The purpose of a commercial offer is to convey a solution to help the customer decide how to implement his or her product to solve a specific problem. This document has to be reasonable in length and contain a series of key points in order to answer as many questions as possible the customer might have regarding the implementation of the product.

In the software development industry, there are mainly two pricing models used when coming to custom software development services: Fixed Price Agreement and Time & Material Agreement. Both models have their advantages and disadvantages, and the final decision regarding which type of contract to use when creating custom software should consider which one fits best the specific customer’s project.

In order to get an accurate quote for a fixed price custom software development product, the request for proposal needs to be as detailed as possible.

As time is a sensible subject for both the customer and the software development company involved, the initial request for proposal document should include as many points as possible from the ones mentioned in this article.