Finding quality suppliers at the right price is the core job of any procurement team, and the request for proposal (RFP) is its main tool. Yet many teams have mixed feelings about RFPs. They take a long time to prepare, they are hard to change once published, they need heavy coordination and the evaluation often ends in a spreadsheet nobody fully trusts.
RFPflow is Aavenir's sourcing app for requests for proposal, requests for quotation (RFQ) and requests for information (RFI). It runs natively on ServiceNow or standalone. This post, first published in 2021, has been updated for 2026 to cover how Aavenir AI now supports evaluation.
Why RFPs are hard
- Preparation takes too long: subject experts rebuild questionnaires from scratch for each event
- Publishing is chaotic: supplier questions arrive by email, and deadlines slip
- Collaboration is scattered: responses, comments and pricing sit in inboxes and spreadsheets
- Evaluation is inconsistent: each evaluator scores differently, and combining scores is manual
- The handoff is broken: the winning terms have to be retyped into the contract
How RFPflow works, stage by stage
1. Prepare
Preparation is where most of the effort goes. Supplier qualification teams and subject experts set evaluation criteria and build questionnaires. RFPflow gives them a central library of templates and questions. A buyer can start a new RFP from scratch or clone an earlier one and adjust it, so the best questions are reused rather than rewritten.
2. Publish
At publication, procurement teams juggle deadlines and supplier questions. RFPflow lets buyers set milestones and reminders for everyone involved, publish to invited suppliers and answer questions in one place, so every supplier sees the same clarifications.
3. Collaborate
Long sourcing cycles often come from scattered information. In RFPflow, suppliers respond through a portal or in familiar formats such as Microsoft Word and Excel, and the responses are collected against each question. Internal stakeholders see the same responses and comments, instead of passing files around.
4. Evaluate
Evaluation is where judgment matters most, and where manual work hurts most. Each evaluator scores responses against the weighted criteria set before publication. Aavenir AI reads every response, drafts a score and a summary for each section and highlights gaps or risks. Evaluators accept or change every score, and RFPflow combines them by weight into a ranked shortlist with reasons.
5. Award and hand off
When the award is made, the winning supplier, prices and terms carry into Contractflow to draft the contract and into Onboardingflow to onboard the supplier. Nothing is retyped. See source to contract.
RFP, RFQ and RFI: which one when?
| Request | Use it when | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Request for information | You are exploring the market and do not yet know the options | Capabilities and approaches |
| Request for proposal | The need is complex and suppliers may propose different solutions | Solutions, approach and pricing |
| Request for quotation | The specification is clear and price is the main variable | Prices for a defined scope |
Read more in RFI, RFQ and RFP: the difference.
Business benefits of RFPflow
- Shorter preparation, because templates and questions are reused
- Fairer evaluation, because every response is scored against the same weighted criteria
- Faster decisions, because Aavenir AI does the first read and evaluators focus on judgment
- Better audit records, because every score, change and clarification is logged
- A clean handoff to contracting and supplier onboarding
Why it runs on ServiceNow
Many enterprises already manage IT, procurement and vendor processes on ServiceNow. RFPflow runs inside that instance, so sourcing events share users, roles, approvals and audit history with the rest of the work. For teams that do not run ServiceNow, RFPflow runs standalone with the same AI features. Learn more about building on ServiceNow.
Getting started
Most teams start with one category that runs frequent sourcing events, such as IT services or facilities. Build a template library for that category, agree the evaluation weights with stakeholders before publishing and measure cycle time from request to award. Then expand to other categories using what the first one taught you.
What to prepare before your first event in RFPflow
- A short list of approved templates for the category, with standard sections and questions
- Evaluation criteria and weights agreed with the business, legal, security and finance
- A supplier list, with contacts and any prequalification already completed
- Rules for clarifications: how suppliers ask questions and how answers are shared
- A named owner for the award decision and the handoff to contracting
Preparing these once makes every later event faster, because each new RFP starts from a proven template rather than a blank page. It also makes evaluation fairer, because weights are fixed before any response is read.
Finally, decide early how you will debrief suppliers that were not selected. A short, consistent explanation based on the published criteria keeps good suppliers willing to bid next time.
The bottom line
RFPflow brings preparation, publication, supplier collaboration, evaluation and award into one workflow. Aavenir AI does the first read of every response, evaluators make the call and the result flows straight into the contract.