Straight answers.
What owners and contractors ask before they post work, bid, get a bond or buy insurance.
The basics
What Light RFP is, and who you sign with
An insurance brokerage for the built environment, powered by a free AI-driven procurement platform. Owners post RFPs and level bids for free, contractors find work and bid for free, and Light RFP places the bonds and insurance the work needs.
Follow one job down the street, and see where we earn, on About.
A request for proposals: a document that describes a job and invites vendors to bid on the same terms. It sets out the scope, the schedule, what the owner requires and how the bids will be compared. On Light RFP, AI drafts it from the owner’s description of the project, and the owner reviews it before it goes out.
Yes. Light RFP Risk Management Services LLC holds New York DFS License # PC-1978982. Surety bonds are provided nationwide through our partner Propeller Bonds, a managing general agency (an agency that underwrites and issues bonds on the carriers’ behalf) licensed in all 50 states.
Both sides of a construction project. Owners, operators, property managers and developers post RFPs, level bids and insure their buildings. GCs, subcontractors and trades find work, bid, get bonded and get insured.
The other side of the job. Contracts are directly between the owner and the vendor. Light RFP runs the platform and places bonds and insurance; it is not a party to the construction contract.
Light RFP started as a place to run RFPs. Bonds and insurance came next, because contractors who won work on the platform had to go somewhere else to get bonded and insured. Today Light RFP is both: a free platform to run the RFP, and a brokerage that places the bonds and insurance the job needs.
Yes. Sensitive data such as Social Security numbers on bond applications is encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM and masked (for example, ***-**-1234) in notifications. Access is restricted and every view of sensitive data is audit-logged, and your account password is never stored in plain text.
Click “Schedule a call” on any page: pick a time and it is booked on the team’s calendar.
Owners and property managers
Posting work, leveling bids, awarding the job
A plain-English description of the job. AI drafts the full RFP from it, with scope, budget range and timeline, for you to edit before you invite vendors and post it. Have files? Attach PDFs, spreadsheets and other documents.
By email, you write the scope by hand, chase each bid, answer the same question again and again, and line up mismatched proposals in a spreadsheet. On Light RFP, AI drafts the scope, vendors bid in one place, each question is answered once for every bidder, and AI lines up the bids on one sheet: scope, price, exclusions, warranties and insurance, side by side.
AI reads every bid and builds the leveling sheet: scope coverage, pricing, exclusions, warranties and insurance, side by side. It flags red flags and points you to the best value, not just the lowest number.
From contractors and vendors on Light RFP, found by trade and area. A contractor’s free bid bond application doubles as prequalification, so you can invite vendors who are ready to be bonded. You can also invite your own vendors by email; they bid in the same place and are leveled the same way.
Yes. Invite them by email. They bid in the same place as vendors found on Light RFP, and their bids are leveled the same way.
Because nearly 1 in 10 construction businesses closes each year (per BLS Business Employment Dynamics). If the contractor defaults, the performance bond pays to finish the job, up to the bond amount. If a sub or supplier goes unpaid, they can claim on the payment bond instead of looking to you.
Require the winner to bond the job, and the contractor buys the bonds: performance and payment bonds are a flat 3% of the contract value, both bonds together, from A‑rated carriers.
More on how our bonds work.
Yes. Vendor questions (RFIs) and messages live on the RFP, and your team and outside partners work the same file. Give each person view, edit or approve access.
Yes. Run another round to sharpen pricing or tighten the scope; every invited vendor is notified.
Yes. Save the RFP as a draft, finish it later, and let teammates fill in the rest. Attach PDFs, spreadsheets and other files.
Yes. Posting RFPs, inviting vendors and leveling bids are free, and none of it depends on who insures your buildings.
For insurance, send us your current policy documents and we can price your coverage from them. With a broker of record letter, we can also quote your renewing underwriter, for a wider slate of options. Nothing changes until you choose.
Yes. Manage every property in one place and give regional managers, ownership, and outside partners exactly the access they need — view, edit, or approve. Approvals and activity stay on each project’s record instead of scattered across email.
Create a free account at platform.lightrfp.com/signup, then click “Create RFP” to describe your project. The AI drafts the scope, you invite your own vendors or open the RFP to the marketplace, and you compare bids in one place. You can also schedule a call from any page.
Contractors and trades
Finding work, bidding, getting paid
Yes. Searching RFPs and bidding cost nothing, and there is no paywall. When a job needs a bid bond, that is free too.
Browse open RFPs by trade and location.
Yes. Scoped RFPs from owners, property managers, developers and public agencies, posted to collect bids. You see the full scope before you spend a minute on a bid.
Browse the open RFPs, public and private, by trade and location.
Open the RFP in the marketplace, read the scope and submit your bid with your proposal and documents, such as your certificate of insurance and W-9. Ask the owner first, through an RFI, if anything is unclear.
Post it as an RFI (request for information) on the RFP, under your name or anonymously. The owner’s answer goes to every bidder, so everyone bids on the same information.
Yes. Set your trades and locations and Light RFP emails you a digest of matching new RFPs and bids.
You may be. Clear up scope and terms with the owner, through RFIs, before you bid.
On the platform. Owners pay vendors by ACH through Light RFP, on the same record as the job, so you are not chasing a check.
Most projects require proof of insurance. Submit your certificate of insurance (COI) with your bid. Light RFP can also read a project’s insurance requirements, match your coverage to them, and issue an ACORD 25 certificate.
Yes. Multiple bids can present options or different scopes at different price points. Coordinate with the owner when you plan to submit more than one.
The Light RFP marketplace is a searchable directory of construction opportunities — private RFPs from owners and developers plus public government bids — browsable by trade, location, and due date. It’s free, with no login or paywall to browse.
On the Light RFP marketplace, which aggregates public bids from government agencies across many states alongside private RFPs. You can browse by trade and location for free, with no login, and set alerts for new matching opportunities.
Create a free account at platform.lightrfp.com/vendor-signup, then browse the marketplace or set up trade and location alerts and submit a bid on any project. A free bid bond’s application prequalifies you for the performance and payment bonds.
Bonds and insurance
What we place, what it costs, who backs it
Start in the bond directory: pick your state or browse by type. It lists the contract bonds for construction, plus the license, permit, notary and fidelity bonds other businesses need.
Bid bonds are free in every state we serve. Performance and payment bonds are a flat 3% of the contract value, both bonds together, from A‑rated carriers. Every bond is subject to the surety’s approval.
Bidding on an RFP that asks for one? Get a free bid bond.
Bid bonds are free in every state we serve; California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are coming soon. Performance and payment bonds are a flat 3% of the contract value, both bonds together, from A‑rated carriers: $3,000 to bond a $100,000 job. Every bond is subject to the surety’s approval.
The owner’s RFP says which bonds a job needs, and the contractor buys them. Light RFP earns a commission from the carrier on the bonds it places; posting and bidding stay free.
Find yours, state by state, in the bond directory.
Because we make our money when you win: on the performance and payment bonds for the awarded job. Your bid bond application also prequalifies you for those bonds.
The price and the place. Bid bonds are free in every state we serve, and performance and payment bonds are a flat 3% of the contract value, both bonds together, from A‑rated carriers. You get the bond where you find the RFP and bid on it, and your bid bond application doubles as prequalification for the performance and payment bonds. Every bond is subject to the surety’s approval.
Only if the project asks for one. When it does, the bid bond is free, so its price never stands between you and the bid. Like every bond, it is subject to the surety’s approval.
A three-party guarantee. The surety backs your promise to the project owner; if you don’t perform, the surety pays the claim and you repay the surety.
Bonds are placed through Propeller Bonds, a managing general agency (an agency that underwrites and issues bonds on the carriers’ behalf) licensed in all 50 states, and written by A‑rated carriers.
General liability, commercial auto, tools and equipment, builder’s risk, professional liability, umbrella, cyber and workers’ comp.
See contractor insurance.
Property, general liability, umbrella, builder’s risk, loss of rent and flood, across the whole portfolio. Builder’s risk covers a project while it is under construction.
See property insurance and builder’s risk.
The core offering is contract surety — free bid bonds, flat-3% performance & payment bonds, and lien discharge bonds — available in every state except California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where they are coming soon, and on federal projects. License and permit bonds, such as motor vehicle dealer, home improvement contractor, and public adjuster bonds, are also available.
No. Surety prequalification uses a soft credit pull only, which never affects your credit score. It confirms approval and capacity — it does not set your price — and the fee is covered for you.
No. For construction contract bonds on projects up to $3 million, you qualify on your credit score alone — no audited financials, CPA statements, or tax returns up front. Above $3 million, underwriting reviews company financials.
Many bonds are issued when you pay. Bonds that need underwriting — including some performance & payment bonds — get an underwriter’s contact within 48 hours, and most are issued in 1–2 business days.
Bonds are written in annual terms. On most bonds you can choose a 1, 2 or 3-year term when you apply and pay for the whole term up front, at the same price per year. Some bonds renew on a date the state sets rather than a year from purchase; the bond’s application shows it. Renewal notices go out 60 and 30 days before a term ends, and autopay is available. The first-year premium is fully earned; if you cancel in a later term, that year’s premium can be prorated.
Find your bond on Light RFP’s surety bonds directory, enter a few details on the short application, and submit. Simple bonds are issued when you pay; others go to an underwriter. Digital, e-signed bonds are standard, and a wet copy with a raised seal can be mailed on request. Every executed bond comes with the insurance company’s power of attorney, the document that authorizes the signature on your bond.
Yes. You set the effective date on the application. The agency or project owner that requires the bond usually tells you which date to use; if not, pick a date close to when you will file it rather than today’s date. If you need coverage to start on a date that has already passed, ask us before you apply: backdating needs the insurance company’s approval and is not automatic.
Yes. Bonds are issued on the requiring agency’s own form, with the details from your application filled in. Agencies revise their forms from time to time, so if yours now requires a newer revision than the one shown in the application preview, tell us before you buy. If an issued bond needs a correction, we will have it reissued.
Bond amounts are set by the agency, union or contract that requires the bond, and they change. If the amount you need is not one the page offers, ask us before you buy and we will have the right amount made available, rather than you buying a bond that will not be accepted.
The price at checkout is the price: there is no application fee, and the underwriter covers any credit-check fee. The one extra fee is for expedited shipping of a paper original, if you want it. If an underwriter reviewing a larger bond asks for collateral or changes the terms, you are told before you are charged, and you decide whether to go ahead.
We issue the bond on the form the agency requires, which is what it asks for. Each agency makes the final call on its own filings, so if you are not sure which bond your license, permit or contract needs, confirm with the agency before you buy.
The agency, court or project owner that requires the bond names it, usually with the form number and the amount. Find that bond in the surety bonds directory under your state. If you can’t tell which one matches, send us the requirement and we’ll point you to the right page.
It depends on the bond, not just the amount. Many license and permit bonds have a set price for their amount, and others cost a percentage of the bond amount, usually with a minimum. Find your bond in the directory: its page shows the price for one year, and where you enter your own amount, the price updates as you type.
Often, yes. Many license and permit bond applications don’t ask for credit information at all. Where a check does run, it is a soft pull, which does not affect your score. On performance & payment bonds the rate is the same flat 3% whatever your credit; credit affects approval and how large a bond you qualify for, not the price.
A soft credit check lets an underwriter see your credit report without it counting as an application for credit. It never changes your credit score, and other lenders can’t see it on your report.
The insurance company investigates the claim. If it is valid, the insurer pays the person or agency that was harmed, up to the bond amount, and you repay the insurer. A surety bond protects the people you work for, not you, so a paid claim is a debt you owe rather than coverage you bought.
Yes. Light RFP reads the insurance requirements off the solicitation — limits, additional insured, waivers of subrogation — and matches your policies to them, so you’re qualified before you bid.
Ask, and we issue an ACORD 25 the general contractor or owner asked for, add them as additional insured, and log it on the project.
Billing
What is free, and how Light RFP makes money
Light RFP earns a commission from the carrier on all policies and bonds it places. In select cases, a poster pays a SaaS fee to pay vendors by ACH. That is the whole model.
See where it happens on one job, on About.
Posting and bidding are free, for owners and contractors alike. So are AI bid leveling and bid bonds.
The policy premium, which the carrier sets. Quotes are free and there is no platform fee. Light RFP earns a commission from the carrier on all policies.
In select cases, yes: the poster pays a SaaS fee to pay vendors by ACH. Owners pay vendors through Light RFP by ACH, on the same record as the project.
Not answered above?
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