A digital signage RFP template is a ready-made request for proposal you fill in with your locations, screens and requirements, then send to three to five vendors. This one has ten sections, a requirements table to paste into a spreadsheet, a pricing table that makes quotes comparable, and a 100-point scoring method.
Delete the rows you do not need. For under about 20 screens, use the requirements table as a checklist and run trials with two or three vendors instead.
What are the ten sections?
- About your organization
- Project scope and goals
- Instructions to vendors
- Vendor profile and stability
- Functional requirements
- Technical and security requirements
- Implementation and pilot
- Support
- Pricing
- Contract and exit
What do sections 1 to 3 say?
Fill in the brackets.
- About us: We are [organization type] with [number] locations in [regions]. We plan [number] screens now and [number] within [time]. The screens go in [storefronts, break rooms, menu boards]. [Number] people will change content, [number] at head office. Today we use [system or "none"], and the problem is [for example, "some screens show old content"].
- Scope and goals: The main goal is [for example, "every location shows the current promotion on the day it starts"]. We measure success by [for example, "no screen shows expired content for more than a day"]. In scope: [software, players, installation, training]. Out of scope: [for example, the TVs].
- Instructions: Send written questions to [name, email] by [date]. We share every answer with every vendor. Send your response by [date, time zone] as one PDF plus the completed requirements spreadsheet. Answer every row: a blank counts as "No". Shortlisted vendors demo on [dates] using our scenarios.
What should you ask about the vendor?
Ask every vendor:
- How long have you sold digital signage software?
- Who owns the company, and did that change in the last three years?
- What happens to our screens and content if you close or are bought?
- How many customers run more than [your screen count] screens?
- Give three references of similar size that we can call.
- Who is our single point of contact after the sale? Can we see our open support tickets, and do you hold regular account reviews with roadmap visibility?
What are the functional requirements?
Give each row an ID and a priority. Vendors answer Yes, Partly, No or Roadmap, with one line of explanation. Keep Must rows to about a third of the list. A "No" on a Must removes the vendor.
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | One login controls the screens at every location. | Must |
| F2 | A person at a location sees and changes only that location's screens. | Must |
| F3 | Head office can lock parts of a design and let locations change the text. | Should |
| F4 | New content can wait for a named person to approve it. | Should |
| F5 | Content can play at set times and dates. | Must |
| F6 | Content has start and end dates and removes itself. | Must |
| F7 | One action puts an urgent message on every screen or a chosen group. | Must |
| F8 | The same screen position in every store can be changed in one step. | Should |
| F9 | Screens can show spreadsheet or live-feed data. | Could |
| F10 | Staff can see what a screen shows right now. | Should |
| F11 | Named people get an email when a screen goes offline. | Must |
| F12 | Screens keep playing when the internet drops. | Must |
| F13 | The system reports and exports what played, where and when. | Should |
| F14 | The system records who changed what, and when. | Should |
| F15 | Screens turn the TV off outside opening hours. | Could |
| F16 | Staff can make changes from a phone browser. | Could |
Add site and hardware rows if the vendor also supplies screens or installs:
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| H1 | Screen size, orientation (landscape or portrait) and brightness for each position, for example 700 nits or more behind a window. | Must |
| H2 | The player works with ordinary TVs and commercial displays, and is not tied to one software vendor. | Should |
| H3 | Wired Ethernet is possible where Wi-Fi is weak. | Should |
| H4 | The installer quotes per screen, including mount, cable and any new power outlet. | Must |
| H5 | A spare player can be swapped in by site staff without a visit. | Should |
What technical and security questions should IT ask?
Let IT own this section, and ask open questions.
| ID | Question |
|---|---|
| T1 | Which players does the software run on? Is any tied to your software only? |
| T2 | What network access does a player need (ports, domains, proxy, bandwidth)? |
| T3 | How do players update, and can we control when? |
| T4 | Which identity providers and sign-on standards do you support for SSO, and on which plan? |
| T5 | Can we require two-factor sign-in for every user? |
| T6 | Can user access follow our identity provider's HR data? |
| T7 | How is data encrypted in transit and at rest? |
| T8 | Where is our data stored? Can we choose? |
| T9 | Which independent security assessments have you completed? |
| T10 | Is there an API, and how are keys scoped? |
Add T11: "Is our data used to train AI models for anyone else?" if the product has AI features. For every question and what a good answer looks like, see the digital signage security questionnaire guide and our single sign-on buyer's guide.
What about implementation, pilot and support?
- Describe the plan from contract to [number] live screens, with time per step. Who installs the players? How does content move from our current system?
- Propose a pilot of [number] screens at [number] locations for [number] weeks. It passes if [for example, "a store manager changes the menu board without help" and "an offline screen raises an alert"].
- Which support hours, channels and response times apply to our plan? Where is the support team based?
What goes in the pricing table?
Ask each vendor to fill in the same table for your screen count:
| Cost line | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software, per screen per month | |||
| Billing cycle | |||
| Player hardware, per screen | |||
| Installation and setup | |||
| Onboarding and training | |||
| Support plan | |||
| Add-on features (list each) | |||
| Cap on price change at renewal | |||
| Total for [number] screens |
Ask for payment options too: card, invoice or bank transfer. Compare with how much digital signage costs.
What contract and exit terms should you ask for?
Ask every vendor:
- What is the minimum term, and does it renew by itself? How much notice cancels it?
- How do we download files, reports and logs when we leave?
- How long do you keep our data, and how is it deleted?
- Does our hardware work with another vendor?
Large organizations often add terms a vendor must accept before it is shortlisted. State them here, so nobody learns about them after the demo:
- Payment terms: invoice or bank transfer, for example net 60, and how often the price can rise.
- Data processing agreement (DPA): on your paper or the vendor's.
- Liability and insurance: a liability cap, and cyber and professional indemnity insurance that matches it.
- Exit assistance: help to move to another supplier, whatever the reason for leaving.
- Continuity: a plan that keeps the service running if a key supplier of the vendor fails.
How do you score responses?
Score each category 0 to 5, multiply by the weight, and divide by 5. Agree weights before responses arrive.
| Category | Weight |
|---|---|
| Functional requirements | 30 |
| Ease of use, from the demo and pilot | 20 |
| Three-year cost | 15 |
| Technical and security | 15 |
| Vendor stability and references | 10 |
| Implementation and support | 10 |
Example: 4 of 5 on functional requirements is 4 / 5 x 30 = 24 points. Weight ease of use high, because location staff use the software every week.
What is the RFP timeline?
A signage RFP for a few dozen to a few hundred screens usually takes 8 to 12 weeks from issue to contract:
| Step | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Write the RFP and agree the scoring weights | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Vendors send written questions | Week 1 after issue |
| You answer every question to every vendor | Week 2 |
| Responses due | 3 to 4 weeks after issue |
| Score, shortlist two or three, run scripted demos | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Pilot on real screens | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Negotiate and sign | 1 to 2 weeks |
Put the dates in section 3, so every vendor works to the same deadline.
How does Brix answer?
- Price: $6 per screen per month billed annually, or $8 billed monthly. 7-day free trial, no card.
- Hardware: the Amazon Signage Stick, Fire TV, Android boxes such as the Walmart onn, and a Windows player. None is tied to Brix.
- Access: custom roles at the locations you choose, content approval and locked templates. See organization, people and roles.
- Proof of play: included, off by default. Turn it on at Settings → Organization → Feature defaults.
- Security: single sign-on through OpenID Connect, two-factor sign-in and passkeys. See the security page. Brix has no SAML and no SOC 2 report, so answer "No" on those rows if your RFP makes them a Must.
- Support: a US-based team in Los Angeles, 7 days a week, at no extra cost.
- Not a fit: synchronized video walls, touch kiosks and wayfinding, and screens that must run on Samsung Tizen or LG webOS without a separate player.
Also see the questions to ask a digital signage vendor. To walk through this template with our team, book a demo.