Template
A request for proposal only works if every supplier answers the same questions in the same shape. This template gives the structure: what you tell them, what you ask for back, and how you will score it. It is written for companies choosing between a few suppliers for a marketing or company website, not for procurement of a software platform.
Before you start
Sections one and two below are the website brief: purpose, audience, proof, content, constraints. If you have not written it, start with the brief template and come back. An RFP that asks suppliers to describe their process at length, but does not say what the site is for, produces long proposals that cannot be compared. Keep the whole document under six pages. Suppliers read short RFPs carefully and long ones selectively.
Section 1
Who you are, what you sell, to whom, in three or four sentences. Link the current site.
The trigger and the objective. “Our site produces four enquiries a month; we need twelve, and the sales team says buyers arrive uninformed.”
The numbers you will use to judge the result after launch, and their current values.
Primary and secondary visitors, what they need to believe, the questions they ask in a first call.
Section 2
The page list, with what exists for each: final text, draft, nothing. Who is writing what is missing.
Forms, integrations, CMS needs, languages, search, gated content. Mark each as required or desirable.
Either a required platform with the reason, or “open to recommendation” with the constraints: who edits the site, how often, whether code ownership matters.
What exists, what is changing, what the supplier is expected to produce.
Current traffic, pages that earn it, and the requirement that they keep earning it. Ask how redirects and metadata will be handled.
What you are explicitly not asking for. Copywriting, photography, ongoing marketing. This prevents the most common price mismatch.
Section 3
Not a generic process page. How they would tackle the objective in section one, in under a page.
Sites with a similar job, with what each had to solve and what happened after launch. Ask that examples be live and that the supplier’s role be stated.
Who does the work and who you will speak to. If those are different people, ask how many layers sit between them.
Phases with durations, and which client inputs each phase waits on. A timeline without dependencies is a guess.
A fixed price for the defined scope, with assumptions listed; and a rate for work outside it. Ask what would change the price.
What support is included, for how long, and what ongoing help costs.
Invite them. The quality of a supplier’s questions is the best predictor of the quality of their work.
Section 4
Does the proposal address section one, or restate it? Does it challenge anything?
Are the examples comparable, live, and honestly described?
Is the process specific to this project? Will you talk to the people doing the work?
Not the lowest price: the clearest link between price and what is delivered.
Does it account for your own inputs? Suspiciously short timelines assume you will be fast.
Section 5
A date by which suppliers can ask questions, with answers shared to all.
Two to three weeks after issue. Less produces templated responses.
How many you will speak to, and when. Say whether a presentation is expected; for most company websites a conversation is more useful.
Both. Suppliers plan capacity around them.
One named person for the process.
Section 6
Do not ask for concepts or mockups in the proposal. Good suppliers decline; the ones who comply are designing without the discovery they would insist on if paid, and you learn nothing reliable.
Every question you add is answered more briefly. Ask the twelve that will change your decision.
Page count is an output of the content plan, not an input. Ask for the plan.
Withholding the range does not produce better prices; it produces proposals scoped to the wrong size, which you then cannot compare.
Frequently asked questions
Three to five. Fewer gives no comparison; more costs you reading time and lowers the effort each supplier puts in, since they can see the odds.
Yes, and the scoring handles the difference. An independent designer will score differently on team and capacity, and may score higher on understanding and access to the person doing the work. The RFP should let you see that trade-off rather than hide it.
Usually not. For a site under a certain size, a good brief sent to two or three suppliers with a short call each produces a better decision in less time. Use the RFP when several stakeholders need a defensible, documented comparison.
Answer the questions in the order asked, in the length asked, and add one thing the RFP did not ask for but should have. That last part is what gets remembered.
Sources and basis
This template is drawn from briefs used on real projects. It cites no external standard because there is none; the questions are the ones that, when left unanswered, cost projects the most time.
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