By Shehab Waleed, Founder, Cairo Studio 3 min read
Cairo Studio answers requests for proposals from companies in Saudi Arabia and the region. The best ones are short and specific. The worst ones ask for everything, say nothing about content or languages, and get back quotes that cannot be compared. This is what we would put in a website redesign RFP if we were on the other side.
What to include
Background and goals
Who you are, who the website is for, and what should change after the redesign. Three priority audiences are more useful than a list of ten.
Scope
Say whether you want a visual refresh or a full rebrand, a redesign on the current platform or a rebuild, and which pages or sections exist today. Link the current site.
Languages and content
Name every language and say who writes the copy. Content written in Arabic and English by the agency is a large part of the price, so leaving it unclear makes quotes impossible to compare. We explain why Arabic should be written, not translated, in Arabic Is Not a Translation.
Platform, hosting and integrations
Say whether the current hosting stays, whether a specific CMS is required, and which systems must connect: CRM, email, booking or payments. If none, say so.
Timeline, budget and scoring
Give the deadline and how fast your team can review work. Give a budget range. Explain how proposals will be scored, for example the weight of the technical offer against the financial one.
Run the questions round in writing
Agencies will have questions. Collect them by a fixed date and answer them in one written appendix sent to every bidder. It is fair, it saves meetings, and the answers become part of the scope.
What to ask agencies to send
- An understanding of the brief in their own words.
- A proposed approach and page structure.
- A dated timeline with review points.
- The team who will work on it.
- Three relevant projects and contactable references.
- A fixed fee split by workstream, with payment milestones and what is excluded.
If you are choosing between proposals, our checklist in How to Choose a Web Development Company in Egypt applies to RFP responses too.
