How to write a web design RFP, with a template

RFP stands for request for proposal. A web design RFP is a written brief you send to several agencies at once. It describes your organization, the website you need, your budget and your deadline, and it asks each agency for a proposal.

The value sits in the comparison. Every agency answers the same questions in the same format. You see who understood your goals, who has done similar work and what each one asks for the job.

An RFP also forces clarity inside your own company. Writing it means agreeing on the goal of the site, the must-have features and the budget before a single agency is in the room.

A website design RFP costs time on both sides. Writing one takes days, and a serious agency spends many hours on its answer. So use the format where it pays off.

1. Your organization requires itPublic bodies, schools, charities and larger companies often have purchasing rules that demand several written offers above a certain amount.
2. The project is largeA site with many page types, several languages, a shop or links to internal systems deserves a careful selection.
3. Several people decideA board or committee needs a shared, documented basis for its choice.
4. You know few agenciesAn open round shows you approaches and price levels you would otherwise miss.

For a small site with one decision maker, a full round is heavy. Two or three conversations and a look at finished work usually tell you enough. The closing section of this guide covers that route.

You will meet three similar abbreviations. They differ in what you ask for and when you use them.

Most website projects fit the RFP. You know the goal, and you want each agency to show its thinking on design, technology and planning.

How to write a website RFP that gets strong answers? Settle five points inside your company before you write a word. Each one becomes a section of the document.

1. One measurable goalFor example: 30 quote requests a month through the site within a year.
2. Your audienceWho are your best customers, and what do they want to know before they contact you?
3. A budget rangeA lower and an upper limit that the people who sign have approved.
4. A decision teamWho scores the proposals, and who has the final say?
5. A launch dateThe date the site has to be live, and the reason behind it, such as a trade show or a new season.

Here is a complete website RFP template in ten sections. Copy the example wording and replace the details with your own. The example follows an invented company, Northside Plumbing, so you can see the level of detail that helps an agency.

1. 1. Company backgroundExample: Northside Plumbing is a family business with 14 employees. We have served homeowners and landlords in the Denver area since 2009. Most new customers find us through Google and through referrals.
2. 2. Project summary and goalsExample: We want a new website that brings in 30 quote requests a month within a year. The site should explain our six services clearly and make booking a visit possible in under a minute.
3. 3. AudienceExample: Our main customers are homeowners aged 35 to 65 with an urgent repair or a planned renovation. Seven in ten visitors use a phone. They want to see price indications, reviews and how fast we can come.
4. 4. Current websiteExample: Our current site was built in 2019 on WordPress. It has 22 pages and about 1,800 visitors a month. Booking by phone only, slow pages and outdated photos are the main problems.

Keep these sections factual and short. Real numbers, such as visitors a month and current inquiries, help agencies size the job and give you a baseline for measuring the new site.

The middle of the template describes the work itself. Separate what the site must have from what would be welcome. That gives agencies room to propose smart options inside your budget.

1. 5. Scope of workExample: We ask for strategy, a sitemap, copywriting for about 25 pages, custom design, development, testing, launch and training. Photography is arranged by us.
2. 6. FeaturesExample: Must have: online booking linked to our calendar, a quote form with photo upload, a page per service and per service area, reviews. Welcome: a chatbot and a cost calculator.
3. 7. Technical requirementsExample: Pages load fast on mobile and pass Google's Core Web Vitals. We can edit text and photos ourselves. All existing addresses are redirected. The site meets WCAG 2.2 level AA for accessibility.

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the international standard for websites that people with a disability can use. Version 2.2 was published by the standards body W3C in 2023.

Describe needs and leave the solution open. Write that staff must be able to edit pages, and let each agency propose the system. You then learn something from the differences between the answers.

The last three sections of the template set the frame: money, dates and the way agencies respond. These are the sections writers most often leave vague, and the ones agencies read first.

1. 8. BudgetExample: Our budget for design and build is $15,000 to $20,000. Please state hosting, maintenance and support separately as a yearly amount.
2. 9. TimelineExample: Questions by March 14. Answers to all agencies on March 18. Proposals due April 1. Presentations in the week of April 14. Decision on April 25. Launch before September 1.
3. 10. Proposal format and selectionExample: Send a PDF of at most 12 pages to the address below. Include your approach, team, three comparable projects with results, a timeline, a price per phase and two references. We score on the criteria listed in this document.

Add one contact person with an email address, and state that every question and answer is shared with all agencies. That keeps the round fair and saves you from repeating yourself.

Build your invitation list from finished work. Look at websites you admire in your own trade and region, check the credit line in the footer, and ask fellow business owners which agency they would hire again.

Many buyers hide the budget, hoping for a lower price. The usual result is a pile of proposals from $6,000 to $60,000 that describe six different websites. Comparing them is guesswork.

With a stated range, each agency designs the best site it can deliver for that amount. The proposals then differ in ideas, quality and team, which is exactly what you want to judge.

If the budget is truly open, share market ranges as a starting point and ask for two options: a base version and an extended one. Our website cost guide lists 2026 price ranges for the US and the UK.

A website redesign RFP needs a few additions, since you have an existing site with visitors, search positions and content to protect. Add these points to sections 4 and 7 of the template.

1. A content inventoryState how many pages you have, which ones bring in the most visitors and which ones can go.
2. A redirect planAsk how the agency maps each old address to a new one, so search positions carry over.
3. Content migrationWho moves the existing text, images and blog articles into the new site, and is rewriting included?
4. Current dataOffer read access to your analytics, so agencies base their plan on real behavior.
5. What works todayName the pages, forms or features that perform well and should stay.

Score every proposal on the same criteria. Each member of your decision team gives 1 to 5 points per criterion. Multiply by the weight and add up. The weights below total 100 and suit a typical business website.

Set the weights before the first proposal arrives and publish the criteria in the RFP. Your team then scores what was promised to the agencies, and personal taste carries less weight.

Price counts for 10 points here on purpose. With a stated budget range, most proposals land close together, and the quality of the plan decides.

Invite the two or three highest scorers for a one-hour presentation. A proposal shows how an agency writes. A conversation shows how it works. These questions bring out the difference.

1. Who will work on our project?Ask to meet the designer and the developer, in addition to the salesperson.
2. What do you need from us, and when?A good answer lists content, feedback moments and logins, with dates.
3. What happens when the scope changes?Listen for a clear rule on extra work and its price.
4. How do you protect our search positions?Expect a redirect plan and a check after launch.
5. What do we own at the end?The domain, the text, the images and the design should be yours.
6. What does year two cost?Hosting, updates, support and small changes, as a fixed amount or a rate.
7. Can we call two recent clients?References from the past year say most about how the agency works today.

An RFP for website development goes wrong in predictable ways. Each of these mistakes lowers the quality of the answers you receive.

1. A hidden budgetAgencies guess, and you receive proposals for different websites.
2. Too many agenciesTwenty invitations bring twenty thin answers. Strong agencies skip a crowded round. Invite four to six.
3. Asking for free designsSpeculative design work is made in a rush, before any research. Judge finished work for other clients.
4. Prescribing the solutionA fixed platform and page-by-page layout leave little room for better ideas.
5. A rushed deadlineA week to respond favors agencies with spare time over agencies with the best fit.
6. Vague selection criteriaWhen agencies are left guessing how you choose, they write to impress everyone and the proposals blur together.

Plan the round backward from your launch date. The schedule below is a practical plan for a mid-sized website project. Larger organizations with formal purchasing rules often need longer.

That adds up to roughly six to eight weeks before the project starts. The build follows after that. Count both periods when you promise your own management a launch date.

Tell every agency the outcome, including the ones you turned down, with one or two lines of feedback. They invested hours, and you may meet them again on a later project.

An RFP is a tool for comparing promises. Each agency describes what it would build, and you choose the most convincing description. The real website appears months after you sign.

For a small or mid-sized business there is a shorter route: compare results. Delta Six builds your complete custom website first, at our own cost, and shows it in a 15-minute online showcase.

You pay nothing upfront, and you only pay when you're happy. Choose us and your website is live within two weeks. Two months after launch you choose again: stop after two improvement rounds and you get your money back.

If your organization requires a formal round, use the template on this page and invite us as one of the agencies. Our answer will be a working website you can click through, next to the written proposals of the others.

• Agree on one measurable goal for the new website.
• Get a budget range approved by the people who sign.
• Appoint a decision team and one contact person.
• Collect the facts on your current site: pages, visitors a month and inquiries a month.
• List the features as must have and welcome.
• Write the ten sections of the template in four to six pages.
• State the budget range, the launch date and every deadline in the document.
• Publish the scoring criteria and their weights in the RFP.
• Invite four to six agencies whose finished work you like.
• Give agencies two to three weeks to respond and share all questions and answers with everyone.
• Score each proposal with the same table, each team member separately first.
• Invite the top two or three for a presentation and meet the people who do the work.
• Call two recent clients of your preferred agency.
• Inform every agency of the outcome with short feedback.