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RFPilot · Use cases
Publish your scoring criteria and vendors write better responses. Everyone wins.
Unpublished or improvised scoring criteria produce two failure modes: vendors pad responses with everything (because they don't know what counts), and internal evaluators score on instinct (because nothing anchors them).
Use this template's category weights and anchored scales as a starting point and adapt the weights to your project before the RFP goes out.
Standard weight ranges
Functional fit 25–35%, technical & security 15–25%, cost 15–25%, implementation 10–20%, vendor viability 10–15%, support 5–15%.
Anchored 1–5 scales
Written definitions per score level so evaluations are consistent across reviewers.
Pass/fail gates
Non-negotiables (certifications, data residency) as gates, not weighted criteria — a 5 elsewhere shouldn't rescue a security fail.
Cost scoring formula
Score cost relative to the lowest compliant bid (lowest bid ÷ vendor bid × max points) to stay objective.
Transparency
Publish categories and weights in the RFP itself; keep only sub-criteria detail internal if needed.
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30 checks before your RFP goes out — scope, requirements, security, pricing, evaluation criteria and submission.
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A common split: functional fit 30%, technical & security 20%, cost 20%, implementation approach 15%, vendor viability 10%, support 5%. Adjust to the project — but fix weights before reading responses.
Yes, at least at category level with weights. Transparent criteria produce focused responses and make your decision defensible in procurement reviews.
Use a formula, not judgment: e.g. (lowest compliant bid ÷ this vendor's bid) × maximum cost points. It removes negotiation-anchor bias from the evaluation.
Check that criteria exist for every part of the decision, weights sum to 100%, each score level has a written definition, and no criterion is written around a single vendor. Have a stakeholder outside the project team review them.
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