- Providing world class service and value for employee benefit group plans since 1987
Selecting a benefits broker is one of the most important HR and finance decisions growing companies make. Your broker isn’t just a middleman—they’re your advisor, compliance partner, and strategic guide.
But with hundreds of brokers competing for your business, how do you know which one is the right fit?
A structured Request for Proposal (RFP) process ensures you evaluate each candidate on the same criteria, ask the right questions, and compare apples-to-apples. In this guide, we’ll provide a detailed RFP template that employers can use when choosing a benefits broker in 2025 and beyond.
Transparency: Get clear comparisons of fees, services, and added-value offerings.
Accountability: Ensure brokers commit to specific deliverables (not vague promises).
Customization: Match broker strengths to your company’s size, industry, and locations.
Risk reduction: Verify compliance expertise and fiduciary support.
Below is a structured template you can adapt for your company.
Explain your organization’s size, industry, benefits goals, and current challenges.
Sample prompts:
Provide a summary of your employee demographics.
Describe your current benefits offerings.
Identify key pain points (cost increases, compliance risk, low employee satisfaction).
Questions to ask:
Provide a brief history of your firm and size of your client base.
What industries or company sizes do you specialize in?
How many clients do you serve in our size range?
Questions to ask:
Who will be our primary point of contact?
What support team (analysts, compliance specialists, wellness coordinators) will we have access to?
Provide bios and credentials of the team members we will work with.
Questions to ask:
Describe your renewal strategy process.
How do you support with vendor negotiations and RFPs for carriers/TPAs?
Do you provide employee communication materials and open enrollment support?
What compliance services do you offer (ACA reporting, COBRA, ERISA, MHPAEA parity analyses)?
Do you provide benchmarking data and analytics?
Questions to ask:
Do you provide a benefits administration platform?
Can you integrate with our HRIS/payroll system?
What employee self-service or mobile tools are included?
Questions to ask:
How do you ensure our plan documents (SPD, SBC, Cafeteria Plan) are up to date?
How do you support MHPAEA, ACA, and ERISA compliance?
Do you provide fiduciary training or committee governance support?
Questions to ask:
How do you support employee education during open enrollment?
Do you provide year-round communication (newsletters, webinars, microlearning)?
Do you tailor communication to diverse employee groups (multi-language, remote)?
Questions to ask:
How do you track medical/Rx spend, utilization, and trend drivers?
What cost-containment strategies do you recommend (PBM audits, site-of-care redirection, telehealth)?
Do you provide quarterly reporting and actionable recommendations?
Questions to ask:
Explain how your firm is compensated (commissions, fees, hybrid).
Are you willing to work on a transparent fee-for-service model?
Provide a detailed fee schedule, including consulting hours, compliance audits, and wellness program support.
Questions to ask:
Provide three client references, ideally similar to our size and industry.
Share case studies showing how you reduced costs, improved engagement, or solved compliance issues.
| Category | Weight | Broker A | Broker B | Broker C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firm experience | 15% | |||
| Services offered | 20% | |||
| Technology tools | 15% | |||
| Compliance expertise | 20% | |||
| Communication support | 10% | |||
| Fees & transparency | 20% |
This matrix helps ensure decisions are objective and based on agreed criteria.
Choosing the right benefits broker is about more than comparing premiums. The right partner will help you:
Manage costs with data and strategy
Keep you compliant with complex regulations
Engage employees with effective communication
Scale your benefits program as your company grows
At Taylor Benefits Insurance, we regularly respond to RFPs and help employers build scoring tools, evaluation frameworks, and customized broker comparison checklists.
Look for a broker who focuses on strategic planning, not just annual renewals. Ask how they track progress with clear metrics, how they adjust benefits as your company grows, and how they align their recommendations with your culture and talent strategy. Make sure their compensation structure supports long-term outcomes and schedule regular reviews to keep the partnership on track.
Include questions in the RFP about the broker’s approach to benefits planning, cost management, and adaptation to changing regulations. A strategic partner will provide proactive guidance rather than reactive solutions.
A scoring matrix helps keep the evaluation objective. Employers can assign weights to categories such as expertise, services, compliance support, technology, and fees. Using consistent scoring criteria ensures each proposal is reviewed fairly and helps decision makers focus on the most important factors.
Before issuing an RFP, companies should gather employee demographics, current benefits costs, claims history, compliance documents, and workforce feedback. This baseline information helps brokers build accurate proposals, compare plan options effectively, and design strategies that match both financial goals and employee needs.
Todd Taylor oversees most of the marketing and client administration for the agency with help of an incredible team. Todd is a seasoned benefits insurance broker with over 35 years of industry experience. As the Founder and CEO of Taylor Benefits Insurance Agency, Inc., he provides strategic consultations and high-quality support to ensure his clients’ competitive position in the market.
We just started working with Taylor Benefits and could not be happier. Todd gave us quite the education as well as some time saving tools to help us manage our HR and save money too. We are looking forward to a long relationship!”
-Carol, Accounting Manager, recruitment marketing company, Campbell, CA
We’re ready to help! Call today: 800-903-6066