RFI (Request for Information)

01What the rules say

FAR 15.201 allows agencies to issue RFIs when they do not presently intend to award a contract but want price, delivery, other market information or capabilities for planning, and it states that responses are not offers and cannot be accepted to form a contract. RFIs are one of the market-research methods FAR 10.002 lists, alongside contacting knowledgeable people in industry and publishing formal requests for information. State and local buyers use them the same way, often before writing a large RFP.

02Why answering one matters

The RFI is often the first look a buyer gets at your company, and its questions show what the buyer is worried about. Responses feed the requirements, the evaluation criteria and sometimes the acquisition strategy itself: for federal buys, market research decides whether a requirement is set aside for small businesses (see set-aside). Answering well can put a capability you have into the eventual RFP; staying silent leaves the requirements to whoever did answer.

03How to respond

• Answer exactly the questions asked, in the order asked, within any page limit.
• Lead with relevant capability and real examples, not a brochure.
• Point out requirements that would needlessly limit competition or raise cost, and say why.
• Ask the clarifying questions the RFI invites; they cost nothing and they shape the solicitation.
• Mark proprietary information as such.
• Keep the answers. Most will be needed again, nearly word for word, when the RFP arrives.

04RFI or sources sought

Federal buyers also post sources sought notices, which ask specifically whether capable firms, often small businesses, exist for a requirement. The two overlap; treat either as an early signal that a solicitation may follow, and track it. For how an RFI differs from an RFP and an RFQ, see the RFI explainer.