Web Development RFP Example
A filled-in request for proposal that gets you comparable offers from several web development providers instead of five different guesses.
1 Overview
A request for proposal (RFP) is the document you send to several web development providers at once so that each of them answers the same question. Its job is comparability. If every provider receives the same background, the same scope and the same response format, you can lay the offers side by side and see where they really differ: in approach, in price, in what they left out.
An RFP is worth the effort when the project is large enough that a wrong choice hurts, and when you intend to ask three to five providers. For a small job with one trusted supplier, a short brief is enough.
What an RFP must contain
- Background: who you are, what exists today, and why the project is happening now. Providers price risk, and an unexplained project looks risky.
- Goals: two to four outcomes you can check after launch, not a list of features.
- Scope: what is in, what is explicitly out, and what you are unsure about. Mark each requirement as must or should.
- Existing systems: what the new site has to connect to, who owns those systems and whether documentation exists.
- Budget: a range or a ceiling. Without one, you receive offers for three different projects.
- Response format: the sections you expect, in a fixed order, with a page limit and the way prices must be broken down.
- Evaluation criteria and their weights, so providers know what matters and you cannot drift towards the nicest presentation.
- Timetable: question deadline, submission deadline, presentations, decision, desired launch.
- One contact person and the rule that all answers to questions go to all bidders.
Common mistakes
Writing a wish list instead of a scope. Forty unranked features produce offers that cannot be compared, because each provider silently decides what to drop.
Hiding the budget. The usual fear is that every offer will land exactly on the ceiling. In practice the offers still differ in what you get for the money, which is the comparison you want.
Prescribing the solution. If you name the technology and the page structure in advance, you pay for expertise and then do not use it. Describe the problem and the constraints, and ask providers to justify their choice.
Leaving the response format open. Free-form proposals take hours to compare. A fixed order and a price table with the same lines for everyone saves that time.
Setting a deadline that is too short. A provider needs time to read, ask questions and estimate. Two weeks is tight, three to four is realistic for a mid-sized project.
Inviting too many bidders. A serious proposal costs a provider days of unpaid work. Good providers often ask how many others were invited and may decline when the number is high.
Forgetting what happens after launch. Hosting, maintenance, response times and who owns the code belong in the RFP, because they change the total cost more than the build price does.
How to use the example
Replace the background and scope with your own, keep the structure, and adjust the weights to what you care about. Send the same document to every provider on the same day. If you are a public body or spend public funds, formal procurement rules may apply; check with your procurement office or a lawyer before sending anything.
2 Example
This RFP comes from an invented garden machinery dealer that wants to replace its website and add online service booking. The company, the people and every figure, including the budget, are made up for illustration.
Request for proposal: new website with workshop booking
Calderwick Garden Machinery Ltd, issued 2 March
1. Background
Calderwick Garden Machinery sells and services mowers, chainsaws and compact tractors from two branches. We have 34 employees. Our website was built nine years ago, cannot be edited by our own staff and does not work well on phones. Workshop appointments are taken by phone only; in spring our two service desks cannot answer every call.
2. Goals
- Customers can book a workshop appointment online without calling us.
- Our staff can edit pages, machine listings and prices without a developer.
- Machine listings come from our stock system and are never out of date by more than one day.
3. Scope
Must:
- Around 40 content pages in English, migrated from the old site
- Machine catalogue with about 600 items, imported nightly from our stock system (CSV export available, sample attached)
- Workshop booking: choose branch, machine type, service type and a free slot; confirmation by email
- Editor roles for four staff members
- Hosting and maintenance for 24 months after launch
Should:
- Customer account with booking history
- Reminder by SMS one day before the appointment
Out of scope: online shop with payment, new logo or brand design, photography.
4. Constraints
The stock system stays as it is. Its supplier offers the CSV export but no API. The site must be hosted in the UK or EU.
5. Budget
Our ceiling for the build including all must items is 48,000 pounds excluding VAT. Please price the should items separately.
6. Required response format
Maximum 12 pages, in this order:
- Your understanding of the project and the risks you see
- Proposed solution and technology, with reasons
- Project plan with milestones and what you need from us
- The people who would do the work and their roles
- Two comparable projects with a contact we may call
- Price table: one line per must item, one per should item, monthly hosting and maintenance, hourly rate for changes
- Ownership of code and content, and your terms
7. Evaluation criteria
- Understanding of the project and quality of the solution: 35 percent
- Price over 24 months including hosting and maintenance: 25 percent
- Experience with comparable projects and references: 20 percent
- Project plan and team: 15 percent
- Maintenance terms and response times: 5 percent
8. Timetable
- Questions by email until 13 March; all answers are sent to all bidders on 17 March
- Proposals due 30 March, 5 pm, as PDF
- Presentations by the three best-ranked bidders: 8 and 9 April
- Decision: 16 April
- Desired launch: 1 October, before the autumn service season
9. Contact
We have invited four providers. Please send questions and proposals to Moira Tennant, Operations Manager, tenders@calderwick-machinery.example. Please do not contact other staff about this RFP.
3 Who this is for
Procurement lead
You get a structure that makes offers comparable line by line: a fixed response format, a price table with identical rows for every bidder and weighted criteria you can defend internally when the decision is questioned.
Marketing lead
You see how to turn a relaunch wish list into goals, a ranked scope and clear exclusions, so that providers price the same project and you do not have to explain the differences to management afterwards.
Founder
You learn which information providers need to give a serious price, why stating a budget ceiling helps you, and how few bidders you should invite to still get proposals from the good ones.
4 Questions and answers
Should the RFP state our budget?
Yes, at least as a range or a ceiling. Without it, one provider offers a basic site and another a custom platform, and you cannot compare them. With a stated ceiling the offers differ in what is delivered for that money, which is the useful comparison. If you truly have no figure, say which of two or three scope levels you want priced.
How many providers should receive the RFP?
Three to five. Fewer gives you no comparison, more costs you days of reading and tells every bidder that their chance is small. Tell providers how many were invited. A short phone call before sending, to check interest and capacity, avoids proposals that were written without real intent.
What is the difference between an RFP and a project brief?
A brief explains the project to one provider you have more or less chosen. An RFP is built for competition: it adds a required response format, evaluation criteria with weights, a question round and binding deadlines, so that several offers can be judged by the same rules.
Planning a project like this?
Tell us what you are building. You get a straight answer on scope, approach and effort.