Healthcare Insights
Top 10 healthcare organizations issuing requests for proposals
If you sell into the healthcare market, you’ve likely run into requests for proposals (RFPs) quite frequently as part of your sales process. Definitive Healthcare tracks RFP activity from more than 15,400 healthcare organizations and government entities to provide you with the insights you need to identify new opportunities.
What is a request for proposal in healthcare?
A request for proposal is an official document that announces and outlines the specifics of a project that any hospital or other healthcare facility plans to undertake. The purpose of issuing a formal request for proposal is to solicit bids from qualified contractors and suppliers to complete the proposed project.
Healthcare organizations leverage RFPs to procure a wide range of different services, such as implementing new technology, securing surgical supplies, installing durable medical equipment, or expanding or renovating a facility. Before issuing an RFP, an organization may make a request for information (RFI) to more broadly understand a vendor’s capabilities and offerings.
Below, we’ve used data from our HospitalView product to compile a list of the top healthcare organizations ranked by number of issued RFPs.
| Rank | Healthcare organization | Number of RFPs issued Jan. 2023- Dec. 2025 | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Veterans Affairs (AKA Veterans Health Administration) | 8,749 | Explore |
| 2 | National Institutes of Health | 2,897 | Explore |
| 3 | Indian Health Service | 2,895 | Explore |
| 4 | Texas Health and Human Services Commission | 1,615 | Explore |
| 5 | New York State Office of Mental Health | 1,161 | Explore |
| 6 | US Army Medicine | 1,093 | Explore |
| 7 | Department of Health and Human Services | 906 | Explore |
| 8 | Hawaii Department of Health | 714 | Explore |
| 9 | Maryland Department of Health and Mental HygieneOffice of Health Services | 669 | Explore |
| 10 | West Los Angeles VA Medical Center | 554 | Explore |
Fig 1. Data is from the HospitalView product. RFP data is sourced from the System for Award Management database and proprietary research involving state, local, and healthcare entities. Data accurate as of December 2025.
Which healthcare organizations issue the most requests for proposals?
The table above lists the number of RFPs issued by healthcare organizations from January 2023 to December 2025. The top 10 organizations issued more than 21,000 RFPs during this period, with the Department of Veterans Affairs standing out as the clear leader.
Issuing nearly 8,750 RFPs, the VA alone accounts for a disproportionate share of procurement activity compared to all other organizations on the list. This level of volume reflects both the VA’s massive national footprint and its highly decentralized purchasing structure, where individual facilities and programs frequently issue their own RFPs. The presence of a single VA medical center (West Los Angeles VA Medical Center) separately appearing in the top 10 further reinforces how active individual VA sites are in sourcing vendors and services.
Beyond the VA, the list is primarily populated by federal and federally affiliated agencies. The National Institutes of Health and Indian Health Service come in second and third, each issuing close to 2,900 RFPS.
Agencies at the state level also appear, such as in Texas, New York, Hawaii, and Maryland, though at significantly lower volumes than their federal counterparts.
Overall, the data implies that vendors targeting healthcare RFP opportunities may find the greatest scale and consistency within federal systems while state agencies represent more targeted, policy-driven opportunities that may require deeper regional and regulatory expertise.
Why are RFIs and RFPs important in healthcare?
RFIs and RFPs allow healthcare organizations and other entities to gather information on potential partners and vendors, making it easier to identify those best equipped to meet the unique needs of their planned project or initiative.
RFIs are typically performed early in the project planning process to gather broad information on multiple vendors’ capabilities. RFPs tend to be issued after a budget and timeline has been established for a project, with a focus on identifying a partner who can meet very specific needs.
RFPs may be followed by a request for quotation (RFQ) to obtain an itemized list of a vendor’s pricing.
Learn more
Healthcare Insights are developed with data from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Read our guide on how to find and win more RFPs or start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers.
