Request for tender
Encyclopedia
A request for tender, commonly abbreviated to RFT, is a formal, structured invitation to suppliers for the supply of products or services. In the public sector, such a process may be required and determined in detail by law to ensure that such competition for the use of public money is open, fair and free from bribery
and nepotism
. For example, a government may put a building project 'out to tender'; that is, publish an invitation for other parties to make a proposal for the building's construction, on the understanding that any competition for the relevant government contract must be conducted in response to the tender, no parties having the unfair advantage of separate, prior, closed-door negotiations for the contract. An evaluation team will go through the tenders and decide who will get the contract.
As a consequence of the scale of the tender process the majority of RFT’s are published by the government sector, but companies in the infrastructure and utilities sectors may also publish RFT’s.
RFT's may be distributed to potential bidders through a tender service, allowing businesses to receive and search live tenders from a range of public and private sources. These alerts are most commonly sent daily and can be filtered down by geographical area, or by business sector. Some tendering services even divide types of business very finely in their own way, by CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes. This enables a business to find tenders specific to their needs.
The closest equivalent to an RFT in the mainstream private sector
is a request for proposal
(RFP), which, since public money is not involved, typically has a less rigid structure.
An RFT is usually an open invitation for suppliers to respond to a defined need as opposed to a request being sent to selected potential suppliers. The RFT often requests information following on from other information gathered previously from responses to a Request for Information
(RFI). This will usually not only cover product and service requirements, but will also ask for information about the suitability of the business.
An RFT is usually expected to conform to some legally standardised structure, designed to ensure impartiality.
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
and nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
. For example, a government may put a building project 'out to tender'; that is, publish an invitation for other parties to make a proposal for the building's construction, on the understanding that any competition for the relevant government contract must be conducted in response to the tender, no parties having the unfair advantage of separate, prior, closed-door negotiations for the contract. An evaluation team will go through the tenders and decide who will get the contract.
As a consequence of the scale of the tender process the majority of RFT’s are published by the government sector, but companies in the infrastructure and utilities sectors may also publish RFT’s.
RFT's may be distributed to potential bidders through a tender service, allowing businesses to receive and search live tenders from a range of public and private sources. These alerts are most commonly sent daily and can be filtered down by geographical area, or by business sector. Some tendering services even divide types of business very finely in their own way, by CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes. This enables a business to find tenders specific to their needs.
The closest equivalent to an RFT in the mainstream private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
is a request for proposal
Request for Proposal
A request for proposal is issued at an early stage in a procurement process, where an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. The RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and is meant to...
(RFP), which, since public money is not involved, typically has a less rigid structure.
An RFT is usually an open invitation for suppliers to respond to a defined need as opposed to a request being sent to selected potential suppliers. The RFT often requests information following on from other information gathered previously from responses to a Request for Information
Request for Information
A request for information is a standard business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. Normally it follows a format that can be used for comparative purposes....
(RFI). This will usually not only cover product and service requirements, but will also ask for information about the suitability of the business.
An RFT is usually expected to conform to some legally standardised structure, designed to ensure impartiality.
Related proposal types
Other members of the family include:- EOI - expression of interest
- RFA - request for applications
- RFD - request for documentation
- RFI - request for informationRequest for InformationA request for information is a standard business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. Normally it follows a format that can be used for comparative purposes....
- RFO - request for offer
- RFP - request for proposalRequest for ProposalA request for proposal is issued at an early stage in a procurement process, where an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. The RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and is meant to...
- RFQ - request for quotationRequest for QuotationA request for quotation is a standard business process whose purpose is to invite suppliers into a bidding process to bid on specific products or services. RFQ, generally means the same thing as IFB ....
- RFT - request for tenderRequest for tenderA request for tender, commonly abbreviated to RFT, is a formal, structured invitation to suppliers for the supply of products or services. In the public sector, such a process may be required and determined in detail by law to ensure that such competition for the use of public money is open, fair...
- ROI - registration of interest