A Black Friday Inspired RFP Template for Vetting AI SaaS Vendors

For those of us of a certain generation, “Black Friday” invokes memories of the Cabbage Patch Kid Riots of 1983.  However, the term “Black Friday” didn’t start as a feel‑good story about retailers finally getting “into the black.” It was coined in the 1950s by Philadelphia police officers to describe the chaotic, traffic‑choked day after Thanksgiving, when shoppers and football fans gridlocked the city. Only decades later did retailers rebrand it as a narrative about profitability, turning a nightmare operational day into a selling opportunity.  That history is a perfect metaphor for buying AI‑enabled SaaS software: what begins as chaos needs to be reframed with better controls and clearer objectives.

This holiday season, Forrester has you covered! Charlie Betz and I have just published Top RFP Questions For Your SaaS Vendor With AI Capabilities – a 50-question template to help you augment your RFPs and risk assessments.  Think of this as your “Cyber Monday” deal to sharpen what you already use to evaluate and procure SaaS vendors with AI capabilities. The goal is not to ask all 50 questions but to curate highly targeted AI questions to avoid creating questionnaire chaos while still surfacing the model, data, and governance risks that generic security questions miss.

Your SaaS vendor strategy must have the same carefully designed game plan any “Black Friday” shopping expedition requires (comfortable shoes and snacks are optional)..  Here’s three ways to use our new template to find the deals that strike the right balance of value versus risk:

“Doorbuster” add‑ons for high‑risk vendors. Use the template to include targeted questions as add‑ons for your highest‑risk, AI‑heavy SaaS vendors (e.g., those training on your data or making automated decisions). Add five to ten questions from the RFP template focused on model use, data handling, and governance to your existing questionnaire. Black Friday translation: These are your 5 a.m. doorbusters. You don’t browse the whole store; you sprint straight to the high‑value items that will sell out first (and carry the most risk if you guess wrong).
Curated “bundle” sections by theme. Group a small set of questions into mini‑bundles (e.g., “Model Risk & Monitoring,” “Data Use & Retention,” “AI Governance & Ethics”) and drop one or two bundles into each RFP depending on the use case. This lets you tailor depth without redesigning your entire questionnaire every time. Black Friday translation: Think of this as choosing the right bundle deal (security + privacy  or  governance + explainability) instead of panic‑adding everything in sight to your cart.
Read the fine print” for too‑good‑to‑be‑true claims. Use the questions and their evidence examples as a way to scrutinize bold marketing claims to check that you’re actually getting the deal you think you’re getting. When a vendor promises “no customer data ever used,” “fully explainable AI,” or “zero hallucinations,” pull three to five questions and their evidence types to validate those statements against real documentation and artifacts. Black Friday translation: This is like reading the fine print before you buy and checking exclusions, return policies, and hidden fees so that the flashy 70%‑off banner doesn’t turn into an expensive regret at the register.

If you are a Forrester client, schedule a guidance session with us to continue this conversation and get tailored insights and guidance for your AI governance and risk management programs.

This blog was written with the assistance of Kaylee Mahoney, senior research associate.