A request for association (RFA) or request for collaboration, also called, though less frequently (see below) request for partnership, request for partner or request for alliance, is a commercial document issued by a party which invites association with another party. Kate Vitasek ''et al.'' refer to a "request for partner" or "request for collaboration" as part of a continuum of RfX approaches in a paper called "Unpacking Collaborative Bidding" published in 2016. "RfX" is a collective term for business invitation processes such as a request for information (RFI), request for proposal (RFP), or

request for quotation A request for quotation (RfQ) is a business process in which a company or public entity requests a quote from a supplier for the purchase of specific products or services. RfQ generally means the same thing as Call for bids (CfB) and Invitatio ...

(RFQ). The request for association may be specific, with the addressee stated within, or unspecific, open to anyone interested in association.

Characteristics

The proposed association usually has a commercial business purpose (for example, for a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

or for use in the

voluntary sector The voluntary sector, independent sector, or civic sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by organizations that are non-governmental nonprofit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector, community sector, and nonprofit ...

). Instead of describing in detail the specifications of a product (as a

does), a RFA focuses on the mutual benefits that both parties would obtain from their alliance: "...engages the potential sponsor in thinking about how your project could help his or her own larger goals". One of the parties may provide ideas, experience or raw materials, whilst the other one may provide money, machines or workers.

References

{{Procurement requests Procurement Business terms

Characteristics

See also

References