A formal invitation asking vendors to propose how they would meet a defined requirement, usually with pricing. The backbone of structured procurement, and a process that measures proposal quality more directly than delivery quality.
RFPs bring discipline to buying decisions that would otherwise be made on relationships. But the discipline has a blind spot: the document you score is written by a bid team, not by the people who will do the work.
Last reviewed 3 July 2026 · Free and ungated
Before you award, put the evaluation to selected senior operators who have sat on both sides of an RFP.
Pressure-test your shortlistA request for proposal is a structured document a buyer issues to invite competing vendors to propose a solution to a stated requirement. Responses typically cover approach, team, timeline and price, and are scored against weighted criteria. It sits later in the procurement cycle than an RFI: by the time an RFP goes out, the buyer is committing to choose someone.
An RFP rewards whoever writes the best proposal, which is not the same as whoever delivers the best outcome. Larger vendors run dedicated bid teams whose entire job is winning RFPs; the people who craft the winning response rarely appear once the contract is signed. The scoring matrix also inherits the assumptions of whoever drafted the requirements, and those requirements are often shaped, sometimes literally drafted, by an incumbent or a favoured vendor. The evaluation feels objective. Its inputs frequently are not.