A beginner-safe RFP kit for MSP/helpdesk/managed IT vendors—built to force comparability and reduce delivery risk.

Primary outcomes:

• Cost reduction: comparable bids and clearer overage rules
• Risk mitigation: stronger SLAs, security posture clarity, and transition planning
• Carbon impact: not applicable

What you must define (minimum)

• service catalog (what’s in scope)
• SLA expectations (response and resolution targets)
• coverage model (hours, on-site vs remote)
• tooling expectations (ticketing, reporting)
• security/access expectations (if applicable)
• pricing format (mandatory template)

Templates (copy/paste)

1) Service Catalog (what’s in scope)

2) SLA Table (starter)

3) Pricing Template (mandatory)

Base managed service

Projects / T&M

After-hours / on-site

4) Transition Plan Request

Copyable template (TEXT)
Copy
Transition Plan Requirements

- onboarding timeline
- discovery and documentation process
- cutover approach
- risks and mitigations
- reporting cadence and sample reports

5) Evaluation Scorecard

Related resources (guaranteed to exist)

• RFP Creation + Evaluation Playbook (rfp-creation-evaluation-playbook)
• Supplier Consolidation Decision Kit (supplier-consolidation-decision-kit)
• Vendor Requirements Playbook (Data Readiness and Carbon Asks) (vendor-requirements-playbook)
• Vendor Risk Scoring Starter Kit (vendor-risk-scoring-starter-kit)
• IT Hardware + Managed Services Controls Kit (it-hardware-managed-services-controls-kit)

Definition of Done

• vendors respond with comparable pricing and SLAs
• transition risk is evaluated before award
• governance expectations are defined before go-live