RFP Template for Software Development

This rfp template for software development has nine sections: background, objectives, scope, technical environment, constraints, requirements of the vendor, questions, commercial terms and process. Copy the template below, fill in the brackets, send it to a shortlist of three to five vendors, and score the responses with the weighted sheet at the end. The template is deliberately short, because the best responses come from vendors who understand your problem, and the best way to get that is to describe the problem clearly and then ask questions that a salesperson cannot answer without an engineer. This guide covers when an RFP helps, the template itself, the questions that matter and how to score what comes back.

When an RFP helps and when it hurts

A software development RFP helps when you have a defined need, a budget authority who expects a documented comparison, and more than two credible vendors. It gives every vendor the same information, forces you to write down what you want, and produces responses you can compare on the same page. Procurement teams, public-sector buyers, boards and anyone who has been burned by a handshake project are right to want one.

It hurts in three situations. First, when the scope is not yet known: an RFP for an undefined product produces either padded fixed prices or vague proposals, and the right move is a short paid discovery engagement first. Second, when the document is so long that only vendors with a proposal department respond, which filters out the small, senior teams you may want most. Third, when the scoring is decided by price alone, because the RFP then selects for optimism rather than competence.

A good rfp for software development is therefore short on boilerplate, long on context, specific about questions, and explicit that price is one weighted criterion among several. If you do not have the time to write the context section properly, you are not ready to issue the RFP, and a request for information or a few vendor calls will serve you better.

The template (copy-and-fill)

Replace everything in brackets. Delete any section that does not apply rather than leaving it empty; vendors read empty sections as a sign nobody owns the project.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: [Project name]
Issued by: [Organization], [Department]   Contact: [Name, title, email]
Issue date: [Date]   Questions due: [Date]   Proposals due: [Date]   Decision expected: [Date]

1. BACKGROUND
   Who we are: [Two or three sentences: what the organization does, its size, who the users are.]
   Why now: [The business event driving this project: growth, a system reaching end of support,
   a new line of business, a compliance requirement, a failed previous attempt.]
   What exists today: [Current systems, manual processes, spreadsheets; what works, what does not.]

2. OBJECTIVES
   The project succeeds if: [Three to five measurable outcomes, e.g. "orders can be placed online
   without staff re-keying them", "month-end reporting takes one day instead of five".]
   Out of scope: [What this project will not do, so vendors do not price it.]

3. SCOPE OF WORK
   Users and roles: [Who uses the system and what each role must be able to do.]
   Core capabilities: [Numbered list. Mark each Must / Should / Could.]
   Integrations: [Each external system, what data moves, which direction, how often.]
   Data: [What must be migrated, from where, approximate volumes, known quality problems.]
   Non-functional requirements: [Availability, performance, accessibility, security,
   regulatory (e.g. HIPAA, SOC 2), data residency, browsers and devices.]
   Deliverables expected: [Working software, source code, documentation, test suite,
   deployment pipeline, training, maintenance plan.]

4. TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT
   Current platforms: [Languages, frameworks, databases, cloud or on-premises, identity provider.]
   Preferences or mandates: [E.g. "must run on Azure", ".NET preferred", "no preference; recommend".]
   Who will maintain it after launch: [Internal team, the vendor, or undecided.]

5. CONSTRAINTS
   Timeline: [Fixed dates and why; or "no fixed date; propose a realistic one".]
   Budget: [A range, a cap, or "not disclosed"; say which pricing models you will consider.]
   Procurement and legal: [Security review, insurance, background checks, contract template, IP terms.]
   Working arrangements: [On-site expectations, time-zone overlap, tools, meeting cadence.]

6. WHAT WE REQUIRE FROM THE VENDOR
   Company overview: [Years in business, locations, size of the relevant team, ownership.]
   Relevant experience: [Two or three comparable projects with what was built, the stack and the outcome;
   references we may contact.]
   Proposed team: [Named roles, seniority, location, percentage allocation; who leads.]
   Approach: [How you would run discovery, design, build, testing, deployment and handover.]
   Proposed solution: [Architecture, stack and hosting, with reasons.]
   Plan: [Phases, milestones, what we must provide and when.]
   Pricing: [By the model(s) requested in section 5; assumptions stated.]
   Maintenance and support: [Options after launch, response expectations, how upgrades are handled.]
   Contract: [Your standard terms, or confirmation you will work under ours.]

7. QUESTIONS (answer each; see the next section of this guide)

8. COMMERCIAL TERMS
   Pricing models accepted: [Fixed price / time and materials / milestone-based / dedicated team.]
   Payment: [Tied to milestones or acceptance; monthly for retainers.]
   Intellectual property: [All work product assigned to us on payment; exceptions listed.]
   Ownership: [Code, cloud accounts, domains and services in our name from the start.]
   Warranty: [Defect-fix period after acceptance.]
   Termination: [Notice period; handover obligations.]

9. PROCESS AND EVALUATION
   Submission format: [PDF, page limit, single contact.]
   Clarifications: [Questions in writing by the date above; answers shared with all vendors.]
   Evaluation: [Weighted criteria, e.g. understanding of the problem 20, approach 20, team 20,
   relevant experience 15, price 15, terms and risk 10.]
   Shortlist: [Presentations or working sessions with the top two or three; reference calls.]

That is the whole it rfp template. Everything a vendor needs to respond well is in sections 1 to 5; everything you need to compare responses is in sections 6 to 9. A software rfp example that runs to forty pages usually has the same content buried under boilerplate.

Questions that matter

Section 7 is where good vendors separate from good salespeople. The questions below are hard to answer well without involving the people who would actually do the work, which is the point. Ask them all or pick the ones that match your risks.

Understanding and approach

• What in our description is unclear or contradictory, and what would you need to resolve before quoting with confidence?
• Which of our Must requirements would you push back on, and why?
• What would you do in the first two weeks, and what would we have in hand at the end of them?
• Where do projects like this usually go wrong, and what in your approach addresses that?

Team and delivery

• Who, by name and role, would lead this project, and what else are they working on?
• Who will write the code, where are they located, and what is our overlap in working hours?
• What do we see every week: demos, hours, a backlog, reviewed code in our repository?
• What happens if a named person leaves mid-project?
• Do you subcontract any of the work, and will you tell us if you do?

Engineering practice

• How do you test, and what will the test suite cover when you hand over?
• How will the system be deployed, and will the pipeline and infrastructure definitions be ours?
• How do you handle security: secrets, dependencies, access, code review, and any compliance we named?
• What documentation will exist at handover, and could an engineer who has never met you run the system from it?

Commercial honesty

• What assumptions is your price based on, and which of them, if wrong, change it most?
• How do you handle a change request: process, turnaround and pricing?
• What would you recommend we not build in the first version, and why?

A vendor that answers these specifically, names people, and pushes back on at least one of your requirements is showing you how they will behave once hired. A vendor that answers with a capabilities deck is showing you the same thing. The checklist for choosing an IT services company goes deeper on what to verify once you have a shortlist.

Scoring responses

Decide the weights before the responses arrive and write them into section 9, so the scoring is a comparison rather than a justification. A workable default is below; adjust it to your risks, for example by raising the weight on experience for a regulated project or on team for a long engagement.

Criterion	Weight	What a high score looks like	What a low score looks like
Understanding of the problem	20	Restates our objectives in their own words, flags gaps and contradictions, asks sharp questions	Repeats our text, no questions, no pushback
Approach and plan	20	Clear phases, early working software, visible weekly progress, risks named with mitigations	A generic methodology diagram, a single big-bang delivery
Team	20	Named lead with relevant work, senior engineers identified, honest allocation, overlap hours stated	Roles without names, “resources will be assigned”, unclear location
Relevant experience	15	Comparable projects described with stack, scale and outcome; references offered	Logos without detail, references unavailable
Price and assumptions	15	Clear model, assumptions stated, change process defined, maintenance priced separately	A single number with no assumptions, or a price far below the others with no explanation
Terms and risk	10	IP assigned, our repositories and accounts, no silent subcontracting, orderly exit	Vendor retains code or accounts, vague termination, resistance to standard terms

Score each criterion from one to five, multiply by the weight, and total. Have at least two people score independently before comparing, and discuss any criterion where they differ by more than one point. Then interview the top two or three with a working session rather than a presentation: give them a real problem from the project and watch how the proposed lead thinks. The outlier on price, high or low, deserves a direct question about assumptions before it is accepted or rejected.

How to write an rfp for software, in one sentence: describe your problem well enough that a good engineer could start, ask questions only an engineer can answer, and score on more than price. The pricing model you choose afterwards is covered in our guide to software development pricing models.

Where PS3G fits

PS3G responds to RFPs from organizations of every size, and we tell you in the response which questions we think are missing. Our software development and maintenance service covers the build, the testing, the deployment pipeline and the maintenance agreement after launch, with code in your repositories and accounts in your name from the start. The full range of what we build, run and advise on is on our services page. If your scope is not yet defined enough for an RFP, we offer a short assessment that produces the scope document instead, which many clients then use as the basis for a competitive process that includes us. Either way, we start with a first conversation, a short assessment and a written proposal.

Related reading

• How to Choose an IT Services Company: A 20-Point Checklist
• Software Development Pricing Models: Fixed Price vs T&M vs Retainer
• Software development and maintenance services

Frequently asked questions

How long should an RFP template for software development be?

Long enough to describe the problem, the current environment, the constraints and the questions, and no longer. For most projects that is a few pages plus a requirements list. Length does not improve responses; clarity does. A long RFP filters out small, senior teams that lack a proposal department, which are often the vendors you most want to hear from.

Should I include a budget in the RFP?

Usually, yes, at least as a range or a cap. Without it, vendors guess, and you receive proposals for three different projects. A stated range lets vendors propose what is achievable within it and say what would not fit. If you cannot disclose a number, state which pricing models you will consider and ask each vendor to state the assumptions behind their price.

How many vendors should I send an RFP to?

Three to five. Fewer than three gives no real comparison; more than five costs you evaluation time and signals to vendors that the odds are poor, so the best ones may decline. Shortlist from referrals, from vendors whose published work matches your project, and from an initial call that confirms they are interested and capable before you send the document.

What is the difference between an RFP, an RFI and an RFQ?

A request for information (RFI) asks vendors to describe their capabilities before you have a defined scope, and is useful for building a shortlist. A request for proposal (RFP) asks for a proposed solution, team, plan and price against a described need. A request for quotation (RFQ) asks for a price against a fully specified deliverable, and suits commodity purchases more than custom software.