Last updated: May 2026
A strong website RFP clearly states your goals, budget range, timeline, and what success looks like, giving agencies everything they need to respond with comparable, useful proposals. A weak one wastes everyone's time and lands you with a partner you don't actually want. We see dozens of website RFPs come through Major Tom every year. The ones that get high-quality agency replies share a handful of traits: they're specific, honest about constraints, focused on outcomes, and short enough to actually be read. Here's what to include in your website RFP, and the questions every good agency wishes you'd answer up front.
What to include in your website RFP:
There's no perfect way to construct an RFP for a website project, but anyone who's read a stack of them can spot an unclear one in 30 seconds. At Major Tom, we read a lot of them. Some are sharp, some are vague, and a small handful arrive with so little context that we have to write back with five questions before we can scope anything. The good news: writing a website RFP isn't about being a web expert. It's about being clear, honest, and specific enough that the agencies you invite can actually compete on the same terms.
A request for proposal (RFP) is a structured document a buyer sends to potential vendors describing a project and asking for a written response. For web projects, an RFP typically covers your business context, the problems you're trying to solve, functional and technical requirements, content scope, timeline, budget, and selection criteria.
The benefit isn't paperwork for its own sake. An RFP forces you to articulate what you actually want before you start hearing pitches. It gives every agency you contact the same brief, which means the proposals you get back are comparable instead of a grab bag of formats and assumptions. And it filters out agencies who can't or won't do the work to respond seriously, which is itself a useful signal.
Even if you don't want to run a formal procurement process, drafting the document is a forcing function. We've watched marketing leads sketch out an RFP just for internal clarity, then walk into agency calls with sharper questions and far better outcomes. The work isn't wasted.
The pattern we see across the best briefs is simple. They answer the questions an agency would otherwise have to ask. Here's the shortlist, in roughly the order they should appear in your document.
This is the single most useful section, and the one most often missing. Don't just say "our current site is outdated." Be specific about what's broken:
Listing the actual pain points gives agencies a clear problem to solve and lets the strongest responders propose something targeted instead of a generic redesign.
"A nicer-looking site" isn't a goal. "Increase qualified lead form submissions by 30% within six months of launch" is. Tie your goals to specific business outcomes: lead generation, conversion rate, organic traffic, average order value, customer support deflection, sales-cycle time. The more concrete you are, the better the proposals you'll get back. Agencies that know how to deliver against measurable goals will lean in. Agencies that quietly avoid accountability for outcomes will self-select out.
The single biggest reason RFPs produce mismatched proposals is hidden or vague budgets. Sharing a budget range isn't giving away leverage. It's letting agencies scope the right project. A $40K marketing site and a $400K headless rebuild are different worlds, and an agency that doesn't know which one you can afford will guess and probably guess wrong.
Same goes for timeline. If you have a real constraint (an event, a fiscal year, a contract expiry), say so and explain why. Arbitrary deadlines force agencies to either cut scope, throw bodies at the problem, or politely decline. Reasonable, justified deadlines get reasonable, justified proposals. And remember: faster isn't always better. If you need a phased launch to hit a date, signal that you're open to it.
Cover the basics:
how many templates and pages
expected traffic, hosting preferences
CMS preferences (or openness on platform)
required integrations (CRM, marketing automation, ERP, PIM, payment gateways)
and any non-negotiable security or compliance requirements (HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI, public-sector accessibility rules).
If you don't know yet, say so. "Open to recommendations on CMS" is more useful than silence.
This is one of the most common gaps we see. Accessibility expectations should appear in your RFP as a clear commitment, ideally to WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, and you should ask agencies to describe their accessibility process. With 3,117 federal ADA website accessibility lawsuits filed in 2025 and the DOJ's Title II final rule now in force for state and local governments, getting this wrong is expensive. If you're not sure what to ask for, our overview of 5 things you need to know about web accessibility covers the basics, and our practitioner companion piece on accessible web development goes deeper on implementation.
Will the agency write new copy, refresh existing copy, or migrate what you have as-is? Who's responsible for image, video, and product asset production? How much old content needs to come across, and in what shape is it? Content is the single most common scope creep on web projects, and being clear about ownership in the RFP saves a difficult conversation in week six.
Share your scoring criteria and rough weighting: price, relevant experience, proposed approach, team, references, cultural fit. Tell respondents who the decision-makers are and what the process looks like. The agencies who take your RFP seriously will tune their response to your criteria. The ones who don't won't bother, which again is a useful signal. Once proposals are in, our companion guide to assessing website proposals walks through how to compare them like-for-like.
Reading dozens of RFPs a year, we notice the same friction points come up. A few worth avoiding:
For more on the patterns that derail web projects after the contract is signed, our piece on the 3 classic mistakes in web development projects is worth a read.
Shorter than you think. The strongest briefs we receive are typically 6 to 15 pages. Long enough to give context, short enough that an account director will actually read the whole thing before assigning it to a strategist. A 40-page document with appendices is rarely better than a 10-page document with sharper questions. If you find yourself padding to look thorough, cut.
Three to five is the sweet spot. Fewer than three and you don't get useful comparison. More than five and you're either making every agency do a lot of work for low odds (which means the best ones won't bother), or you're going to spend more time managing the process than improving your outcome. Invite the agencies whose work and approach genuinely match what you're trying to do, and skip the rest. A focused shortlist signals seriousness and tends to produce more thoughtful proposals.
When the brief is clear, the responses get better. We find clients are surprised by how much more useful the proposals become once they share budget, timeline rationale, and specific pain points. The best replies you'll get back will demonstrate understanding of your business (not just your industry), propose an approach with named milestones and deliverables, identify the actual team who'll do the work, and reference comparable projects with real outcomes — not just logos on a slide. If you're getting back generic decks with stock language, the issue is usually upstream in the brief, not the agency.
A clear website RFP doesn't guarantee a great project, but a vague one almost guarantees a frustrating one. If you're scoping a new site and want to talk through your approach before you send anything out, we can help you find clarity in the chaos. Take a look at our web design and development services, or if you've already got proposals in hand, head over to our guide on assessing website proposals for the next step. For more on what separates a strong web partner from a mediocre one, our piece on what makes a website industry-leading is a good companion read.
At minimum, a website RFP should include your business context, the reasons you're commissioning the project, specific goals and success metrics, functional and technical requirements, content scope, accessibility expectations, integrations, hosting preferences, a budget range, a realistic timeline with the reasons behind it, the selection process, and any non-negotiable compliance requirements. The clearer each section, the more comparable and useful the agency responses will be when proposals come back.
Most of the best website RFPs we receive are between 6 and 15 pages. The goal is to give agencies enough context to scope intelligently without forcing them to wade through padding. If your document is over 30 pages and most of it is legal annexes or boilerplate, expect a less thoughtful response. Cut what doesn't add value and keep the brief focused on the project, the goals, and the constraints.
Yes, at least a range. Hidden budgets are the single biggest reason RFPs produce mismatched proposals. A $40K brochure site and a $150K eCommerce build are different projects, and an agency that doesn't know which one you can afford will guess. Sharing a range doesn't weaken your negotiating position; it lets serious agencies scope the right project and lets others self-select out before wasting your time.
Three to five is the sweet spot. Fewer than three and you don't get meaningful comparison. More than five and you're either spreading the work across too many bidders (the best ones will skip a low-odds opportunity) or you're going to spend more time managing the process than improving the outcome. Build a focused shortlist of agencies whose work genuinely matches your needs and invite those.
An RFP (request for proposal) asks agencies to describe their approach, team, and methodology alongside pricing. It's used when you want strategic input and aren't fully sure what the solution looks like. An RFQ (request for quotation) is narrower; you've defined the work in detail and want pricing only. Most website projects are better suited to an RFP because the approach itself is part of what you're buying.
Score against the criteria you published in the RFP, weighted by what matters most to your project. Common dimensions include relevant experience, proposed approach, team composition, references, cultural fit, and total cost. Don't decide on price alone; the cheapest proposal often reflects the least understanding of the brief. Our companion guide to assessing website proposals walks through how to compare responses like-for-like and avoid the most common evaluation mistakes.
Most agencies need two to four weeks to put together a serious response, depending on the size and complexity of the project. Anything under two weeks usually produces shallow proposals; anything over six weeks risks losing momentum. Give a reasonable window, communicate any check-in calls or Q&A deadlines clearly, and stick to the timeline you publish. Agencies respect briefs that respect their time.