An RFP cover letter is the signed letter that sits on top of your response. Many solicitations call it a transmittal letter. It has three jobs. It meets the requirements that keep your bid in the running, it gives the panel one idea to remember, and it shows each evaluator where to go.
Most of the guides you’ll find on this topic come from software companies, and they treat the letter as a short introduction. Our read is that the introduction matters least. The requirements are the part that can sink you, so we’ll start there.
What solicitations ask an RFP cover letter to do
The rules change from one buyer to the next, so start with the document in front of you. Three real examples show how much can ride on one page.
- Howard County Public Schools in Maryland. A 2022 addendum said the transmittal letter had to name the principals, accept the terms and the contract, explain why you’re the most qualified, and be signed by someone legally authorized to bind the company. It also had to state that the offer was valid for 120 days, and a shorter term meant rejection as non-responsive. The same addendum struck the sentence that told bidders to note exceptions in the letter, so anyone working from the old text had the wrong rule.
- The State of Maryland. A 2010 state benefits RFP wanted a brief letter that transmitted the proposal and acknowledged any addenda. Amendment 4 came out the day before proposals were due. It pushed the deadline to the next day and revised that section again. As revised, the letter also had to say where services would be provided from and which version of one attachment the bidder had used.
- Federal solicitations. When a solicitation includes FAR clause 52.215-1, the first page of the proposal has to show the solicitation number, your contact details, how far you agree with the terms, who can negotiate for you, and the name, title and signature of the person authorized to sign. The clause doesn’t say that page has to be a letter, so check the solicitation for the form it wants.
A great approach doesn’t help if the response gets thrown out over a missing line. That’s why we’d write the required parts of the letter first and the persuasive part second.
Treat the letter as a list of requirements
Before anyone drafts a word, read the solicitation for everything it says about the letter, including every attachment and amendment. Then look for these.
| What to look for | What to do about it |
|---|---|
| Who has to sign | Find the person with legal authority now. On a joint bid, each party may need to sign |
| How long the offer stays valid | Copy the number of days exactly, and count from the date the solicitation names |
| Addenda and amendments | List each one by number, and reread the letter after every new one |
| Exceptions to the terms | State them where the solicitation asks for them, and say where the detail sits |
| Required statements | Use the solicitation’s own wording, so a reviewer can tick it off |
| Price | If price belongs in a separate volume, keep every number out of the letter |
| Format and placement | Find out where the letter goes and whether it counts against a page limit |
Give each of those its own row in your compliance matrix, with an owner and a status. Our free RFP compliance matrix is built for that, and our post on the matrix explains how to use it. The letter tends to get written last, by someone in a hurry. A row with a name on it makes that less likely to hurt you.
Say the one thing you want remembered
Once the requirements are covered, you’ve got a few lines left. Spend them on one idea the panel can repeat. Before we write anything in a proposal, we ask what a champion should be able to say in a meeting we’re not in. The same test works here.
Open with the buyer’s problem in the buyer’s words, then give your answer to it. Panels often read several responses back to back, and a letter that names their problem reads very differently from one that opens with “We are pleased to submit.”
Our Pinecount concept, a response to a state parks RFP, opens its letter on the morning the buyer’s reservation system went down, with 140,000 people waiting. Then it says, “You wrote that morning into this RFP, and we built this response around it.” Two more short paragraphs and it’s done.
Show each evaluator where to go
On a formal RFP, the people on the panel often score different sections. Finance may read the cost volume closely and skim the technical approach. The letter is the one page they’re all likely to open, which makes it a good place to point them in the right direction.
In our Bellcord concept, a managed IT response for a group of 74 hotels, the letter is one page addressed to the whole panel. Under it sit five cards, one per evaluator, and each card goes straight to the chapter that person scores. The Pinecount letter does a similar job with an evaluation map, where each published weight points to the page that answers it. A PDF can do the same thing with a short table and page numbers.
The Bellcord letter also states its one exception to the terms, on liability, and says exactly where to find it. We think that’s the right instinct. A reviewer who sees an exception on page one reads it as candor. The same exception found on page 60 reads as something you hoped they’d miss.
A sample RFP cover letter
Here’s a sample you can adapt. Where the solicitation gives you wording, use its wording.
| Part of the letter | Sample wording |
|---|---|
| Reference | Response to RFP [number], [project name]. Submitted [date] to [name and title of the contact in the solicitation]. |
| Greeting | Dear [evaluation panel or named contact], |
| The one idea | [The buyer’s problem, in the words of their RFP.] [Company] will [what you’ll do, in one plain sentence]. |
| How to read it | This response follows your section numbering. The table below shows where each scored factor is answered. |
| Required statements | We acknowledge addenda [numbers]. We accept the terms of the RFP and its contract, with [one] exception, stated in Section [number]. This offer is valid for [number] days from the due date. |
| Contact | [Name, title, email, phone] can answer questions and is authorized to negotiate for us. |
| Signature | [Signature]. [Name, title, company], authorized to bind [company]. |
That comes to well under a page, so the evaluation map fits underneath it.
Who signs it, and when
Find the signer in the first week. A letter that needs the chief executive’s signature on the due date depends on where the chief executive is that day. Confirm the authority early, put the signing on the calendar a few days before submission, and leave room to sign again if an amendment changes the letter. Maryland’s amendment came the day before the deadline, so plan for one like it. If a form in the solicitation also asks for an authorized signer, use the same name on both.
What to leave out
- Your company history. There’s a section for that, and evaluators will find it when they need it.
- A summary of the whole response. That’s the executive summary’s job.
- Promises the response doesn’t back up. The signer is binding the company to what’s in there, so every claim in the letter needs a home further in.
- Comments about other bidders. You can’t know for sure who they are, and it never reads well.
- A long thank you. One line is plenty.
Questions we hear about RFP cover letters
Is an RFP cover letter the same as an executive summary?
They’re separate documents with separate jobs. The letter is the signed page that transmits your response and makes the required statements. The executive summary makes the case for whoever reads only that part. Our post on the proposal executive summary goes deeper.
How long should an RFP cover letter be?
One page, unless the solicitation says otherwise. If the required statements push it past that, keep the statements and cut your own words.
Does the letter get scored?
Look at the evaluation section. If the letter isn’t listed there, treat it as a pass or fail item that every evaluator still sees. If the solicitation asks for something persuasive in it, the way Howard County asked why you’re the most qualified, write that part as carefully as anything else in the response.
What if the RFP doesn’t mention a cover letter?
Include one, as long as the rules allow extra material. Make it the first page of the file so it can’t get separated. If a portal limits what you can upload, follow the portal.
Who should we address it to?
The contact the solicitation names, by name and title. On a formal bid, writing to anyone else can break the rules on communication, so keep it to that person or to the panel as a group.
The short version
An RFP cover letter is one page with three jobs. Meet every requirement the solicitation puts on it, say the one thing you want remembered, and show each evaluator where to go. Get the right person to sign it, and reread it after every amendment.
The letter is one piece of a full RFP response. Our Board build covers every required section, with a compliance matrix, a portal-ready PDF and a live response. For the rest of the job, see how to write an RFP response that makes the shortlist and our RFP response template. If you’re holding an RFP now, send it to us.
