A request for proposal (RFP) asks suppliers to describe how they would meet a need, along with price and terms, so the buyer can compare offers fairly. It often follows a request for information and sits alongside a request for quotation. Large companies and public bodies rely on it for significant purchases.
Yet teams regularly invest many hours in the process and still end up frustrated. The same six challenges appear in almost every organization. This guide, refreshed for 2026, explains each one and gives a practical action plan, including where AI now helps and where the decision should stay with people.
Challenge 1: the process is manual
Run by hand, a request for proposal is laborious. Responses arrive by email, questions and clarifications multiply, and someone copies answers into a spreadsheet for evaluators. Under a tight deadline, the administration crowds out the actual evaluation.
Action plan: move the request into sourcing software where suppliers respond through a portal, questions and answers are logged in one place and responses are organized for review automatically. That removes the spreadsheet, the email trail and most of the chasing.
Challenge 2: running a request costs too much
A full request consumes time from procurement, the business, legal, security and finance. For a small purchase, that cost can outweigh any savings the competition produces.
Action plan: know what a request costs you in staff time, and set thresholds for when one is required. Use a request for quotation or a catalog buy for low value, well specified items, and reserve the full process for purchases where value, risk or complexity justify it. Templates and automation then lower the cost of the requests you do run.
Challenge 3: the return is unclear
Many organizations do not know what their requests deliver. Decisions are made on incomplete information, supplier questions take too long to answer and the reasoning behind awards is lost. Over time, that erodes the return on the whole process.
Action plan: measure cycle time, participation, savings against budget and the performance of awarded suppliers. A single platform gives a current view of every event, and passing awarded terms straight into the contract keeps the value you negotiated. Read 5 reasons the request for proposal process improves sourcing return.
Challenge 4: one questionnaire for everything
A single questionnaire used across departments and categories asks the wrong questions. Bids get awarded to suppliers who answered well on paper but are a poor fit for the actual need. Meanwhile, teams waste time rebuilding questionnaires for each new event.
Action plan: build category specific templates with the right questions and weights, and store new questions in a shared library so the next team can reuse them. Segment spend by risk and opportunity, for example with a supply positioning model, so critical categories get deeper questionnaires than routine ones. See request for proposal creation software.
Challenge 5: stakeholder collaboration breaks down
A request needs input from many people. Without clear roles, nobody knows who is doing what. Questions are asked twice, email threads grow and conference calls multiply, and the sourcing cycle stretches.
Action plan: define roles, responsibilities, timelines and a single channel of communication before the request is published. Run it in one workspace where evaluators see the same responses, score in parallel and leave comments against specific answers. Clear evaluation criteria and a visible scoring summary show everyone why a supplier won. See publish and collaborate on requests.
Challenge 6: questionnaire expertise is thin
Writing good questions requires understanding the requirement and the market. When that expertise is missing, questionnaires are vague, suppliers answer in different ways and evaluation produces little insight.
Action plan: pair procurement with subject matter experts when building templates, write questions that ask for evidence rather than claims, and agree weighted criteria before publishing. AI can help draft questions from a scope document and later read each response against the criteria, but evaluators should review and approve every score.
How does software address all six?
| Challenge | What helps |
|---|---|
| Manual work | Supplier portal, central question log, automatic consolidation |
| Cost | Thresholds, templates and reusable libraries |
| Unclear return | Event dashboards and award to contract handoff |
| Generic questionnaires | Category templates with weights |
| Collaboration | One workspace, defined roles, parallel scoring |
| Thin expertise | Shared question library and AI drafted first pass scores |
In RFPflow, teams manage the whole event in one place. Aavenir AI reads each response against the weighted criteria and drafts a score with reasons, and evaluators accept or change it. The award then moves into Contractflow so the negotiated terms carry through.
The bottom line
Request for proposal problems are predictable: manual work, cost, unclear return, generic questionnaires, poor collaboration and thin expertise. Templates, a single workspace, weighted criteria and AI drafted scoring fix most of them, while people keep the award decision.