Who Needs Procurement Solutions?
Shippers & Manufacturers
Production & distribution
What is Freight Procurement & Sourcing?
Procurement and freight sourcing platforms help shippers strategically source transportation services—managing carrier RFPs, analyzing bids, optimizing awards, and executing contracts. These tools bring data-driven decision-making to transportation procurement, reducing costs while ensuring service quality and capacity access.
As transportation spend represents a significant cost for many companies, strategic procurement has evolved from spreadsheet-based processes to sophisticated optimization platforms.
Procurement Platform Capabilities
RFP Management
- Lane Preparation: Package lanes for carrier bidding
- Carrier Invitations: Distribute RFPs to target carriers
- Bid Collection: Centralize carrier responses
- Negotiation: Counter and refine bids
Bid Analysis
- Comparison: Normalize and compare carrier bids
- Benchmarking: Compare bids to market rates
- Scoring: Evaluate bids on price and service factors
- Scenario Analysis: Model different award scenarios
Award Optimization
- Optimization: Mathematically optimal carrier allocation
- Constraints: Apply business rules and preferences
- Capacity Balance: Ensure adequate lane coverage
- What-If: Test sensitivity of awards
Contract Management
- Award Execution: Communicate awards to carriers
- Contract Storage: Centralize rate agreements
- Compliance Tracking: Monitor contract adherence
- Renewal: Manage contract expiration and renewal
Who Needs Procurement Platforms?
Shippers with Significant Freight Spend
Companies spending millions on transportation benefit from optimized procurement reducing costs by 5-15%.
Companies with Complex Networks
Operations with hundreds of lanes and dozens of carriers need systematic procurement management.
3PLs Managing Transportation
Logistics providers procuring capacity on behalf of customers benefit from carrier relationship management.
Procurement Process
1. Preparation
Analyze current spend, identify lanes for RFP, define requirements and evaluation criteria.
2. Carrier Selection
Identify target carriers based on service requirements, geography, and capacity needs.
3. RFP Distribution
Package and distribute lane information to carrier participants.
4. Bid Analysis
Collect and analyze carrier responses. Conduct negotiation rounds as needed.
5. Award Optimization
Determine optimal carrier allocation balancing cost, service, and risk.
6. Execution
Communicate awards, execute contracts, load rates to TMS.
Procurement Benefits
Cost Reduction
Systematic procurement typically reduces transportation spend 5-15% through competition and optimization.
Better Decisions
Data-driven analysis replaces intuition with quantified trade-offs.
Carrier Relationships
Structured procurement enables strategic carrier partnerships based on mutual value.
Compliance
Centralized contracts and rate management ensures negotiated rates are used.
Selection Criteria
1. Optimization Capabilities
Evaluate award optimization sophistication and ability to handle your network complexity.
2. Market Data
Access to benchmark rates helps evaluate bid competitiveness.
3. Integration
Consider connections to TMS for rate loading and compliance tracking.
4. Carrier Network
Some platforms provide access to pre-vetted carrier networks.
Getting Started
Explore procurement solutions in our Procurement comparison tool to find platforms for strategic freight sourcing.