Most drayage RFPs are won on a base rate and lost on everything else. Six months in, the awarded carrier is 15% cheaper per pull and 30% more expensive per container once accessorials, missed appointments and per diem land. The problem is almost never the carrier — it’s a bid document that asked for one number and got one number.

A drayage RFP is a small procurement exercise, but running it properly is worth real money. Here’s a structure that works, aimed at importers moving anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand containers a year through South Florida.

Before you write anything: pull your own data

You cannot get comparable bids without telling bidders what you actually do. At minimum, assemble twelve months of:

• Volume by lane — terminal of origin (PortMiami, Port Everglades, Port of Palm Beach) to delivery ZIP.
• Container mix — 20ft, 40ft, 40HC, 45ft, reefer, flat rack, and how many run overweight.
• Seasonality — monthly volume, so bidders can see your Q4 and your hurricane-season profile.
• Dwell and turn behavior — how often you need a pre-pull, how often boxes sit, average time from availability to pickup.
• Unload profile — live unload versus drop-and-hook, appointment windows at your dock, average time on site.
• Last year’s accessorial spend — broken out by type. This is the number that most changes what a good bid looks like.

If you can’t produce that accessorial breakdown, that’s the first finding of the exercise. Our line-by-line guide to accessorial charges is a useful reference for categorizing it.

Write the scope so bidders are pricing the same thing

Ambiguity in scope becomes a surcharge later. Be explicit about:

• Which terminals and which delivery zones — name the municipalities, not “Miami area.” Doral, Medley, Hialeah and Opa-locka price differently from Homestead or Fort Pierce.
• Whether the carrier arranges chassis or you have a pool arrangement.
• Whether empty return is in scope and who bears refusal risk.
• Free time on the carrier’s side — how many hours at your dock before detention starts.
• Whether yard storage is required, and how many days on average.
• Hazmat, overweight, out-of-gauge, food-grade or bonded requirements, if any.
• Data and integration expectations — tracking visibility, EDI or API, document turnaround for PODs and interchange receipts.
• Insurance limits and any customer-specific compliance requirements.

Build a rate sheet that leaves nowhere to hide

This is the heart of the RFP. Give every bidder the same locked spreadsheet, and require:

Base linehaul

By terminal-to-ZIP lane, by container size. Not a zone average — real lanes with real volume attached.

Fuel surcharge mechanism

Not a current percentage, the actual mechanism: which index, which region, what base price, what step increments. Two carriers quoting “18% FSC” can differ by hundreds of dollars a month depending on the table underneath. See our explainer on how drayage fuel surcharges work.

Every accessorial, priced

Pre-pull, chassis split, chassis per diem, storage per day, dry run, driver wait after free time and the free time allowance, congestion or terminal fee, hazmat, overweight, tri-axle, reefer monitoring and genset, weekend or after-hours, redelivery, and stop-off. If it isn’t on the sheet, it’s negotiable at invoice time — which means it isn’t.

An all-in modeled cost

Take last year’s actual event counts and apply each bidder’s rates to them. This single calculation reorders most bid tables. The carrier with the third-best base rate frequently wins on modeled total.

Ask questions that predict service, not just price

A short qualitative section, scored:

• Asset base. Owned tractors and drivers versus brokered capacity, and what percentage of your volume they expect to run on their own assets. This drives reliability during peak and during disruption.
• Capacity commitment. Containers per day they’ll commit to, and what happens when you exceed it.
• Yard access. Do they control storage capacity, and where. Terminal-adjacent yard space is what makes a pre-pull cheap.
• Credentials. UIIA participation, customs bond if you need bonded moves, TWIC-carded drivers, hazmat authority, insurance certificates. Our credentials checklist covers what to verify.
• Escalation path. Who you call at 6pm when a container is stuck, and what their response commitment is.
• References from importers with a similar profile to yours.

Score it

Assign weights before you see the bids, so nobody argues them backward. A defensible starting point for a typical importer:

• Modeled all-in cost — 45%
• Capacity and asset base — 20%
• Service commitments and escalation — 15%
• Visibility, data and documentation — 10%
• Compliance and credentials — 10%

Adjust for your reality. If you run hazmat or heavy freight, compliance and equipment weigh far more.

Award structure and the first 90 days

Splitting award between a primary and a secondary carrier is common and usually wise — it preserves leverage and gives you a fallback when the primary is capacity-constrained. Whatever you award, write the rate sheet into the agreement as an exhibit, set a rate term, and define how changes are proposed.

Then measure. Agree on the metrics up front — on-time pickup against last free day, dry run rate, appointment adherence, per diem incurred, document turnaround — and review them monthly for the first quarter. Our drayage KPI guide covers what’s worth tracking. And if you’re transitioning volume, our post on switching drayage carriers without disrupting imports covers the handover.

If you want a South Florida bid response with the rate sheet filled out honestly — accessorials included — request a quote or contact our team.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I rebid drayage?

Annually is typical, but a full RFP every year is disruptive and carriers price transition risk into their bids. Many importers run a full RFP every two years with an annual rate review in between, and rebid sooner if service degrades or volumes change materially.

Should I award to the lowest base rate?

Only if you have modeled total cost including accessorials against your actual event history. Base rate typically accounts for well under the full landed drayage cost once fuel, chassis, storage, waiting time and per diem are counted, so a low base rate paired with aggressive accessorials can cost more.

How many carriers should I invite to bid?

Four to six is usually enough. Fewer limits your comparison; many more creates evaluation work without much additional signal, and serious carriers put less effort into bids they see as long shots in a crowded field.