Tenant RFP and landlord proposal responses in Canada: the controlled intake guide

Approve the question before asking the market

A tenant request for proposal should translate the approved business requirement into one controlled set of questions. State the proposed use, premises profile, target possession and commencement, decision process, confidentiality expectations, contact protocol and the people authorized to clarify or change the request. A broad search email is not a substitute for an approved mandate.

Classify information before distribution. Headcount, workforce location, production needs, financial capacity, customer contracts and security requirements may be commercially sensitive or personal. Share only what each recipient needs, remove irrelevant personal information and apply the organization's approved privacy, security and retention controls.

• Name the tenant entity, accountable decision owner and authorized representatives.
• Reference the approved space requirement and record its version and as-of date.
• State whether the process is exploratory, competitive, confidential or subject to a separate procurement policy.
• Make the non-binding status and right to amend, clarify or discontinue the process explicit with counsel.

Know exactly who is responding for exactly which premises

Create one recipient passport for each property and proposed premises. Record the legal or marketing name, civic address, suite, stated area, landlord or responding organization, named contact, invitation state and source of authority. Do not infer authority from a brochure, prior listing, public property record or third-party introduction.

Availability is its own evidence question. A building can be suitable but unavailable; an offered suite can be available but operationally unsuitable. Require a current authorized statement covering the exact premises and expected delivery timing, then preserve any qualifications such as existing occupancy, termination rights, construction dependencies or competing negotiations.

Design the response file before proposals arrive

Set one response deadline, permitted delivery channel, file-naming convention, question deadline and clarification process. Ask respondents to identify proposal validity, assumptions, exclusions, required approvals and the person authorized to speak for the landlord. State how corrected or supplemental responses must reference the version they replace.

When a response arrives, log received time, response version, source document, validity date and response status. Supersede rather than overwrite an earlier version. Late, withdrawn and expired proposals should remain visible in history while being excluded or qualified in the active comparison according to the approved process.

Require evidence for the physical and operating case

The response should address the same testable premises questions for every option: area and measurement basis, current condition, possession path, loading, access, parking, clear height, structure, power, HVAC, fire protection, telecommunications, permitted-use position, landlord work and known constraints. Tailor the schedule to the asset class and proposed use.

An answer such as “available,” “adequate” or “to code” is not self-proving. Record whether each answer is supplied, qualified, unknown or not applicable and connect it to a drawing, survey, report, landlord statement or authority record. Critical unknowns should stay unresolved until qualified review supports the decision.

Normalize the terms without erasing their source language

Use one structured schedule for premises area, possession, commencement, term, base rent, escalation, additional rent, incentives, tenant improvements, security, renewal rights, parking, exclusivity and other material economics. Each normalized value needs a state: supplied, qualified, not supplied or not applicable. Store the source reference and qualification beside the normalized value.

Do not compare a rate until the area basis, rent basis, currency, timing and inclusions are understood. A base-rent number without measurement basis or escalation can be less complete than a higher quoted rate with a fully supported schedule. Keep taxes and separately metered items visible rather than silently blending them into occupancy cost.

• Preserve the respondent's exact defined terms and measurement basis in the source file.
• Separate free rent, cash allowances and landlord work; they do not create the same risk or cash timing.
• Record additional-rent estimate, inclusions, exclusions, administration charges and available reconciliation support.
• Require a stated validity period and approval conditions for every economic proposal.

Treat exceptions as decision data, not footnotes

Landlord responses often qualify the tenant's request through assumptions, exclusions, caps, approval conditions or references to a future lease form. Capture those exceptions against the affected requirement and commercial term. A nominally complete response with a material qualification is not equivalent to an unqualified agreement.

Tenant-improvement language requires its own control: scope, design responsibility, pricing, allowance eligibility, payment timing, overruns, permits, schedule, warranties and restoration. Legal terms, tax treatment, enforceability and the effect of non-binding language require qualified legal and tax review; the comparison workspace does not resolve them.

Close gaps through controlled questions

Issue clarification questions from one controlled register. Identify the response and requirement being clarified, the exact question, owner, due date, answer source and whether the answer amends the proposal. Avoid distributing one respondent's confidential commercial information to another or coaching parties toward coordinated responses.

A late, partial, expired or withdrawn response needs an explicit disposition. The decision owner should record whether it remains eligible, is qualified, requires refreshed authority or is excluded. Private tenant selection is not automatically governed by public procurement rules, but the tenant's own policy, contractual duties, competition law and the facts of the process still matter and should be reviewed by advisers where relevant.

Compare viability before price

Classify each active response before ordering it: supported, qualified, evidence-insufficient or blocked. A critical operational failure, missing authority, unsupported availability or absent complete response source should prevent a proposal from being treated as comparison-ready. Unknown answers are neutral in fit scoring and reduce evidence coverage; they are not converted into failures or optimistic assumptions.

Among viable responses, compare weighted requirement fit, answer coverage, source coverage and normalized lease economics. Present value can align timing differences, but it depends entirely on entered terms and assumptions. Keep discount rate, area, term, escalation, additional rent and incentives visible beside the result.

Move only supported terms into the next decision room

A proposal should move into the Commercial Lease Analyzer only when the required economic terms have supported values and the response remains active. The handoff should copy the structured terms, not reinterpret missing values. Preserve the original response and issue queue so later negotiations can be reconciled to what was actually offered.

Promotion into LOI or lease negotiation is a governance decision. Confirm decision-owner approval, refreshed availability, proposal validity, unresolved qualifications and adviser assignments. A proposal, term sheet or LOI may be non-binding in whole or part, but the legal effect depends on its complete language, conduct and applicable law; obtain counsel before issuance or acceptance.

Preserve the response chain after a preferred option emerges

Export the RFP package, recipient register, response comparison, answer ledger, issue queue and portable workspace record at each material decision point. Keep the original source documents under the organization's approved record system with access, backup and retention controls appropriate to the information. Device-local browser storage is a working copy, not an enterprise document repository.

Carry unresolved property, authority, operational, planning, environmental, building and lease questions into the Due Diligence evidence room. Imported records should begin unverified. The selected proposal is still a set of claims and proposed terms until the responsible reviewer confirms the current complete source and the parties execute the required transaction documents.