Government procurement relies heavily on RFIs — often more than any other industry. Federal, state, and local agencies issue Requests for Information to understand available solutions, evaluate market capabilities, and determine which vendors should pre-qualify for upcoming RFPs, RFQs, or purchasing agreements.
For vendors selling into government agencies, responding to RFIs effectively is the key to getting shortlisted. Strong RFI responses build early trust, clarify fit, and improve your chances of being invited to the next stage of procurement. And with the Iris + GovSpend partnership, teams can now identify opportunities earlier, understand agency buying behavior, and respond to RFIs with complete, accurate information in one unified workflow.
A Request for Information (RFI) is an early-stage procurement document used by:
Agencies use RFIs to gather market intelligence and assess which vendors are capable of fulfilling a future requirement.
RFIs help the government:
For a breakdown of procurement formats, see RFP vs RFQ vs RFI: Understanding the Differences.
Government organizations rely on RFIs because they help:
RFIs verify whether vendors can meet security, compliance, accessibility, and operational requirements before a formal bid.
RFIs help agencies identify multiple qualified vendors, ensuring competitive bidding.
RFIs give agencies clarity on cost structures and realistic implementation timelines.
Vendor responses help refine functional and technical requirements before issuing an RFP.
By filtering vendors early, agencies receive fewer incomplete RFP submissions later.
Government RFIs focus on structured, high-level questions across:
For deeper security detail, agencies typically request follow-up assessments — see What Is Security Questionnaire Automation?
RFIs rarely require exact pricing — only structure and scalability guidance.
Despite being early stage, RFIs create meaningful strain:
RFIs set the tone for the entire procurement cycle — and weak responses can disqualify vendors early.
Iris, combined with GovSpend, gives teams a unified system for sourcing, qualifying, and responding to government RFIs faster and more accurately than ever.
GovSpend provides procurement intelligence so teams can:
Iris pulls from a centralized knowledge base to auto-draft responses for:
Product, security, compliance, and sales all work within Iris to maintain aligned content.
Iris offers real-time commenting, approvals, and version governance.
RFIs that once took days can often be drafted in under an hour.
Learn more about automation workflows in How to Streamline Proposal Responses with AI.
RFIs are the gateway to government procurement — and strong responses dramatically improve your chances of moving to the full RFP stage. With Iris handling content accuracy and GovSpend providing market intelligence, teams can identify opportunities sooner, respond with greater consistency, and accelerate their public-sector sales cycle.
