Chapter 18 - Requests for Information, Prequalification of Suppliers, Unsolicited Proposals

18.1.2 General guidelines for developing an RFI

While each project's business objectives are unique and the resulting RFI should be aligned with those unique needs, there are general recommended guidelines to follow in preparing a successful RFI:

• Be concise and include a clear statement of the problem for which a solution may be solicited in the future.
• Request that suppliers respond to questions concerning the particular IT topic, business need or solution being considered.
• Ask suppliers to provide information on their qualifications, experience and ability to solve the IT problem posed by the RFI.
• Ask suppliers to provide lessons learned, white papers or other credible data regarding the solution being considered to obtain sound information, facts and knowledge-share.
• Do not ask for any cost or pricing information as such information could create an unfair solicitation environment.
• Do not use the RFI to select an IT supplier or a solution.
• Any subsequent IFB or RFP may not be written to a particular supplier, product, service or solution discovered during the RFI process.