Procurement preparation
Writing an event RFI questionnaire
You are not yet sure what the market offers for this event, and a price request would be premature.
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The short answer
A request for information (RFI) asks suppliers about their services, approach and limits, without asking for a price you can award on. Use it when the need is unfamiliar or the options are wide, then use the answers to write a sharper specification.
An RFI is not a commitment to buy, and suppliers should be told so. Keep the questionnaire short enough that a busy supplier can answer in under an hour.
When an RFI helps and when it does not
- It helps when you do not know the range of solutions, or what a supplier can and cannot do for your event size.
- It helps when you want to test whether a requirement is realistic before committing to it.
- It adds delay when your need is clear and you could go straight to a quote request or proposal request.
- Ask your policy owner whether an RFI has its own rules in your organisation, such as who may send it and how responses are stored.
Question groups to include
Group questions so that answers can be compared. Ask each supplier the same questions in the same order.
| Group | What you learn | Example question |
|---|---|---|
| Services | What they actually provide | Which of the services in the attached outline do you provide yourselves, and which do you subcontract? |
| Experience | Relevant work, without asking for client secrets | Describe two events of similar size and format you have supported, without naming confidential clients. |
| Approach | How they would work with your team | Who would be our single point of contact, and how are changes agreed? |
| Limits | Where the service stops | What do you exclude as standard, and what would we need to arrange separately? |
| Pricing method | How they charge, not the price | Do you charge per day, per head, per item or as a package, and what triggers extra charges? |
| Timing | Availability and lead times they state | What is the latest date by which you need confirmation for our dates? |
| Terms | Conditions they expect | Which terms do you normally require, such as payment schedule and cancellation? |
A sequence for running an RFI
- Write a one-page outline of the event: purpose, size range, date window, location and the services in scope.
- Draft the questions, remove any that ask for a binding price, and test them with a colleague.
- Send the same RFI to the same deadline for every supplier, and say how responses will be used.
- Log questions and answers shared with every respondent.
- Summarise what you learned and update your procurement strategy and specification.
Handling responses fairly
Treat every response as confidential to the respondent unless your policy says otherwise. Do not pass one supplier's answers to another.
Ask your policy owner whether replying to an RFI affects who may later bid, and state the answer in the invitation.
Pitfalls
- Asking for prices and then treating them as quotes.
- Sending different questions to different suppliers and then trying to compare.
- Making the RFI so long that only large suppliers reply.
- Using the RFI to collect free design ideas for something you will do yourself.
- Skipping a final summary, so the learning stays with one person. The RFP completeness checker shows what a specification needs next.
Worked example · Fictional example
A fictional association uses an RFI for registration technology
Fictional organisation, illustrative only.
A fictional engineering institute has run registration through email and a spreadsheet and wants to know what registration systems can do for a 400-person conference. The secretariat does not know which features matter or how suppliers charge.
It sends a one-page outline and eight questions to several providers. Answers show that charging methods differ widely and that two providers do not support the payment approach the institute uses. The institute writes its specification around the answers and goes on to request quotes, with the payment approach as a mandatory requirement.
Use this yourself
Event RFI questionnaire
Copy this into a document, add your one-page outline at the top and send it unchanged to each supplier.
- Company name, contact person and the services you provide for events.
- Which parts of the attached outline do you deliver yourselves, and which do you subcontract?
- Describe two events of similar size and format you have supported, without naming confidential clients.
- Who would be our single point of contact, and how are changes to scope agreed?
- How do you charge: per day, per head, per item or as a package? What triggers extra charges?
- What do you exclude as standard, and what would we need to arrange separately?
- What is the latest date by which you need confirmation for the date window in the outline?
- Which terms do you normally require, such as payment schedule, deposits and cancellation?
- What would you ask us to clarify or change in this outline to make it work better?
- Any constraints or risks you see in our outline.
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- The need is narrow and you can name a few suppliers to ask.
- One person can write the outline and handle the answers.
- Your policy allows informal market enquiry.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- The need is broad and you do not know which options to ask about.
- You must respond to many suppliers fairly and keep a record.
- The answers have to feed a specification that finance and the committee will approve.
Want an RFI drafted and its answers turned into a specification?
An Event Blueprint can set out the outline, the question groups and the way responses are logged, and then turn what you learn into supplier requirements. Send your event outline and the services you are unsure about.
Questions organisers ask
Is an RFI the same as a request for quotation?
No. An RFI asks what a supplier can do. A request for quotation asks for a price on a defined specification. Use an RFI first when you cannot yet define the specification.
Do suppliers have to answer?
No, and an RFI does not commit you to buy from anyone. Say so in the invitation, and confirm with your policy owner how responses may be used later.
How many suppliers should receive it?
Enough to see the range of options, often a small handful for a defined event need. Send the same RFI to every supplier at the same time.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.