Free Request Proposal Template (and How to Use It)

You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint. Doing so would invite chaos, miscommunication, and a final product that looks nothing like what you envisioned. The same principle applies to selecting a vendor for a critical project. Sending out a vague request is like asking contractors to guess what you want. A request proposal template is your project’s blueprint. It lays out the foundation, defines the structure, and details every critical component, from scope and timeline to budget and evaluation criteria. It ensures every vendor is building their proposal on the same solid ground, giving you clear, comparable, and high-quality responses that lead to a successful partnership.

Key Takeaways

• Standardize for Clarity: A detailed RFP template is your best tool for a straightforward vendor selection. It ensures you receive consistent, comparable proposals by forcing you to define your project's scope and requirements with precision from the start.
• Customize to Attract the Right Partners: A generic template yields generic results. The most critical step is tailoring your RFP to your project's specific goals and industry language. This signals your seriousness to vendors and ensures the proposals you receive directly address your unique challenges.
• Systematize Your Process for Efficiency: Move beyond static documents to a smart RFP system to manage your workflow effectively. Using a platform with a centralized content library and integrated checklists eliminates repetitive tasks, ensures consistency, and frees your team to focus on strategic evaluation.

What is a Request for Proposal (RFP)?

Think of a Request for Proposal (RFP) as a formal document a company creates when it needs to buy a product or service and wants to explore its options. It’s essentially a detailed project description that invites vendors to submit a proposal explaining how they would tackle the job. Instead of just asking for a price, an RFP asks potential partners, "Here's our problem and what we need—how would you solve it, what's your plan, and what will it cost?" This approach is crucial for complex projects where the quality of the solution, the vendor's experience, and their methodology are just as important as the final price.

This process is more than just a simple inquiry. It’s a structured way for organizations, from small businesses to government agencies, to outline their requirements, scope, and goals for a specific project. By sending out a single, comprehensive document to multiple vendors, a company can gather a wide range of solutions and strategies. The responses help the company compare different approaches, technical capabilities, and pricing models side-by-side. The whole point of the RFP process is to create a fair, competitive environment that allows the organization to make a well-informed decision based on a complete picture, rather than just a price tag. It ensures that every potential vendor has the same information and is evaluated against the same criteria.

Why Use an RFP to Choose a Vendor?

Using an RFP is one of the smartest ways to choose a vendor because it brings clarity and structure to your decision-making. When you write an RFP, you’re forced to define exactly what you need, which helps you understand your own project goals better. This process allows you to compare different offers in a standardized format, making it easier to see which vendor truly offers the best value—not just the lowest price. A well-written RFP helps you find the right partner for your project by evaluating them on everything from their technical skills to their company culture. It creates a level playing field for all bidders and gives you a solid, defensible reason for your final choice.

How Templates Simplify the RFP Process

Starting an RFP from scratch can feel overwhelming. That’s where a template comes in. Using a template ensures you cover all the essential information and don’t forget critical details. It provides a pre-built structure that guides you through defining the project overview, scope, requirements, timeline, budget, and evaluation criteria. This not only saves you time but also standardizes the proposals you receive from vendors. When all the bids follow the same format, they become much easier to compare, allowing you to make a more accurate, apples-to-apples evaluation. A good request for proposal template is your roadmap to getting the clear, comprehensive responses you need to make the best decision.

What to Include in Your RFP Template

Think of your RFP template as the blueprint for your project. A strong, detailed blueprint ensures that every vendor builds their proposal on the same foundation, making it much easier for you to compare their work. When you leave things vague, you get proposals that are all over the map, and you end up comparing apples to oranges. A great RFP template has several key sections that work together to give vendors a complete picture of what you need.

By clearly defining each component—from the project scope to your evaluation criteria—you’re not just asking for a price quote; you’re inviting potential partners to show you how they can solve your specific problem. This clarity saves everyone time and helps you attract vendors who are genuinely a good fit. It also sets the stage for a smoother project down the line because expectations are aligned from the very beginning. Let's walk through the essential sections you should include in your template to get the clear, comparable, and high-quality responses you need to make the best decision.

Define the Project Overview and Scope

Start by setting the scene. Your project overview is your chance to tell vendors who you are, what you’re trying to accomplish, and why this project matters. Think of it as the introduction to your story. Briefly explain your company’s mission and the specific challenge or opportunity that led to this RFP. The goal is to give vendors enough context to understand your world and where this project fits in. A clear overview helps them tailor their proposals to your actual needs, rather than just sending a generic sales pitch. This section ensures that every proposal you receive is grounded in a solid understanding of your business goals.

Detail Your Requirements and Specifications

This is where you get down to the specifics. Clearly list everything you need the vendor to deliver, from high-level goals to detailed technical specifications. Break down the project into concrete tasks and deliverables. Be explicit about what is included in the scope of work and, just as importantly, what is not. The more detail you provide here, the more accurate your proposals will be. This clarity helps prevent scope creep and misunderstandings later on. It also allows vendors to provide more precise pricing and timelines, which is exactly what you need to make an informed decision.

Outline the Timeline and Key Milestones

Every project runs on a schedule, and vendors need to know yours. Provide a clear timeline with all the important dates. This should include the deadline for submitting proposals, the date you expect to make a decision, the project kick-off date, and any major milestones along the way. Laying out the timeline helps vendors assess their own capacity and determine if they can meet your deadlines. It also shows that you have a well-thought-out plan, which gives potential partners confidence in your ability to manage the project effectively from your end.

Clarify Budget Parameters

Talking about money upfront can feel awkward, but it’s one of the most important parts of an RFP. Providing a budget range or a not-to-exceed amount saves everyone a lot of time. It helps vendors propose a realistic solution that aligns with what you’re prepared to spend. Without this guidance, you might receive fantastic proposals that are completely out of your price range. Be clear about your budget constraints and mention your preferred pricing structure, whether it’s a fixed fee, an hourly rate, or another arrangement. This transparency ensures the proposals you review are financially viable from the start.

Specify Required Vendor Qualifications

You wouldn’t hire a plumber to do electrical work, and the same logic applies here. This section is where you list the must-have qualifications for any vendor you’ll consider. Be specific about the experience, certifications, technical skills, or industry knowledge you require. For example, you might need a vendor with proven experience in your industry or one that holds specific security certifications. Outlining these qualifications helps you filter out unsuitable candidates early in the process, so you can focus your attention on the proposals from vendors who are truly equipped to handle the job.

Explain Your Evaluation Criteria

Let vendors know how you’re going to score their proposals. Being transparent about your evaluation criteria helps them focus their responses on the areas that matter most to you. Will your decision be based primarily on price, or are technical expertise and past performance more important? List the key criteria you’ll be using to compare submissions and, if possible, assign a weight to each one. This not only helps vendors write better, more relevant proposals but also makes your team’s decision-making process more objective and straightforward when it’s time to compare the responses.

Provide Clear Submission Guidelines

Finally, make it as easy as possible for vendors to submit their proposals correctly. This section should cover all the logistical details. Specify the submission deadline (including the time zone), the required format (e.g., PDF), and how they should deliver it (e.g., via an online portal or email). It’s also helpful to name a single point of contact for any questions they might have during the process. Clear instructions prevent last-minute confusion and technical glitches, ensuring you receive all proposals on time and in the right format, which is a core feature of modern RFP software.

How Does an RFP Template Streamline Vendor Selection?

Think about the last time you received a stack of proposals. Were they all in different formats? Did some vendors leave out crucial information while others buried it in a 50-page document? Trying to make a fair decision in that chaos is tough. This is where an RFP template changes the game. It brings much-needed structure to the vendor selection process, transforming it from a disorganized scramble into a clear, methodical evaluation.

By providing a consistent framework for every vendor, a template ensures you get the exact information you need in a format that’s easy to process. This simple change has a ripple effect, making it easier to standardize submissions, compare proposals accurately, and cut down on the administrative busywork that slows your team down. Instead of wrestling with documents, you can focus on the strategic work of choosing the right partner. An AI deal desk solution can further streamline this by managing the entire process from a central hub, ensuring every step is as efficient as possible.

Standardize Proposal Submissions

When you don’t use a template, you invite inconsistency. One vendor might send a sleek presentation, another a dense Word document, and a third a simple email. This makes it nearly impossible to evaluate them on equal footing. An RFP template acts as a great equalizer. It sets clear expectations and provides a uniform structure that every bidder must follow, ensuring you get all the necessary information in a consistent format.

This standardization isn't just about making things look neat; it’s about fairness and efficiency. When every proposal answers the same questions in the same order, you can be confident you have the complete picture from each contender. This structured approach helps you gather all the necessary information from bidders and makes the initial review process much faster, as you know exactly where to find key details like pricing, timelines, and qualifications.

Compare Proposals More Accurately

Once all your proposals are standardized, the next step—comparison—becomes incredibly straightforward. You can finally conduct a true apples-to-apples evaluation. With a template, you can place proposals side-by-side and directly compare how each vendor measures up to your specific requirements. There’s no more hunting for a vendor’s security protocols or trying to decipher different pricing structures.

A well-structured RFP helps you get better bids and makes it easier to compare them, saving you time and helping you make a good decision. This accuracy is vital for mitigating risk and ensuring you select the partner best equipped to meet your needs. You can score each response against your predefined criteria with confidence, knowing that your evaluation is based on consistent data. This leads to better partnerships and more successful project outcomes.

Reduce Your Administrative Workload

The administrative burden of managing the RFP process can be overwhelming. Chasing down missing information, reformatting documents, and manually tracking submissions consumes valuable time that your team could spend on more strategic tasks. An RFP template significantly reduces this workload by creating a self-guided process for vendors and a predictable workflow for your team.

By setting clear guidelines from the start, you minimize back-and-forth communication and eliminate confusion. An RFP is a critical tool that helps you achieve major goals through strategic contracts, so it’s an opportunity you don’t want to waste on administrative hurdles. Using a template frees up your team to focus on the substance of the proposals rather than the logistics of managing them. This efficiency allows you to run a smoother, faster selection process and find the right partner to move your business forward.

What Challenges Do Businesses Face When Creating RFPs?

Creating a request for proposal sounds straightforward, but the process is often filled with hidden obstacles. From unclear requirements to looming deadlines, teams can easily get sidetracked, leading to proposals that don’t attract the right vendors. Understanding these common challenges is the first step to creating an RFP process that is smooth, efficient, and effective. Let's look at some of the most frequent hurdles businesses encounter.

Unclear Scope and Inconsistent Questions

One of the biggest tripwires in the RFP process is a poorly defined scope. When your team isn't crystal clear on the project's goals and deliverables, that ambiguity trickles down into the document itself. This often results in vague or inconsistent questions for your vendors. As experts from Hudson Bid Writers note, it's essential to ensure clarity and consistency in the information you provide. When vendors are confused, they can’t provide their best, most relevant solutions. You end up with generic proposals that are difficult to compare, which defeats the whole purpose of the RFP.

Tight Deadlines and Limited Resources

Your proposal team is likely juggling multiple projects at once, and an RFP is often just one more thing on their plate. This is where tight deadlines and limited resources become a major challenge. When time is short, it’s tempting to rush through the creation process, which can lead to a document that’s incomplete or fails to meet all internal requirements. This pressure cooker environment makes it difficult to do the deep thinking required for a strategic RFP. As a result, the quality of the final submissions you receive from vendors can suffer, leaving you with less-than-ideal options to choose from.

Forgetting Key Details and Compliance Rules

In the rush to meet a deadline, it’s surprisingly easy to overlook critical information. This could be anything from forgetting to research your potential vendors and their competitors to missing specific compliance rules that are non-negotiable. According to Winvale, failing to research customers and competitors can lead to major gaps in your proposal. These small omissions can have big consequences, potentially disqualifying top vendors or leading to inaccurate proposals. Ensuring every detail is covered is essential for a successful outcome.

How Templates Address These Pain Points

This is where a solid RFP template becomes your team’s best friend. Templates provide a structured framework that acts as a built-in checklist, making it much harder to forget key sections or compliance details. By starting with a pre-defined format, you can ensure every RFP you send is consistent, clear, and comprehensive. This structured approach helps streamline the RFP process, saving your team valuable time and reducing the mental load of starting from scratch. It allows you to focus on the strategic aspects of the project instead of getting bogged down in formatting and administrative tasks.

Tips for Creating an Effective RFP with a Template

Think of an RFP template as your recipe for success. It gives you the ingredients and the basic steps, but the final dish is all yours. Using a template is a fantastic head start, but the real value comes from how you adapt it. A generic RFP gets you generic responses. A thoughtful, specific RFP gets you partners who are genuinely excited and equipped to solve your unique problem. The goal is to provide enough detail and clarity that the right vendors can give you their best, most relevant proposals.

This is where you move from simply filling in the blanks to strategically crafting a document that attracts top-tier talent. By taking the time to customize your template, clarify your instructions, and set a fair timeline, you’re not just making it easier for vendors—you’re making it easier for your own team to compare apples to apples and choose the best possible partner. An AI-powered tool like Iris can help you manage this process by keeping your content consistent and up-to-date, ensuring every RFP you send is built on a foundation of your best, most accurate information.

Customize the Template for Your Project

A template is your starting point, not your final destination. The most critical step in using an RFP template is tailoring it to the specific needs of your project. A well-written, customized RFP is essential for getting better results and finding a vendor who truly understands your goals. Before you send it out, review every section and ask yourself: "Does this apply to my project? Is there anything missing?" Remove irrelevant questions and add details that are unique to your situation. This shows vendors you’ve done your homework and helps them provide a proposal that directly addresses your needs, rather than a generic sales pitch.

Write Clear, Specific Instructions

Clarity is your best friend when writing an RFP. If vendors have to guess what you mean, you’ll get proposals that miss the mark. Use simple, direct language and be very specific about what you need. Avoid internal jargon and acronyms, or if you must use them, define them clearly. Break down complex requirements into smaller, numbered points or bulleted lists to make them easier to digest. The clearer your instructions, the better the responses you’ll receive. Your goal is to eliminate ambiguity so vendors can focus their energy on crafting a great solution, not deciphering your request.

Set a Realistic Timeline

A rushed RFP process rarely leads to a great outcome. It’s important to set realistic deadlines that give vendors enough time to ask thoughtful questions and prepare a comprehensive response. A tight turnaround might scare off highly qualified vendors who are busy with other projects. Build in time for a Q&A period where vendors can seek clarification, and give your own team ample time to review the submissions without feeling rushed. A well-paced timeline respects the vendors' efforts and ultimately gives you higher-quality proposals to choose from.

Define Your Evaluation Criteria Early

Don’t keep your scoring system a secret. Tell vendors exactly how you will evaluate their proposals so they can focus on what’s most important to you. Are you prioritizing cost, experience, technical capabilities, or something else? Outline the key criteria and, if possible, assign a weight to each one. This transparency helps vendors tailor their proposals to highlight their strengths in the areas that matter most to your decision. It also makes the evaluation process more objective and straightforward for your team, ensuring everyone is judging the submissions by the same standards.

Involve Stakeholders from the Start

Creating an RFP shouldn't be a solo activity. It’s crucial to involve key stakeholders from relevant departments—like IT, finance, and legal—early in the process. These team members can provide valuable input on requirements, flag potential issues, and ensure the RFP covers all necessary bases. Getting their buy-in from the beginning helps build consensus and makes the final decision much smoother. Just be sure to keep the core team small and focused to avoid delays and conflicting feedback. This collaborative approach ensures the chosen vendor will meet the needs of the entire organization.

Key Features of a Smart RFP Template System

While a downloadable template is a fantastic starting point, a smart RFP system takes your process to a whole new level. Think of it as the difference between a static map and a live GPS. A template gives you the basic structure, but a dynamic system guides you through the entire process, making it faster, smarter, and far more effective. These systems are designed to manage the complexities of modern procurement and help you get the best possible responses from vendors.

A truly smart system isn't just about filling in blanks; it’s about building a more efficient and repeatable process for your entire team. It transforms the RFP from a dreaded administrative task into a strategic tool for finding the right partners. The best platforms accomplish this with a few key features that work together to save you time and improve the quality of the proposals you receive. From customizing questions for a specific project to ensuring every legal requirement is met, a smart system acts as your co-pilot. It helps you standardize your approach while maintaining the flexibility you need to find the perfect vendor for any job. Let’s look at what sets a smart RFP system apart.

Easy Customization for Any Project

Every project has its own unique goals and requirements, so your RFP needs to be just as specific. A smart system gives you the flexibility to easily tailor your request for any project. An RFP is your formal invitation for vendors to submit bids, and a generic document just won’t attract the best-fit partners. With a smart system, you can start with a solid foundation and then add, remove, or modify sections to perfectly match your needs. This ensures you’re asking the right questions to find the ideal company for the job, whether you’re sourcing a new software provider or a creative agency.

Integrated Compliance Checklists

Forgetting a critical compliance or security requirement can cause major headaches down the line. A smart RFP system helps you avoid this by including integrated compliance checklists. You can build checklists for legal, IT security, and industry-specific regulations directly into your templates. This ensures that every RFP you send out is complete and that you’re only evaluating proposals from vendors who meet your essential criteria. A well-written RFP is essential for getting better results, and built-in compliance checks are a key part of making that happen, protecting your organization and streamlining your vetting process.

A Centralized, Reusable Content Library

How much time does your team spend rewriting the same company background or standard requirements for every new RFP? A centralized content library eliminates this repetitive work. This is one of the most powerful features of a smart RFP system. You can store pre-approved, up-to-date answers and content blocks for common sections like your project background, scope, and evaluation criteria. When it’s time to create a new RFP, you just pull in the relevant content. This not only saves a huge amount of time but also ensures consistency and accuracy across all your documents.

Seamless Integration with Your Tech Stack

Your RFP process doesn’t happen in a bubble. It needs to connect with the other tools your team relies on every day, like your CRM and project management software. A smart RFP platform integrates seamlessly with your existing tech stack, creating a smooth workflow from start to finish. This means you can pull in data, collaborate with stakeholders, and push information to other systems without constant manual entry. Using a template helps make comparing bids easier, and integrating it with your other tools makes the entire vendor selection process more efficient and transparent for everyone involved.

Common RFP Template Mistakes to Avoid

RFP templates are incredible tools for getting started, but they aren't a magic wand. Simply filling in the blanks without careful thought can lead you down the wrong path, resulting in vague proposals and a frustrating selection process. Think of a template as your foundation—strong and essential, but you still need to build the house. Let’s walk through some of the most common mistakes people make when using RFP templates and how you can easily sidestep them. By avoiding these pitfalls, you set yourself up to receive clear, relevant, and truly comparable proposals from potential vendors.

Using a Generic Template Without Customizing It

The biggest mistake you can make is treating a template as a finished document. A generic RFP gets you generic answers, which won’t help you find the best partner for your specific needs. Each project has unique goals, challenges, and requirements that a standard template can't possibly capture. When you don't tailor the questions, you risk confusing vendors about your core strategy and what you truly value. Take the time to customize every section, from the project scope to the technical specifications. This shows vendors you’re serious and helps them craft a proposal that directly addresses your needs, making your final decision much easier.

Overlooking Important Details and Stakeholder Feedback

The RFP process should never be a solo mission. Forgetting to involve key stakeholders from different departments (like IT, finance, and marketing) early on is a recipe for disaster. These team members have unique insights and requirements that must be included for the project to be a success. Before you even send the RFP, circulate a draft internally to gather feedback and ensure all bases are covered. A great way to get initial input and pre-qualify vendors is to send out an RFI (Request for Information). This simple step ensures you haven’t missed critical details and that everyone is aligned from the start.

Creating Unrealistic Timelines

We’ve all felt the pressure of a tight deadline, but rushing the RFP process rarely ends well. Not allowing enough time is a frequent misstep that compromises the quality of the entire vendor selection process. If vendors have to rush, they can’t prepare a thoughtful, comprehensive proposal. In turn, your team won’t have adequate time to review submissions, ask clarifying questions, and make a well-reasoned decision. To avoid this scramble, work backward from your ideal project start date to build a realistic timeline. Be sure to budget time for each stage: vendor questions, proposal writing, internal reviews, and final negotiations.

Forgetting to Define How You'll Score Responses

How will you decide which proposal wins? If you don't know, your vendors won't either. Entering an evaluation phase without clear, predefined criteria makes the process subjective and difficult to defend. It’s crucial to determine your scoring system before you issue the RFP. Create a vendor scoring model that outlines your key criteria—such as technical capabilities, experience, and cost—and assign a weight to each one based on its importance. Including these criteria in the RFP helps vendors understand your priorities and focus their proposals on what matters most, leading to a more transparent and effective evaluation.

Where to Find and How to Customize RFP Templates

Finding a good RFP template is a great first step, but it’s just that—a first step. The real work begins when you start tailoring that template to fit your specific project and industry needs. You can find dozens of free templates online from project management sites, procurement networks, and even collaborative software companies. These resources give you a solid foundation, but turning that generic document into a powerful tool that attracts the right vendors requires a thoughtful approach. A well-crafted RFP does more than just solicit bids; it sets the tone for your entire vendor relationship. It communicates your professionalism, your clarity of vision, and your expectations from the very beginning. Rushing this stage with a poorly chosen or generic template can lead to vague proposals, endless back-and-forth questions, and a final decision based on incomplete information. Think of your template as the blueprint for a successful partnership. Before you even start writing, consider what a successful outcome looks like for this project. What are the non-negotiables? What information is absolutely critical for making an informed choice? Keeping these goals in mind will help you filter through the noise and select a template that truly serves your purpose. Let’s walk through how to choose the right starting point and customize it to build something great.

How to Choose the Right Template

When you’re searching for a template, it’s easy to grab the first one you see. But taking a few extra minutes to find the right one can save you hours of work later. The goal is to find a template that helps you gather the information you need to make a smart decision. Look for a well-structured request for proposal template that covers all the essential sections, from the project overview to submission guidelines. A comprehensive template ensures you don’t miss any critical details and that vendors provide their information in a consistent format, making your evaluation process much smoother. The right template should align with your project's complexity and give you a clear framework for comparing bids.

Adapting a Template for Your Industry

A generic template won't speak the language of your industry. Customization is where you transform a basic document into a strategic tool. A well-written RFP is essential for getting better results, and that means tailoring every section to reflect your sector’s specific requirements and standards. For example, an RFP for a software developer will have different security and compliance questions than one for a marketing agency. Go through each key component—like the project scope, vendor qualifications, and evaluation criteria—and refine the language to be as specific as possible. This clarity helps potential vendors understand exactly what you need and submit proposals that are relevant and valuable.

Using Digital Tools to Manage the RFP Process

Once you’ve customized your template and sent it out, the real challenge begins: managing the responses. A Word document can’t help you track submissions, collaborate with your team on evaluations, or store content for future use. As your project moves forward, you'll find that a static template isn't enough to manage the work. This is where digital tools come in. While collaborative workspaces can help, a dedicated AI deal desk solution automates the entire process. These platforms allow you to create, manage, and analyze RFPs from a central hub. They help you maintain a library of accurate, up-to-date answers, collaborate with stakeholders seamlessly, and ensure every proposal you send is high-quality, saving you time and improving your win rates.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What's the real difference between an RFP, an RFI, and an RFQ? Think of them as three different tools for three different jobs. You use a Request for Information (RFI) when you're in the early research phase and just want to understand what solutions are out there. A Request for Quotation (RFQ) is for when you know exactly what you want and just need to compare prices from different vendors. The Request for Proposal (RFP) is the most detailed of the three. You use it for complex projects where you need vendors to present a unique solution, methodology, and plan to solve your specific problem.

Should I always include a budget in my RFP? While it can feel like you're showing your hand too early, being transparent about your budget is almost always a good idea. Providing a realistic range helps vendors propose a solution that actually fits your financial reality. It saves you from falling in love with a proposal you can't afford and saves vendors from wasting time creating a plan that's completely out of scope. It frames the conversation productively from the start, ensuring the proposals you receive are both creative and viable.

What if I don't get any good proposals back after sending out my RFP? This can be frustrating, but it's usually a sign that something in your RFP wasn't quite right. It’s a great opportunity to do a quick post-mortem. Was your scope unclear? Was the timeline too aggressive, scaring off the best vendors? Did you send it to the right list of potential partners? Often, a lack of quality responses points back to a document that was too vague or demanding. Use it as a chance to refine your RFP and try again with a clearer, more focused request.

How is using a dedicated RFP software different from just using a Word or Google Docs template? A Word template is like a static blueprint for a house—it gives you the structure, but you have to manage all the construction yourself. A dedicated software system is like a full-service project management tool. It not only provides the template but also helps you manage the entire process. You can store and reuse approved content, collaborate with your team on evaluations, track vendor communications, and analyze results, all in one place. It turns a manual, administrative task into a streamlined, strategic process.

How much detail is too much detail in an RFP? You want to be specific, but you don't want to be overly prescriptive. The goal is to clearly define the problem you need to solve and the outcomes you want to achieve—the "what" and the "why." Where you can get into trouble is by dictating the "how." Give vendors enough detail to understand your needs, constraints, and goals, but leave them room to propose their own innovative solutions. If your RFP is so detailed that it stifles a vendor's creativity and expertise, you've probably gone too far.