How to Respond to a Freight RFP Without Losing a Week

A shipper's RFP can be the biggest opportunity of the year for a brokerage, and one of its biggest time sinks. A typical bid arrives as a spreadsheet with dozens or hundreds of lanes, each needing a rate, often within a week. Many small brokerages either skip RFPs or rush them and price lanes they cannot cover.

This guide gives you a repeatable process to respond well, quickly.

Step 1: Read the bid before you price it

Check the basics before touching a rate:

• Deadline and format: the template, the rounds, and how rates must be submitted (all-in, linehaul plus fuel, per mile).
• Volumes: annual or weekly loads per lane. A lane with one load a year is not the same as a lane with five a week.
• Equipment and requirements: reefer temperatures, team, hazmat, appointments, drop trailers.
• Fuel: whether rates should include fuel or follow the shipper's fuel schedule (see fuel surcharge explained).
• Accessorials: what the shipper will pay for detention, stops and other extras (see the accessorial charges checklist).

Step 2: Normalize the lanes

Bid files are messy. Standardize city and state names, five-digit ZIP codes where given, equipment codes and volumes. Remove duplicates and flag lanes with missing data so you can ask the shipper early.

Step 3: Price every lane consistently

For each lane, use the same inputs:

1. Market rate for the lane and equipment, using contract rather than spot ranges for an annual bid (see spot vs contract rates).
2. Your history on the lane: what you quoted, won and paid (see lane history pricing).
3. Your margin rules: minimum dollar margin and target percentage by equipment and customer (see how to set and protect your margin).

Consistency matters more than precision at this stage. If two reps price half the file each with different assumptions, your bid will be inconsistent in ways the shipper notices.

Step 4: Choose where to win

Not every lane is equally good for you. Sort lanes into three groups:

• Core lanes where you have carriers and history: price to win.
• Network lanes that connect to your core lanes or help your carriers' backhauls: price competitively.
• Everything else: price at a margin you are happy to cover, or decline.

Step 5: Review, submit and follow up

Check for outliers, such as a rate far below market or a per-mile rate that does not make sense for the distance. Submit before the deadline, and be ready for a second round.

Step 6: Learn from the award

Record which lanes you won and at what rate, then track tender acceptance and actual margins through the year. That history makes your next RFP faster and sharper.

How software helps

The slowest part of an RFP is the repetitive pricing: looking up the market rate, checking history and applying margin rules for each lane. Tools that read the bid file and price every lane with the same rules turn days of work into a review. Hopelight Quote, for example, can take an uploaded spreadsheet or PDF tender and price every lane in one batch with your margin rules, leaving your team to focus on strategy.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to respond to a freight RFP?

It depends on the number of lanes and your process. With a clean file and consistent pricing inputs, a few hundred lanes can be priced in a day or two instead of a week.

Should I bid on every lane in an RFP?

No. Focus on lanes where you have carriers and history, plus lanes that support your network. Price the rest at a margin you would be happy to cover, or skip them.

Should RFP rates use spot or contract market data?

Annual bids are usually priced from contract rate ranges, adjusted with your own lane history and current market direction.