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Practitioner’s Perspective: The Value of Industry Days & Forms-Based RFIs

Tools to Support Industry Engagement: The Power of Industry Days and Forms-Based RFIs in Federal Procurement

The resources in the Practitioner Album for this (and future) FAR deviations are intended to support you, our federal acquisition workforce, as you operationalize the new FAR deviations in your daily practice. The album’s smart accelerators highlight eight powerful tools and resources that some of our best practitioners use to promote effective engagement between government and industry. This engagement is essential to achieving mission success and advancing  the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul’s (RFO) guiding principles of meritocracy, taxpayer value, time efficiency, and mission-first mindset.

We encourage you to take full advantage of the accelerators as you use the new FAR deviations in your daily practice and also consider two more powerful market research tools that align with the accelerators: industry days and targeted, forms-based Requests for Information (RFIs).

Maximizing Value Through Mutual Understanding

Industry days and requests for information are tools that support improved understanding of the marketplace. But they are not meant to replace informal learning conversations between government and industry. Rather, they should complement the conversations members of the acquisition team have with industry during market research, especially when the acquisition team is responsible for requirements which may be more nuanced, challenging, or critical to the agency’s mission.

Industry days serve as vital forums where federal agencies can clearly communicate their acquisition priorities and mission challenges to potential partners. This transparency helps industry better understand government needs, enabling them to propose relevant, innovative solutions rather than generic offerings. When agencies take time, at the right time, to explain their mission context and constraints, they receive more tailored responses that deliver superior value to taxpayers.

Similarly, well-crafted RFIs allow agencies to gather critical market intelligence before finalizing acquisition strategies. By understanding what solutions exist in the marketplace, agencies can avoid developing requirements that are either unnecessarily restrictive or technically infeasible.

Embracing Forms-Based RFIs for Efficiency

Traditional email-based RFIs often generate inconsistent responses that burden acquisition teams with extensive analysis and interpretation. By contrast, electronic forms-based RFIs standardize information collection in ways that dramatically reduce administrative workload. With structured data fields, contracting officers can:

• Quickly compare capabilities across potential vendors
• Identify solution patterns and market trends
• Focus analysis on substantive differences rather than formatting variations
• Make data-driven decisions about requirement feasibility

This approach honors the RFO principle of valuing time—both for government acquisition professionals and industry partners.

Reducing Industry Burden Through Targeted Questions

A common mistake in federal market research is treating RFIs like draft solicitations, asking for proposal-level detail that imposes unnecessary costs on industry. By instead focusing on specific, targeted questions about capabilities and approaches, and specific to the marketplace, agencies reduce the resource burden on potential partners.

This targeted approach recognizes that every hour industry spends on overly complex RFIs is ultimately reflected in higher costs to the government. By respecting industry’s time and focusing only on essential information, agencies create a win-win scenario that supports the time and taxpayer value principles at the heart of the RFO.

Aligning with Mission-First Mindset

Perhaps most importantly, effective industry days and targeted RFIs embody the RFO’s mission-first mindset. By investing time upfront to understand market capabilities, agencies can develop acquisition strategies that truly advance their missions rather than simply complying with procedural requirements.

When government and industry communicate clearly about challenges and capabilities early in the acquisition lifecycle, they create the foundation for partnerships that deliver meaningful mission impact and optimal value to American taxpayers.

Share your best practice for engaging industry

We hope you will take full advantage of the RFO to share your best practices and success stories.  If there are market research techniques or tools you have used to promote effective communication and engagement with industry partners with impactful outcomes, please share with us by sending them to SAGTesting@gsa.gov.