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Freight RFP Response

A freight RFP response built lane by lane on what the brokerage paid carriers there, with the clauses that cost money priced before a rate goes out.

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Watch one shipper's bid priced and signed ↓
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The problem

A detention cap and a cargo limit nobody priced until after the award

The shipper's package lands as a lane spreadsheet, a requirements document, a questionnaire and insurance appendices, with a question window of about two weeks. Lanes get priced per mile from history and a rate tool, and the questionnaire is filled from last season's answers.

The clauses that change what a load costs get read after the rates are set, or after the award. Detention is capped below what carriers are paid, a cargo limit outruns the carrier base, payment stretches far past thirty days. Thin lanes priced on a regional average go out under the buy rate, and a carrier's note about holiday weeks never reaches the price.

Built forFreight brokersPricing managersSales leadersCarrier capacity teamsControllers

The Problem Today

A shipper's bid hides the terms that cost money, and lanes get priced from averages before anyone reads them.

39.3%
of stops with detention, as drivers reported in a 2024 survey published

Read and priced by hand today

  • Lane file
  • Fine print
  • Truck calls
  • Q&A window
  • Thin lanes priced on averagesShort or hard lanes go out under what carriers cost
  • A cargo limit few carriers carryFound after the award, when the routing guide is due

The Solution

  1. The bid laid on one gridLanes shaded by the broker's own loads, carriers and margin
  2. Clauses priced into each laneDetention caps, drop trailers and cargo limits marked where they bite
  3. A challenger scores the draftRead as the shipper's procurement will; lanes under cost get repriced
  4. Controller and VP signPayment terms signed with their cost, the response after a full review

Built-in controls

  • Rates under what the lane cost caught before signing
  • Carrier notes and shipper prose read by a person
  • Assumptions marked until the controller confirms

What You Get

The brokerage bids only lanes it can haul, at a margin it can see, with the costly terms settled before the window closes.

  • Only lanes worth biddingChosen from the brokerage's own fit on each lane
  • Terms questioned in timeQuestions sent in fields before the shipper's close
  • Signatures with their evidenceEach records what was opened and what it attests
Features

Freight RFP response features for brokers, lane file to the VP's signature

The pricing manager, capacity manager, controller and VP of sales use them to answer one shipper's dry-van bid from what the brokerage pays.

demoBroker, shipper, carriers, lanes, staff and dollar figures on these screens: sample data.

  1. 01Lane fit grid

    Freight RFP lane file mapped on a grid shaded by your own loads and margin

    • The shipper's lanes on one grid. Ship-from points by the brokerage's own regions, each cell showing lanes bid of lanes offered, with no map to read.
    • Shaded by your fit on each lane. Cells darken where the brokerage already runs freight well, so pricing time goes to lanes it can win and cover.
    • A steer in plain words, logged. The pricing manager drops lanes the brokerage cannot cover in one sentence, and the grid recounts with who asked and why on the log.
  2. 02Requirements

    Transportation RFP requirements read clause by clause and priced in

    • Each clause that changes cost, found. Detention caps, drop-trailer pools, stop-offs and cargo limits are marked priced in, an exception, a question or a person's call.
    • Questions to the shipper in fields. A question goes out before the window closes and asks for answers the pricing can use, such as yes or no and an amount.
    • The yearly cost of each clause. The pricing manager sees what a detention cap or a drop-trailer pool costs before a rate is set.
  3. 03Price build

    Truckload bid response priced lane by lane from what you paid carriers there

    • Lanes worth bidding, chosen by fit. Lanes with one carrier, thin margin, few loads or late history are marked not worth bidding, each with its reason.
    • A price build with every source. Linehaul, detention gap, drop trailer, stop-off and excess cover each cite the record behind them, so each dollar can be defended.
    • A carrier's season field priced in. Weeks a committed carrier blacks out are priced on the next carrier, so a holiday gap never hides inside a flat rate.
  4. 04Evaluator

    A challenger scoring the freight bid as the shipper's buyers will

    • Points in the shipper's own voice. Each point uses only what the shipper can see, so the pricing manager hears the objections before the award meeting.
    • The brokerage's floor test on thin rates. Lanes priced under what carriers were paid there are caught and repriced before the VP reviews the draft.
    • Rulings left to the pricing manager. Points the record cannot settle, like payment terms and tender acceptance, wait for the pricing manager's decision with the passages open.
  5. 05Commitments

    Carrier commitment checks answered lane by lane in fixed fields

    • Six fields per lane, sent to core carriers. Loads a week, linehaul, season, drop trailers, lead time and cargo cover come back comparable, ready to set the buy side.
    • Cargo cover read from certificates on file. The share of carriers holding the shipper's cargo limit is known before the bid commits to it.
    • Carriers left out, with the reason. A carrier with a cancellation notice on its federal record is left out, with that reason shown.
  6. 06Addendum

    Shipper addendum answers confirmed by a person before any price moves

    • The shipper's exact words beside each field. Prose answers are turned into proposed fields, and the pricing manager ticks each one against what the shipper wrote.
    • One confirmed answer reprices the buy side. When the shipper relaxes a requirement, lanes return to the cheaper carriers whose committed fields now qualify, with no rekeying.
    • A tick that records who read the addendum. The tick records that the fields match the shipper's words, so the response rests only on answers a person checked.
  7. 07Payment terms

    Payment terms and early-pay discounts priced before the exception is taken

    • Every choice priced a year ahead. Asking for shorter terms, offering an early-pay discount or accepting the shipper's terms each show a yearly cost before the ruling.
    • The passages the ruling rests on. The evaluation section and the payment clause sit in the dialog, so the decision is made against the bid's own words.
    • A reason code and a reason, every time. The VP of sales reads why the pricing manager ruled that way before signing the response.
  8. 08Controller

    Controller signs the payment terms with their yearly cost on screen

    • Treasury memo and exception letter together. The cost of capital and the exact terms offered are read side by side before signing.
    • Assumptions marked until the controller confirms. Cost of capital and discount take-up read assumed until the controller confirms them, and an edit clears the confirmation.
    • The dollar figure inside the signature. The signature states what the terms cost a year, so finance owns a number and the record keeps it.
  9. 09Sign-off

    Freight RFP response signed by the VP of sales after opening the evidence

    • Grid, exception and points opened first. The VP can approve only after opening all three, and no timer stands in for that.
    • Three people, three separate signatures. The pricing manager prepares, the controller signs terms and the VP signs the response; reopening clears every signature.
    • Upload held until notes are read. The analyst uploads only a signed response, after the capacity manager has read every carrier note.

Pricing, capacity, finance and sales each own a piece of the freight bid

Four desks at the brokerage put a name to the response before the analyst uploads it.

Pricing managers

Start the read, steer the agents, rule on the evaluator's points and submit

  • Lanes worth bidding chosen from the brokerage's own fit
  • Below-cost lanes caught before the VP sees the draft
  • Each ruling made with the passages open beside it
Carrier capacity managers

Send commitment checks, read carriers' notes and hold a carrier when in doubt

  • Commitments by lane in six fixed fields
  • Cargo cover read from certificates on file
  • Holds that apply immediately
Controllers

Confirm the cost of capital and sign payment terms past the house standard

  • Each payment term priced a year ahead
  • The treasury memo opened before confirming
  • The dollar figure written into the signature
VPs of sales

Sign every response, approve lessons and no-bids

  • The grid, exception letter and points opened before signing
  • Past rulings shown before a lesson applies
  • No response signed by the person who built it

Seven agents read and price, and not one of them sends or signs the response

Each hands its work on in view, and any source it read opens in one click.

Package reader

Opens every file of the package, and each addendum, from the portal or email.

  • Never answers for the brokerage
  • Turns prose addenda into proposed fields a person confirms
Lane normalizer

Places each lane on a ship-from and region grid and matches it to the brokerage's own loads.

  • Never guesses a destination; asks the shipper
Requirement finder

Reads the requirements for each clause that changes what a load costs and marks the lanes it touches.

  • Never takes an exception; proposes it to a person
Pricer

Prices each lane from what was paid there, the carriers' commitments and the requirements.

  • Held to what was paid on the lane by the floor test
  • Applies a lesson only after the VP approves it
Capacity agent

Sends commitment checks to carriers and reads cargo cover from certificates on file.

  • A carrier's note never changes a rate
  • Never judges a carrier
Shipper's evaluator

Scores the draft as the shipper's procurement will, and runs the brokerage's own floor test where a rate looks thin.

  • Never sees another bidder's rates
  • Hands decisions to a person
Answer writer

Drafts cited answers, questions and the exception letter.

  • No answer without a record
  • Leaves references, litigation and commitments to people
More screens

Carrier portal, questionnaire and audit trail around one transportation RFP

Screens the carrier, the capacity manager, the controller and the auditor work in around the same bid.

The carrier's sideEach carrier is shown just the lanes it was asked about, six fields apiece, with the shipper unnamed and other carriers' answers hidden.
A carrier's note, readThe capacity manager reads the carrier's note word for word, then marks it read under a reason code, in their own words. The note changes no rate.
Rehearse the shipper's answersThree answers the shipper might give, played forward a year, with cost of capital, excess cover and take-up editable.
A lesson from past rulingsA winter premium on lanes in the upper Midwest, learned from three of the pricing manager's rulings, waits for the VP of sales.
The questionnaire, draftedAnswers drafted with a source each; the ones about litigation, references and commitments are left for named people.
Audit trailEvery reading, ruling and signature in time order, with who, why and what the signature meant.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

A below-cost rate, a lesson or an upload never happens on one person's say

No rate under the buy floorA steer that asks for a below-cost price is refused, and the evaluator's floor test runs before anyone signs.
No exception taken by an agentThe requirement finder proposes it; the pricing manager rules with the bid's own sections open and gives a reason.
No outside words moving a priceCarrier notes and the shipper's prose answers wait for a named person, and the upload stays blocked until they are read.
No terms past the house standard without the controllerThe controller signs the exception with its yearly cost on screen; editing an assumption clears that confirmation.
No lesson applied by the person it came fromA winter premium learned from the pricing manager's rulings waits for the VP of sales.

Six systems the agents read to price one shipper's lanes

Other bidders' rates and market indexes are not among them.

Shippers' bid portals and emailThe package and each addendum as it arrived.
Transportation management systemA year of the brokerage's loads, carriers, buy rates and detention by lane.
Carrier onboarding recordsCertificates of insurance on file, read for each carrier's cargo cover.
Federal registration dataEach carrier's authority record, including notices that cancel its insurance.
Carrier portalCommitment checks answered in fixed fields, lane by lane.
ERP and treasuryThe cost of capital the controller confirms before payment terms are priced.

What pricing teams ask about a freight RFP response

What is a freight RFP response?

A freight RFP response is the broker's answer to a shipper's request for proposal: a rate for each lane, answers to the questionnaire and any exceptions to the requirements. Here agents read the package and price the lanes worth bidding from what the brokerage paid carriers; rulings and signatures stay with people.

How are lanes in a transportation RFP priced?

From the lane's own loads where history is deep enough, otherwise from its grid cell's average paid per mile, plus the requirements that cost money. The evaluator's floor test catches any lane priced below what was paid there before anyone signs.

What does the shipper's evaluator check?

It rates the draft the way the shipper's buyers will, using only what the shipper can see: rate, tender acceptance, completeness and exceptions. Where a rate looks too thin to hold, it runs the brokerage's own floor test, and it flags the agents' mistakes first.

Can carriers commit to lanes before we bid?

Yes. The capacity agent sends a commitment check in fixed fields to the carriers that ran the lanes. Their fields set the buy side; any note waits for the capacity manager.

Who signs the freight bid response?

The pricing manager prepares and submits it, the controller signs payment terms past the house standard, and the VP of sales signs after opening the grid, the exception letter and the evaluator's points. The analyst uploads it to the shipper's portal only after that.

Does it use market rate data or other bidders' rates?

No. Lanes are priced from the brokerage's own loads and its carriers' commitments. Other bidders' rates are never received or stored, and the evaluator never sees them.

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Bring one closed bid package and its award, and we will price it lane by lane against what you paid carriers.

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