Four abbreviations, four different questions, four different deadlines. The median RFQ on our board closes in 7 days; the median RFP gives 20. What each notice wants back, and what puts a response out before anyone reads it.
The four abbreviations arrive in the same inbox, often from the same buyer, and get treated as though they meant roughly the same thing. They do not. Each one asks a different question, wants a different document back, and is judged by a different rule. The gap shows up in the calendar as well. Across the 107 Somalia tender notices on FursadLink where the buying agency publishes the notice type itself, the median RFQ closes 7 days after it opens. The median RFP gives 20. That is not a difference of vocabulary. It decides whether your paperwork has to exist before the notice appears.
The four side by side
| Notice | The buyer is asking | What you send back | Decided mainly on |
|---|---|---|---|
| EOI | Who out there can do this work? | A capability statement with company evidence | Whether you are invited to the next stage |
| RFQ | What is your price for this exact thing? | Prices against a fixed specification | Price, among the quotes that comply |
| RFP | How would you do this, and at what cost? | A technical proposal and a separate financial one | Technical quality first, then cost |
| ITB | Will you bid to supply this to our specification? | A sealed bid on the buyer's own forms | Compliance, then lowest evaluated price |
An EOI is not a bid
This is the misreading that costs the most work. An expression of interest, written EOI or REOI, asks who is out there. You are not competing for the contract at this stage. You are competing to be on the list that gets invited to the stage where the contract is decided. So the answer is short. It is your legal registration, the similar work you have done, the people you would put on it, and a statement of what you can deliver. Sending a full technical proposal is wasted effort, and where the notice sets a page limit it can put you out. One quirk worth knowing: a Request for Information asks a similar question in a similar format, so procurement platforms often file RFIs alongside expressions of interest. We do the same, which means a notice tagged EOI here is occasionally an RFI. The notice title tells you which.
An RFQ is a price competition on something already decided
By the time an RFQ is published, the buyer knows what they want. The specification is fixed and the only open question is what you charge for it. On our board these are mostly goods and defined works: borehole drilling in Galmudug and Jubbaland, supply and installation of CCTV and access control for UNDP, delivery of protective equipment. The specification does the describing, so the response is short. Short does not mean forgiving. The usual failure is an incomplete quote: a line item left blank, a delivery term not stated, a validity period missing. A quote that cannot be compared line for line with the others is normally set aside rather than marked down, so it never reaches the comparison it would have won.
An RFP pays for method
An RFP describes a problem instead of a part number, and asks you to propose how to solve it. The response comes in two parts, technical and financial, submitted separately. The order matters more than most first-time bidders expect. Two-envelope evaluation is the norm in this market: the technical proposal is scored first, and in many UN and World Bank processes the financial envelope is opened only for bidders who clear a technical threshold. A price that is never opened cannot win, which is why undercutting the field does not rescue a thin method. The RFPs on our board reflect that. They are consultancy and services work: regional learning systems, ICT advisory and research, long-term agreements for essential medicines, audience and market insight. The buyer is paying for judgement, and the proposal has to show it.
An ITB is the strictest of the four
An invitation to bid, sometimes written IFB or request for bids, is the formal end of the range. Bids are sealed, opened at a stated time, and checked for compliance before price is considered at all. Many require a bid security. There is usually no negotiation afterwards, and often no opportunity to correct anything. That makes the failure mode different from the others. An ITB is rarely lost on price. It is lost on an unsigned form, a document submitted in the wrong format, a bid security of the wrong value, or a submission that arrived after the stated minute.
How much time each one gives you
We measured the response window on the 107 published Somalia notices where the buying agency states the type, counting the days between publication and closing. All 107 carried both dates.
| Notice type | Notices measured | Median window | Middle half | Closed within 14 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RFQ | 17 | 7 days | 6 to 10 days | 15 of 17 |
| Tender, including ITBs | 26 | 11 days | 6 to 17 days | 18 of 26 |
| EOI | 31 | 20 days | 12 to 28 days | 9 of 31 |
| RFP | 33 | 20 days | 14 to 32 days | 8 of 33 |
The shortest RFQ gave 5 days and the longest gave 19, so there is no such thing as a slow RFQ here. At the other end, no EOI in the set closed inside a week. Two honest caveats. These are the notices we can discover, drawn from official platforms, so anything advertised only in a local newspaper or on a ministry noticeboard is missing. And single buyers dominate individual columns: 23 of the 31 expressions of interest came from the UN Secretariat, and 16 of the 33 RFPs from UNICEF. Read the table as a description of what has crossed this board, not as a rule the whole market follows.
What this changes about how you prepare
If half the RFQs in this market close within a week, no amount of care taken after the notice appears will save you. The work has to be done in advance, once, and reused.
Assemble before you need it
- Company registration, tax registration and any sector licence, scanned and current.
- Audited or certified accounts for the years a buyer is likely to ask for.
- Evidence of similar contracts delivered: what, for whom, when, at what value.
- CVs for the people you would actually assign, kept short and kept updated.
- Two or three referees who know they are listed and will answer quickly.
- Registration on the platforms your buyers use, completed before a deadline depends on it.
Then read every notice for four things
- Which of the four it is, because that tells you what document to send.
- The closing date and time, including the time zone stated in the notice.
- The submission channel, which is often a portal rather than an email address.
- The mandatory requirements, which are the ones that eliminate rather than score.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an EOI and an RFP?
An EOI asks who is capable of doing the work and is used to build a shortlist. An RFP asks how you would do it and at what price, and is the stage where the contract is decided. You answer an EOI with company evidence and past work, and an RFP with a technical proposal and a separate financial one.
Do I need to include prices in an expression of interest?
Usually not. An EOI is a qualification step, and most ask for capability rather than cost. Some ask for an indicative budget. The notice says which, and its instructions override any general rule.
What is the difference between an RFQ and an ITB?
Both end in a price comparison, but an RFQ is the lighter process, used for lower-value or straightforward purchases, and is often returned by email. An ITB is formal: sealed bids on the buyer's own forms, opened at a stated time, frequently with a bid security, and with compliance checked before any price is considered.
Why do RFQs give so little time?
The specification is already settled, so the buyer expects a supplier who stocks or performs the item to be able to price it quickly. Of the 17 RFQs we measured on Somalia notices, 8 closed within a week and the longest gave 19 days.
Can a low price win an RFP?
Not on its own. Two-envelope evaluation is normal here, and in many UN and World Bank processes the financial envelope is opened only for bidders who clear a technical threshold. A price that is never opened cannot win.
Where do I find invitations to bid on FursadLink?
Under the Tender type on the tenders page. The Type filter offers RFP, RFQ, EOI and Tender, and invitations to bid are grouped under Tender, which is also where notices go when their source does not publish a type we recognise.
Key takeaways
- An EOI decides who gets invited, not who wins. Send capability evidence, and no price unless the notice asks for one.
- An RFQ is priced against a fixed specification. An incomplete quote is set aside rather than scored down.
- An RFP is won on method before money. In many UN and World Bank processes the financial envelope is opened only for bidders who pass the technical threshold.
- An ITB is checked for compliance first. An unsigned form or a late submission ends it whatever the price inside.
- Of the 17 RFQs we measured, 15 closed within 14 days and the longest gave 19. Your registration, tax and licence documents have to be assembled before the notice appears.
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