In practice, you will find these phrases used interchangeably, as many organisations don?t understand the differences sufficiently, resulting in the buyers missing negotiation advantages. We hear procurement or purchasing clients talk about how their departments use these purchasing processes.
Let?s see the difference between RFI, RFQ, RFT and RFP.
1. Request for Information (RFI) is used when you think you know what you want but need more information from the vendors. It will typically be followed by an RFQ or RFP. Sometimes it is also known as Registration of Interest (ROI)
2. Request for Tender (RFT) is an opportunity for potential suppliers to submit an offer to supply goods or services against a detailed tender.
3. Request for Proposal (RFP) is used when you know you have a problem but don?t know how you want to solve it. This is the most formal of the ?Request for? processes and has strict procurement rules for content, timeline and vendor responses.
4. Request for Quote (RFQ) is commonly used when you know what you want but need information on how vendors would meet your requirements and/or how much it will cost.
Below chart shows the differences in a categorized way.
