RFx is a generic term used to refer to a ‘Request for’ some document. Most commonly, that document is a proposal, quote or information and in rare cases for the bid, thus the acronyms RFP, RFQ & RFI. These are used by companies to seek information from vendors in order to analyze their solutions and ability to meet the business needs.

e-RFx is one of the most common acronyms in the strategic sourcing and procurement industries. The complexity of the RFx process is then determined by the completeness of the requirements, the number of suppliers that have been qualified, expected competition in the supplier base, inherent risk in the sourcing effort, and projected savings or cost avoidance opportunities.

Each RFx has a primary goal, different from the other RFx types. The primary goal of an RFI is to maximize potential decision points while keeping supplier evaluation costs low. The end goal of an RFP is to determine which suppliers are the most capable of meeting the organizational needs and to identify those suppliers that can actually submit bids. And the final goal of an RFQ is to make the final award decision.