How the government asks
What is an RFP in government contracting?
Request for Proposal
An RFP is a federal solicitation that asks for a binding proposal on work where the buyer intends to weigh factors other than price alone, and it is issued under the negotiated-procurement rules in FAR Part 15.
Also written as: request for proposal, RFP meaning, solicitation.
An RFP tells you what the government wants, how to propose it, and how the proposals will be compared. FAR 15.203 requires it to state the government's requirement, the anticipated terms and conditions, the information an offeror must submit, and the factors and significant subfactors that will be used to evaluate the offer and their relative importance. That last clause is the one contractors underuse: the evaluation criteria are published, in the document, before you write a word.
Two sections do most of the work. Section L tells you what to submit and in what form; Section M tells you how it will be scored. A proposal that answers Section M in the order and language of Section M is easier for an evaluator to score highly, and an evaluator who has to hunt for a required element usually does not find it.
Because a proposal is an offer, submitting one exposes you to acceptance. An RFP may lead to award without discussions at all — that possibility is normally stated in the solicitation, and it means the first proposal you submit should be the one you would want accepted.
What this means when you bid
Read Section M before Section C. The evaluation criteria tell you what the buyer will actually reward, and they are published weeks before the proposal is due.
RFP compared with the terms it gets confused with
RFP vs RFQ
An RFQ asks for a quote, which is information rather than an offer; an RFP asks for a proposal, which is an offer the government can accept and thereby form a contract.
What RFQmeans →RFP vs RFI
An RFI buys nothing at all — it is market research. If you respond to an RFI expecting an award, you have misread the document.
What RFImeans →RFP vs Sealed bidding
Sealed bidding awards to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder on price; an RFP lets the buyer trade price against technical merit and past performance.
What Sealed biddingmeans →Where this definition comes from
Federal contracting is one of the few fields where the authoritative answer is free, public and one click away. These are the sources this page is built from — go and read them.
- FAR 15.203→
Requests for proposals.
- FAR Part 15→
Contracting by negotiation.
This page explains a term in plain English and cites the authority it comes from. It is not legal advice, and the regulation governs where this page and the regulation differ.
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RFP— common questions
- What is an RFP in government contracting?
- An RFP is a federal solicitation that asks for a binding proposal on work where the buyer intends to weigh factors other than price alone, and it is issued under the negotiated-procurement rules in FAR Part 15.
- What is the difference between RFP and RFQ?
- An RFQ asks for a quote, which is information rather than an offer; an RFP asks for a proposal, which is an offer the government can accept and thereby form a contract.
- What is the difference between RFP and RFI?
- An RFI buys nothing at all — it is market research. If you respond to an RFI expecting an award, you have misread the document.
- What is the difference between RFP and Sealed bidding?
- Sealed bidding awards to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder on price; an RFP lets the buyer trade price against technical merit and past performance.
- Why does an RFP matter when you are bidding?
- Read Section M before Section C. The evaluation criteria tell you what the buyer will actually reward, and they are published weeks before the proposal is due.
Related terms
- RFQ — Request for Quotation
- RFI — Request for Information
- Sealed bidding
- Solicitation amendment
- Past performance