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February 20, 2025
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Cracking the RFI Codes: Strategies for Mobility Request-for-Information (RFI) Processes
Understand the strategies and priorities to craft a successful Request for Information.
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What is an RFI?
A Request for Information (RFI) is a document issued by a procurer to gather market insights. The RFI guides the subsequent procurement steps, by showing procurers what’s on the market and at which terms.
Why it matters
By identifying available solutions, procurers can save time, funds, and avoid misunderstandings later on. It helps both procurers and suppliers detect potential risks early, collaborate legally, and decide whether to proceed to a tender.
Recent article from Movability:
When an RFI Is Especially Needed
Stakeholders sometimes skip the RFI phase to expedite procurement. Yet, in cases of high risk, large investment, or incomplete market knowledge, an RFI can prevent expensive missteps later. The RFI is especially crucial for high risk tenders involving new technology, such as new and shared mobility. However, an RFI is not always necessary. An RFI lengthens the overall process. If timelines are tight and the market is already well-understood, a direct tender may suffice.
Related Case Study: During my tenure at TIER I often experienced that especially smaller municipalities had an unrealistic expectation of which regulations they could impose or what sums they could charge while still expecting a viable service. Two even requested operators to collect all vehicles every night, a significant cost factor. Another had an unnecessary low cap on the amount of vehicles permitted. Had these municipalities entered into a market dialogue and validated their suggested policy with a competent third-party, they could’ve had a service running after the first iteration of policy implementation. Instead they had to wait up to several seasons to get an offering due to slow political processes.
Proper Preparation on the procurer side
If the procurer decides to go forward with the RFI, the next step is defining key questions. The questions can range from technical specs and operating models to compatibility with local conditions. Procurers also optimally map risks such as climate factors, infrastructure constraints, and financial viability. Timing is key. RFIs should be conducted well before the need to buy, to incorporate insights without rushing.
For new markets a consulting party can support the procurer in crafting questions that strike the right balance between a) getting enough responses and b) getting the most accurate data.
After helping a client conduct a software tender for a new mobility market, the client and us discovered several things about the market we didn’t know before we tendered. One of the main conclusions was that we could have induced more competition in the market to get more of the functionalities we needed, had we known more of what was lacking through an RFI process.
Using the RFI to Foster Dialogue about potential Tender Requirements
Potential suppliers may know more about certain technologies or business models than procurers, and procurers may know market conditions and expectations from stakeholders better than suppliers. A good RFI invites respondents to suggest enhancements to the procurers requirements. This is also a good way of avoiding the risk of a tender that’s too rigid or vague.
Areas have different trip demand depending on the type of trip. For car-sharing vehicles, high-density residential areas have higher demand while for Micromobility, Bus and Taxi hubs have the most demand. For any tender where the operator needs to be profitable on a trip level you need to know how profitable your city and the different areas are to understand your bargaining power.
The RFI can help both sides establish procurer-supplier fit
Buyers and suppliers alike should optimally be assessing each other to find out if the other party is worth their time. Part of the procurer's discovery should be to find out which supplier can meet their specifications, handle risks, and stay profitable over time. This is particularly important in shared mobility, where several mobility startups have come and gone in the past years. These are also variable factors that might make suppliers opt out if they understand they can’t deliver on the procurer's (potentially unrealistic) demands. We always urge suppliers to ask for meetings with clearly prepared questions to the procurer. Meeting each other can help to create trust to share more on both sides.
After ten years, car-sharing still has business models that haven't proved they can be profitable, such as peer-to-peer and free-floating.
This is where asking each other questions helps the parties to identify fit. Find out if the procurer has an unrealistic budget or expectations. Dig into accounting data and funding information to identify if the supplier is a sustainable enterprise or not.
A third-party validation can be useful for both parties. For the procurer, who might not know how to interpret the supplier’s data, it can be useful to have insights that show underlying facts and nuances behind RFI answers and industry solutions. They can answer questions such as: How viable are the solutions that the supplier is suggesting? Do they have the resources to follow through?
For the supplier, a consultant can help understand if the procurer is a good fit and make a compelling RFI with thoughtful data sharing and questions that show that the supplier has the procurer's best interest at heart. The consultant can also help challenge the procurer’s assumptions and questions.
In public transport scenarios – like introducing electric buses or ferries – RFIs can reveal how charging infrastructure or new operational models affect feasibility.
Mobility RFI question categories
But which things should procurers ask about in Mobility RFIs? Here is a non-exhaustive list of categories for different procurement questions that can inform a procurer’s Mobility RFI:
- Operators and Services: Safety procedures, Sustainability, Solidity, Operating Model, SLAs, Technology, Processes
- Software products: Functionality, Algorithms, Analyses, as well as understanding of underlying Mobility issues and how their solutions apply to them
- Vehicles: Functionality, Lifespan, Certifications, Testing, Spare part and Repair needs during the life-cycle of a vehicle
Conclusion
An RFI can be a powerful tool to establish new public-private partnerships and establish relational fit. Ultimately, the RFI is about discovering and understanding the possibilities – gaining clarity on what’s possible so that any next steps are based on solid industry insight.
Need help in creating or answering your RFI? Get in touch here.
Here is a testimonial from when Movability helped Kolumbus:
