How to run a freight RFP that holds up after the award.

A freight RFP asks carriers to bid against each other for your lanes. Run well, it takes about three weeks and the rates hold, because carriers bid on real data. Rush it and you get rates carriers start rejecting the first time the market tightens.

Timeline: About three weeks to award
Data needed: 12 months of shipments
Worth running at: About $500K a year, or weekly lanes
Best timing: January to March, or late summer

A road atlas on a dark table with freight lanes drawn between cities

The six steps

1. Agree on what you’re optimizing

Get operations, finance and the warehouse in one room first. Finance may want the lowest rate. The dock may care more about pickup windows. Settle that before any carrier sees the package.

2. Pull twelve months of data

Every lane with origin and destination ZIP codes, volumes and frequency. Weights, temperature requirements, hazmat, and the months when volume spikes or drops. Then the operating details carriers price around: dock hours, appointments and how long loading takes.

3. Build the bid package

Lead with the lane list in a spreadsheet, because carriers go straight to it. Say how rates should be quoted, per mile or per load, and state your fuel surcharge schedule so every bid uses the same one. List accessorial terms and your requirements on insurance, safety scores and EDI.

4. Invite the right bidders

Invite carriers that actually run your lanes with the right equipment. Include your current carriers so they can defend their business, and mix asset carriers with 3PLs. Asset carriers often bid hardest on dense lanes they already run.

5. Compare total cost

Add fuel, accessorials and expected detention to every bid. Check service history and how much capacity each carrier is actually committing by lane. The carrier with the lowest rate is often the first to start turning down your loads.

6. Award, then watch the first 90 days

Track tender acceptance by lane. A lane that keeps getting rejected was priced too low, and it’s cheaper to re-award it early than to pay spot rates all year.

The mistakes that cost the most

Bidding lanes your network shouldn’t be running in the first place
Sending incomplete data, so carriers pad their rates to cover what they can’t see
Awarding on line-haul rate alone
Running the bid in peak season, when carriers have no reason to sharpen a pencil
Never checking whether the awarded rates actually held

Where NT comes in

We can organize your data into a bid-ready package, run the RFP for you, or model your network first so you’re bidding the right lanes. Several of our studies started as an RFP question. Send RFPs and bid packages to rfp@ntlogistics.com.

Freight RFP questions

How long does a freight RFP take?

About three weeks from sending the package to signing, if the data is ready. Pulling clean data is usually what takes longest.

How much freight do I need to run one?

Roughly $500,000 a year in freight spend, or lanes you ship every week. Carriers won’t compete hard for sporadic freight.

When is the best time to run one?

January through March, or late summer, when carriers have spare capacity. Avoid peak season.

Should a 3PL bid in my RFP?

Yes, alongside asset carriers. A 3PL can often cover lanes the carriers won’t, and some will help you run the process. Asset vs. non-asset 3PLs.

Two minutes See where savings may be hiding Four questions, no email, and a dollar range with the places we’d look first. Before you bid Find out which lanes to bid Send six months of shipment history. Findings in about five business days.