Microsoft Unified Support contract

A pre-RFP is an early indicator that a government agency is planning a purchase — a project discussed in a board meeting, a budget line item, a new hire, or a grant award — captured before a formal RFP or bid is published. Acting on pre-RFPs gives SLED and B2G vendors months of lead time to build relationships and shape requirements.

Pre-RFPs typically surface 6–18 months before a formal solicitation is published. Civic IQ tracks City of Columbus's meeting records, agendas, and budgets continuously and updates this pre-RFP as the project moves through the buying cycle toward an RFP.

Vendors who reach out during the planning window can help shape requirements and build relationships with the decision-makers running the project. A free Civic IQ account sends you the pre-RFPs that fit what you sell, with the AI brief and the decision makers for the top matches in each digest.

Civic IQ monitors board meetings, agendas, budgets, and capital plans from 100,000+ state and local agencies and surfaces information technology pre-RFPs in Ohio as soon as they appear — months before they reach bid portals.