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Information about Request For Proposal

For other meanings, see RFP (disambiguation). For information about Wikipedia proposals, see Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals).


A Request for Proposal (referred to as RFP) is an invitation for suppliers, through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific product or service.

An RFP typically involves more than a request for the price. Other requested information may include basic corporate information and history, financial information (can the company deliver without risk of bankruptcy), technical capability (used on major procurements of services, where the item has not previously been made or where the requirement could be met by varying technical means), product information such as stock availability and estimated completion period, and customer references that can be checked to determine a company's suitability.

In the military, an RFP is often raised to fulfil an Operational Requirement (OR), after which the military procurement authority will normally issue a detailed Technical Specification against which tenders will be made by potential contractors. In the civilian use, an RFP is usually part of a complex sales process, also known as enterprise sales.

RFPs often include specifications of the item, project or service for which a proposal is requested. The more detailed the specifications, the better the chances that the proposal provided will be accurate. Generally RFPs are sent to an approved supplier or vendor list.

The bidders return a proposal by a set date and time. Late proposals may or may not be considered, depending on the terms of the initial RFP. The proposals are used to evaluate the suitability as a supplier, vendor, or institutional partner. Discussions may be held on the proposals (often to clarify technical capabilities or to note errors in a proposal). In some instances, all or only selected bidders may be invited to participate in subsequent bids, or may be asked to submit their best technical and financial proposal, commonly referred to as a Best and Final Offer (BAFO).

RFP Variations

The Request for Quotation (RFQ) is used where discussions aren't required with bidders (mainly when the specifications of a product or service are already known), and price is the main or only factor in selecting the successful bidder. RFQ may also be used as a step prior to going to a full-blown RFP to determine general price ranges. In this scenario, products, services or suppliers may be selected from the RFQ results to bring in to further research in order to write a more fully fleshed out RFP.

RFP is sometimes used for a Request For Pricing.

A Request for Information (RFI) is a proposal requested from a potential seller or a service provider to determine what products and services are potentially available in the marketplace to meet a buyer's needs and to know the capability of a seller in terms of offerings and strengths of the seller. RFIs are commonly used on major procurements, where a requirement could potentially be met through several alternate means. An RFI, however, is not an invitation to bid, is not binding on either the buyer or sellers, and may or may not lead to an RFP or (RFQ).

See also

External links

RFP could refer to:
  • Radio Free Polynesia http://rfp.pn/
  • 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol
  • Request for proposal
  • Red Fluorescent Protein
  • Reversed field pinch - see Plasma equilibria and stability
  • RFP Investments Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of SMRT Corporation

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Bidding is an offer (often competitive) of setting a price one is willing to pay for something. A price offer is called a bid. The term may be used in context of auctions, stock exchange or card games.
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Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) and
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Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) and
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A Request for Quotation (referred to as RFQ) is a standard business process whose purpose is to invite suppliers into a bidding process to bid on specific products and/or services.

An RFQ typically involves more than the price per item.
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A Request for Information (RFI) is a standard business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. Normally it follows a format that can be used for comparative purposes.
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Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) and
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In Canadian contract law, Contract A is a concept that has recently been applied by courts regarding the fair and equal treatment of bidders in a contract tendering process.
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business proposal is an offering from a seller to a prospective buyer. Proposals can range in size from a one page letter, or price list, to several hundred pages of detailed specifications.
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A reverse auction (also called procurement auction, e-auction, sourcing event, e-sourcing or eRA) is a tool used in industrial business-to-business procurement.
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In procurement technology terms, ERFx (or eRFx) is an acronym for Electronic Request For [x] - where x can be Proposal (RFP), Quote (RFQ), Information (RFI) or Tender (RFT). Other pseudonymous acronyms include "ITT" (Invitation to tender) or "PQQ" (Pre Qualification Questionnaire).
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Strategic sourcing is an institutional procurement process that continuously improves and re-evaluates the purchasing activities of a company. It is one component of supply chain management.
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worldwide view of the subject.
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Outsourcing became part of the business lexicon during the 1980s and refers to the delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external
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