RFP Checklist

Comparing Regulated AI Platforms With Evidence and Discipline

An RFP for legal AI should not be a long feature inventory. It should test whether a vendor can support real regulated work with clear governance, security, implementation discipline, and measurable value.

Use this checklist to structure a Forlex evaluation or compare Forlex with other regulated AI platforms.

1. Before Issuing the RFP

Confirm:

• The buying committee is named.
• The decision owner or tiebreaker is named.
• The first workflow is defined.
• The top five must-have capabilities are clear.
• Security and AI governance requirements are separated from nice-to-have product features.
• Pricing and implementation assumptions are requested in a comparable format.
• The evaluation timeline includes security, legal, finance, and workflow validation.

2. Define the Business Context

Include:

• Organization type and size.
• Primary teams that will use the platform.
• Current systems involved.
• Workflows in scope.
• Data categories in scope.
• Jurisdictions or regulatory requirements.
• Expected rollout timeline.
• Required integrations.
• Procurement, security, or compliance constraints.

3. Pre-Purchase Vendor Diligence

Run this diligence layer in parallel with shortlisting to verify security, financial health, and support SLAs before you evaluate features in demos:

• Vendor financial stability and track record.
• Security certifications or formal preparation status (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001), including SOC 2 compliance for core infrastructure and authentication suppliers.
• Privacy and compliance posture (GDPR, LGPD, CCPA).
• Support SLAs and response times.
• Implementation track record and reference customers.

3. Define the First Workflow Scenario

Ask every vendor to respond to a real workflow scenario.

Example format:

Our team needs to review a vendor agreement against an approved playbook, identify legal and business deviations, route issues to accountable owners, preserve source context, prepare approval notes, and store the final record.

Ask vendors to show:

• Intake.
• Source collection.
• AI-assisted review or drafting.
• Human review.
• Escalation.
• Approval.
• Signature or delivery path.
• Vault or record storage.
• Audit trail.

4. Platform Fit Checklist

• Supports matters, projects, requests, or workspaces.
• Supports document generation, review, comparison, and summarization.
• Supports legal research or evidence-grounded analysis where relevant.
• Supports signature or document execution workflows where required.
• Supports governed vault storage for templates, knowledge, evidence packs, and records.
• Supports workflow agents or repeatable AI-assisted workflows.
• Supports collaboration, ownership, blockers, due dates, and approvals.
• Supports governance and audit context around sensitive work.
• Supports integrations or APIs required for the first workflow.

5. AI Governance Checklist

• Vendor explains what AI may and may not do.
• Vendor identifies data boundary, model boundary, human boundary, evidence boundary, audit boundary, and policy boundary.
• Vendor explains whether customer data is used for model training and provides evidence.
• Vendor distinguishes source-grounded outputs from non-source-grounded outputs.
• Vendor shows how citations, limitations, or uncertainty appear.
• Vendor supports human review, approval, override, escalation, or rejection.
• Vendor explains model/provider governance and change-management process.
• Vendor explains how agent or workflow actions are logged.

6. Security and Privacy Checklist

• Tenant isolation is explained.
• Role-based access controls are explained.
• SSO/SAML and MFA posture is explained.
• Support access is scoped, approved, logged, and revocable.
• Data retention, deletion, export, and backup behavior is explained.
• Subprocessor list and DPA path are available.
• Security packet or questionnaire support is available.
• Incident response and vulnerability management posture is documented.
• Encryption in transit and at rest is documented.
• Security claims are dated, current, and tied to evidence.

7. Implementation Checklist

• Vendor proposes a first 30-day rollout path.
• Vendor identifies source preparation requirements.
• Vendor identifies roles, permissions, and review rules.
• Vendor identifies integration assumptions.
• Vendor describes training and adoption support.
• Vendor defines what success looks like after 30, 60, and 90 days.
• Vendor identifies what must be scoped before expansion.
• Vendor provides a clear path for security and procurement collaboration.

8. Economic Evaluation Checklist

• Pricing model is explained.
• Seats, roles, workspaces, organizations, or teams are accounted for.
• AI usage and workflow complexity are accounted for.
• Document, matter, signature, and vault volume assumptions are accounted for.
• Integration and implementation effort are accounted for.
• Support model is explained.
• Renewal and expansion logic is explained.
• Current tool overlap is considered.
• Value drivers are tied to a real workflow.

9. Proof and Evidence Checklist

• Vendor provides dated, sourceable public claims.
• Customer proof is approved for use and specific to a workflow, role, or outcome.
• Product claims are available in the product or clearly scoped.
• Trust claims have owners and evidence.
• Security or compliance claims are not stronger than available evidence.
• The vendor can explain known limitations without weakening confidence.

10. Suggested Weighted Scorecard

Score independently before a group discussion. Then review differences and document the decision.

11. Vendor Response Questions

Ask each vendor:

• Which workflow do you recommend for the first rollout and why?
• What data, policies, templates, or documents do you need before implementation?
• How do you separate tenants, roles, workspaces, matters, and records?
• What AI providers or model paths are used and how are they governed?
• What evidence supports your training, retention, and data-use statements?
• Where does human review happen in the workflow?
• What audit context is preserved?
• How do you support security questionnaires and procurement review?
• Which integrations are available and which require scoping?
• What drives cost and expansion?
• What would make the first rollout successful after 30 days?

12. Red Flags

Escalate if a vendor:

• Shows only a prompt demo and not a governed workflow.
• Cannot explain prompt, output, log, embedding, or derived-data handling.
• Uses broad AI trust language without evidence.
• Treats human review as optional marketing language.
• Cannot identify implementation requirements.
• Hides pricing drivers entirely.
• Cannot route security or DPA questions to an owner.
• Makes stronger claims than current evidence supports.

13. Final Decision Record

Before signing, record:

• Vendors evaluated.
• First workflow scenario.
• Scorecard results.
• Security and procurement evidence received.
• Contract items requiring review.
• Implementation scope.
• Success metrics.
• Decision owner.
• Renewal review date.

The RFP process should leave the organization with a defensible decision, not just a preferred vendor.