RFP Response Template

What is an RFP response template?

An RFP response template is a structured document that organises and standardises the content teams use to answer requests for proposals. It defines the sections, formatting, and reusable content blocks that make every submission complete, consistent, and aligned with the prospect’s requirements.

RFP responses are high-stakes documents assembled under pressure. When each response is built from scratch, teams waste hours rewriting company overviews, searching for compliance answers, and reformatting case studies. Worse, inconsistencies creep in — different deals get different capability claims, outdated references appear, and formatting varies by author. A structured template eliminates this rework by creating a library of approved, reusable response sections that teams assemble rather than reinvent.

Who should use this template?

This template is for teams involved in the proposal process:

• Bid Managers — coordinate cross-functional responses and ensure every section meets the prospect’s requirements and submission deadlines
• Sales Directors — maintain a library of approved response content so reps submit consistent, accurate proposals
• Presales Consultants — contribute technical and solution sections with standardised formatting and current product information
• Proposal Writers — assemble responses from reusable content blocks, customising only the sections that require prospect-specific detail

What’s included in this template?

The template has two parts: structured metadata fields and the response body.

Metadata fields classify each response:

• RFP title, issuing organisation, and reference number
• Response owner and submission deadline
• Deal value and probability
• Response status (drafting, internal review, submitted, awarded, lost)

Response body structures the proposal:

• Executive summary — tailored overview of your solution and its fit with the prospect’s stated requirements
• Company overview — standard company description, history, certifications, and market position
• Solution description — how your product or service addresses each requirement, with feature mapping
• Compliance matrix — requirement-by-requirement responses (compliant, partially compliant, non-compliant) with explanations
• Implementation approach — project timeline, methodology, team structure, and key milestones
• References and case studies — relevant customer examples with outcomes and contact details

How to create and customise this template in Elium

1. Open the Template Builder — Go to your profile menu and select the Template Builder tab, or click “+ Create” and choose “Create a new template”.
2. Set the scope — Choose an icon, enable the template, and decide whether it applies platform-wide or to specific spaces (e.g. Sales Proposals or Bid Management).
3. Add structured fields — Click “Field” to add metadata: text fields for RFP title, issuing organisation, and reference number, a user field for response owner, a date field for submission deadline, a number field for deal value, and a tag field for status (pre-populate with “Drafting”, “Internal Review”, “Submitted”, “Awarded”, “Lost”). Mark RFP title, response owner, and deadline as mandatory.
4. Build the response structure — Use the “+” button to add content blocks: text blocks for executive summary, company overview, and solution description, a table block for the compliance matrix (columns: requirement ID, requirement, response, status, notes), a text block for implementation approach with timeline, and a text block for references and case studies.
5. Preview and save — Review the template layout, then save. Bid teams can now select it when starting a new proposal, and you can apply it to existing content in bulk.

How AI helps you create and use this template

Capture faster. Paste the prospect’s RFP document into Elium’s AI. It identifies the key requirements, maps them to your existing compliance answers, and pre-populates the response template — so the bid team customises proven answers rather than starting from scratch.

Retrieve smarter. A presales consultant asks Elium’s AI: “How did we answer the data residency requirement for the Belgian government RFP last quarter?” The AI returns the specific compliance answer with supporting documentation — so the team reuses approved language rather than rewriting.

Why teams use Elium for RFP responses

RFP responses are built from organisational knowledge — product capabilities, compliance certifications, implementation methodologies, and customer references. When this knowledge is scattered across personal drives, old proposals, and email threads, every new RFP triggers a scramble. Teams duplicate effort, miss deadlines, and submit inconsistent answers. Elium makes RFP responses faster and more reliable: structured templates ensure every submission covers the required ground, search lets teams find and reuse approved answers from previous responses, and version control ensures the content is current.