Permanent synthetic example · rfp
Manufacturing SD-WAN RFP example
A synthetic manufacturer develops a detailed SD-WAN RFP for 18 plants with explicit IT/OT separation, brownfield compatibility, remote-maintenance control and constrained cutover windows.
Inputs
- 18 UK and European plants
- Existing MPLS and industrial protocols
- Co-managed operations
- Fixed maintenance windows
Outputs
- Governed RFP sections
- Comparable supplier evidence questions
- Anonymous board projection
From a manufacturing requirement to supplier responses
A fictional 18-plant manufacturer across the UK and Europe. These are illustrative requirements and supplier answers, not a live project or a customer result.
1. Describe the business need
We need resilient connectivity across 18 plants, separation between office IT and production OT, controlled supplier maintenance access and migration within approved shutdown windows.
2. Review the requirements and gaps
Record site locations, business-critical applications, the operating model and migration constraints. Confirm missing bandwidths, outage tolerances, local contacts and remote-user numbers before treating them as requirements. Suggestions remain unconfirmed until the buyer accepts them.
3. Choose the document depth and add bespoke questions
Use a short brief or Short RFP for core needs, or a Detailed RFP for all eight sections. A bespoke question could be: How will you maintain access to our legacy production application during a WAN failover without bypassing the IT/OT boundary? Request a proposed test and evidence, rather than accepting a yes/no answer.
4. Review the anonymous notice
Example notice: A manufacturer seeks resilient SD-WAN across 18 UK and European plants, with IT/OT separation, controlled maintenance access and phased migration. Exact site addresses, company identity and contacts stay private. The buyer reviews the notice and verifies a work email before publishing.
5. Evaluate the responses
After publication, review actual supplier responses and pricing privately as they arrive. Compare evidence against the same requirements and follow up on omissions. For connectivity, Netify sources offers and emails the buyer when a quote is added to Market responses. Neither publication nor an AI recommendation guarantees a supplier response or places an order.
See the illustrative supplier response comparison
Fictional supplier answers for this example only. No offers, prices, supplier scores or response-time promises are implied.
| Requirement | Illustrative supplier A | Illustrative supplier B | Buyer follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Production continuity | Proposes a failover test during a scheduled maintenance window. | States high availability but does not supply a test plan. | Request measurable failover criteria and a rollback plan from both. |
| IT/OT separation | Provides an outline policy boundary; legacy protocol testing remains open. | Offers segmentation but leaves remote contractor access unclear. | Ask each supplier to evidence the plant-specific access policy and exception handling. |
| Comparable commercial terms | Separates recurring and installation charges; licence scope needs clarification. | Provides a bundled scope without an installation breakdown. | Request the same term, currency, inclusions, exclusions and price-validity basis. |
Example reviewed 2026-09-06. Question bank · Provider research method · AI connection and permissions.
A short project brief can invite responses without a full RFP. Short and Detailed RFPs retain your answers and bespoke questions; you can also bring an RFP or RFI. Netify provides the shared buying workspace and supplier response process, with publication controlled by you.
Limitations
- OT protocol support remains a supplier validation item.
- Safety impacts require site-specific engineering review.
Example marketplace-example/1.0.0 · matching provider-match/1.0.0 · publication sase-publication-policy/1.0.0. This is not a live buyer project and contains no private data.
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