Free tool · Launching January 2027
Hire an eDNA lab on your terms.
The RFP Builder turns your monitoring question into a procurement-ready request for proposals. Every lab answers the same questions, in the same format, so you can compare bids side by side.
Launching January 2027
Every lab answers a different question.
Most eDNA procurement starts with a blank page or a recycled scope of work. Labs respond in their own formats, with their own assumptions, and leave out the details that decide whether results can be trusted or compared: which reference database version was used, how replicates were structured, what the controls showed. Buyers end up comparing price, because price is the only thing every bid reports the same way.
Inconsistent bids.
Labs respond in different formats, so bids can't be compared line by line.
Missing details.
The method information that determines comparability is rarely requested, so it's rarely provided.
Data you don't hold.
Many contracts never require delivery of raw sequence data, so results can't be reanalyzed or verified later.
From question to comparable bids in four steps.
- 01
Describe your question.
Answer a short questionnaire about what you need to know, where, and when.
- 02
Generate your RFP.
Receive a complete, editable RFP: scope, sampling minimums, deliverables, quality-control requirements, data requirements, and evaluation criteria. Download as Word or PDF.
- 03
Issue it to any lab.
Send it to whichever laboratories you choose. Common Measure never routes, recommends, or contacts labs on your behalf.
- 04
Compare bids side by side.
Enter responses into the bid comparison sheet. You score them; Common Measure never ranks laboratories.
What the questionnaire asks
About ten minutes. No account needed to preview; your RFP is saved to a free, email-verified account at launch.
1. Your question
- Are you looking for specific species, or describing the whole community?
- Is this for a regulatory decision, a management program, or research?
2. Your sites
- Water or soil? Lake, river, wetland, estuary, or ocean?
- How many sites, and how many sampling events across seasons?
3. Your method needs
- Do you need detection only, or relative abundance?
- Which taxonomic groups matter: fish, amphibians, invertebrates, plants, others?
4. Your quality requirements
- How many field and technical replicates do you need?
- Which controls must be reported: field blanks, extraction blanks, PCR negatives, positives?
5. Your data
- Must raw sequence files (FASTQ) be delivered to you?
- Which databases must results be ready to submit to?
Your answers set the scope. The disclosure questions are always included.
Disclosure, not conformance.
Every RFP includes the same disclosure questions, drawn from the Common Measure specification. Labs are asked to state what they did, not to meet a Common Measure benchmark. "Not recorded" is an acceptable answer: declaring a gap is honest, and silence is not.
- Which molecule and method will you use (for example, DNA metabarcoding or qPCR)?
- What is the maximum time from collection to filtration or preservation?
- What filter type and pore size will you use?
- How are replicates structured: technical, field, and temporal?
- Which controls are run, and will every control result be reported?
- Which bioinformatics pipeline and version will be used?
- Which reference database and version will be used for taxonomic assignment?
- Will per-sample assay coverage be reported?
- Will raw FASTQ files be delivered to the client, and does the client own them?
Compare bids on more than price.
The RFP Builder includes a bid comparison sheet that lines up every response on the same rows: price, turnaround, method, controls, reference database version, data delivery. You do the scoring and set the weights. Common Measure does not see your bids, score them, or rank laboratories.
| Row | Lab A | Lab B | Lab C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per sample | Stated | Stated | Stated |
| Turnaround | Stated | Stated | Not recorded |
| Method | Stated | Stated | Stated |
| Controls reported | Stated | Not recorded | Stated |
| Reference database version | Not recorded | Stated | Stated |
| Raw data delivered | Stated | Stated | Not recorded |
Built for the people who buy eDNA.
State and federal agency programs
Environmental consultants
Lake and watershed associations
Tribal natural resource programs
Utilities and infrastructure owners
Common Measure serves only US programs.
Neutral by design.
Free, forever. The RFP Builder will never charge buyers or labs.
No routing, no ranking. We never recommend, rank, or refer laboratories.
Your RFP is yours. Edit it, share it, and issue it however you choose.
Labs help shape the questions. Laboratories are invited to review the disclosure questions before launch.
Be first to build your RFP.
Launching January 2027
