CIOPages
All RFP packages

RFP Package · Enterprise Applications

Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) RFP questions and template

124 questions, 10 demo scenarios and a five-vendor scorecard for choosing Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software, in one Excel workbook.

Buy the workbook, from $499Read sample questions

What this package is for

Use it to run a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software selection, from the first long list to the final scorecard.

What the category covers. Software that runs contracts from request to renewal: intake, templates and clause library, negotiation and redlining, approvals, signature, the repository, legacy extraction, AI playbook review, obligations, and links to CRM, procurement and ERP. Bought by legal, legal operations and procurement leaders replacing shared drives and email, or an older CLM that cannot read their legacy contracts.

A selection usually runs in three rounds. The package has questions for each:

  • RFI, to the long list. 27 questions screen out products that lack something you need.
  • RFP, to the shortlist. 63 questions ask how each product does the work.
  • Deep dive, to the finalists. 34 questions ask for proof on your own data.

10 demo scenarios tell each vendor what to load and what to show, so every product does the same work in front of you. 100 due-diligence questions cover security, integration, implementation and exit. The scorecard weights the answers and ranks up to five vendors.

Each question comes with why it matters, what a good answer looks like and the red flags, so the people scoring the replies know what to look for.

3 questions from the package

From the RFI round. The first shows part of the guide each question carries; the workbook adds follow-ups, how to verify the answer, a priority and a weight.

1. Describe the request types your product's self-service intake supports without custom development, such as new agreement, amendment, renewal, termination and NDA.

Why it matters. If intake covers only new agreements, amendments and renewals still arrive by email to Legal. Those requests then sit outside the tracked process and outside the request history.

Good answer
  • Lists distinct request types, each with its own configurable form
  • Shows a business requester submitting each type without Legal assistance
  • Request types can be added or retired by an administrator through configuration
Red flags
  • Intake is a single generic form or a shared Legal mailbox
  • Amendment and renewal requests require a professional-services build
  • Answer describes request types on the roadmap rather than in the current release

2. Describe the conditional logic your template builder supports without code, such as including or excluding a clause, section or schedule based on an intake answer.

Why it matters. If conditional logic is limited or needs code, the buyer has to maintain many near-duplicate templates. Each duplicate is another document to keep current when standard terms change.

3. Describe the version history your product keeps for a contract under negotiation.

Why it matters. Without a complete history, Legal cannot show what was proposed, by whom and when. Disputes about what was agreed then depend on scattered email files.

Capability areas

Contract Request & Intake (8)

Self-service request forms, intake questions that determine contract type and path, triage, assignment to Legal or business owners, and status visibility for requesters. Excludes template content and approval rules, which are covered in AUT and APR.

Template Authoring & Clause Library (12)

Template management with conditional logic, clause library with approved and fallback positions, document assembly from intake data, amendment and addendum generation, and template version control. Excludes AI-generated drafting, which is covered in AIR.

Negotiation, Redlining & Version Control (11)

Internal and counterparty redlining, Microsoft Word round-trips, comparison of third-party paper, version history, the negotiation audit trail, and counterparty collaboration. Excludes playbook-driven AI review, which is covered in AIR.

Approval Routing & Workflow Configuration (10)

Rule-based approval routing on value, risk, clause deviation and contract type, delegation and out-of-office handling, parallel and sequential steps, escalations, and no-code workflow changes by administrators. Excludes role and permission design, which is covered in GOV.

Execution & E-Signature (8)

Native or integrated e-signature, signing order and signatory authority checks, wet-ink and counterparty-paper execution, the executed-record audit trail, and the handoff of the signed contract into the repository. Excludes generic e-signature vendor certifications.

Repository, Metadata & Search (10)

Central repository structure, contract family hierarchy (master, amendments, SOWs), metadata fields and their reliability, full-text, clause-level and conversational search, and permission-trimmed results. Excludes bulk ingestion of legacy paper, which is covered in EXT.

Legacy Ingestion & AI Extraction (11)

Bulk import of the legacy contract estate, OCR of scanned paper, AI extraction of clauses, dates, parties and obligations, confidence scoring, human validation queues, and measurement of extraction accuracy on the buyer's own contracts. Excludes the ongoing obligation management that uses the extracted data, which is covered in OBL.

AI Playbook Review & Drafting (13)

Codifying the buyer's negotiation playbook, AI deviation detection against it, suggested redlines and fallback language, agentic first-pass review that returns a marked-up document, generative first drafts from approved templates, and evidence of reduced review effort. Excludes generic model governance, safety and oversight controls, which are covered in the AI cross-cutting modules.

Obligations, Renewals & Performance (13)

Obligation capture and assignment, fulfillment tracking, milestone and SLA monitoring, renewal, expiry and notice-window alerting, auto-renewal handling, and counterparty performance against committed terms. Excludes portfolio-level reporting, which is covered in ANL.

Integration with Originating Systems (10)

Contract-specific data flows with CRM, procurement and source-to-pay, ERP and HR systems: launching contracts from records, field mapping, write-back of executed terms and obligations, conflict handling, and work inside Microsoft Word and email. Excludes generic API, webhook, SSO and SCIM questions, which are covered in the integration module.

Contract Reporting & Analytics (9)

Cycle-time and bottleneck reporting by stage, clause deviation and fallback usage trends, renewal and obligation exposure reporting, contracts-under-management measures, and report building by business users. Excludes the data warehouse export mechanics covered in the integration module.

Data Model, Access & Multi-Entity Governance (9)

Configurable contract data model, sell-side and buy-side support on one platform, multi-entity, multi-currency and multi-language contract handling, granular contract-level permissions, ethical walls, and segregation of duties. Excludes platform-level security controls and certifications, which are covered in other cross-cutting modules.

Demo scenarios

Each scenario lists the data to load before the demo, then the steps to show, and the questions it scores.

  1. Sales rep takes an order form from CRM to signature
  2. Counterparty returns a heavily redlined master agreement
  3. Legacy supplier agreements are imported and reviewed
  4. Supplier auto-renewal notice window is approaching
  5. Legal changes the limitation-of-liability fallback position
  6. Supplier misses a committed service milestone
  7. New regional legal entity is added
  8. Amendment to an executed master agreement
  9. Plain-language question about uncapped indemnity
  10. Legal operations finds where contracts stall

Due diligence

The workbook carries the screening questions from these modules. Each module is also sold on its own.

Questions about this package

How many Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) RFP questions are there?

124 solution questions in 12 capability areas: 27 for the RFI, 63 for the RFP and 34 deep-dive questions for the finalists. The workbook adds 100 due-diligence questions on security, integration, implementation and exit.

What comes with each question?

Why it matters, good-answer signals, red flags, follow-up questions, how to verify the answer (a demo step, a test or a document), and a suggested priority and weight for scoring.

Can I edit the questions?

Yes. The workbook is an ordinary Excel file. Change, add or remove questions, and change the weights; the scorecard recalculates.

Which license do I need?

The Enterprise License covers any number of evaluations inside one organization. The Consultancy License covers use with any number of clients. Neither allows reselling or republishing the questions.

Before you shortlist

The buyer guide compares the products in this category and what decides between them.

Buyer Guide
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM)