Made by the US Census and modified by myself ... A request for proposal (RFP) is a solicitation made, often through a bidding process, by an agency or company interested in procurement of a commodity, service or valuable asset, to potential suppliers to submit business proposals. It is submitted early in the procurement cycle, either at the preliminary study, or procurement stage. The RFP presen...
An invitation for providers of a product or service to bid on the right to supply that product or service to an individual or on behalf of the entity that issued the RFP. 
A document a company requests from vendors to get an overview of offerings and costs for a specific service.
(RFP) A document which provides information concerning needs and requirements for a manufacturer. This document is created in order to solicit proposals from potential suppliers. For example, a computer manufacturer may use an RFP to solicit proposals from suppliers of third party logistics services.