Software Development RFP Template
A copyable software development RFP in ten sections, a method for scoring vendor replies, and the inputs vendors need to price your project accurately.
Reviewed by Igor Gazivoda, Founder & CEO of StepTo · Updated
What Should a Software Development RFP Include?
A software development RFP should include ten sections: background and goals, scope and out-of-scope items, technical constraints, timeline and milestones, a budget range, team and ways of working, evaluation criteria with weights, the contract terms you want confirmed, a fixed list of questions every vendor must answer, and the submission format and deadline. Send the same document to every vendor so the replies can be scored side by side.
The template below is free to copy and adapt. It is published by StepTo, a software company in Belgrade, Serbia, and it works for any vendor you send it to. If you do not yet have a written description of the problem, start with the software project brief guide and turn the result into an RFP.
| RFP section | What to include |
|---|---|
| 1. Background and goals | Who you are, what the product does today, the business problem, and what success looks like in plain terms. |
| 2. Scope and out-of-scope | Must-have features, nice-to-have features, and a short list of what is explicitly not part of this project. |
| 3. Technical constraints | Existing systems, integrations, required languages or platforms, hosting, security and compliance needs. |
| 4. Timeline and milestones | Target start, the date that matters most (a launch, a demo, a funding event), and the checkpoints in between. |
| 5. Budget range | A realistic range, so vendors can say what fits inside it and what does not. |
| 6. Team and ways of working | Who on your side owns decisions, preferred time-zone overlap, meeting rhythm, tools, and the engagement model you prefer. |
| 7. Evaluation criteria and weights | The criteria you will score, such as relevant experience, team continuity, communication and price, and how much each one counts. |
| 8. Contract terms to confirm | Minimum term, notice period, IP ownership, data protection, and what happens if a team member leaves. |
| 9. Questions every vendor must answer | The same numbered list for all vendors, so replies line up side by side. |
| 10. Submission format and deadline | What the reply must contain, the file format, who to send it to, the deadline, and when vendors can expect a decision. |
Software Development RFP Template You Can Copy
Copy the text below into a document, replace every item in [square brackets] with your own details, and delete any line that does not apply. Keep the section order and the numbered vendor questions unchanged between vendors, so that every reply answers the same thing in the same place.
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT RFP: [Project name] Issued by: [Company name] Contact: [Name, role, email, phone] Issue date: [Date] Reply deadline: [Date, time and time zone] 1. BACKGROUND AND GOALS - About us: [Two or three sentences on the company and its customers] - What the product does today: [Current state, or "new product"] - The problem this project solves: [The problem in plain terms] - What success looks like: [An outcome the business can check, not a feature list] 2. SCOPE AND OUT-OF-SCOPE - Must-have: [Feature or outcome 1]; [Feature or outcome 2]; [Feature or outcome 3] - Nice-to-have: [Feature or outcome 1]; [Feature or outcome 2] - Out of scope: [What this project will not cover] 3. TECHNICAL CONSTRAINTS - Existing systems and integrations: [Systems, APIs, data sources] - Required or preferred stack: [Languages, frameworks, cloud provider, or "open to proposals"] - Hosting and environments: [Where it runs, who operates it] - Security and compliance: [Standards, data residency, access rules] - Existing code, designs and documentation: [What exists and who can share it] 4. TIMELINE AND MILESTONES - Target start: [Date] - Date that matters most: [Launch, demo or funding event, with date] - Checkpoints: [Milestone 1 and date]; [Milestone 2 and date] 5. BUDGET RANGE - Range for this project: [Currency and range] - What the range covers: [Build only, or build plus support] - Budget approval status: [Approved, pending, or phased] 6. TEAM AND WAYS OF WORKING - Decision owner on our side: [Name and role] - Preferred time-zone overlap: [Hours per day in a named time zone] - Meeting rhythm and tools: [Standups, demos, ticket tracker, chat] - Preferred engagement model: [Fixed scope project, dedicated team, staff augmentation, or "advise us"] 7. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND WEIGHTS We will score every reply on the criteria below, each out of [scale]. - [Criterion 1, e.g. relevant experience]: weight [your weight] - [Criterion 2, e.g. team continuity]: weight [your weight] - [Criterion 3, e.g. communication]: weight [your weight] - [Criterion 4, e.g. price and terms]: weight [your weight] 8. CONTRACT TERMS TO CONFIRM Please state your position on each item. - Minimum term: [What you propose] - Notice period: [What you propose] - IP ownership: [Who owns code and deliverables, and from when] - Data protection: [Agreement type, sub-processors, where data is stored] - Replacement of people: [What happens if a team member leaves, and at whose cost] - Change handling: [How scope changes are agreed and priced] 9. QUESTIONS EVERY VENDOR MUST ANSWER Answer in the same order, using the numbers below. 1. Who exactly will work on this, with roles and seniority? Will they be the same people throughout? 2. Which similar work have you delivered, and what can we verify about it? 3. How do you handle changes to scope once work has started? 4. What assumptions did you make to reach your price and timeline? 5. What risks do you see in this plan, and what would you do differently? 6. What do you need from us in the first month? 7. Which of the contract terms in section 8 do you want to change, and why? 8. Who is our day-to-day contact, and who do we escalate to? 10. SUBMISSION FORMAT AND DEADLINE - Format: [PDF or document, maximum length] - Send to: [Email address] - Questions about this RFP: [Date by which vendors may ask] - Reply deadline: [Date, time and time zone] - Decision date: [When vendors will hear from us] - Next step for shortlisted vendors: [Call, workshop or paid trial]
Two habits make the template work. Write the evaluation weights before any vendor replies, so the scoring cannot drift toward whoever pitched best. And answer vendor questions in writing to everyone, so no vendor holds information the others lack.
How Do You Compare Vendor Responses?
Compare vendor responses by scoring each one against the criteria and weights you wrote in section 7 of the RFP, not by the length or polish of the reply. The vendor evaluation scorecard lists the criteria to score, and the table below sets out four ways of turning the scores into a decision. The weights are yours to set, and they depend on what your project can least afford to get wrong.
| Method | How it works | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Weighted scoring | Score each reply from 1 to 5 on every criterion in your RFP, multiply by the weight you wrote down, and add up the results. | Three or more serious replies and a team that has to agree on the winner. |
| Pass/fail gates first | Mark each must-have (data protection terms, time-zone overlap, IP ownership) as met or not met, and drop replies that fail any gate before scoring the rest. | Hard requirements that no score should be able to outvote. |
| Price last | Score every non-price criterion first, then open the price and add it, so a low number cannot colour the reading of the team and plan. | Replies that differ widely in price for what looks like the same scope. |
| Reference and sample check | Ask finalists for a reference you can call about a similar engagement, and for the profiles of the people proposed for your work. | The last two vendors, when the scores are close. |
The methods combine well: apply the gates first, score the remaining replies with weights, open the price last, and call references for the final two. Whatever you choose, write down why each score was given, so the decision can be explained to colleagues afterwards.
What Do Vendors Need to Price Your Project Accurately?
Vendors need a firm scope with its limits, the systems to integrate, the state of any existing code, your security requirements, your fixed date, a budget range and your preferred engagement model. Each missing input is a guess that the vendor either prices in as risk or leaves out and bills for later.
| Input to give vendors | Why it changes the estimate |
|---|---|
| Must-have versus nice-to-have scope | A vendor can price a firm core and list options separately, instead of padding one number to cover everything. |
| Out-of-scope list | Stops each vendor from guessing whether admin tools, migrations or reporting are included. |
| Systems and APIs to integrate | Integrations with poor documentation are where estimates move most, so name each one and its state. |
| Existing code, designs and documentation | Working from a current codebase or finished designs is a different job from starting empty. |
| Security, compliance and data residency needs | These change the architecture and the testing effort, not just the paperwork. |
| The date that matters and how fixed it is | A hard launch date changes the team size and the plan; a flexible one allows a smaller team over more time. |
| Budget range | Lets a vendor propose what fits, or say plainly that the scope and the range do not match. |
| Your side: decision owner and response time | Slow decisions on the buyer side are a cost, and vendors price them in when they cannot see them. |
| Preferred engagement model | A fixed-scope project, a dedicated team and staff augmentation are priced differently, and replies are hard to compare if each vendor picks its own. |
Ask every vendor in return to show how the price is built: what each role costs, what is included, and what is billed separately. Publishing starting prices is a good sign. StepTo, for example, lists staff augmentation from $4,500 per developer per month, a dedicated team of three from $13,500 per month, and projects from $9,000 on its pricing page. For how the main engagement models work, see software development outsourcing.
What Do Buyers Ask Before Sending a Software RFP?
Do I need an RFP to hire a software development company?
Not always. For a small or exploratory piece of work, a clear project brief and a few calls are enough. An RFP earns its effort when you are comparing three or more vendors, when several people on your side must agree on the choice, or when your company requires a documented selection. Its main value is that every vendor answers the same questions, so you compare replies instead of sales conversations.
How long should a software development RFP be?
Short enough that a vendor can read it in one sitting, long enough that no section is left for the vendor to guess. A section you cannot fill yet, such as budget or technical constraints, is better written as "to be agreed, current thinking is [X]" than left out, because vendors will fill the gap with their own assumptions.
Should I put my budget in the RFP?
Yes, as a realistic range. Without one, vendors price against their own guess of what you can pay, and replies end up too far apart to compare. A range lets a vendor say what fits inside it, what does not, and what they would cut or phase to stay within it.
How many vendors should I send the RFP to?
Three to five is a workable shortlist: enough to see a spread of approaches and prices, few enough that you can read each reply carefully and talk to the finalists. Send the identical document to all of them, with the same deadline, and answer vendor questions in writing to everyone.
What is the difference between an RFP, an RFQ and an RFI?
An RFI (request for information) asks vendors what they offer, to build a shortlist. An RFQ (request for quotation) asks for a price on a precisely defined scope. An RFP (request for proposal) asks vendors to propose an approach, a team, a timeline and a price for a problem you describe. Software projects usually fit an RFP, because the approach is part of what you are buying.
Can I use this template for staff augmentation or a dedicated team?
Yes, with two changes. Replace the feature list in scope with the roles you need: stack, seniority, number of people and expected duration. Replace milestones with a target start date and a review rhythm. Keep the contract terms and the vendor questions as they are, since notice period, IP ownership, data protection and replacement of people matter even more in a long-running engagement.
How Does an Engagement With StepTo Start?
An engagement with StepTo starts in four steps, whether you add individual engineers or a dedicated team.
Step 1
First call
A first call with StepTo about the roles, stack and seniority you need.
Step 2
Engineers join in 2-4 weeks
StepTo engineers join your team 2-4 weeks after the first call.
Step 3
Two-week paid trial
The first two weeks are a paid trial on real work, before you commit to the full term.
Step 4
Free replacement within 30 days
If an engineer is not the right fit within the first 30 days, StepTo replaces them at no extra cost.
StepTo staff augmentation starts from $4,500 per developer per month, with a 3-month minimum, weekly billing and a 30-day notice period to scale down; a dedicated team of three engineers starts from $13,500 per month, billed monthly. There is no recruitment fee; full terms are on the pricing page.
Ready to Send Your RFP to Vendors?
If you would like StepTo to reply to your RFP, or to talk through a draft before you send it out, book a short call or send the project details.
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