RFI for Software Development: Crucial Questions to Ask a Vendor

Updated: 21 Sep, 2021
11 mins read

Andrew BurakCEO and Founder at Relevant Software

Pick the wrong software development vendor and you risk your budget, your timeline, and your brand. The stakes are higher in 2026. The global IT outsourcing market is worth roughly $878 billion this year, and nearly half of companies now buy development capacity from outside their walls (Grand View Research, 2026). More vendors means more noise. A Request for Information (RFI) cuts through it.

Buyer priorities have also shifted. Back in 2020, 70% of firms named cost as the top reason to outsource. By 2026 that figure dropped to 34%, with AI expertise, security, and compliance now driving selection (Softura, 2026). An RFI is how you compare those capabilities side by side before you commit. It is the first step in IT vendor management and a fast way to build a dedicated development team without weeks of blind calls.

RFI (request for information) is a document you send to potential vendors to gather data about their skills, size, experience, pricing, and the products and services they offer. You then use the replies to decide which vendor fits best. An RFI makes firms easier to compare. It filters out those that miss your needs from the start and pushes the rest to compete.

No single RFI format fits every company. But once you know the essentials, you can build a clear, reusable software RFI template. You can also download a ready-made RFI template from ProjectManager.com.

Split your request into two sections:

1. Introduction that describes your company and its goals and sets a deadline for the response.

2. List of specific questions for vendors, covering their skills, size, resources, and pricing.

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Introduction section

This segment describes your company, its background, the purpose of the RFI, the products you need, and a response deadline. It usually has six parts.

1. General information

Describe your organization:

Its full legal name.
List the CEO and upper executives responsible for the technical side.
Brief history of the organization.
Focus and specialization.
Target audience.
Regions and countries you operate in.
Website address, email, and other contact information.

2. Information about confidentiality

Explain your confidentiality policies and your intellectual and proprietary rights. Put them at the start of the RFI template if they are vital for further collaboration.

3. Project summary and goals

What are you aiming for with the RFI? State your purpose here. For example, the goal might be to see which remote development company can solve your problem fastest and most cost-effectively.

Clarify as much as you can. Vendors reply better when they see a clear picture of your goals.

Does your project have a roadmap?
What are the software requirements?
Do you already have a tech team and need to expand it with remote teams, or do you want a whole nearshore team for your project?
Do you want to develop your product from the ground up, or do you need additional devs for a project that’s already in progress?
What kind of services do you want from the outsourcing company: development, team management, or business analysis?
Are you looking for a short-term collaboration, or are you positive about an extended partnership?

Where you can, add visual content so vendors understand your requests better.

4. Skills and competencies

Before you send an RFI for software development, outline the skills, resources, programming languages, and platforms your project needs.

This section covers:

The operation system (or systems) for your applications or utilities.
The approximate size of the team that you need.
The platforms for development.
Technical restrictions.
Level of skill, experience, and programming languages the team must possess.
External or local apps required for the development.
Deadlines or delivery schedules.

5. Specifications of the RFI process

Define the rules for the response format. If you want vendors to answer in the structure of your template, say so here.

Set a time frame for replies. Also note whether your selection process has later phases, such as an RFQ (Request for Quotation) or an RFP (Request for Proposal). A common sequence is clear: an RFI narrows the field, an RFP evaluates how each vendor would solve the problem, and an RFQ locks in price against a fixed spec.

6. Contact person

At the end of the introduction section, give the contact details of the person who will represent your company in further communication with vendors.

Read also how to write an RFP for software development and about the MSA.

RFI questions to ask vendors

This section holds specific questions for vendors, covering experience, references, technical skills, working methods, and pricing.

Stick to the norms of business writing. Keep a neutral tone and an appropriate level of difficulty.

Note that you should not include every question in your RFI template. List only those that are relevant to your project.

General Information
1. Provide general information about your company:
  1. Full legal name of the organization.
  2. The name of the CEO and other upper managers (including CTO, CIO, and VP of Engineering).
  3. Country and full address of the headquarters.
  4. The website address, email, telephone number, and other contact information.
  5. Name and contact information of the person responsible for answering RFI.
2. Tell about the structure and focus of your company:
  1. Background and history.
  2. Size of the company and engineering team.
  3. Areas of expertise.
  4. Organizational structure.
  5. What is the vision and goals of your company?
  6. What services do you offer?
  7. What separates you from other outsourcing vendors?
3. Questions about location, communications, and travel:
  1. How many development teams you have, and what time zones are they located in (state the time difference from UTC)?
  2. What’s the level of English in the available teams (intermediate, upper-intermediate, advanced)?
  3. State that other foreign languages are known across your teams?
  4. Does your contact person know [insert language here]?
  5. Can your employees travel to other countries at the customer’s request?
Experience and Credibility
1. Tell about your experience with projects that are similar to the project we need.
2. Provide the following examples:
  1. Case studies (at least three examples).
  2. Provided services (project analysis, architectural design, team management, product development).
  3. Expertise with each of the relevant technologies and programming languages (for example, .NET, Java, Python).
  4. Experience with integrating your developers into pre-existing teams.
3. The number of times you generated additional value for your customers in any way.
  1. Provide examples, as well as and names of these customers.
4. Provide at least three customer references with names of organizations and their contact information
Project Management
1. Describe how do you usually evaluate the complexity of your projects and manage resources to estimate project requirements and risks.
2. Do you provide project management services?
3. Do you have experience with project management tools and Agile software development (Scrum/Kanban)?
4. Describe the software development life cycle methodologies you understand.
  1. Provide summaries of your experience mentioned methodologies (Waterfall, Iterative, Agile, and others).
5. Tell about the project management and tracking systems you use to ensure timely delivery schedules.
Technical Skills
1. State the name of technical skill and the corresponding number of employees.
2. Describe the employee staffing and vetting processes in your company.
3. How do you maintain and develop the skills of your development teams?
  1. Do you have a technical expertise branch or center of innovation?
  2. What’s the current focus of your tech expertise branch?
4. How does your company ensure consistent standards throughout different services?
5. Tell about the capabilities and expertise in the following areas:
  1. Automated testing/deployment.
  2. Performance and load examination.
  3. Technical documentation.
  4. Continuous integration.
  5. Security check-up.
  6. Use of AI and automation in the development workflow (code generation, testing, and review), plus the guardrails you apply.
Quality Control
1. What tools do you use for quality assurance?
2. What documentation standards you produce for quality control?
3. Share an experience of delivering outcomes with TDD and BDD approaches.
4. Describe how you manage performance and test security (stress, load, volume).
  1. What are the most common negative situations you experience during work on the project?
Resource Management
1. How do you minimize attrition and maximize business continuity?
2. Tell about the usual ramp-up times for resources supplement.
3. How does your company assign developers for different projects?
  1. Do you assign teams for specific projects until their completion?
4. What is your methodology for dealing with volatile demand for skill assessment and knowledge management?
Company’s Infrastructure
1. What applications do you use to communicate with clients and between your teams?
2. Describe the environment in your company and offices, including metrics, selected software, on-premise tech, or cloud apps.
Data Security
1. List active and passive security measures in your company.
  1. Physical security of the offices.
  2. Hardware protection.
  3. Software and data protection.
  4. Protection of intellectual property.
  5. Compliance and certifications you hold (for example ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR), plus how you handle data in AI-assisted workflows.
Payment
1. What is the accepted payment model in your company?
2. Are there daily or hourly pay rates for different employees?
3. Do you demand full or partial payment before the project completion?
4. What currency can you accept invoices in?
5. Do you take payment in [insert name of the currency]?
6. Are your rates and payment methods negotiable?
7. Pricing policy for situations when your employees need to travel abroad (if necessary).
Supplementary information
1. Tell us about the extra capabilities, skills, or services that you offer.
2. Was our RFI clear in communicating our goals and requirements?
3. Submit your own questions to us if you have any additional inquiries.

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How to choose the right software development vendor based on the RFI answers?

Follow this RFI template for software development and you will get thorough, relevant data that makes vendors easy to compare. Your job is not done yet. To pick the company that fits your project best, weigh the answers against the criteria below.

We put together a list of things to watch for when selecting an outsourcing company.

Company’s track record

Say your firm needs a remote software developer with a specific skill set. Start with their tech expertise and experience with similar projects.

If your project is large and needs the cooperation of multiple dev teams, favor vendors that have worked well with other distributed teams before.

References

Remember the “Experience and Credibility” subsection in the RFI template? The vendors you contacted should list customer references. Client feedback is a strong signal when you choose a software developer. Cross-check it on Clutch or other review platforms.

A brand reflects its performance. Vendors with industry recognition tend to attract talent and hold on to it, so they have fewer retention problems.

Relevant Software appears regularly in lists of top software companies, recognized for building reliable software solutions.

Pricing

The cheapest vendor is rarely the right match. The rate must be optimal for the scope and size of your project. Look for the pricing model that fits you best. Note that cost is no longer the top driver of outsourcing decisions, so weigh price against expertise, security, and delivery track record. With distributed development you still save money either way. Eastern European software firms, for instance, tend to charge much less than teams in the US or Western Europe.

Stability

For a long-term collaboration, confirm the vendor can give you a stable team of professionals for as long as you need. Recurring clients are a good sign of stability. Since 2013, Relevant Software has served more than 150 clients, and many of them stay with us for years.

Organization’s infrastructure

The vendor must have a well-protected IT infrastructure and a convenient location. Good workplaces build a comfortable atmosphere, which in turn boosts productivity.

Scale

Strong outsourcing vendors scale their dev teams to match each client. Still, a vendor close to your own size can improve the fit. To be treated as a very important customer (VIC), pick a vendor that suits your scale.

Talent acquisition and evaluation

Study the answers on employee staffing and vetting. With access to a global talent pool, it matters how offshore development companies screen candidates before hiring them.

You may also find our guides on the best offshore software development countries and software development outsourcing essentials useful.

Conclusion

Choosing a remote development team takes real research and assessment. With this RFI format, you get a fuller picture and pick the right company faster.

Since 2013, more than 150 clients from the US, UK, Europe, and the Middle East have trusted us to build their web and mobile products, and the number of recurring, satisfied customers keeps growing. If you want to build a remote development team, we will gladly receive your RFI, especially one crafted with our template.