Request for Information (RFI)
A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal market research instrument used to gather industry input on capabilities, approaches, pricing structures, or draft requirements when the government is not yet ready to solicit — responses are voluntary and non-binding.
RFIs sit between informal market surveillance and a formal solicitation. Agencies use them to refine requirements, test draft PWS language, understand commercial practices, and identify the vendor landscape before committing to a strategy. No award can be made from an RFI, and responses create no obligation on either side.
Well-run RFIs ask specific, answerable questions and tell industry how the input will be used. Vague RFIs get vague marketing responses, which help no one. Agencies increasingly pair RFIs with draft solicitations and industry days for higher-fidelity feedback.
Regulatory Reference
FAR 15.201(e)
RFO Status
FAR Part 15 exchanges-with-industry coverage is in scope of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul rewrite; confirm current citations.
Category
Processes & Methods
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot generates targeted RFI questions from your requirement gaps, publishes the notice, and synthesizes responses into structured findings your market research report can cite.
Related glossary entries
Sources Sought Notice
A Sources Sought Notice is a pre-solicitation announcement, typically posted to SAM.gov, asking companies to identify their interest and capability to perform a prospective requirement — primarily used as market research to shape competition and set-aside decisions.
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) is a source selection process that awards to the lowest-priced offeror whose proposal meets minimum acceptability standards — no credit is given for exceeding requirements, and tradeoffs between price and quality are not permitted.
Best-Value Tradeoff
The best-value tradeoff process permits award to other than the lowest-priced or highest-rated offeror when the source selection authority documents that the superior proposal's benefits are worth its price premium, or that a cheaper proposal's savings outweigh its weaknesses.
Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT)
Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT) measures the time from a defined start point — commonly a validated requirement or issued solicitation — to contract award. It is the standard metric for acquisition process speed and a primary target of federal procurement reform.