Should clients pay for tender and RFP submissions?

In principle, and ideally in practice, yes they should.

Why?

Because there is a lot of time, effort, money and IP that goes into preparing a tender or RFP (request for proposal). This also includes RFIs (request for information).

The companies requesting these tenders, RFPs and RFIs are freely benefiting from the expertise of suppliers if they are requesting highly detailed .....