A request for proposal (RFP) is the document an owner issues to solicit offers for a project or a service, describing the scope, requirements, evaluation criteria, and submission instructions. In AEC, owners issue RFPs to select design firms, construction managers, and contractors, and responding to them is how most firms win work.
What an RFP contains
Formats vary widely between public agencies and private owners, but the recurring contents are:
- Project description and scope: what is being procured, the site, the program, known constraints, and the expected schedule.
- Requirements: qualifications, insurance and bonding, licensing, and any mandatory forms or certifications.
- Evaluation criteria and weights: how proposals will be scored: experience, team, approach, schedule, and, where permitted, fee.
- Submission instructions: format, page limits, deadline, and the contact protocol during the procurement, which is usually restricted.
- Contract terms: the form of agreement the winner will sign, included so proposers price the actual terms.
RFP, RFQ, and bid
Three instruments that get conflated:
- RFQ (request for qualifications) asks who is qualified, without pricing. Owners often run an RFQ first to shortlist firms, then issue the RFP to the shortlist. RFQ can also mean request for quotation in goods procurement, a different instrument.
- RFP asks shortlisted or open respondents for a proposal: approach, team, schedule, and usually some price component.
- Bid (or ITB, invitation to bid) asks only for price against fully defined documents, with award to the lowest responsive bidder. Bidding suits fully designed construction; RFPs suit services and delivery methods where approach and qualifications matter.
For design services on US federal work, and in many states under mini-Brooks statutes, selection of architects and engineers is qualifications-based: firms are ranked on qualifications and fee is negotiated with the top-ranked firm afterward, rather than competed. The federal basis is the Brooks Act, 40 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq..
The RFI collision
Procurement has its own RFI: a request for information issued by an owner before an RFP, to survey the market, or by proposers during the RFP window to ask clarifying questions. This is a different instrument from the construction-phase RFI, the contractor's formal question about contract documents during the build. Same abbreviation, different phase, different function; which one is meant is read from context.
How design firms respond
A proposal team typically reuses a qualifications library (resumes, project sheets, certifications) and writes the approach sections fresh against the evaluation criteria. The recurring failure modes are generic content that ignores the stated criteria and non-compliance with format rules, which can disqualify a proposal unread. Firms that win consistently treat the RFP's evaluation criteria as the proposal's outline and answer them in order.
Related terms
- RFI: the construction-phase instrument sharing the abbreviation with procurement's pre-RFP inquiry.
- AEC: the industry context for design and construction procurement.
- Construction management: a delivery method commonly procured through RFPs.
- Contract administration: administering the agreement the RFP process produces.
Frequently asked questions
What is a request for proposal? A document an owner issues to solicit offers for a project or service. It defines the scope, the requirements, and the evaluation criteria, and proposers respond with their approach, team, and pricing as instructed.
What is the difference between an RFP and an RFQ? An RFQ (request for qualifications) asks who is qualified and usually carries no pricing; an RFP asks for a full proposal. Owners often sequence them: RFQ to shortlist, RFP to select. In goods procurement RFQ can instead mean request for quotation.
What is the difference between an RFP and a bid? A bid competes on price against complete documents, with award to the lowest responsive bidder. An RFP is scored on multiple criteria, of which price is only one, and sometimes none for qualifications-based selections.
Is an RFP the same as an RFI? No. In procurement, an RFI gathers information before or during an RFP. In construction, an RFI is the contractor's formal question about the contract documents during the build. The abbreviation is shared; the instruments are unrelated.
What is qualifications-based selection? A selection method for professional design services in which firms are ranked on qualifications and experience, and fee is negotiated with the top-ranked firm afterward. US federal law requires it for architect-engineer services, and many states mirror the requirement.
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