RFI: when you do not yet know the market
A request for information is there to map the market. Who can do it, with what technologies, at what capacity, in what lead times and in what price order of magnitude. You are not asking for a binding quote: you are gathering what you need to build an intelligent consultation.
A good RFI avoids the most expensive mistake in purchasing: discovering after the tender that a different technology or process would have halved the cost. It is also the moment when suppliers are most open, because nothing is locked yet.
RFQ: fixed requirement, only price varies
A request for quotation in the strict sense applies when the requirement is fully specified: dimensioned drawing, catalogue reference, precise standard. Suppliers do not propose a solution, they price the same thing. It is the only case where comparing prices directly makes sense.
An RFQ therefore demands discipline: identical scope, identical quantities and price breaks, imposed incoterm, imposed bid validity, imposed response format. Every variable left free becomes an explanation for a price gap, and therefore an impossible negotiation.
RFP: you are buying an outcome, not a part
A request for proposal is required when several approaches could meet the need: a production line, a system, a professional service, a construction project. You describe the problem and the constraints, not the solution.
Evaluation then becomes multi-criteria and weighted: technical value often counts for sixty per cent of the score. An RFP judged on price alone always produces the same outcome — the lowest bidder who most underestimated the requirement, and therefore the most variation orders to come.
The common mistake: moving on without a transition
Many organisations issue an RFQ because it is the document they know, on a requirement that called for an RFP. Suppliers then each answer a different need, prices are not comparable, the consultation is relaunched, and six weeks are lost.
The rule is simple: if you cannot write what you are buying on one page without ambiguity, you are not ready for an RFQ. Run an RFI first, or commit to an RFP with a weighted evaluation grid.
