# What are RFPs?

An RFP — a request for proposal, also called a tender — is what a large
organisation issues when it wants proposals from several vendors for the same
piece of work. Vendors respond, and the buyer compares the responses.

RFPs usually arrive as a set of questions to answer, and unlike a security
questionnaire they are rarely confined to security. A single RFP typically mixes:

- **Commercial** questions — pricing, terms, references, company background
- **Technical** questions — what the product does and how it is built
- **Security** questions — much the same ground a security questionnaire covers

## How ResponseHub handles RFPs

ResponseHub handles RFPs natively rather than treating them as questionnaires by
another name. They are a separate section of the app, with their own list, their
own items, and their own answering.

The answering engine is tuned for RFPs specifically: it answers across product,
service, security, privacy, and contractual ground in a professional RFP tone,
rather than the security-focused framing used for questionnaires. Answers are
drawn from your [knowledge base](/knowledge-base/what-is-the-knowledge-base/) and
your [sources](/sources/what-are-sources/), the same material behind every other
answer.

**An RFP is not a questionnaire:** The two are separate objects in ResponseHub and are not interchangeable. An RFP
is a proposal request covering commercial and technical ground as well as
security; a [questionnaire](/questionnaires/what-is-a-questionnaire/) is a set of
security questions from a customer or prospect. Start an RFP in the **RFPs**
section, not by uploading it as a questionnaire.

## Working with an RFP

Beyond starting one, RFPs work in very much the same way as security
questionnaires. Rather than repeat it here, these pages are the maintained
explanations for both:

- [Questionnaire items](/questionnaires/questionnaire-items/) — reviewing,
  editing, approving, and regenerating an individual item
- [Completing a questionnaire](/questionnaires/completing-a-questionnaire/) — exporting your
  answers
- [Updating the knowledge base after a questionnaire](/questionnaires/updating-kb-after-questionnaire/) —
  feeding approved answers back into your knowledge base

## Next steps

- [Start a new RFP](/rfps/start-a-new-rfp/)