TenderMatrix / RFP vs RFQ vs RFI
RFP vs RFQ vs RFI: what each one asks you to prove
Buyers use these abbreviations loosely. A bid desk cares about something more practical: what the document asks for, how many rows that makes, and which rows decide whether you can bid.
The four documents in one table
| Document | Buyer's purpose | What you submit | The matrix looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| RFI Request for Information | The buyer is learning what the market offers. Usually no award follows directly. | Mostly open questions and short factual answers. | Mostly Question rows, a few Informational. |
| RFQ Request for Quotation | The buyer knows what it wants and asks for price and delivery terms. | A priced response against a specification, often a table. | Table rows with their own item numbers, mostly Mandatory, plus delivery and validity clauses. |
| RFP Request for Proposal | The buyer describes a need and compares proposed solutions on quality and price. | A written proposal, a response to each requirement, and a price. | Many clauses in all four types: Mandatory shall rows, Desirable options, Questions, and Informational context. |
| ITT Invitation to Tender | A formal tender, common in public-sector procurement, with strict submission rules. | Pass/fail gates, scored questions, a form of tender and a price schedule. | Pass/fail gates as Mandatory rows, scored questions as Question rows, instructions as Informational. |
Terminology differs by country and by buyer. If the title says RFP but the instructions ask for pass/fail evidence and a form of tender, work as if it were an ITT.
What the matrix looks like for each
RFI: mostly questions
Five clauses from a short information request, as the converter returns them.
| ID | Section | Requirement | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
R-001 | 2.1 | Describe your experience delivering managed print services to public-sector clients. | Question |
R-002 | 2.2 | What is your typical onboarding timeline for a site of 500 users? | Question |
R-003 | 2.3 | Please provide details of the pricing models you offer. | Question |
R-004 | 2.4 | Do you hold ISO 27001 certification? | Question |
R-005 | 2.5 | Respondents may include marketing material as an appendix. | Informational |
RFQ: a specification table
The first rows of the procurement RFQ sample (11 rows: 8 mandatory, 2 desirable, 1 informational, 0 question). Table rows keep the RFQ's own item numbers.
| ID | Section | Requirement | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
R-001 | 1 | Quotations must be valid for 60 days. | Mandatory |
T-01 | 2 | The tablet shall have a 10-inch display with a minimum brightness of 800 nits. | Mandatory |
T-02 | 2 | The device must be rated IP67 and MIL-STD-810H. | Mandatory |
T-03 | 2 | Battery life of at least 10 hours under normal use. | Mandatory |
T-04 | 2 | Hot-swappable battery | Desirable |
T-05 | 2 | Integrated barcode scanner | Informational |
T-06 | 2 | The supplier should offer a 5-year warranty. | Desirable |
T-07 | 2 | Describe your repair turnaround for warranty claims. | Mandatory |
RFP: all four types
Six rows picked from the IT services sample (21 rows: 11 mandatory, 4 desirable, 3 informational, 3 question).
| ID | Section | Requirement | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
R-004 | 2.3 | Bidders should identify any subcontractors in the proposal. | Desirable |
R-007 | 3.1.1 | The Contractor shall provide a service desk available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. | Mandatory |
R-010 | 3.2.1 | The Contractor must hold a current ISO 27001 certificate for every delivery location used for this contract. | Mandatory |
R-015 | 3.3 | Integration with the County's ServiceNow instance | Desirable |
R-016 | 3.3 | Proactive monitoring dashboards available to County staff | Desirable |
Q2 | 3.4 | Explain how you staff the service desk outside business hours. | Question |
ITT: gates and scored questions
A pass/fail table followed by two scored questions.
| ID | Section | Requirement | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
PF1 | 3 | Tenderer holds public liability insurance of at least 5 million | Mandatory |
PF2 | 3 | Tenderer submits the form of tender signed by an authorised signatory | Mandatory |
R-003 | 4.1 | Describe your method for managing subcontractors. | Question |
R-004 | 4.2 | The Tenderer should name the person who will lead delivery. | Desirable |
You can load the RFQ and the RFP samples on the matrix desk and filter them yourself.
Choosing your review order
- Note what the buyer calls it and how it will be awarded The cover page and the instructions say whether you are answering questions, quoting against a specification or tendering against pass/fail gates.
- Convert the PDF Upload it on the home page. A long RFP in volumes is converted one volume at a time.
- Read the mix of types in the notes Mostly Question rows means an RFI-style document. Mostly table rows with M flags means an RFQ. A blend is an RFP.
- Review the Mandatory rows first These are the gates. Anything you cannot meet is a bid/no-bid input, not an item for the response writers.
- Give each Question row to the person who knows the answer Subject-matter owners answer questions; the proposal manager owns the Mandatory and Desirable rows.
- Check Desirable rows against the evaluation criteria Desirable items are often where the points are. Match them to how the buyer says it will score.
Each document by hand, by text dump, or with typed rows
| What you need | Manual highlighting | Generic PDF-to-text | TenderMatrix |
|---|---|---|---|
| RFI: forty open questions | Typed into a sheet, then assigned. | Questions mixed into running text. | Questions typed Question, each one a row you can assign. |
| RFQ: a specification table | Re-keyed row by row. | Cells flattened into lines. | One row per table row, with the RFQ's own item numbers and M/D/O flags. |
| RFP: hundreds of clauses | Days of highlighting. | A wall of text. | Rows with section, page when known, and type in minutes. Mandatory rows are a filter. |
| ITT: pass/fail gates | Gates picked out by eye. | Not distinguished from other text. | A Pass or Mandatory flag in a criteria table types the row Mandatory. |
| Price schedules | Copied or ignored. | Included as text. | Tables with no requirement, ID or flag column are not read as rows; only long cells with shall, must or should wording are picked up. |
| Several volumes | One master sheet kept by hand. | One text file per volume. | Convert each volume and append the rows. Rows from each upload have their own R- numbering. |
Questions bid teams ask
What is the difference between an RFP, an RFQ and an RFI?
An RFI asks what you can offer so the buyer can learn about the market. An RFQ asks for a price against a defined specification. An RFP asks for a proposed solution and a price, and compares them on quality and cost. The same buyer may use the terms loosely, so go by what the document asks you to submit.
Is an ITT the same as an RFP?
Similar, not identical. Invitation to Tender is common in UK and Commonwealth public procurement and usually comes with formal rules, pass/fail criteria and a form of tender. In practice the matrix looks like an RFP's, with a larger share of pass/fail Mandatory rows.
Do I need a compliance matrix for an RFI?
Often a light one. An RFI is mostly questions, so the matrix is mainly an assignment list: which question, who answers it, and by when. If the RFI feeds a shortlist, treat it with the same care as an RFP.
How many rows will each type of document produce?
It depends on the document. The RFQ sample on this page gives 11 rows and the IT services RFP sample gives 21; a long real RFP can run to hundreds. The matrix is capped at 4000 rows, and a note says so if the cap is reached.
Does TenderMatrix treat an RFQ differently from an RFP?
It reads the same way: tables with a Req ID, Requirement or flag column become rows, and sentences are typed from their wording. The difference is in the documents. RFQs lean on specification tables, which usually extract cleanly when they have a flag column.
Can I upload an RFQ that arrives as a Word or Excel file?
The upload accepts PDF files. Save or print the document to PDF first. Check that the PDF has selectable text; a scanned image works but needs closer checking.
What about the price schedule or pricing form?
A table with no requirement, ID or flag column, such as a price schedule, is not read row by row. Cells of 30 characters or more are still checked for shall, must and should wording, so a note under the table can become a row, but item names and prices do not. Pricing instructions written as sentences, such as prices must be in US dollars, become rows.
My RFP comes in several volumes. How do I handle that?
Convert each volume separately and combine the downloads. Each file is converted up to your plan's page cap: Free: 1 file per day, up to 10 pages, no account. Pro converts up to 150 pages of a file. Pages past the cap are left out and the desk says so, so split a very long volume. Rows are numbered R-001 from the start of each upload, so add a prefix for the volume when you merge.
Which terms do buyers use where?
In the US, RFP, RFQ and RFI are the usual terms. In UK and Commonwealth public procurement you will also see ITT and RFT. Private buyers use all of them loosely. Treat the document's own instructions as the authority, not the title.