RFP (Request for Proposal)

01What an RFP contains

In U.S. federal buying, the RFP is the instrument of a negotiated acquisition: FAR 15.203 says agencies use requests for proposals to communicate their requirements to prospective contractors and to solicit proposals. Most federal RFPs follow the uniform contract format in FAR 15.204-1, which arranges the document in lettered sections:

Section J often carries the statement of work, pricing sheets and forms as attachments.

State, local and commercial RFPs rarely use the letters, but they carry the same parts: background, scope, instructions, evaluation criteria, terms and required forms.

02The statement of work

The statement of work (SOW) is the part that says what the contractor will actually do. Federal buyers often write a performance work statement instead, which FAR 37.602 describes as stating the work in terms of required results rather than how the work is to be done; some issue only a statement of objectives and ask offerors to write the work statement themselves. Whatever its name, every "shall" in it is a requirement your response has to meet, which is why the SOW is the first thing a compliance matrix is built from.

03How a response is organized: volumes

Section L, or its local equivalent, tells you how to package the response. Larger RFPs split it into volumes that different evaluators score separately:

• Technical volume: your approach to the work, staffing and management plan, written to the evaluation factors in Section M.
• Past performance volume: recent, relevant contracts and references (see past performance).
• Cost or price volume: pricing in the format requested, often a buyer-supplied spreadsheet, with the basis of estimate.
• Executive summary: a short opening that states your understanding of the need, your solution and why it is the lower-risk choice. Evaluators often read it first; some RFPs limit or exclude it, so check Section L before writing one.

Page limits, fonts and file formats in the instructions are requirements too. Many solicitations state that pages beyond a limit will not be evaluated.

04From notice to deadline

Federal RFPs above the publicizing thresholds start with a notice on SAM.gov, the government-wide point of entry. FAR 5.203 sets the minimum clock:

Commercial products and services are the main exception. For those, the contracting officer may shorten the notice period or combine the notice and the solicitation in one document (FAR 12.603), and must still give offerors a reasonable opportunity to respond. Many RFPs for commercial work therefore allow less than 30 days, which leaves little time for the bid decision. State and local buyers set their own minimum periods in their procurement codes.

05Questions, amendments and late proposals

Most RFPs set a deadline for written questions, and the buyer shares its answers with every bidder. When the government changes its requirements or terms, before or after proposals arrive, FAR 15.206 requires the contracting officer to amend the solicitation. Amendments can move the due date, change page limits or even the evaluation factors, and solicitations usually require you to acknowledge each one.

Deadlines are strict. Under FAR 15.208, a proposal received after the exact time set for receipt is late and will not be considered, with narrow exceptions: for example, an electronic proposal that reached the government's initial point of entry by 5:00 p.m. one working day before the due date, if accepting it would not unduly delay the acquisition. Submit early, confirm receipt and keep proof of when you sent it.

06Other formats

Some RFPs replace part of the written proposal with an oral presentation, which FAR 15.102 allows; the solicitation then sets the topics, time limits and who may present. Others use the advisory multi-step process in FAR 15.202: the agency first asks for a short submission and tells each respondent whether it is likely to be a viable competitor, and respondents may still compete either way. Read the instructions for the format before you plan the writing.

07How proposals are judged

The RFP must say what will be evaluated and how much each factor matters (see evaluation criteria). Federal buyers choose between a best-value tradeoff, where a better technical offer can justify a higher price (FAR 15.101-1), and lowest price technically acceptable, where every offer that meets the minimum competes on price alone (FAR 15.101-2). The method changes how you should write: a tradeoff rewards strengths you can prove, while LPTA rewards meeting each requirement plainly at the lowest price.

08RFP, RFQ or RFI

An RFP asks how you would do the work and at what price. An RFQ asks only for prices on something already specified, and an RFI asks for information with no award in view. The RFP explainer covers how to plan a response.