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To make A tender doesn't have to be complicated. The most important part of your tender process is that you make sure you find and choose the right freight composition for your specific needs.
It's therefore all about getting Clarification and alignment of expectations with carriers to get the best collaboration.
Here we give you an overview of what a tender process looks like, an example of a short and uncomplicated tender letter, and we show you what a tender checklist is and how you can use it to focus on the soft values when comparing and choosing a freight agreement.
Both small and large offers
In your tender, you decide whether you want to receive offers for individual areas and/or modes of transport or combine them into one offer.
However, you can Often get better prices by combining several areas or modes of transport into a larger offer.
So if you are looking for quotes for road transport, for example, but know that you will need quotes for air or sea transport in a few months, include this in your tender letter.
A tender process
A tender process can be broken down into six steps, consisting of preliminary work, tendering, comparison of offers and finally negotiations or a new tender round.
Below is the timeline for a tender illustrated.
Step 1: Preparation
The first stage of a tender consists of the basic preparatory work before quotes can be requested from carriers. This step involves collecting shipment statistics, drafting a tender letter and tender checklist, and finally selecting which carriers to include in the tender.
We recommend giving the carriers three weeks to respond to the offer and come back with an answer.
Statistics: Annual statistics are collected on the shipments for which quotes are requested.
Tender letter and checklist: The tender letter and checklist describe the task(s) to be tendered by the carriers.
Carriers: Conveyors are selected for the tender.
Later in this guide, you'll find examples of a tender letter and a tender checklist, as well as an explanation of what your shipment statistics should include.
Step 2: Tendering
Statistics, tender letter and checklist are sent to the selected carriers.
We recommend giving the carriers three weeks to respond to the offer and come back with an answer.
Step 3: Deadline
Deadline for carriers to bid on your offer, so all offers must now be received.
We recommend that between step 2 and step 3 you give the carriers the opportunity to visit the company and ask any questions.
Step 4: Comparison
In this step, the offers are compared against the statistics and the carriers' completed checklists to find the best setup and offer for your needs.
By not only requesting quotes with a tender letter, but also having carriers complete a checklist of the soft values that are important to you, it gives you a better opportunity to choose the right offer for your needs and freight setup.
Step 5: Pre-work or new round
Based on the comparison, negotiations with the carrier take place or a new round begins where the carrier can make small adjustments to their offer.
It's important to use the data from the comparison in step 4 to ensure that carriers are aware of the ranges, zones and countries where they need to reduce prices.
Step 6: Collaboration begins
After a new agreement is selected, the collaboration with your carrier begins or your previous collaboration with the same carrier continues with the new agreement.
What are shipment statistics?
A shipment statistic is a statistic of the shipments you want to get quotes for from the selected carriers. These statistics can be based on a full year of shipments.
In the shipment statistics, you can include specific countries or postcodes that you would like to get quotes for. You therefore send this together with your tender letter and tender checklist to the selected carriers.
What is a tender letter?
A tender letter is the letter you send to the selected carriers to request quotes.
A tender letter Doesn't have to be many pages long with complicated and legal language. It should be easy to understand for both you and your carrier.
The most important thing in your tender letter is that you describes your goods in the best possible wayso carriers can provide the best possible quote based on your needs and freight composition.
Therefore, we also recommend that you give the carriers the opportunity to visit the company and ask any questions after you have sent them your tender letter.
What does a tender letter contain?
A tender letter should explain, What you want to quote for and how your freight setup fits together.
In the tender letter, you should therefore include your freight setup, pictures of your typical shipments and other special conditions that affect your freight agreement and co-operation.
Below is an example of a tender letter that follows the setup we use when creating offer letters for our customers. The example is for a fictitious company.
What is a tender checklist?
A tender checklist is an extension of your tender letter that you send with the tender letter and your shipment statistics.
The trend checklist is designed to help compare the softer values across the surveyed carriers.
What does a tender checklist contain?
A tender checklist can contain everything you want to know about whether the carrier can offer it. Examples of this could be:
- If the carrier has benefit calculation
- What are the carrier's deadlines, transit times and departure frequency?
- Does the carrier offer Track and Trace?
- Is the carrier compatible with your systems?
- Does the carrier have a CSR policy?
- Can the carrier provide a carbon footprint?
Why use a trend checklist?
It can be hard not to be blinded by prices when looking for savings on freight agreements. So remember to be honest with yourself when comparing carriers and Don't always put price first.
We often see a correlation between more expensive freight quotes and better service and shorter transport times. Price is important, but the The right carrier can take your logistics (and competitiveness) to the next level.
Good co-operation between you and your carrier is important for a good freight setup.
We therefore recommend that you make sure you send as much information as possible in your tender. Both in the tender letter and the tender checklist.
Use the trend checklist to get an overview of the soft values so you can compare carriers on the same basis and not just look at their prices.
Download our example tender checklist below.
Do you have questions about your tender process?
If you are unsure how to use the checklist correctly, which parameters to include, or anything else, drop us a line here.
We are not transport consultants. We'll help you get the best freight deal for your needs
In 2023, we helped a number of our customers with their tenders. 80 % of these chose to stay with their current carrier - but 100% savings achieved.
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