RFI Meaning in Modern Procurement (2025 Edition)

October 31, 2025

Evie Secilmis

Why “Request for Information” Now Means Vendor Readiness, AI Capability, and Risk Transparency

For years, “RFI” was treated as a basic acronym — a Request for Information.
Today, that definition is incomplete.

In modern enterprise environments, RFIs are a strategic vendor intelligence process tied to:

Security and compliance readiness
AI maturity and governance
Technical fit and integration depth
Vendor risk management
Cross-functional buying cycles

RFIs now help procurement and presales teams determine whether a vendor is capable, credible, and secure before they ever move to an RFP or full evaluation.

For foundational background, you can also explore our RFI glossary definition.

✅ Modern Definition of an RFI

A Request for Information (RFI) is a structured buyer inquiry used to assess product fit, technical architecture, security posture, AI governance, and vendor capability early in the evaluation cycle — before demos, pricing, and procurement workflows begin.

In 2025, an RFI is no longer simply “fact-finding.”
It’s a risk filter, a fit assessment, and a buying signal.

If you’re new to procurement workflows, see how RFIs fit into the procurement funnel alongside RFQs and RFPs.

🔐 Why RFIs Matter More Today

1. Security Comes First

Security validation now appears inside RFIs — not just in security questionnaires.

Teams want confidence in:

SOC 2 & ISO compliance
Access controls
Encryption, retention policies, data residency
AI model governance & testing procedures
Incident response frameworks

Learn more in our security questionnaire guide.

2. AI Is Now a Vendor Evaluation Category

Teams don’t just ask whether AI exists — they assess:

Model safety
Accuracy safeguards
Data handling & privacy
Prompt security
Human-in-the-loop controls

To dive deeper into responsible automation, explore our proposal automation blog.

3. RFIs Protect Technical & Presales Time

The enterprise sales cycle now favors:

Faster qualification
Reduced presales burden
Fewer unproductive demos
Better internal alignment

See how teams scale workflows with Iris AI for presales and automate knowledge reuse.

🔎 What’s Included in a Modern RFI?

What’s Included in a Modern RFI

Use this as your standard checklist. Add or remove rows per industry.

Modern RFI sections with purpose, example prompts, and evidence
Section	Purpose	What buyers ask	Evidence requested	Primary owner
Company overview	Credibility and fit	Customer count, ICP, implementation model, SLAs	Logo sheet, SLA summary, uptime stats, references	Sales
Product architecture	Ecosystem compatibility	Hosting model, environments, APIs, SSO, RBAC	High level diagram, API docs, SSO guide, roles matrix	Sales Engineering
Security and privacy	Risk posture	Data encryption, residency, retention, incident response	SOC 2 report, ISO certs, DPIA summary, IR policy	Security
AI governance	Trust and accuracy	Models used, guardrails, human in loop, auditability	Model policy, eval results, red team notes, audit logs	Product + Security
Integrations	Workflow fit	CRM, ITSM, content stores, data pipelines	Integration catalog, scopes, sample payloads	SE + RevOps
Compliance	Regulatory alignment	HIPAA, GDPR, CPRA, FedRAMP readiness	Attestations, subprocessor list, DPA template	Legal + Security
Performance and reliability	Scale assurance	Latency, throughput, RTO, RPO	SRE targets, status history, load test summary	Engineering
Implementation and support	Time to value	Timeline, roles, training, support tiers	Project plan, RACI, enablement kit, SLA	CS
Roadmap and innovation	Future fit	Near term features, enterprise asks, extensibility	Redacted roadmap, extensibility notes	Product
References and case studies	Proof	Similar industry, similar size, outcomes	Case studies, contacts, quantified results	Sales + Marketing
Commercial guardrails	Risk and terms preview	Data ownership, IP, termination, indemnity	Sample terms, DPA, security addendum	Legal

Browse our glossary of buying & proposal terms to explore related procurement concepts.

🔁 Where RFIs Fit in the Evaluation Funnel

Market Scan → RFI → Technical Deep Dive → RFP → Security Review → Vendor Selection

See the full breakdown in our RFP vs RFQ vs RFI guide.

💡 RFI Example Questions (Modern)

How do you manage AI accuracy, oversight, and auditability?
What security frameworks do you meet?
How does your platform integrate with our tech stack?
What’s your approach to data privacy & residency?
Provide customer success benchmarks and uptime transparency.

Our Iris Knowledge Model helps these groups collaborate without losing context or accuracy.

👥 Who Owns RFIs in 2025?

Who Owns RFIs in 2025

Cross-functional ownership across procurement, security, legal, and presales. Use this matrix to assign roles in your process.

RFI ownership by function with responsibilities, example questions, ideal involvement timing, and success metrics
Function	Primary responsibilities	Questions they own	When to involve	KPIs / success metrics
Procurement	Orchestrate the process, vendor screening, scoring rubric, timeline control	Eligibility, evaluation criteria, submission rules, commercial constraints	Day 0 for structure and vendor list sanity check	Cycle time, compliance rate, vendor response quality, shortlist accuracy
Security / GRC	Risk posture, controls validation, incident response review	SOC 2, ISO, encryption, access controls, logging, IR plans	Early to embed security sections and evidence requests	Risk findings resolved, control coverage, audit readiness
Data Privacy	Data handling, residency, retention, DPIAs	PII flows, DPA terms, subprocessors, deletion policies	With Security for any data-touching vendors	DPIA completion, lawful basis coverage, breach exposure reduction
IT / RevOps	Systems fit, integrations, SSO, provisioning	API scope, SSO, SCIM, data pipelines, admin controls	Pre-RFI draft to set integration requirements	Integration effort, admin overhead, uptime alignment
Sales Engineering	Technical feasibility, architecture mapping, accuracy claims	Deployment model, performance, edge cases, extensibility	RFI drafting and vendor Q&A; stays through validation	Technical fit rate, validation pass rate, time to clarity
Legal	Contract guardrails, IP, liability, term structures	Indemnity, data ownership, SLAs, export controls, third-party terms	Early for templated terms and showstoppers	Redline volume, clause acceptance, issue cycle time
Finance	Budget alignment, TCO modeling, ROI thresholds	Pricing models, cost caps, renewal exposure, savings logic	Pre-shortlist to set commercial bands	TCO accuracy, budget adherence, negotiated savings
Product Management	Roadmap fit, feasibility, integration prioritization	Near-term features, enterprise asks, scalability limits	When requirements push roadmap or custom work	Roadmap alignment, delivery predictability
Customer Success / Implementation	Time-to-value, enablement plan, support model	Onboarding steps, training, support tiers, change management	Before issuing RFI to define success criteria	TTFV, adoption, support ticket volume
Executive Sponsor	Business case alignment, escalation, decision velocity	Strategic outcomes, risk tolerance, tie-break priorities	Kickoff and down-select for direction and unblock	Decision speed, strategic fit, stakeholder alignment
AI Governance Committee	Model risk, evaluation standards, human oversight	Model sources, eval results, red-teaming, auditability	Any RFI with AI features or data access	Eval coverage, incident rate, policy adherence