RFI Template for Equipment Suppliers (Request for Information)

An RFI (request for information) in procurement is a short questionnaire sent to potential suppliers before an RFQ, to find out who can do the work: their capability, references, capacity, certifications, quality system, lead times, locations and aftermarket support. It is not a request for prices and not a commitment to buy. Its job is to turn a long list into a shortlist of three to five suppliers worth inviting to quote.

In construction, "RFI" also means a contractor's question to the designer about missing or unclear information [1]. This article uses the procurement sense.

Why this matters now

Buyers are widening their supplier base. In Deloitte's 2025 survey of chief procurement officers, 74% named finding alternative supply sources as the most effective way to reduce supply risk [2]. New suppliers need checking before they get an RFQ, and an RFI does that cheaply.

Public buyers have rules to follow. UK guidance on preliminary market engagement under the Procurement Act 2023, updated in July 2026, says engagement must not give any supplier an unfair advantage, that conflicts of interest must be identified and managed, and that the authority should keep a record of the information shared and received [3].

When to send an RFI

• The supplier market is new to you, or the equipment is unusual.
• The item is regulated or critical, so suppliers need assessing before they bid.
• The long list is too long for everyone to receive a full RFQ.
• You need to know realistic lead times or capacity before fixing the programme.

If you already have three to five qualified bidders, skip the RFI and go to the RFQ.

The RFI template

Keep it short: two or three pages and a reply in two weeks get better responses than a 40 question form.

Check what you receive rather than taking it on trust. Search quality certificates on IAF CertSearch or ask the certification body, because ISO itself certifies nobody [4]. For UK companies, read the filing history and insolvency records at Companies House, which are free [5]. Screen the company and its owners against the UK Sanctions List, now the single source for UK designations [6].

Scoring the replies

Mark a few items as mandatory, such as the right design code, a valid quality certificate and a clean sanctions check. Score the rest from 0 to 3 per section: 0 for no answer, 1 for weak, 2 for adequate and 3 for strong. Add the scores, rank the suppliers that passed the mandatory items, and record why each shortlisted supplier was chosen. Tell unsuccessful suppliers promptly; they may suit the next package.

Practical example

In this illustrative example, a buyer sends an RFI for a jacketed reactor to 12 suppliers. Nine reply within two weeks. Four fail a mandatory item: two have no experience of pressure equipment to the required code, one has no service presence in the UK, and one declines. That leaves five, scored between 14 and 26 out of 30. The top four receive the RFQ, and the fifth is kept on file. The whole exercise took about a week of desk time and avoided sending a full RFQ package to eight suppliers who would not have been chosen.

For building the long list in the first place, see how to find and vet process equipment suppliers.

Where ChemCapital fits

Supplier Discovery builds the long list from a plain text description, a pasted RFQ or an uploaded spec, searching the open web and returning each supplier with the address where it was found and its published product parameters. Certifications are shown as the supplier claims them, not verified, so the checks above still apply. Shortlisted suppliers can then receive a structured RFQ, including suppliers not yet on the platform.

Ready to build your next supplier shortlist faster? Start a free 14 day ChemCapital trial, with no credit card needed.