Carrier TMS RFP template (2026)

How to use this template

Send the template to a 2- or 3-vendor shortlist (narrowed using our 12-question framework). Set a 2-week response deadline. Score answers in the matrix in section 12. Anything that comes back as marketing prose instead of a specific answer counts against the vendor — the goal is forcing structured comparable responses.

Below 10 trucks: skip the formal RFP. Use sections 4, 6, and 9 as a checklist for the discovery call instead.
10–50 trucks: a 1-page RFP works. Use the section headers and pick the 3–5 most critical questions per section.
50+ trucks: use the full template. Distribute internally to dispatch, ops, accounting, IT — each owner reviews their section.

Section 1 · Cover & instructions

Carrier name, MC#, USDOT, primary contact + project lead
Issue date, response deadline (typically 2 weeks)
Decision timeline and intended go-live date
Format: PDF response, structured per section, page count cap (typically 25 pages excluding pricing)
Confidentiality / NDA reference if applicable
Single point of contact for vendor questions during the response window

Section 2 · Carrier profile

Give vendors enough context to answer specifically — not generically.

Truck count today / projected at 12, 24, 36 months
Trailer count by type (dry van, reefer, flatbed, tanker, etc.)
Operating model: asset-only, broker, hybrid carrier+broker, 3PL
Operation type: FTL / LTL / multi-mode / specialized
Geographic footprint: regional / OTR / cross-border / Mexico / Canada
Office staff count by role: dispatch / safety / accounting / management
Driver model: company / owner-op / mix (with split)
Current TMS (if any) and reason for change
Current ELD provider, accounting system, factoring partner, primary load board

Section 3 · Vendor profile

Company history, founding year, ownership structure, HQ location
Total customer count, customer count in the carrier segment specifically
Customer count by fleet size band (1–10, 11–50, 51–250, 250+)
Three carrier references at our fleet size, willing to take a 30-min reference call
Product roadmap for the next 12 months — features the vendor has committed to ship
Recent C-level changes, recent acquisitions or being-acquired status
Annual customer churn rate (vendors that won't disclose are a soft red flag)

Section 4 · Functional requirements

Group as Must-have / Should-have / Nice-to-have. Vendor responds Native / Configurable / Roadmapped / Not supported per requirement. Don't score "Configurable" the same as "Native" — configuration is engineering work whether the vendor or you does it.

Dispatch: board view, lane view, calendar view, driver view, multi-stop loads, drop & hook, team driving
Loads: FTL / LTL / partial / multi-mode, accessorials, fuel surcharge formulas, rate confirmation generation
Customers / brokers: credit days/limits surfaced inline, MC validation, broker portal, customer self-service
Drivers: driver app, ePOD capture, in-app chat, hours-aware assignment, driver settlements
Settlements: per-mile / per-percentage / hybrid, fuel deductions, advance handling, 1099 contractor support
Accounting: AR / AP / GL native or QB integration, multi-entity, class/department dimensions
Reporting: P&L by truck/lane/customer, KPI dashboards, custom report builder, scheduled exports
Compliance: safety scorecards, training records, accident logs, FMCSA reporting
Maintenance: PM scheduling, work orders, parts inventory, warranty tracking

Section 5 · Integration requirements

For each integration, specify: must-have / nice-to-have, depth required (Native API / Marketplace / File drop / Manual). Cross-check vendor responses against our integration matrices for known reality.

ELD: Samsara / Motive / Geotab / [other] — bidirectional GPS, HOS, document capture
Accounting: QuickBooks Online / Desktop / Xero / Sage / native
Factor: [your factor] — direct API submission, bidirectional funding status
Load boards: DAT / Truckstop — load import + truck posting + RateView/RMIS
EDI: 204 / 990 / 214 / 210 / [other] for [list of brokers]
Fuel cards: EFS / Comdata / WEX
Tolls: PrePass / BestPass
Drug & alcohol clearinghouse
Weigh station / safety: PrePass, Drivewyze
Document management / OCR: Vector, OnRamp, native

Section 6 · Phantom-feature questions (the depth tester)

This is the most valuable part of the RFP. Vendors get into the rhythm of saying "Yes, supported" to every functional question. Phantom-feature questions are deliberately specific — phrased so a vendor who's actually used the product can answer in 2 sentences, but a vendor relying on marketing-speak will produce a paragraph that doesn't actually answer it. Mix 6–10 of these into the RFP.

Walk us through the exact dispatcher click-path for assigning a multi-stop load with a deadhead leg, including how the system surfaces driver HOS during assignment. A vendor who has the feature describes the screens; one who doesn't describes "the assignment workflow."
How does the system handle a partial-payment from a broker against an aged invoice — what's the dispatch click-path and what's the AR clerk click-path? Real-world AR is messy. Tests whether the AR module can handle real invoicing.
Show us the screen where a dispatcher sees a load's profitability projection in real time, factoring in fuel, settlements, and accessorials. Most TMS show actual P&L after the load completes; few show projected.
If our largest customer requires us to send EDI 990 acceptance within 5 minutes of receiving 204, walk us through how the system supports this SLA — automatic acceptance, manual review queue, what's the fallback if the vendor's EDI VAN is down.
Describe how the system handles a load that's been re-rated mid-transit (broker calls, increases the rate by $200 because of detention). What does the dispatcher do? What's the document trail?
If a driver is rejected by a customer at delivery (claim of damage, refused load), what's the click-path from "rejection notification" to "claim filed and rate-recovery initiated"?
Show us a driver settlement run with mid-period changes — a $200 fuel advance issued mid-week, a $150 detention bonus added Friday morning, a deduction reversed because of a manual override. Settlement edge cases reveal product depth.
Walk us through how the system handles per-diem split for an owner-op with mixed company-truck and owner-op pay structure (some lanes one model, some the other).
How do you handle a TMS data export if we cancel — what specific data fields are exportable, what format, what's the SLA on delivery? Tests data-portability before signing.
Describe the audit trail for a single load: who touched it, when, what changed, what's retrievable 24 months later for a customer dispute or DOT audit.

Score these answers harshly. Vague answers indicate the feature exists in marketing but hasn't been stress-tested by carriers like yours.

Section 7 · Technical & security

Hosting: SaaS multi-tenant / single-tenant / on-prem / hybrid
Cloud provider, data residency (US / Canada / both)
Backup cadence and RPO/RTO
SOC 2 Type 2 report (request copy under NDA)
Encryption: at rest, in transit
SSO: SAML, OIDC, MFA enforcement
Role-based access control granularity
API: REST / SOAP / GraphQL, authentication mechanism, rate limits, sandbox environment
Webhook support for outbound events
Browser support and minimum version requirements
Mobile platform support (iOS / Android), minimum OS versions
Uptime SLA and reported uptime over the past 12 months

Section 8 · Implementation plan

Vendor must provide a draft project plan as part of the RFP response, not after contract signing.

Proposed implementation timeline (Gantt) with milestone gates
Resources committed by vendor: PM / solution architect / configurator / trainer
Resources required from carrier: roles, time commitment by week
Data-migration approach: tools, what's migrated vs archived
Configuration approach: standard config + custom items
Training plan: by role, format, duration
Parallel-run period: vendor's recommended duration and approach
Cutover plan: cutover window, rollback procedure
Hypercare period: duration, availability, escalation path
Acceptance criteria for each milestone

Cross-reference against our implementation checklist for what a credible plan looks like. Generic implementation plans (e.g., "Vendor will provide implementation services") are a red flag — demand specifics.

Section 9 · Pricing & total cost

Force a complete TCO answer — vendors prefer to fragment pricing across multiple line items.

Subscription: per-truck / per-user / flat / hybrid — cost for our exact fleet/user profile
Implementation: total fixed price, payment milestones
Training: included / billed separately
Custom-development items: T&M or fixed-price, with cap
Integrations: which are included, which are billed (especially EDI per-broker, factor connectors, third-party tools)
Premium support / SLA tier upcharge
Driver-app / mobile seats: bundled or per-device
API call volume thresholds and overage pricing
Document storage limits and overage pricing
Annual price uplift mechanism (CPI / fixed % / negotiated cap)
3-year and 5-year total-cost-of-ownership tables

Compare against our pricing guide ranges. Quotes materially above the published-source range deserve a "why" question; quotes materially below deserve a "what's not included" question.

Section 10 · Support & SLA

Support channels by tier: email, chat, phone, named CSM
Response-time SLA by issue severity
Hours of coverage per tier
Escalation paths and SLA penalties for breach
Customer success manager — included or upcharge, frequency of touchpoints
Knowledge base, training videos, certification programs
User community / forum access

Section 11 · Contract terms

The clauses that determine whether you have optionality.

Initial term, renewal mechanism (auto-renew vs opt-in), notice period
Annual price uplift cap
Termination for cause, termination for convenience
Data-export procedure on termination — formats, SLA, fees
Liability cap, IP ownership, indemnification
SLA penalties: subscription credits / financial penalties / right to terminate
Vendor's force-majeure language
Acquisition / change-of-control clause
Most-favored-customer or price-protection clause if obtainable

Section 12 · Scoring & decision

Pre-publish your scoring rubric to keep evaluation honest. Suggested weights for a typical mid-fleet carrier:

Section	Weight	Notes
Functional fit (§4)	25%	Must-haves disqualify; should-haves and nice-to-haves scored.
Integration fit (§5)	20%	Cross-check against our matrices. Hard requirements disqualify.
Phantom-feature depth (§6)	15%	The strongest signal of real vs marketing depth.
Implementation plan (§8)	10%	Specific & credible vs generic.
Total cost (§9)	15%	3-year TCO not just sticker.
Support & SLA (§10)	5%	Especially for 24/7 dispatch operations.
Contract terms (§11)	5%	Optionality matters.
References (§3)	5%	Three reference calls; weight by carrier-size match.

Adjust weights based on what's most strategic for your operation — if EDI is mission-critical, integrations and phantom features should weight higher. If you're scaling fast, vendor profile and support weight higher.

Vendor-side red flags during the RFP process

"Most of that's covered in the demo." The RFP exists to force structured written answers. Vendors who push everything to demo are avoiding accountability.
Marketing prose instead of specific answers. If 30% of responses are vendor brochure language, the vendor isn't engaged with your operation.
Pricing only on a discovery call. Force at minimum a list-price range — even "for a fleet of your size and module mix, our quotes typically run $X–$Y/mo" is acceptable; "we'd need to discuss" is not.
References from outside your fleet-size band. An enterprise vendor's owner-op references are not relevant. Insist on size-matched references.
No customer churn / retention data. Healthy vendors disclose. Unhealthy ones obscure.
Vague implementation plans. "Vendor will provide reasonable implementation support" is not a plan. Demand a Gantt with named resources.
Aggressive contract pressure during RFP. "We can hold this pricing for 7 days only" — manipulative time pressure during the evaluation phase indicates the vendor expects to lose if you compare carefully.

Use this with our other guides

Use the 12-question framework to narrow your shortlist before sending RFPs.
Use our pricing guide to anchor the pricing-section answers in market reality.
Use our implementation checklist to evaluate the implementation plan in section 8.
Use our integration matrices to fact-check vendor integration claims in section 5.