Nonprofit audit guide
Where can CPA firms find open audit RFPs?
Where nonprofits and governments post audit RFPs, what an audit RFP should tell a bidder, how many are open now, and how to track due dates with an RSS feed.
22,398 nonprofit single audits were filed for audit year 2024.
6,728 audit firms observed in FAC filings, as of 2026-11-06.
Data as of 2026-09-20
In short: Nonprofits post audit RFPs on their own websites and other channels; governments post them on procurement portals such as the New York State Contract Reporter. As of 2026-11-15 the RFP index on this site lists 2 open nonprofit audit RFPs, and an RSS feed carries their due dates (portal example).
Where do nonprofits post audit RFPs?
A nonprofit chooses where to post its own request. For procurement under a federal award, the rules require public notice of a request for proposals but do not name a place (2 CFR 200.320(b)(2)). So the channel types vary:
- The nonprofit's own website, which is the page a firm can open and check first.
- A state nonprofit association's member communications.
- Email lists that nonprofits or their advisers run.
This guide makes no claim about how much of the market any one channel covers. Auditee procurement of audit services follows 2 CFR 200.509(a), which asks for a clear scope and a copy of the audit organization's peer review report.
Source: 2 CFR 200.320 · 2 CFR 200.509 · Last verified: 2026-11-15
Where do governments post audit RFPs?
On their procurement portals, which differ by jurisdiction. Two state examples, opened on 2026-11-15:
- New York: the New York State Contract Reporter calls itself the state's official source of contracting opportunities and invites visitors to create a free account.
- Texas: the Electronic State Business Daily is, in the Comptroller's words, an online search engine that lists state contracts over $25,000.
For a county, city or school district, start at that government's own procurement page. This guide did not review any local portal. For federal awards, formal procurement methods are competitive and require public notice once a purchase exceeds the entity's simplified acquisition threshold (2 CFR 200.320(b)).
Source: New York State Contract Reporter · Texas Comptroller, state procurement notices (ESBD) · 2 CFR 200.320 · Last verified: 2026-11-15
What should an audit RFP tell you before you bid?
It should state the scope, the period, whether a single audit is required, the federal awards expended and how proposals will be judged. Without those, bids are not comparable.
| Item | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The due date and how to submit | It decides whether you can respond at all; check the time zone | The RFP itself |
| The period covered | Audits are annual unless a biennial audit is permitted, so price each year the RFP names | 2 CFR 200.504 |
| Whether a single audit is required | A non-federal entity that expends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in a fiscal year needs a single audit or program-specific audit; below that it is exempt for the year | 2 CFR 200.501 |
| Federal awards expended and the programs | The auditor labels programs Type A or Type B by size and uses a risk-based approach to choose major programs, so the program list drives the testing | 2 CFR 200.518 |
| The objectives and scope | The auditee must make them clear in the request | 2 CFR 200.509(a) |
| A request for your peer review report | The auditee must request a copy of the audit organization's peer review report | 2 CFR 200.509(a) |
| The evaluation factors and their weight | Factors listed include responsiveness, relevant experience, staff, quality control reviews and price; for federal-award procurement all evaluation factors and their relative importance must be identified | 200.509(a) · 200.320(b)(2) |
For a full example of what a complete request contains, see the sample on how to write a nonprofit audit RFP. The single audit threshold page explains the $1,000,000 figure by fiscal-year start date.
Source: 2 CFR 200.504 · 2 CFR 200.501 · 2 CFR 200.518 · 2 CFR 200.509 · 2 CFR 200.320 · Last verified: 2026-11-15
How many audit RFPs are open right now?
Two. The RFP index on this site lists 2 open nonprofit audit RFPs as of 2026-11-15, and 8 closed in the last 90 days (open audit RFPs, last check 2026-11-14).
That number is small because of how the index is built, not a count of the market: an RFP is listed once it is found on the issuer's own page with a quotable deadline. It covers what the index has found, not every audit RFP that exists.
The same page reports that 80% of its 10 listings, open and closed, are single audits, and that each listing is read from the issuing organization's own page and re-checked on a schedule. Use the count as a floor for what is findable, and use the portals above and the issuer's own site for the rest (RFP index).
Source: Open audit RFPs on this site, last check 2026-11-14 · Last verified: 2026-11-15
How do you track RFPs without missing deadlines?
Subscribe to the RSS feed at /audit-rfps/feed.xml in any feed reader. Each item states its proposal due date (as of 2026-11-15 the feed carries the two open RFPs), so the date reaches your reader without a visit to the page.
- Put the due date in your calendar the day you find the RFP.
- Open the issuer's own page before you bid: the RFP index points to it, and the issuer's page is the document of record.
- For a government portal, check whether it offers its own notices; New York's Contract Reporter, for example, invites visitors to create a free account.
Source: Audit RFP RSS feed · Open audit RFPs on this site, last check 2026-11-14 · New York State Contract Reporter · Last verified: 2026-11-15
Questions and answers
Are nonprofits required to put their audit out to bid?
Not as a blanket rule. For an audit required under 2 CFR part 200, 200.509(a) tells the auditee to follow the procurement standards in 200.317 through 200.327 or the FAR. Those call for full and open competition (200.319(a)) and for formal, competitive methods with public notice above the entity's simplified acquisition threshold (200.320(b)); below it, informal methods are allowed (200.320(a)). State law, funder terms and bylaws vary and are not covered here.
How long is a typical response window?
On the RFP index, the median time from issue date to deadline across its 10 listed RFPs was 28 days as of 2026-11-15. That is a small sample of only the RFPs the index found, so treat it as one data point.
See the open requests on the
audit RFP indexThis is public-record information, not accounting or legal advice.