Benefits RFPs
A benefits RFP tells a broker that an employer has opened an adviser selection, what it covers, when proposals are due and who runs it. It does not prove you meet the entry rules, that funding and PEO status fit, or who wins.
Book a demoLast updated October 6, 2026
The short answer
An employer's request for broker proposals is the clearest sign a benefits decision is open: it fixes the scope, the deadline and the person running the selection. Run the license, experience, scope and contact checks before writing, keep the four dates apart, and recheck status after the deadline. Clean flags employers whose decision already closed.
A benefits RFP tells a broker that an employer has opened an adviser selection, what it covers, when proposals are due and who runs it. It does not tell you that your firm meets the entry rules, that the employer's funding type and PEO status fit the business you write, that the request is still open after its deadline, or who wins. Whether you can bid comes down to pass-or-fail checks written into the request itself.
That makes it the most direct reason an employer gives for reviewing its benefits: the employer has said in writing that it will consider a new adviser. The incumbent can still answer the same request and keep the account, so check the conditions before your team spends a week writing.
For the wider set of events that open a benefits decision, see benefits buying signals.
Most requests carry the same parts. Read the scope and minimum qualifications first: they decide whether the rest is worth your time.
Parts of a benefits RFP: what each tells a broker and what to check next
| Part of the request | What it tells a broker | What to check next |
|---|---|---|
| Scope of services | Which lines and services the employer wants, sometimes including HR or payroll | Whether your firm covers all of it alone, or needs partners |
| Minimum qualifications | Who may respond: license, in-state experience, references | Whether your license, in-state years and references clear the floor |
| Submission deadline | The last day a proposal counts | Whether an amendment moved it, and whether it has already passed |
| Contact rules | Who answers questions, and whether carrier contact needs written permission | Whether your usual carrier calls would break the rule |
| Fees and commissions | How the employer wants to pay you and how much transparency it expects | Whether your pay model fits, and how you will show third-party payments |
| Current plan description | Lines, carriers and enrollment as the employer describes them | Funding type and PEO status, which a carrier name does not prove |
| Requested service start | When the employer wants the new adviser working | Whether that leaves room to market the next plan year |
| Evaluation and selection | How proposals are scored and who decides | Who owns the decision, and whether a planned selection date became an award |
These checks are pass or fail. Run them before anyone writes a page.
Two belong on the list even when the request is silent on them. Funding and PEO fit: a carrier's name does not tell you whether a plan is fully insured, level-funded or self-funded, and a request run by the employer's PEO is out if your firm does not work with PEOs (see funding and PEO checks). And the right employer: the decision may sit with a parent company, not the local business. The rest come from the request itself.
Each date in a request means something different. The proposal deadline is when responses are due. The coverage end is when current policies stop. The plan-year start is when the next plan year begins, which may or may not line up with the coverage end. The requested service start is when the employer wants the new adviser working, often well before the plan year. Record each separately.
Example (invented): a 220-person distributor with a July 1 plan year asks for broker proposals due March 20 and wants the new broker working by April 15; its current coverage ends June 30. Miss March 20 and this cycle is gone, though the plan year is more than three months away.
Do not assume January: plan years start in every month, and the X-dates guide has KFF's month-by-month count. For ICHRA requests the plan-year start sets another date: under 29 CFR 2590.702-2 (eCFR, up to date as of 2026-10-02), the HRA must give each participant written notice at least 90 calendar days before each plan year begins, with exceptions for people who become eligible later. This is context, not legal advice; check the rule's own text and your counsel.
The most useful public checklist is SHRM's 'The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Benefits Broker' (HR Magazine, November 13, 2023). It is sponsored content written by SHRM's own broker-matching service: advice to employers, not a survey of what they do.
It recommends that every employer use an RFP or written questions, and says plainly that this does not mean or imply the employer should select a broker via RFP. Unless the employer requires a written bid, the guide calls the RFP only a supporting tool for the calls, meetings and finalist interviews that follow. It tells employers to review at least three and as many as six brokers, to start a selection as far ahead of the plan renewal date as possible, and names not having shopped in more than three years as one reason to run one.
Its broker overview asks for four things: ownership structure; the biographies and experience of the team that will serve the account; the fee and commission schedule, with agreement to transparency of payments from third-party carriers and vendors; and verification of licensing and adequate E&O coverage. The other core topics are the employer service model, employee services, health plan cost control, wellness, compliance, HR systems and support, and enrollment and employee services. Its cover letter explains why the employer is considering a new broker; if a request has that paragraph, read it first.
Two request types look like a broker RFP but are different jobs. A bundled request asks for proposals that cover benefits together with HR, payroll and related systems. It shows an open review with a defined scope, not that a broker alone can bid. Check whether the employer accepts joint or partial responses and name your partners early. If you do not work with PEOs, remember that a payroll software name does not prove a PEO, and an HR and payroll service the employer runs in its own name is not one.
An ICHRA administrator request asks for proposals to set up and run an individual coverage HRA, which CMS's guide for employers (last modified 2026-09-10) now calls a CHOICE Arrangement; the regulation text in the eCFR still says individual coverage HRA. The request is a product-specific selection with a deadline. It does not show that it is still open after the deadline, or that a broker without an administration partner fits. Our guide to selling ICHRA separates employers that said ICHRA from employers that are only under cost pressure.
Cities, counties, school districts and utilities are one employer type, and their requests often carry procurement rules on top of the benefits questions: one named contact for every question, no carrier contact without written permission, minimum in-state experience, references, committee scoring and a final board or council vote.
The person running it is often a procurement director or the manager named on the request, with HR, a superintendent or a business manager on the substance. That is a buying committee with a formal shape: map who scores, who recommends and who votes. A scheduled vote is a planned selection date, not an award.
A request is a snapshot. After the deadline, any of these can happen: an amendment changes the scope or dates, the employer cancels, the employer awards the work, the employer accepts its incumbent's renewal, or a broker is selected. Until you see one of these, the status is unknown, not open.
A passed deadline is not a closed door if an amendment extended it. Record when you last checked, recheck before anyone reaches out, and treat a failed check as stale, never as proof that nothing happened.
If another broker won, treat this cycle as decided unless the employer says otherwise. If you won, the carrier side comes next: the employer signs a letter naming you, because most insurers discuss an account only with the agent of record (IRMI glossary, accessed 2026-10-06). See broker of record letters for how that change works and who signs.
Clean finds employers with a real reason to review their benefits, shows the evidence behind each one, and names the people who own the decision. Every date keeps its meaning: a proposal deadline, a coverage end date and a plan-year start are different facts, and Clean never swaps one for another. Clean also flags accounts to drop: a decision that already closed, a deadline that passed, an employer on a PEO, or a record that turns out to be the wrong company.
Each employer comes with the person who owns the benefits decision there, usually in HR, People or finance, and who in your team's network can introduce you. When Clean cannot confirm the funding type, PEO status or whether a new broker is welcome, it marks it unknown instead of guessing. Clean does not need employee health records, census files or claims data, and it can research the employers already on your list, a book of business or a target list, as well as find new ones.
See employee benefits sales and the insurance page, then book a demo to see employers in your market with an open benefits decision and who owns it.
Being known to the employer helps: SHRM's 2023 broker-hiring guide tells employers to review at least three and as many as six brokers first, so some requests reach only firms the employer already knows. Clean finds employers with a real reason to review their benefits, including employers that asked for broker proposals, with the evidence behind each one, the dates kept apart and the person who owns the decision.
SHRM's November 2023 broker-hiring guide, written by its broker-matching service, lists the core topics: a broker overview covering ownership, team biographies, the fee and commission schedule with transparency of third-party payments, and licensing and E&O coverage, then the employer service model, employee services, health plan cost control, wellness, compliance, HR systems and support, and enrollment. Requests also set entry rules such as state license, in-state experience and references.
SHRM's 2023 broker-hiring guide, written by its broker-matching service, recommends an RFP or written questions as part of hiring a broker, but says this does not mean or imply selecting a broker via RFP. Unless the employer requires a written bid, the guide treats the RFP as a supporting tool for calls and finalist interviews. Public employers can differ, because their requests often carry their own procurement rules, so read the terms of each request.
Usually the entry rules, before anyone reads the proposal: no state license in good standing, too few years of in-state experience, missing references, no partners for bundled HR or payroll scope, or a broken contact rule. Some requests route every question through one named contact and forbid approaching carriers without written permission. A late submission is out, and so is a PEO-run request for a firm that does not work with PEOs.
Not necessarily, and not necessarily closed. After the deadline the employer may amend the request, cancel it, award the work, accept its incumbent's renewal or select a broker. A planned selection date or a scheduled board vote is not an award. Recheck before anyone reaches out, and treat a failed check as stale rather than as proof that nothing happened.
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