Running an RFP
Run an ERP, B2B commerce or systems integrator selection step by step: one workbook for every vendor, every fact with its source and proof, and a decision pack for your team.
Overview
An RFP in Buyer24 is a selection project: you compare vendors from what is known, ask the short list the same questions in a workbook, see the finalists working, and decide on facts.
RFPs are in preview. They work end to end today, we are still adding templates, and pricing may change. They are part of the Organization plan and enterprise agreements, and you can ask for access on any other plan.
Buyer24 never picks the winner. You get the facts side by side, how well each one is proven, what is still open and what it costs. Your team makes the decision.
Start an RFP
- Go to Sourcing → RFPs and click New RFP.
- Pick the closest template: B2B commerce platform, ERP system or Solution provider (an implementation partner, agency or integrator).
- Give it a name and click Start.
The template brings the steps, questions, requirements and criteria. You can change any of them as you go, and nothing is sent to a vendor until you choose to send it.
The steps
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| What you need | Answer a few questions about your business. Your answers recommend how much each criterion should weigh. |
| What matters | Mark each requirement as a must-have, nice to have or out. Your team can rate them from an emailed link. |
| Find vendors | Build the long list. Prefill from public sources has an agent read each vendor's public pages and record what they claim, with the source. Nobody is contacted. |
| Compare what we know (round 1) | Compare the long list and choose who to ask. |
| Ask the list | Build the response workbook, add each vendor's address, and send. |
| Compare their answers (round 2) | Read the answers side by side and choose the finalists. |
| See it working | Run the tests with your team, score demos from their transcripts, and have your team rate each finalist. |
| Decide | Set the bar for what counts as proven and read the decision pack: every fact on each finalist, what's still open, and the cost. |
Traditional or new: how the selection adjusts
With AI, a missing feature can be built quickly, so a long feature list counts for less than it did. What counts more is how features get managed and deployed. The B2B commerce and ERP templates ask about that directly, and you decide how much it weighs.
On What matters, the weights start from your answers. You can change any number or pick a profile instead. The B2B commerce template offers these, and the ERP template has its own similar set:
| Profile | When it fits | What leads |
|---|---|---|
| The vendor runs it for us | A traditional selection: nobody builds on your side | What works out of the box |
| Our team builds on it | Your team closes most gaps itself | Openness and speed of change |
| Tight budget | Cost comes first | Total cost, then a core that must be right |
| Agents will buy and sell | Your customers' agents and your own will transact on it | AI readiness and openness |
The steps stay the same whichever you choose. Both templates also include a must-have that your additions deploy without waiting for the vendor's release and survive its upgrades.
The response workbook
Every vendor gets the same Excel workbook, attached to your email. It has three sheets to fill in: Requirements (Yes, Partly or No, how it works, and evidence), Questions and Pricing.
Vendors don't need an account. They reply to your email with the filled workbook, the reply lands in the RFP's Inbox, and each answer is recorded as a fact "confirmed in writing". If a vendor sends a corrected workbook, its answers replace the earlier ones. The old answers stay on record as superseded.
For a Partly or No, the vendor picks how it gets to yes and says by whom, by when and at what price:
- Configuration, a partner add-on, we build it for you or you build it on our platform count as a cost, not a no.
- On our roadmap, or no way to yes, stays a no.
How well each fact is proven
| Level | Meaning |
|---|---|
| L5 Verified in code | The source or configuration was read |
| L4 Proven hands-on | It was run with your data |
| L3 Reference in production | A customer like you confirmed it in daily use |
| L2 Shown in vendor demo | The vendor drove it on a call |
| L1 Confirmed in writing | The vendor confirmed it in the workbook or a reply |
| L0 Marketing material | Website or docs only, never confirmed |
A vendor fails a must-have only when its best-proven answer is a no at L1 or above. A no from a public page is flagged as something to ask.
Your team's ratings
Add teammates in the first step and mark who rates. Invite emails each of them a personal link to a phone-sized card, valid for 30 days. No account is needed. Ratings and notes roll up per item, and each person's rating stays their own.
Demo transcripts
Upload a transcript on the Documents tab (.txt, .vtt, .srt, .md, .docx or .pdf), then run the demo scoring on See it working. An agent records what the vendor showed as facts at L2, with the moment it happened. What you upload on the Documents tab stays internal and is not sent to vendors.
The tabs
| Tab | What's there |
|---|---|
| Steps | The steps above |
| Inbox | One thread per vendor |
| Questions | Your open questions to vendors, and what they asked you |
| Documents | What you sent, what vendors sent back, and your internal files |
| Knowledge | Every fact per vendor, with its source and proof |
| Changes | What each batch of new facts moved in the comparison |
| Log | Who changed what, including every score and weight |
On another plan
RFPs under Sourcing shows a finished sample with fictional vendors. You can browse every tab. To run your own, click Request access at the top of the page and we'll reply by email.
What it costs
RFPs are included in the Organization plan and enterprise agreements. Vendor research and demo scoring run as agent tasks and use credits, and you see the task before it runs. Reading a vendor's workbook back uses no credits. See Pricing.