Dealing with lots of different potential suppliers can be a tough task depending on the industry of your business. This leads to the need for a tool to get this basic information more efficiently and quicker.

With this in mind, the Request for Information ( RFI) was created. It makes things like the procurement process or the information requests easier for customers. Optimizing the relationships with stakeholders and potential suppliers.

The RFI is a process that aims to gather key information about potential vendors and prospective suppliers. It is usually done by the customers and can be a valuable tool if you don’t know how to start looking for potential providers, key stakeholders, or any kind of partnership candidates.

It also helps in the evaluation process of which of these potential suppliers are excellent options, narrowing this list and reducing the cost of the evaluation process. Since prospecting new vendors can be an exhaustive and expensive part of the business, this kind of tool comes out very handy.

This document also has the objective of creating further clarification of the company’s needs, making a better connection between you and stakeholders that are willing to help your business to grow. For example, the RFI process also dismisses the need for deep market research on the buying process.

Along with the ease of the vendor prospecting process, there are several other reasons for using a Request for Information. Some may be more specific for certain business types, and others work for any kind.

The RFI is typically used to request information on products from different vendors and make a direct comparison between them to find the best option for you. It is often done for a single project so that companies might do multiple RFI processes along different projects.

Some questions are frequently asked when making an information request for your potential partners. These topics are essential when gathering information and creating evaluation criteria to choose the best one.

The direct comparisons between the RFI response from each vendor can be the key factor for deciding which one to sign a contract with. These questions help you evaluate vendors that can accomplish your business requirements.

Company’s Prices

Probably one of the most important factors to consider about the vendor’s proposal. The more competitive the market you are requesting services from, the easier it will be to negotiate a lower price, especially when there are many other options for your bidding process.

Understanding your project’s budget and planning how much to spend in each step is very important. Remember that comparing prices is one of the most important parts of your Request for Information doc.

Products and Services From Vendors

Before making any informed decision, it is very important to analyze the products and services that the vendors offer and see if they meet your response expectations. Additionally, when talking about video productions and other products of this kind, it is also vital to request samples from the previous project.

This way, you guarantee that you are signing a contract with a quality service that will provide you with a good product in the final stage of the project. The vendor’s ability to deliver what you expect is a vital part of the process, and the samples serve comparative purposes.

Previous Experiences

Another commonly asked question is about previous experiences regarding similar projects. This can be important information for the selection process since a better understanding of what must be done can lead to better results.

Inexperienced companies can be a little cheaper, but it isn’t always the best deal, and can end up not achieving expected company goals with the project. This is commonly seen when companies’ general prices are way lower than the average.

Delivery Dates and Deadline

Commonly seen in long projects or tasks that demand a high production speed, the delivery timelines are also a determining factor of the purchasing process of a service. Creating clear guidelines for the deadline and stating when each part must be completed is vital for the timeline to work. 

One mistake can cause the entire project to get late, so it is crucial to pay attention to the dates provided by the vendor and see if they fit your schedule. This also shows the need for a good RFI document with clear expectations and needs.

Specific Needs

Another vital topic when creating a Request for Information is a section for specific needs. Sometimes projects end up having particularities and steps that most others wouldn’t.

Keeping the vendors aware of these steps is indispensable for the partnership. These specific details must be evident and detailed in the RFI document so the vendors understand the needs and evaluate if the company can deliver them.

The RFI process isn’t restricted to specific services or areas, but some particular sectors and business types tend to use them way more than others. It can be because of many different reasons, from the diversity of equipment needed to the size of the team.

IT Sector

One of the most common sectors that frequently use RFI is IT (Information Technology), Primarily because of the acquisition of software that will be used for a long time in projects.

IT sector RFIs typically have particular requests like usage and communication with other software for complementing tasks and much other detailed information. Some of the most common clients from this sector are advertising agencies that demand lots of different software to do their projects, with the biggest vendor for this industry being Adobe.

Construction Industry

Another department that demands lots of RFIs is the construction companies. The construction industry RFIs are usually sent to a designer or client from the requesting company.

In this industry, the RFI form is typically used before quoting and onward, using the RFI template especially for submitting queries. These usually are regarding requested materials, drawings, designs, and other contact information.

Health Industry

The health industry also uses Request for Information forms frequently. Most of these demands are around enterprise resource planning and electronic health recording.

This industry demands the guarantee of impeccable service and RFI response. More than the others, the health industry is a delicate business that needs the assurance of safety for the patients and, consequently, for the company.

This is why we usually see a more structured document with contractual obligation details, a way more formal process than for an advertising service, for example. The requested information is way more strict and needs to be verified multiple times.

When creating an RFI doc, some steps must be followed to make a good RFI well-structured manner that will guarantee a better RFI response from the vendors reading it. Many people skip essential steps and end up doing the process wrong or having poor research results.

Here are the essential steps for creating great RFI templates to collect information about potential vendors:

Introductory Information

This must be the first section of your document, compiling all the company information and who sent the RFI. Some of the primary information should be:

• RFI reference number
• The date that the company sent the RFI
• Name of the project the RFI represents
• Project Number
• Deadline for response

Statement of Purpose

This is a paragraph to describe the overview of the information you are seeking. You can put everything you want in this paragraph, from requests to products and services.

You should also put the due date of your project and its deadline, specifying the contract time for the previously mentioned products and services. The reason for doing this is to automatically eliminate all the vendors that cannot provide the tools you are looking for, making it even easier to decide in the later stages.

Executive Summary

This is the first step after telling the potential vendor what you need for the project and how. Now it is time to describe the project in a clear format, with all the necessary information but without getting overly detailed. Explain its context and the reason why the vendor should help with completing it.

Another detail that can be added to this section is beta versions and other documents that can help explain this project. Adding attachments to this section is a common practice in this standard format, so don’t be afraid to do it.

Business Backstory

If you want to add even more reasons for the vendors to buy your idea and help you turn the project into reality, you can also add a short backstory of the company. This section is not obligatory but is an excellent opportunity to add extra context regarding your company, like its mission, vision, and experience.

Another thing that can be added in this section is a link to the company’s website or social media accounts. This is an excellent way of giving the vendors ways of contacting you about doubts and questions regarding the project.

Answer Section

The last thing that should be featured in your RFI is an answer field for the vendor to fill. Sometimes the vendors will rather send a separate document with the answer attached to the original RFI file but providing this space is a courtesy that makes your document look better.

It is also important to provide a section for filling in the date when the answer was given. This helps the company to visualize how long it took and if the deadline was respected.

Since Microsoft Office is a market standard, it is common for companies to already have access to the software. If you don’t have an Office activation key yet, you can find it at RoyalCDKeys for a considerably lower price than Microsoft’s official website.  

Get this template

Template #2

Get this template

Template #3

Get this template

Template #4

Get this template