Request for Information
Also known as: RFI
A preliminary, non-binding solicitation used to survey what a market offers before the organization commits to specifying requirements or buying anything.
An RFI comes earlier than an RFP and has a different purpose: the organization is still learning the category. Responses inform the requirements that a later RFP will contain.
Vendors sometimes dismiss RFIs as unpaid consulting. That is a mistake. An RFI is the single clearest moment at which a vendor can influence the criteria it will later be scored against.
An RFI is not a commitment to purchase and frequently leads nowhere within the fiscal year it is issued. Treat it as a signal that a buying committee is forming, and as an opportunity to document a requirement your product genuinely meets and your competitors do not.