Design and website RFP template

First, check you need an RFP at all

RFPs suit projects with several decision-makers, a procurement process, or a budget big enough that you must show you compared options. For a seed-stage startup hiring one designer for a website, a two-page brief and three good conversations will usually get a better result in less time.

There is a trade-off. Many strong freelancers and small studios skip long RFPs, because writing a forty-page response for a one-in-eight chance doesn't pay. If you keep yours short and publish the budget range and the scoring, you'll get more replies, and better ones. If an RFP is too much, start with my design brief template instead.

The RFP template, section by section

1. About the company: What the company does in two sentences, stage, team size, who the customers are. Link the current site and product.
2. Goal and metric: Why this project, why now, and the number it should move: demo requests, trial sign-ups, activation, fewer support tickets. Include today's value if you can share it.
3. Scope and deliverables: For a website, a page list with templates marked ('blog post template, 1'). For product work, the flows or screens. After that, an explicit out-of-scope list.
4. Current state and assets: What already exists (brand guidelines, design system, analytics access, research, copy), and an honest note on what's broken about it.
5. Technical requirements: Builder or stack (Framer, Webflow, WordPress, your React app), CMS needs, integrations (CRM, analytics, forms), languages, accessibility target such as WCAG 2.2 AA, hosting and security reviews.
6. Content responsibilities: Who writes copy, who supplies photos, who migrates old blog posts. Unclear content ownership is the most common reason website projects run late.
7. Timeline: Hard dates and the reason for each, plus your team's availability for reviews. Say if anyone is away for weeks in the middle.
8. Budget range: Give a range instead of writing 'open'. Without one you'll receive proposals you can't compare, and the best-fit studios may not respond at all. If you don't know what's normal, my guide to freelance product designer cost lists public ranges for freelancers and agencies.
9. What to include in your response: Two or three relevant projects with what changed afterwards; the names and roles of the people who will do the work; the approach for the first two weeks; a timeline; pricing structure; assumptions and risks. Set a page limit, ten is plenty.
10. Process and dates: Questions deadline, when answers are shared (with everyone), response deadline, shortlist calls, decision date, start date.
11. Evaluation and terms: Paste the scoring rubric below so respondents know how they'll be judged. State ownership terms: you own the final files and the accounts are in your name.

The scoring rubric (100 points)

Have each reviewer score every response against the same rubric on their own, then compare. Averages hide disagreement, and a big gap between two reviewers is worth talking through.

Adjust the weights for your project, but publish them. For a product design engagement I'd move points from pricing to understanding of the problem, since solving the wrong problem costs far more than the difference between two fees.

Pass or fail before you score

• Arrived before the deadline and inside the page limit.
• Named the people who will do the work.
• Stated assumptions and what's excluded.
• Accepts your ownership terms for files, code and accounts.
• Can work in your builder or stack, or explains clearly why they'd change it.

A response with any 'no' here doesn't get scored, which saves hours of reading.

Questions for the shortlist calls

• Walk me through one project like this one: what was the brief, what did you change about it, and what happened after launch?
• What would you need from me in the first week?
• Where do projects like this usually go wrong, and how do you catch it early?
• Who will I talk to day to day, and how much of the work will they do themselves?
• If the launch date moved two weeks earlier, what would you cut?
• What happens after launch: who can edit the site, and what does support look like?

I've been on the other side of this as a freelance designer for teams like xPay, HelpNow, Zania and Entvin. These are the questions I'd want a client to ask me, because the answers show how a project will run.

If you're weighing a freelancer against an agency before writing the RFP, my freelancer vs agency comparison covers that choice. To talk to me directly instead, the hire page explains how I work.

Questions people ask

What should a website design RFP include?

Company background, the goal and metric, scope with a page list, current assets, technical requirements, content ownership, timeline, budget range, response instructions, process dates and the scoring criteria.

Should I include a budget in a design RFP?

Yes, as a range. Without it you can't compare proposals fairly, and many good studios and freelancers won't respond to an RFP with no budget.

How do you score design agency proposals?

Use a weighted rubric applied by each reviewer separately: evidence from similar work, understanding of the problem, the people doing the work, plan realism, pricing structure and communication.

How many agencies should receive an RFP?

Three to six well-chosen ones. Send it to twenty and you'll do a lot of reading for little extra insight, and each respondent will put in less effort.

Sources

1. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, W3C
2. What's New in WCAG 2.2, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Working on this?

Tell me what you're building and where it's stuck: book a 30-minute call, email work@utkarshdesign.com or send a brief.

Related

• Hire a product designer: freelance, contract or full-time
• Freelance designer vs design agency
• Design brief template
• SaaS website redesign cost and timeline