The x in eRFx stands for any request type. An RFI gathers information about the market and its suppliers, an RFP asks for a proposed solution and price, and an RFQ asks for a price against a fixed specification. eRFx software replaces the email chain and shared spreadsheet that many organisations use for these events with one record: the requirement, the invited suppliers, the timeline, the questions, the responses, the scores and the decision.
A typical eRFx event has a clear sequence. The buyer writes the requirement and builds an evaluation model, with pass/fail criteria, weighted qualitative questions and a price or rate sheet. Suppliers are invited, often after a confidentiality step, and answer online in a structured format rather than as free-form attachments. After the deadline, the evaluation team scores the responses, prices are compared on a like-for-like basis, and the award goes for approval.
Good eRFx tools do more than digitise the paperwork. They keep supplier responses comparable, so every price line is a number in the same unit and currency. They keep suppliers from learning who else was invited. They let several evaluators score independently on one model, and they leave an audit trail that shows who changed what and when. Structured responses also make it possible to carry the winner's commitments into the contract and purchase order.
How iProcure handles eRFx
eRFx is iProcure's sourcing module and the most complete part of the platform today. Building an RFI, RFP or RFQ with a clear evaluation model, and publishing it through approval, is live, and supplier blindness is enforced by the product rather than left to memory. The evaluator workspace, with sealed prices and consensus, is shown on sample data, and a supplier self-service portal with an NDA gate is on the roadmap.