A mobile app RFP is the document you use to define scope, ask the right technical and privacy questions, and invite proposals you can compare like for like. Below, we give you a copyable template, a scoring approach and the data protection checkpoints that the ICO expects around DPIAs. We write it as Pocket App, a UK app development team that reads these documents from the supplier side.
TL;DR:
- Publish scoring criteria and response requirements upfront, separate mandatory compliance checks from weighted scores, and apply missing attachment rules consistently.
- Ask bidders to support your DPIA; high risk processing makes one legally required, with possible fines up to £8.7 million or 2% of global turnover.
- Publish quality and price weights, award full price marks to the lowest compliant bid under proportional scoring, and seek explanations for unusually low prices.
- Use one named contact for bidder questions, share each clarification with every supplier at the same time, and keep a dated record of exchanges.
- Require bids to price post launch support, optional features, source code access, and handover separately, so ongoing costs and supplier exit terms are clear.
Table of Contents
- What should a mobile app RFP contain?
- How do you write, issue and manage the RFP process?
- Which technical, security and compliance requirements should you specify?
- How do you score proposals fairly?
- What timeline and pricing should the RFP set out?
- What does a copyable RFP template look like?
- Which pitfalls undermine a mobile app RFP?
- How should you talk to vendors during the RFP?
- Where can you find examples of well-crafted RFPs and templates?
- How do you build scalability and maintenance into the RFP?
- Which legal and contractual terms should the RFP mention?
- What do we look for when we read an RFP response?
- FAQ
- Sources
What should a mobile app RFP contain?
Think of the RFP as a set of practical blocks. Each one answers a question a bidder would otherwise have to guess at, and guesses are what make proposals impossible to compare.
- Organisation overview: who you are, the named procurement contact, any procurement rules that bind you and the existing systems the app must work with.
- Project overview: the business goal, how you will measure success and who the target users are.
- Scope and user journeys: must-have features, nice-to-have features and a plain definition of the minimum viable product.
- Technical requirements: target platforms, required integrations and the APIs you already expose or consume.
- Security and privacy: evidence of data protection by design and support for your DPIA.
- Deliverables and milestones: acceptance criteria, handover steps and the documentation you expect at the end.
- Commercials: the pricing format, plus how VAT and travel should be treated.
- Proposal process: the Q&A route, response format, mandatory attachments and the evaluation criteria.
Pro Tip: Publish your scoring criteria inside the RFP itself. Bidders who know what you weigh write to it, and you get structured answers instead of brochures.
Public sector buyers already work this way. A government contract example pairs detailed delivery requirements with a Statement of Work template that fixes milestones and acceptance criteria, and that structure translates well to private organisations.
How do you write, issue and manage the RFP process?
The writing is the easy part. The process around it decides whether you receive proposals you can actually score. Work through it in this order:
- Run a short internal discovery. Capture what you already know, what you need vendors to propose and which decisions are still open. A focused discussion with the people who will use the app can reduce clarification later.
- Draft from the template sections. Keep the scope prioritised and label each requirement "must" or "should". A flat list of features tells bidders nothing about what matters.
- Publish a timetable. Set dates for RFP issue, the bidder Q&A window, the submission deadline, the evaluation period and any interviews or demos.
- Standardise the response format. Specify the structure of the proposal and the mandatory attachments, so every bidder answers the same questions in the same order.
- Hold a bidder briefing if the project is complex. Record the questions and publish the answers to everyone, which keeps the process fair and defensible.
A few habits keep the process clean once it is live:
- Route every question through one named contact.
- Share every clarification with all bidders at the same time.
- Keep a log of who asked what and when you replied.
Which technical, security and compliance requirements should you specify?
Ask for evidence, not assurances. The ICO says that data protection by design and by default should be built into planning, and that controllers must use processors who give sufficient guarantees of UK GDPR compliance. In an RFP, that means asking each bidder to show how they apply it and how they will support your DPIA.
Build these requests into the technical section:
- An explanation of how the bidder applies data protection by design and by default, and how they will support your DPIA process.
- Evidence of secure coding, encryption in transit and at rest, secure key management and a secured CI/CD pipeline.
- A list of third-party SDKs, the hosting location and the steps taken to minimise data collection.
- Audit evidence such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001, offered as examples of acceptable proof rather than mandatory unless the law requires them for your sector.
- A retention and deletion policy, plus a plan for secure decommissioning when the app reaches end of life.
The stakes are real. The ICO states that a DPIA is a legal requirement for certain processing, and that failing to carry one out when required can lead to enforcement action, including fines of up to £8.7 million or 2% of global annual turnover where applicable.
If you want more depth on what good looks like, our own guides cover mobile app security practices and security considerations for user data.
How do you score proposals fairly?
Decide the scoring method before the first bid arrives. A simple matrix has categories you can adjust to your priorities. This example is illustrative only:
- Quality of approach: covering how well the bidder understands your problem and plans to solve it.
- Technical fit: covering architecture, integrations and security answers.
- Team and experience: covering named people and relevant past work.
- Delivery plan: covering milestones, risks and testing.
- Price: scored according to the published method.
Separate these scored items from pass/fail checks. Mandatory compliance and security items should be a gate: a bid that fails them does not proceed to scoring. Decide in advance how you will treat a missing mandatory attachment, and apply that rule to everyone. Public tenders do this routinely, and one invitation to tender shows structured price matrix uploads, mandatory attachments and pass/fail compliance rules sitting alongside quality scoring.
To reach a final score, add the quality score to the price score. A common method gives the lowest compliant price the full price marks and scales every other bid down in proportion. For an abnormally low bid, ask for a written explanation of how the price is achieved before you decide. Do not reject it automatically, and do not accept it unchallenged.
During evaluation, you will usually want clarification on:
- Assumptions behind the estimates and what each price excludes.
- Which named people will do the work, and for how long.
- How change requests are priced after contract award.
Pro Tip: Have two evaluators score independently before they compare notes. Large gaps between scores point to a vague question in your RFP, not a bad bidder.
What timeline and pricing should the RFP set out?
For a mid-sized app, plan phases for issue and Q&A, bidder preparation, evaluation, and interviews or demos. Give bidders enough time to write something thoughtful, because rushed responses are generic. Then follow this order when you ask for money:
- Ask for a fixed price against the defined scope.
- Ask for day rates for the roles involved, so you can price changes later.
- Request a pricing matrix for optional work, so each extra can be priced separately.
- State whether quotes should be inclusive or exclusive of VAT, travel and expenses.
- Decide whether to state a budget range or invite bidders to propose options at different price points.
If one price looks abnormally low, seek written clarification first, then judge the answer on its merits.
What does a copyable RFP template look like?
Paste this skeleton into a document and adapt each heading to your project. [Remove sentence.]
- Headings: Background, Objectives, Users and journeys, Scope (must/should), Technical requirements, Security and privacy, Deliverables and milestones, Commercials, Response format, Evaluation criteria, Timetable.
- Mandatory attachments: price matrix, named team CVs, data protection and security statement, sample project plan and relevant references.
- Sample questions: How will you support our DPIA? Which third-party SDKs do you expect to use? How do you handle a change in scope after sign-off? What are your support terms after launch?
Which pitfalls undermine a mobile app RFP?
Most failed RFPs share the same few flaws, and they are avoidable.
Vague scope. "A modern, user-friendly app" invites forty different interpretations. Describe the user journeys and the outcomes you need, then let bidders propose how to get there.
Everything marked as a must. When every requirement is mandatory, bidders cannot show judgement about trade-offs, and you cannot tell which ones matter most. Separate must from should from could.
Hidden evaluation logic. If you score on criteria you never published, good bidders feel misled and weaker bidders feel lucky. Show the matrix up front.
Lowest price wins. A cheap bid can reflect a misunderstood brief. Weight quality properly, and ask how the supplier reached the number.
Skipping privacy until contract stage. If you only discuss data protection after award, you lose the chance to filter for vendors who take it seriously. Put it in the RFP and score it.
Too many bidders. Inviting many suppliers can mean more clarifications and a longer evaluation. A carefully chosen group can give you a useful range to compare.
Ignoring what happens after launch. An RFP that stops at go-live leaves support, hosting and updates to chance. Ask for them now.
How should you talk to vendors during the RFP?
Treat communication as part of the evaluation. How a bidder asks questions and responds to clarifications can offer clues about how they may behave during delivery.
Use a single point of contact and a written Q&A window. Share every answer with all bidders, not just the one who asked, so nobody gains an advantage and nobody can claim they were disadvantaged.
For complex briefs, a short bidder briefing helps. Walk through the goals, take questions live and circulate the notes afterwards. Keep the session factual and avoid hinting at preferred answers.
Encourage useful questions. Say clearly that you welcome challenges to your assumptions, because a vendor who spots a flaw in your brief is showing the kind of thinking you want. Stay polite and responsive, since the strongest suppliers have a choice of work and will notice a disorganised buyer.
After the deadline, shortlist bidders and invite selected suppliers to a demo or interview. Give them a scenario from your own context to respond to, so you see how they reason rather than how they present. Tell unsuccessful bidders promptly and offer brief feedback, which protects your reputation for the next procurement.
Where can you find examples of well-crafted RFPs and templates?
Public procurement is the best free library. UK public bodies publish tender documents on Contracts Finder, and many shows how to structure scope, mandatory attachments and scoring in a way that stands up to scrutiny.
The Digital Outcomes and Specialists 5 framework is a useful example of how outcome-based statements of work and supplier standards are set out for digital delivery. Even if you are not buying through a framework, the way it describes outcomes and team onboarding is worth borrowing.
For privacy documentation, the ICO publishes a sample DPIA for a mobile gaming app. It shows how to document data flows and mitigations, and it works as a model for any mobile project, especially one involving children. The ICO's contact tracing recommendations also show how early design choices can limit data collection and avoid location data unless it is strictly necessary.
When you read these documents, look at how requirements are prioritised, how bidders are told to respond and how scoring is explained. Copy the structure, not the wording, and tailor the content to your own users and risks.
If your app needs payments, include requirements for card handling and compliance. Our partners' guide to payment processing compliance requirements is a helpful reference for what to ask about.
How do you build scalability and maintenance into the RFP?
Ask bidders to price the app you will own for years, not just the one that launches. Several sections of the RFP do most of the work.
Scalability. State your expected growth in users and data in plain terms, even as a range, and ask each bidder how their architecture copes if demand doubles. You are looking for named approaches, such as stateless services or managed hosting that scales, not reassurance.
Maintenance and support. Ask for a post-launch support offer: response times, who fixes defects, how security patches are applied and how operating system updates are handled. Both major mobile platforms change regularly, and an unmaintained app drifts out of compatibility.
Ownership and handover. Require clear documentation, source code access and an exit plan so you are not locked into one supplier. Ask for continuous deployment practices where relevant, since they make fixes faster, as we explain in our piece on continuous deployment and app success.
Ask for a separate price for ongoing support and for optional future features. Splitting these from the build price lets you compare suppliers fairly and plan your budget beyond launch. Our pre-launch checklist is a good prompt for acceptance criteria.
Which legal and contractual terms should the RFP mention?
You do not need to paste a full contract into the RFP, but you should signal the terms that matter so bidders can price the risk. Ask your legal team to confirm the final wording, since terms depend on your sector.
Typical references include:
- Intellectual property: who owns the code, designs and documentation on delivery, and what happens to bidder tools and pre-existing components.
- Data protection: the controller and processor roles, a data processing agreement and the bidder's duty to support your DPIA. The ICO expects processors to give sufficient guarantees of compliance.
- Confidentiality: non-disclosure obligations for both the RFP stage and delivery.
- Acceptance and payment: how acceptance criteria link to milestone payments, and what happens if a milestone is missed.
- Liability and insurance: the levels of cover you expect.
- Termination and exit: your rights to end the contract and the handover support that follows.
- Subcontracting: whether bidders may use third parties, and your right to approve them.
State clearly that submitting a proposal is not a commitment to award, and that you reserve the right to amend or cancel the procurement. Explain how conflicts of interest must be declared.
Keep the tone proportionate. Overly aggressive terms put off good suppliers, and your legal team can negotiate details once you have a preferred bidder.
What do we look for when we read an RFP response?
We read these documents from the supplier side, so here is how we would read bids if we were in your chair. Credible technical detail is specific. A strong answer names the architecture, explains why it fits your constraints and says what it would cost you in trade-offs. A weak one lists technologies and promises quality.
We also favour an early discovery phase or prototype. A short discovery tests your assumptions before you commit to a full build, and it lowers delivery risk far more than a lower day rate does. Ask bidders to price it as a separate stage, and look at how the best ones describe their discovery, design, development and deployment process.
When two proposals look similar, favour the one with the detailed approach and evidence of process over the cheapest bid. The cheapest number is often the one that has not read your brief closely.
— Paul
FAQ
What is a mobile app RFP?
A mobile app RFP is a document that describes your project and invites development companies to propose how they would deliver it. It sets out scope, requirements, timetable and evaluation criteria so that responses can be compared fairly.
What should I include in an RFP for mobile app development?
Include your organisation and project overview, prioritised scope, technical and security requirements, deliverables, pricing format and the evaluation criteria. The ICO also expects data protection by design to be considered from planning, so ask bidders to show how they apply it.
How long does the mobile app RFP process take?
For a mid-sized app, allow time for issue, a bidder Q&A window, proposal preparation, evaluation and demos. The exact duration depends on complexity, so publish a clear timetable and keep to it.
Do I need a DPIA before issuing the RFP?
Not always, but you should decide early whether your app needs one. Where processing is likely to be high risk, the ICO treats a DPIA as a legal requirement, so ask bidders to support the process in their proposals.