Software Development RFP Template
A complete request for proposal you can fill in and send to vendors — scope, non-functional requirements, 20 vendor questions, a weighted scoring table and the commercial terms that avoid disputes later. Copy it, download it as Markdown or save it as a PDF.
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Software Development RFP Template · Free template from Next Olive Technologies · https://nextolive.com/free-tools/software-development-rfp-template/
The RFP template
Replace every grey italic hint with your own answer. Delete sections that genuinely do not apply, but keep the headings for requirements you have not decided yet and write “To be confirmed” — vendors price uncertainty, so saying so openly gets you more honest quotes.
It is one of several planning resources in our free tools library.
1. Company background
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Company name and website | Legal entity name, website, head office country |
| What you do | Two or three sentences: products or services, customers, size (employees, revenue band if you are comfortable sharing) |
| Why this project, why now | The business trigger: a failing legacy system, a new market, a regulator, a growth ceiling |
| Current systems | The tools and platforms this project replaces or touches (e.g. spreadsheets, an in-house PHP app, Salesforce) |
| Internal team | Who you have in-house: product owner, designers, developers, IT/ops — and how many hours a week they can give this project |
2. Project goals and success measures
State outcomes, not features. Each goal should have a measure you can check after launch.
| Goal | How we will measure it | Baseline today | Target and by when |
|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Cut manual order entry | e.g. Orders keyed by hand per week | e.g. ~600 | e.g. Under 100 within 3 months of launch |
| Goal 2 | Measure | Baseline | Target |
| Goal 3 | Measure | Baseline | Target |
3. Scope and features (MoSCoW)
Must = launch is pointless without it. Should = important, but a workaround exists for launch. Could = nice to have if budget allows. List Won't (this phase) explicitly so vendors do not quote for it.
| ID | Feature / user story | Priority | Notes and acceptance hints |
|---|---|---|---|
| F-01 | As a customer, I can create an account with email or Google sign-in | Must | e.g. Email verification required; password rules per security policy |
| F-02 | As an admin, I can export orders to CSV | Should | Filters by date and status |
| F-03 | Feature | Must / Should / Could | Notes |
| F-04 | Feature | Must / Should / Could | Notes |
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Won't (this phase) | Features you are deliberately excluding, e.g. native mobile apps, multi-currency, marketplace payouts |
| Existing designs or prototypes | Links to wireframes, Figma files, screenshots of competitor flows you like — or “none, design is in scope” |
4. Users and roles
| Role | Who they are | Approx. number of users | Key permissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Customer | External buyers on desktop and mobile | e.g. 20,000 registered, 1,500 daily active | Place and track own orders |
| e.g. Operations staff | Internal, office-based | e.g. 25 | Edit orders, issue refunds up to a limit |
| e.g. Super admin | IT lead | e.g. 2 | Manage users, roles, settings |
5. Integrations
| System | Direction | Method (if known) | Data exchanged | Owner / access available? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. SAP Business One | In / Out / Both | REST API, SFTP file, webhook, database view | Products, stock levels, invoices | Name; sandbox available yes/no |
| e.g. Stripe | Both | API + webhooks | Payments, refunds | Finance team |
| System | Direction | Method | Data | Owner |
6. Non-functional requirements
These drive architecture and cost as much as features do. If you do not know a number, give a range or write “vendor to recommend”.
Performance and scale
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Page / screen response time | e.g. 95% of pages interactive in under 2.5 s on a mid-range phone over 4G |
| API response time | e.g. p95 under 500 ms for read endpoints at expected peak |
| Peak concurrent users | Expected at launch and in 24 months; note seasonal spikes (sales, exam results, month-end) |
| Data volumes | Records today, growth per month, file/image storage estimates |
| Availability target | e.g. 99.5% or 99.9% monthly, planned maintenance windows allowed? |
Security
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Authentication | SSO (SAML / OIDC) with your identity provider? MFA required for which roles? |
| Authorisation | Role-based access, record-level rules, audit log of admin actions |
| Data protection | Encryption in transit and at rest, secrets management, PII fields that need masking |
| Testing | Is an independent penetration test required before go-live? Who pays for it? |
| Security standard to align with | e.g. OWASP ASVS level 2, your internal security policy (attach it) |
Compliance and data residency
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Regulations that apply | e.g. GDPR, India DPDP Act, HIPAA, PCI DSS, sector rules — or “unsure, vendor to advise” |
| Data residency | Countries or cloud regions where data must be stored and processed |
| Audit expectations | e.g. customer security questionnaires, SOC 2 evidence you will need the vendor to support |
Accessibility, browsers and devices
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Accessibility level | e.g. WCAG 2.2 AA for all customer-facing screens |
| Browsers and devices | e.g. last two versions of Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox; iOS 16+ and Android 10+ |
| Languages and locales | UI languages, right-to-left support, currencies, date and number formats |
7. Technical constraints and preferences
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Hosting | Your AWS / Azure / GCP account, on-premise, or vendor-recommended; who owns the cloud account |
| Preferred or mandated stack | e.g. .NET 8 and SQL Server because your team maintains them — or “open, justify your choice” |
| Constraints to respect | e.g. must run behind corporate VPN, no open-source licences with copyleft terms, existing API gateway |
| Handover and maintenance | Will your team take over the code? What documentation and training do they need? |
8. Data migration
| Source | Data sets | Volume | Quality notes | Cut-over expectation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Legacy MySQL database | Customers, orders since 2018 | e.g. 1.2 M rows | Duplicates, free-text addresses | Big-bang weekend / phased / parallel run |
| e.g. Excel sheets | Price lists | Volume | Quality | Expectation |
Who is responsible for cleansing data: your team, the vendor, or shared — say which.
9. Deliverables
- Discovery output: validated scope, user flows, architecture outline, refined estimate
- UX/UI design: wireframes, clickable prototype, design system in Figma
- Working software: web app, admin panel, APIs, mobile apps — list each
- Source code in your Git organisation from day one, with commit history
- Automated tests and CI/CD pipeline configuration
- Infrastructure as code for all environments (dev, staging, production)
- Documentation: architecture, API reference, runbook, admin guide
- Knowledge transfer: number of sessions, recorded walkthroughs
10. Timeline and milestones
| Milestone | Target date | Fixed or flexible? | Exit criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor selected | date | Fixed | Contract signed |
| Discovery complete | date | Flexible | Scope, design direction and estimate approved |
| MVP / first release to users | date | Fixed / Flexible — and why | Must-have features accepted in UAT |
| Full launch | date | Flexible | Performance and security tests passed |
| Warranty period ends | date | Fixed | No open severity 1–2 defects |
Hard external deadlines (events, contract renewals, regulatory dates): list them and what happens if missed.
11. Budget range
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Indicative budget range | e.g. USD 40k–70k for build; separate budget for hosting and support |
| Preferred engagement model | Fixed price per phase / time and materials with a cap / dedicated team per month |
| What the budget must cover | Discovery, design, build, QA, deployment, warranty — tick what applies |
| Ongoing costs you expect | Hosting, third-party licences, support retainer — rough monthly ceiling |
Sharing a range is not a weakness. Without one, vendors guess your ambition and you receive proposals that are impossible to compare.
12. Questions vendors must answer
Ask every vendor the same questions, in the same order, so answers can be compared side by side.
| # | Question | Vendor answer |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Describe two projects similar in scope or domain. What was your role, team size and duration? Can we speak to those clients? | answer |
| Q2 | Who exactly will work on our project (roles, seniority, location, time allocation)? Can we interview the lead engineer? | answer |
| Q3 | How do you run discovery, and what do we receive at the end of it? | answer |
| Q4 | Which parts of our scope do you see as highest risk, and how would you reduce that risk early? | answer |
| Q5 | What architecture and technology stack do you propose, and why is it right for our constraints? | answer |
| Q6 | How do you estimate? Show the breakdown behind your price and the assumptions it depends on. | answer |
| Q7 | How do you handle change requests, and how are they priced? | answer |
| Q8 | What is your sprint cadence, and what will we see in each demo? | answer |
| Q9 | How do you test: unit, integration, end-to-end, performance, accessibility? What coverage do you target? | answer |
| Q10 | Describe your CI/CD pipeline and release process, including rollback. | answer |
| Q11 | How do you secure code, secrets, environments and developer access to our data? | answer |
| Q12 | Which compliance requirements have you delivered against before (e.g. GDPR, HIPAA), and what evidence can you provide? | answer |
| Q13 | How will you document the system and hand it over to our team or another vendor? | answer |
| Q14 | What does your warranty cover, for how long, and what are the response times? | answer |
| Q15 | What post-launch support and maintenance options do you offer, and at what rates? | answer |
| Q16 | How do you communicate day to day — tools, time-zone overlap, escalation path? | answer |
| Q17 | Which third-party services, licences or open-source components will we need to pay for or accept? | answer |
| Q18 | Do you use subcontractors or AI coding tools on client code? Under what controls? | answer |
| Q19 | What would you need from us (people, access, decisions) to hit the timeline? | answer |
| Q20 | What in this RFP is unclear, missing or, in your view, a bad idea? | answer |
13. Evaluation criteria and weighting
Score each vendor 1–5 per criterion, multiply by the weight, and add up. Agree the weights internally before proposals arrive.
| Criterion | Weight | Vendor A score (1–5) | Vendor A weighted | Vendor B score (1–5) | Vendor B weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Understanding of our problem and goals | 20% | score × weight | |||
| Relevant experience and references | 15% | ||||
| Proposed team quality and continuity | 15% | ||||
| Technical approach and architecture | 15% | ||||
| Delivery process, QA and risk management | 10% | ||||
| Security and compliance | 10% | ||||
| Total cost of ownership (build + 2 years run) | 15% | ||||
| Total | 100% | sum | sum |
14. Commercial terms
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Intellectual property | All custom code, designs and documentation assigned to us on payment; vendor lists any pre-existing components and their licence |
| Source code and accounts | Code in our repository; cloud, domain and third-party accounts registered to us |
| Warranty | e.g. 60–90 days after go-live; defects against accepted requirements fixed at no charge |
| Support SLAs | Response and resolution targets by severity (see table below) |
| Payment milestones | e.g. 10% on signing, 20% after discovery, 50% across sprint/milestone acceptance, 20% after go-live and warranty |
| Acceptance | Who signs off, how many days for UAT, what counts as a blocking defect |
| Confidentiality and data | NDA, data processing agreement, deletion of our data at contract end |
| Termination and exit | Notice period, handover obligations, payment for work completed |
| Liability and insurance | Liability cap, professional indemnity cover required |
| Severity | Example | Response time | Resolution / workaround target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Critical | Production down, data loss, security breach | e.g. 1 hour, 24×7 | e.g. 4–8 hours |
| 2 — High | Key feature broken, no workaround | e.g. 4 business hours | e.g. 2 business days |
| 3 — Medium | Feature impaired, workaround exists | e.g. 1 business day | e.g. next release |
| 4 — Low | Cosmetic issue, question | e.g. 2 business days | e.g. backlog, prioritised with us |
15. Submission instructions
| Item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Questions deadline | Date by which vendors can send clarifying questions; answers shared with all vendors |
| Proposal deadline | Date, time and time zone |
| Format | PDF, max ~20 pages plus appendices; answer Q1–Q20 in order; itemised price breakdown in a spreadsheet |
| Send to | Name, email; one contact only |
| Selection timeline | Shortlist date, vendor presentations, final decision date, target start date |
| Rights reserved | e.g. We may accept none of the proposals; costs of responding are borne by vendors |
How to use this template
This RFP works best when one person owns it — usually the product owner or project sponsor — but several people contribute. Draft the background, goals and scope first. Then hand the non-functional requirements to IT or security, the integrations table to whoever owns those systems, and the budget and commercial terms to finance or legal. Expect two to five working days of effort spread over one or two weeks.
Keep the scope table honest. It is tempting to mark everything as “Must”; if more than about half of your features are Musts, vendors cannot tell what the real launch is, and their quotes will drift apart. If you are unsure what a minimal first release looks like, fill in our MVP requirements template first (or read how MVP development engagements are usually scoped) and paste the result into section 3.
Send the RFP to a short list of three to five vendors whose work you have already checked. Give them two to three weeks to respond and one round of clarifying questions — and share every answer with all bidders so the comparison stays fair. When proposals arrive, score them independently using the weighting table before discussing them as a group; this stops the most persuasive person in the room from setting the result.
If you are comparing an agency with a dedicated team model, ask both to price the same scope so the comparison is like-for-like. Our pages on custom software development and hiring dedicated developers explain how those two engagement models differ in practice.
Tips from our delivery team
- Ask for a paid discovery phase. For anything larger than a small MVP, a 2–4 week discovery (typically $3k–$8k) turns a guess into an estimate. Before discovery, a rough figure from our app development cost calculator helps you set a realistic range. Vendors who quote a large fixed price with no discovery are pricing in risk you cannot see.
- Price total cost of ownership, not build cost. Ask for two years of hosting, licences and support alongside the build price. A cheaper build on an expensive or unusual stack can cost more over time.
- Insist on meeting the delivery team. The people in the sales pitch are often not the people who write your code. Question 2 exists for this reason; interview the lead engineer.
- Put IP and account ownership in writing. Code in your repository and cloud accounts in your name from day one make it far easier to change vendor if you ever need to.
- Read the answer to question 20 closely. A vendor that pushes back on a requirement with a clear reason is usually more valuable than one that agrees to everything.
- Look at how the vendor works, not just what it builds. Sprint demos, acceptance criteria and release discipline matter more than a portfolio. Our how we work page shows the kind of process detail worth asking every bidder for.
Frequently asked questions
What should a software development RFP include?
At minimum: company background, business goals with measures, prioritised scope, users and roles, integrations, non-functional requirements (performance, security, compliance, accessibility), technical constraints, data migration, deliverables, timeline, budget range, standard vendor questions, weighted evaluation criteria, commercial terms and submission instructions. This template covers all of them.
Should I include a budget in my RFP?
Yes, as a range. Without a range, vendors guess your ambition and proposals vary by several times in price and scope, which makes them impossible to compare. A range also lets vendors tell you early what is realistic for the money.
How many vendors should receive the RFP?
Three to five pre-screened vendors is usually right. Fewer gives you little comparison; more creates evaluation work your team will not have time to do properly, and good vendors are less likely to invest in a detailed response when they know the field is very large.
How long should vendors have to respond?
Two to three weeks for a mid-sized project, with a clarifying-questions deadline about one week in. Very short deadlines favour vendors who reuse generic proposals rather than those who think about your problem.
Fixed price or time and materials — which should I ask for?
Fixed price suits well-defined scope, such as a phase that follows a discovery. Time and materials with a cap suits evolving products where you expect to learn and change priorities. Many teams combine them: a fixed-price discovery followed by time-and-materials or dedicated-team delivery.
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