Request for Offer (RFO)
A Request for Offer (RFO) is an open and competitive purchasing process whereby an organization requests the submission of offers in response to specifications and/or a scope of services. An RFO may also include a cost proposal.
The goal of the RFO is to obtain the best value through a competitive process that considers qualitative and quantitative factors in addition to cost. The organization issuing the RFO evaluates responses before negotiating with vendors, awarding a contract or writing a purchase order (PO) for the goods or services. The process is generally the same as the Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
An RFO may also refer to the document that an organization publishes as part of this purchasing process. An RFO document is structured so that potential suppliers know what information the organization needs in order to consider an offer.