ERP RFP and RFI templates
An RFI is for scanning the market before you know what you want. Short, sent wide, indicative pricing only. An RFP is for when requirements are settled and you want comparable proposals from a shortlist of three to five.
Prescribe the format of the commercial response. That single decision is what makes the exercise work. Suppliers price in different structures and include different things, so unless you tell everyone exactly what table to fill in, the proposals cannot be compared and you will choose on impression.
First, do you need a formal process at all?
Many mid-market organisations do not, and it is worth being honest about that before committing to one.
A formal RFP makes sense when procurement rules require it, when the spend needs board scrutiny, when several suppliers are genuinely in contention, or when you need a documented, defensible basis for the decision.
If none of those apply, sharing your requirements document directly with a shortlist and asking for a proposal achieves the same outcome with far less effort on both sides.
There is also a cost to over-formalising. A heavy process filters for suppliers with bid teams rather than suppliers who would deliver well, which in a market the size of New Zealand can quietly exclude the ones you most want to hear from.
RFI first, or straight to RFP?
You do not yet know who is in the market, what a project costs, or what is realistic for an organisation your size.
Six to ten suppliers
At least two weeks
Indicative pricing only. Suppliers cannot quote properly at this stage and pressing them produces a number you cannot rely on.
Your requirements are documented, you know roughly who the credible suppliers are, and you are ready to compare properly.
Three to five suppliers. More than five and you will not evaluate properly.
Three to four weeks
Detailed pricing in the format you prescribe, plus an estimate of your own team's effort.
Running an RFI when you already know the answers wastes a month. Running an RFP when you do not know what you want produces proposals against a specification you will change anyway.
What makes an RFP work
Attach real requirements
An RFP without a requirements document produces proposals that describe products rather than answers. Suppliers respond to whatever you give them, so give them something specific.
Prescribe the commercial table
Same rows, same five year horizon, same currency and tax basis, for every supplier. Ask them to enter zero rather than leaving cells blank, so you can see the cost was considered rather than overlooked. This is the single most valuable thing in the document.
Ask for your own team's effort
Days by role and phase. Suppliers rarely volunteer it and it is usually the largest uncosted item in the project. Then cost it yourself.
Ask for assumptions, and bind them
State that any cost arising from an assumption not listed will be treated as included in the price. Suppliers who price carefully will thank you. Suppliers who price optimistically will suddenly become more precise.
Set your weightings before responses arrive
Weightings agreed afterwards tend to describe the answer someone had already reached. Agreeing them early is what makes the process genuinely defensible rather than merely documented. The template includes a starting split you can adjust.
Being fair to suppliers
Circulate every question and answer to all respondents so nobody holds information the others do not. Give realistic deadlines, because a short one selects for availability rather than quality. Tell unsuccessful suppliers promptly and, if asked, tell them why.
This is not only good manners. The New Zealand mid-market ERP community is small, you will encounter these people again, and a reputation for running a fair process is what gets your next RFP taken seriously by the suppliers you actually want.
Common Questions
Avanza Solutions is a MYOB Acumatica implementation partner based in New Zealand. These templates are published as a neutral aid to procurement. The questions are not written to favour any product, including the one we implement, and you are welcome to use them in a process we are not part of.
Your organisation profile, current environment, drivers for change, scope, functional requirements with prescribed response codes, technical and security requirements, implementation approach, data migration, integration, support and service levels, a prescribed commercial response format, company information and references, contract and exit terms, evaluation criteria with weightings, and a timetable.
Not always. A formal RFP makes sense when procurement rules require it, when the spend needs board scrutiny, or when you need a documented and defensible basis for the decision. Otherwise, sharing your requirements with a shortlist and asking for a proposal achieves the same result with far less effort. Over-formalising can also filter for suppliers with bid teams rather than suppliers who would deliver well.
Three to four weeks for a full RFP, and at least two weeks for an RFI. Shorter deadlines select for whoever happened to have capacity rather than whoever would do the best job, and they tend to produce recycled material rather than a considered response.
Agree weighted criteria before responses arrive. A reasonable starting split is functional fit 30 per cent, total five year cost 20 per cent, implementation approach and team 15 per cent, supplier capability 15 per cent, support and service 10 per cent, and technical, security and data 10 per cent. Adjust to your priorities, but agree them early.