Procurement · Definition

Request for Information

An early, non-binding request to learn what the market can offer.

An RFI gathers information before you commit to a specification: who supplies this, what is technically possible, what does it roughly cost, what lead times are realistic. Nobody is bidding yet.

Used well, an RFI prevents the expensive mistake of running a full tender against a specification the market cannot meet. It also builds the supplier long list you will later shortlist from.

Also called