How to Write a Software RFP That Gets Useful Responses

The software RFP is the most important document in any enterprise software procurement. It defines what vendors understand about your requirements, it shapes the quality of proposals you receive, and it sets the terms of the relationship before a contract is signed. A well-written RFP attracts technically credible vendors who understand what they are pricing; a poorly written one attracts vendors who are confident that no one will look closely enough to notice their proposals are inadequate.

Nigerian public sector and large enterprise procurements routinely use RFPs that produce the second outcome. This article describes what separates the two and provides a template structure that works.

Why Most Software RFPs Fail

The most common failure modes:

Undefined or vague requirements: "We need an ERP system to manage our operations" is not a requirement. It is a wish. Vendors responding to vague requirements make different assumptions, price different scopes, and produce proposals that cannot be compared meaningfully. The lowest-priced proposal typically assumed the least complexity; it will also deliver the least system.

Fixed-price requests for undefined scope: Asking vendors for a fixed price before requirements are specified is asking them to guess and then hold them to the guess. Vendors who understand software projects will either decline or price with large contingency loads; vendors who don't understand will underprice, win, and overrun. (See the prior article in this series on why software estimates change.)

Overemphasis on price: When price is the primary evaluation criterion, you are selecting for vendors who bid low. Low bids either reflect low capability, optimistic assumptions, or a plan to recover through change requests. None of these serves you well.

CV requirements over capability evidence: Requiring lists of developer CVs in an RFP assesses nothing about organisational capability, quality processes, or delivery track record. A CV dump from 20 developers tells you less about a vendor's capability than three detailed case studies of comparable projects.

No evaluation methodology: An RFP that doesn't explain how proposals will be scored invites responses optimised for appearance rather than substance.

What a Good Software RFP Contains

1. Organisation and Project Context

Who you are, what your business does, and why you are procuring this software. Not marketing copy — relevant context that helps vendors calibrate their understanding.

Include: company size (number of users, transaction volumes, locations), current systems that will be replaced or integrated, strategic context for the project (why now, what business outcome you are trying to achieve), and any relevant constraints (regulatory requirements, integration mandates, timeline drivers).

2. Objectives, Not Features

State what the system needs to achieve, not how it should achieve it. "The system must enable our inventory team to process goods received notes in under two minutes, including quality inspection recording and automatic PO reconciliation" is a well-stated objective. "The system must have an inventory module" is not.

Objectives-first requirements give technically capable vendors the latitude to propose approaches that are better than what you imagined. Pure feature lists constrain responses to vendors who can check boxes.

3. Functional Requirements (Prioritised)

Where specific functional requirements are known, list them — but prioritise them:

Must have (P1): Without this, the system does not meet minimum viable scope
Should have (P2): Required but not immediately on day one
Nice to have (P3): Valuable but would not block procurement if not included in base scope

This prioritisation allows vendors to scope a P1-only proposal and a complete proposal, giving you flexibility in negotiation.

4. Non-Functional Requirements

These are often omitted and are frequently the source of post-implementation dissatisfaction:

Performance: Target page load times, report generation times, concurrent user levels
Availability: Required uptime, permitted maintenance windows
Security: Authentication standards, data encryption requirements, audit logging
Scalability: Expected growth over 3–5 years
Integration: Which external systems must be connected, what data flows are required
Compliance: Regulatory requirements (NDPR, CBN guidelines, PCIDSS if applicable)

5. Hosting and Infrastructure Requirements

State whether you require on-premise, cloud (and which cloud provider if there is a preference), or are open to the vendor's recommendation. Include any specific requirements around data residency (Nigeria-based data storage is a common requirement under NDPR for certain data categories).

6. Evaluation Criteria and Weights

Publish your scoring matrix. Example:

Criterion	Weight
Technical approach and architecture	30%
Relevant project experience	25%
Team composition and capacity	15%
Proposed timeline and methodology	15%
Commercial proposal	15%

Explaining how you will score proposals does two things: it signals what you value (capability over cheapness), and it filters out vendors whose only competitive advantage is low price.

7. What Vendors Must Provide

Be specific about required proposal content:

Company background (size, structure, focus)
Relevant project case studies (minimum 3, comparable to the scope being procured)
Technical approach: how they would structure the project, technology choices and rationale, approach to architecture, integration, and data migration
Proposed team: roles with named individuals where possible, relevant experience for each role
Methodology: how they run projects, how they handle scope changes, how they communicate progress
Timeline: high-level milestones from project kick-off to go-live
Commercial proposal: pricing model, payment milestones, assumptions underlying the price
References: contact details for previous clients on comparable projects

8. Commercial Terms Framework

Provide draft commercial terms for vendors to respond to, rather than receiving vastly different contractual structures in proposals. Key items to define upfront: intellectual property ownership (you should own what is built for you), data ownership, support and maintenance scope, change request process, warranty period.

9. Process and Timeline

Clarify the procurement process: when questions can be submitted, when responses will be shared, when proposals are due, when shortlisting occurs, when demonstrations/presentations will be held, expected contract award date. Respecting stated timelines signals organisational readiness; slipping on them signals the opposite to vendors evaluating you as a client.

The Demonstration Stage

For complex software projects, proposal evaluation should include a demonstration phase where shortlisted vendors (typically 2–3) present their approach to the panel

. Demonstrations should be structured around your actual use cases, not vendor-chosen showcases.

Provide shortlisted vendors with a scenario set: specific workflows from your requirements, edge cases, integration scenarios. Ask each vendor to demonstrate how their proposed approach handles them. This differentiates vendors who understand your problem from those who have a generic demo that looks impressive but does not address your specifics.

Reference Checks

Call references. Not a formality — a structured conversation. Ask:

What was the scope of the project and did the vendor deliver it?
Were there cost or timeline overruns? How were they handled?
How did the vendor communicate during the project?
What was the quality of the work at delivery?
Would you hire them again? (And why does the reference not appear in their more recent work if the answer is no?)

Reference checking is the most reliable signal of vendor performance available in the procurement process. It is routinely skipped in Nigerian procurement and is one of the most significant contributors to vendor selection failures.

Why Fixed-Price Bids Are the Wrong Structure for Complex Projects

To return to the point made on scope and estimates: requiring fixed-price proposals for projects whose scope is not fully specified is counterproductive. The best mitigation is a two-stage process:

Stage 1 procurement: Engage (potentially multiple) vendors for a paid discovery phase. The output is a detailed specification. This is procured as a fixed-scope, fixed-price engagement for a defined period (typically 3–6 weeks).
Stage 2 procurement: Once the specification exists, issue the development RFP. At this stage, vendors can price from a common, complete specification, proposals are comparable, and fixed-price or capped T&M is achievable.

This adds time and cost to procurement. It saves substantially more in avoided overruns, disputes, and failed projects.

The Signal a Good RFP Sends

A well-constructed RFP signals organisational maturity to vendors. It says: this client has thought carefully about what they want, understands software procurement, and will be a competent partner during delivery.

Good vendors are selective about which clients they work with. They have learned that clients who don't know what they want are more difficult to deliver for, more likely to have scope disputes, and more likely to leave negative market impressions regardless of actual delivery quality. A strong RFP attracts stronger vendors because it demonstrates the client is worth bidding for.

The same dynamic works in reverse. A vague RFP asking for a fixed price on undefined scope signals a client who will be difficult to manage and prone to disputes. The best vendors will decline or submit cautious, high-contingency proposals. The result is a vendor pool that skews toward the less capable or the less principled.

Software procurement is a two-sided market. The RFP is your first communication to that market. Make it say the right things.

Enterprise Vendor Assessment Decoded — How to evaluate technology vendors properly
Real Software Project Scope: Why Estimates Change — Understanding why software budgets shift
Custom Software vs SaaS: An Honest Comparison — Build vs buy framework