RFP management

Create, edit, publish, close, award, and delete RFPs with full lifecycle control.

Strutter gives you complete control over the RFP lifecycle, from initial draft to final award. This guide covers everything you need to manage your RFPs.

Creating an RFP

There are two ways to create an RFP:

Conversational AI wizard

The fastest way to get started. Describe your procurement need in the prompt bar or home page hero input, answer Strutter's clarifying questions, and watch your RFP come together in real time.

  1. Type your procurement need (e.g., "Create an RFP for cloud migration services")
  2. Answer clarifying questions using selection chips or free text
  3. Watch live generation progress as sections are created
  4. Review the completed RFP and refine with follow-up prompts

For the full walkthrough, see Creating an RFP.

Manual creation

Prefer full control? Build your RFP by hand:

  1. Click New RFP and enter a title and description
  2. Add sections to organize your RFP (e.g., "Technical requirements," "Pricing")
  3. Add questions to each section
  4. Set a weight for each question (used in scoring)
  5. Set a due date so vendors know the deadline
  6. Publish when ready

Question types

Choose the right input type for each question:

TypeWhat it doesExample
Rich TextFree-form text with formatting"Describe your implementation approach"
NumberNumeric value input"Estimated project cost"
DateDate picker"Proposed start date"
TableStructured grid with custom columns"Team members and roles"
SliderNumeric range selection"Rate your experience level (1 to 10)"
Single SelectPick one option from a list"Preferred deployment model"
Multi SelectPick multiple options from a list"Supported integrations"
File UploadDrag-and-drop file attachment"Upload your security certification"

Question weights

Every question has a configurable weight (default: 1). Higher weights mean that question counts more toward the vendor's overall score.

For example, if "Technical approach" has weight 3 and "Timeline" has weight 1, the technical score counts three times as much in the overall evaluation.

Editing an RFP

You can edit an RFP at any time while it's in Draft or Open status:

  • Update the title, description, and due date
  • Add, remove, or reorder sections and questions
  • Change question types and weights
  • Modify answer options for select-type questions
  • Use the AI Prompt Bar to make changes with natural language (1 AI credit per command)

Changes to an open RFP take effect immediately. Vendors who haven't submitted yet will see the updated version.

Publishing

When your RFP is ready, click Publish:

  1. Strutter AI automatically reviews your RFP and shows a quality report with suggestions. You can apply suggestions, dismiss them, or click Publish Anyway to proceed. See AI Self-Review for details.
  2. A celebration confirms your RFP is live
  3. You're prompted to invite vendors right away (search by name, company, or email)
  4. The RFP status changes to Open, and invited vendors receive a secure link by email

Publishing counts toward your plan's quarterly RFP limit. Free plans include 1 RFP per quarter. See billing and plans for details.

RFP status lifecycle

Every RFP follows this lifecycle:

  • Draft. Being edited. Not visible to vendors.
  • Open. Published and accepting vendor responses. You can still edit the RFP.
  • Closed. No more submissions accepted. Can be re-opened to accept more responses.
  • Awarded. A winner has been selected. This is final and cannot be changed.

Closing an RFP

When you're done collecting responses, close the RFP to stop accepting new submissions. You have two options:

  • Close without a winner. Stops submissions but lets you re-open later if needed.
  • Close and award. Select a winning vendor in a single step. See below for details.

Awarding a vendor

Once you've reviewed scores and recommendations, click Close & Award to open the award modal:

  1. Review the list of vendors who submitted responses
  2. Select a winner
  3. Confirm the award

The Awarded status is final. Once a vendor is awarded, the RFP cannot be changed or re-opened. This protects your procurement history and ensures a clear record of the decision.

Deleting an RFP

You can delete RFPs you no longer need:

  1. Open the RFP detail page
  2. Click Delete (look for the delete action in the RFP header)
  3. Confirm the deletion in the dialog

Awarded RFPs cannot be deleted. This protects your procurement records and ensures you always have a history of completed awards.

Next steps

RFP management | Strutter AI