Request for Information: An open enquiry that spans the market seeking broad data and understanding Procurment

ent uses RFI to gather information to help decide what step to take next before embarking on project. RFI is a solicitation sent to a broad base of potential contractors for the purpose of conditioning, gathering information, preparing RFP or RFQ, developing strategy or building a database about contractors/state of supply market/market dynamics/trends and factors/alternative pricing strategies/contractor competition/etc RFI is a business process whose purpose is to gather info about options and products from different contractors. RFI is a preliminiary stage, it is acceptable that the answer include products which may not entirely meet the requirements. RFI is an intial procedure used to determine the next step and can therefore be identified as a pre qualification of both potential solutions and contractors. RFI responses frequently emerges into the following : RFP; RFT;RFQ

Request for Proposals: RFP is the 2nd phase of procurement procedure which would implement employers wishes and requirements for solution product/service. It is thus , through a tendering process, a client/customers desire to get a variety of suggestions for a particular work/product/service. RFP is a solicitation made, through tendering process, by client/customer/employer interested in procurement of service to potential contractors to submit proposals. RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and is meant to allow the risks and benefits to be identified clearly up front. RFP is used when project requirements have been definbed, but an innovative or flexible solution is needed. That is when the promoter knows what it wants to achieve, but would like prospective contractors to use their experience, technical capabilities and creativity to identify how the project objectives can best me met RFP presents preliminary requirements for service/work and may dictate to varying degrees the exact structure and format of the contractors response. RFP: o Informs contractors that an organization is looing to procure and encourages them to make their best effort o Requires company to specifiy what it proposes to purchase/ o Ensure contractors respond factually to identified requirements RFp involves more than a request for price. Other requested info may include basic corporate info & history, financial info, technical capability, work info, estimated completion period and customer refrences to check companys suitability. RFP often includes specifications of the item/service.work for which a proposal is requested.

Generally RFPs are sent to an approved contractor list.Bidder return a proposal by a set date and time. RFP leaves all or part of the precise structure and format of the response to the discretion of the contractors.

Request for Quotation(RFQ) or Invitation for bid/ Invitation to bid(IFB/ITB) : Invitation to contractor through a bidding/tendering process to submit a proposal on a specific project, service to be furnished. Same as RFQ(Request for Quotation) IFB or RFQ is focused on pricing and not on ideas/concepts Contractors with lowest bids is awarded the contract meet min criteria RFQ is used when discussion with bidders are not required(mainly when the specs of a product or service are already known) and when price is the main or only factor in selecting successful bidder. RFQ may be used as a step prior/before going to RFP to determine general price ranged. RFQ is a standard business process whose purpose is to invite contractors into a tendering process to bid on specific product/service. RFQ typically involves more than price per item. Information like payment terms, quality level per item or contract length are possible to be requested during the bidding process To receive correct quotes, RFQs often include the specifications of the items/service to make sure all the contractoros are bidding on the same item/service. More detailed the specs, the more accurate the quote will be and comparable to other contractors. RFQ is used mainly when the specs of a product/service are already known and when you want the selected contractor to deliver a specified offer. This can be the case after the passafe of RFI and RFP, or when price is the ain factor. RFQ is also used a prerequisite for an RFP, to determine general price levels. Contractors( and/or services) selected from RFQ results, in order to create a fully specified RFP.

Request for Tender(RFT): RFT is an open invitation to all potetinal contractors that can meet clearly defined needs( as opposed to an RFP which are normally sent to selection potential contractors only). RFT is an opportunity for potential contractors to submit an offer to supply goods or services against a detailed tender RFT should be based on information obtained earlier from an RFI and usuaslly will not only include service/work requirements, but will additionally seek info about contractors other business commitments and conditions

Also RFT can be used for finally selected contractors to submit a binding offer for the products/services/work after these have been extracted from the supplier equivalent RFPs RFT is a formal, structure invitation to contractors to bid to undertake works. Usually used by Govt sector and this process is required and determined in detail by law to ensure completion for use of public money is open/fair/free RFTs may be distributed to potential tenderers through a tender service/ RFT an invitation to tender by public advertisement open to all suppliers RFT is a request to really get a proposal on the table around how you would design a solution or deliver a product/service/work, but usually delves further into seeking wide info. RFT may not seek pricing initially and may involve several phases of short listing