | Screen note |
| 1 — Admission file | Procurement, with compliance review of the documents | Procurement lead | Document register |
| 2 — Sample gate | Technical reviewer | Technical lead | Sample evaluation record |
| 3 — Pilot batch | Technical and quality reviewers | Procurement lead | Pilot acceptance record |
| 4 — Approval & scope | Procurement lead | Sourcing manager or business owner | Approval record, with conditions and review date |
In a small company one person may hold two of these roles. That is workable; what is not workable is the judgements going unrecorded. The technical verdict and the commercial decision should both appear in the file, by name, with dates.
Keeping the Approval Alive: Review Cadence
Approvals decay. Certificates and test reports expire on their own calendar, specifications drift, cell sources change, and regulations move — EU battery due-diligence obligations being the current example, covered in our EU Battery Regulation guide. A prequalification that is never reviewed quietly becomes an assumption.
Two drivers keep it current. Scheduled review: re-check the document register on a fixed cycle matched to the validity of its contents, and confirm the approved scope still matches what you are actually buying. Triggered review: a specification change, a change of cell source, a pattern of claims or complaints, a regulatory change in a destination market, or a change in the supplier’s own entity — any of these reopens the affected gate, not the whole file.
Downgrades follow the same ladder as approval, in reverse: conditions, then probation, then suspension, each recorded with its reason. Re-qualification after suspension is a delta review of what changed — unless what changed is the product itself, in which case Gates 2 and 3 run again for the new scope.
The Prequalification Record: What “Done” Looks Like
When the workflow is finished, one file should answer every question a colleague, an auditor, or a customer with their own supplier-approval process might ask:
- The scope statement: product families and destination markets the approval covers
- The gate evidence: screen note, document register, sample evaluation and pilot acceptance records
- The decisions: outcomes per gate, with names and dates from the approval matrix
- The conditions: open items carried from Gate 1, with owners and deadlines
- The next review date, and the trigger events that would reopen the file sooner
If a new colleague can pick up that file and see why this supplier is approved, for what, and until when, the workflow has done its job.
How LJY Energy Works Through Buyer Prequalification
LJY Energy is a China-based LiFePO4 battery supplier and OEM/ODM coordination partner, and our buyers run versions of this workflow on us — it works best when both sides treat it as explicit. What we provide on request, for the specific models in scope: the document pack standing behind the model, a written specification confirmation before production is coordinated through our manufacturing partners, and sample and pilot-batch runs so your Gate 2 and Gate 3 evidence is generated on the product you will actually buy. We do not ask buyers to take certifications, test results or capacity claims on trust; the evidence is confirmed for the specific model, in writing, before an order is placed.
Running a prequalification or a re-qualification cycle? Send us the product scope and the destination markets via the contact page, and we will assemble the admission file for the models in scope — document register first, samples when your gates call for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does supplier prequalification take?
The paperwork gates are desk work and move quickly; the calendar is set by sampling and the pilot batch, because production, shipping and testing take the time they take. Collecting the admission file in parallel with sampling keeps the total close to the pilot timeline. The common mistake is sequencing everything — waiting for a perfect document file before ordering samples, then waiting for samples before drafting the specification the pilot will be judged against.
Is a factory audit always required?
No. An audit is one evidence type among several, and its weight should be set at Gate 0 according to scope and risk. Standard products with a complete admission file and strong sample and pilot evidence often do not need one before a first order; custom designs, new product families, or high-value programmes justify more. What matters is that the decision — audit or not, and why — is recorded in the file.
Can a supplier be approved for one product family but not another?
Yes, and that is the normal outcome. Approval attaches to the family and the markets that were actually evidenced at the gates. Adding a family later is a delta review — typically the admission-file additions plus Gates 2 and 3 for the new scope — not a restart of the whole prequalification.
What fails a supplier immediately?
Three things, each of which breaks the evidence chain at its cheapest repair point: documents that fail verification by the methods in our certification verification guide; refusal to identify cell sources and batch traceability; and pressure to proceed without a written specification. Any one of them means later gates would be built on evidence you cannot stand behind.
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