Freight tenders and RFQs, answered lane by lane
A shipper's lane list priced line by line, your service and safety story from the content library, and the whole response approved before it goes.
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- Building QuoteCloud since 2013
QuoteCloud helps freight forwarders and carriers answer tenders and RFQs: the shipper's lanes as price-table sections, your rate calculator pricing each one, your company profile, insurances and terms as content library blocks (locked on Business), approvals on big totals, and the shipper's sign-off online.
Last reviewed by the QuoteCloud team
A fictional carrier's tender response to Bramblewood Homewares for 2027 road freight: the cover behind a contents panel whose items tick off one by one: company profile and capacity (a locked block), safety and driver management from the content library, insurances and certificates attached as PDFs, lane pricing for four zones priced in the tender sheet, reporting and service reviews from the library, and the conditions of carriage (a locked block). The response then shows In Review: a discount greater than 5% needs the pricing desk lead and the general manager to approve it.
Your tender answers, written once and reused in every response
Shippers ask the same questions every tender season: who you are, what you run, how you keep freight safe, what you insure and how you report. Save each answer once; each response is assembled from the same approved blocks, then priced lane by lane.
- Company profile & capacityText block Locked
- Fleet, depots & linehaul networkText + image
- Safety & driver managementText block Locked
- Insurances & certificatesAttachments
- Reporting & quarterly reviewsText block
- Tender lane sheetSpreadsheet block
- Lane price tablePrice table
- Fuel surcharge clauseTerms Locked
- Conditions of carriageTerms Locked
- Acceptance by the shipper's signersSignature blocks
- 1Cover and response summaryWritten for this tender
- 2Company profile & capacity Locked block
- 3Fleet, depots & linehaul network From library
- 4Safety & driver management Locked block
- 5Insurances & certificates From library
- 6Lanes priced: 5,000 consignments a year From library
- 7Lane rates by zone From library
- 8Reporting & quarterly reviews From library
- 9Fuel surcharge clause Locked block
- 10Conditions of carriage Locked block
- 11Acceptance: logistics & finance From library
One library, every tender
Profile, safety, insurance and reporting answers are saved once and dropped into each response in the order the shipper asks for them.
Content library: Essentials and up
Locked where it matters
Conditions of carriage and the fuel clause stay word for word as approved. Only roles you permit can unlock them in the library.
Content locking: Business
Roles decide who edits
Role permissions set who can change or add library content, so a busy tender week doesn't rewrite your liability terms.
The shipper's lane list, priced with your own rates
Paste or import the shipper's lane list into a Spreadsheet block in your tender template: origin, destination, zone, consignments a year and average weight. Lookups against your Rates tab fill in the rate per kg, and the sheet totals the year.
Rate cells connect to the lane lines' unit prices in the price table, so the schedule the shipper signs carries exactly the rates your sheet worked out. Price each region as its own section, and add lanes the shipper might add later as optional lines.
- Formulas, tabs and .xlsx import, like the sheet you use now
- Any cell connects to a price line's description and unit price
- Last year's rate struck through beside the new one
Spreadsheet block, price tables: Essentials and up
How rate calculators price the quoteTender lane sheet
=XLOOKUP(B4,Rates!A2:A5,Rates!B2:B5)
Lanes tab
| Row | A | B | C | D | E | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lane from Northgate | Zone | Cons./yr | Avg kg | Per kg | Est. a year |
| 2 | Riverside | Metro | 1,750 | 1,450 | $0.145 | $367,938 |
| 3 | Lakeview | Regional | 1,375 | 1,900 | $0.228 | $595,650 |
| 4 | Port Ellery | Long-haul | 1,400 | 2,300 | $0.321 | $1,033,620 |
| 5 | Ashcombe | Remote | 475 | 1,600 | $0.497 | $377,720 |
| 6 | Tender total | 5,000 | $2,374,928 |
Rates tab
| Row | A | B | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zone | Per kg | Minimum |
| 2 | Metro | $0.145 | $75 |
| 3 | Regional | $0.228 | $110 |
| 4 | Long-haul | $0.321 | $160 |
| 5 | Remote | $0.497 | $240 |
- Typed in
- Your rate or factor
- Connected to the price table
Zone rates, 2027
Rates per chargeable kg ex tax · cubic conversion 250 kg per m³
| Zone | Lanes from Northgate | Per kg | Minimum | Full pallet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro | Riverside | $75 | $58 | |
| Regional | Lakeview | $110 | $92 | |
| Long-haul | Port Ellery | $160 | $128 | |
| Remote | Ashcombe | $240 | $196 |
Fuel surcharge applies to linehaul at Wexmoor's published rate for the month of dispatch (18.5% in November 2026).
Wexmoor's own rates and surcharges, set out in the schedule. QuoteCloud sends and records the signed schedule; it doesn't rate, book or invoice consignments.
What a freight tender asks, and where each answer lives
Every part of the shipper's request has a home in the response, so nothing is retyped and nothing is missed.
Questionnaire answers
Safety, capacity, systems and environmental answers as library blocks, edited for this shipper where they ask something new.
Insurances & certificates
Your current certificates attached as PDFs, so the shipper reads them inside the response. QuoteCloud doesn't verify them.
Details from the shipper
A Forms block inside the response collects the shipper's sites, contacts and dock hours when they accept (Essentials and up).
Reporting you commit to
How you'll report on-time delivery and claims from your own records, and the quarterly review you'll send.
Answer your next tender from QuoteCloud
Free for 14 days, no credit card required. Send us last season's response and your lane sheet, and we'll convert one template for you during the trial.
A big tender gets a second look before it's submitted
Tender pricing is where margin is won or lost. Set approval rules on total value or on a discount percentage: Bramblewood's response is 6% below Wexmoor's standard rate card, so it waits In Review until the pricing desk lead and the general manager approve it.
Only then can it be sent. The shipper's logistics manager and finance director both sign online, with no account needed, and the certificate of authenticity covers both signatures.
- Triggers: total value or discount %
- In Review until every approver agrees
- Several signers on the shipper's side
Approval workflow: Business plan
Pricing approvals & marginsDocument workflow
In ReviewTriggered when Discount percentage greater than 5%
- Callan MercerPricing desk leadApproved
- Helen AshdownGeneral managerWaiting
Must be approved by all approvers before it can be sent.
- Approval request sent by Ines Okoye
- Approved by Callan Mercer
Approval workflow · Business plan
Accept the 2027 schedule
1 of 2 signed
- Sophie LindqvistLogistics manager SignedWed 18 Nov 2026
- Marcus FeldFinance director Awaiting signature
Schedule summary
- Lanes
- 4 from Northgate
- Term
- 12 months
- Starts
- 1 Jan 2027
- Expires
- 31 Dec 2027
Certificate of authenticity and audit trail attached
From the shipper's lane list to a signed response
How a forwarder or carrier can run a tender response in QuoteCloud, from the request to acceptance.
Start from your tender template
Cover, library answers, the lane sheet and your terms, already in place.
Load the lane list
Import or paste the shipper's lanes and volumes into the Spreadsheet block.
Price every lane
Your rates and minimums fill in; connected cells set the lane lines' unit prices.
Answer and approve
Edit the answers this shipper asks for; big totals or discounts go In Review.
Send and get it signed
Send the response link or a PDF; the shipper's signers accept online.
Freight tender questions
Can we reuse our safety and insurance answers in every tender?
Yes. Save them as company content library blocks (Essentials and up) and insert them into each response, in the order the shipper asks. On the Business plan you can lock blocks such as your conditions of carriage, so they go out word for word as approved, and only roles you permit can unlock them.
How do we price a shipper's lane list in QuoteCloud?
Paste or import the lane list into a Spreadsheet block in your tender template and look up your own rates, minimums and fuel surcharge with formulas. Any cell can be connected to a price line's description and unit price, so the price table carries the rates your sheet worked out. Quantities stay on the lines.
Can an AI assistant draft our lane pricing?
With QuoteCloud's MCP service (Essentials and up), your AI assistant can be set up to read your rate tables and draft the lane pricing into a response from your template. It creates a draft for your pricing desk to review; approval rules still apply and nothing is sent until a person sends it.
Can the response go to management before it is submitted?
Yes, on the Business plan. Approval rules trigger on total value or on a discount percentage. The response stays In Review until every approver agrees, and only then can it be sent to the shipper. The log in the document's workflow panel shows who requested and who approved it.
Does QuoteCloud submit to a shipper's tender portal?
No. QuoteCloud prepares the response, sends it as a link and can generate a PDF to upload to a portal. If the shipper accepts in QuoteCloud, their signers sign online and you receive a certificate of authenticity with the audit trail.
More for freight & 3PL teams
Every page of the logistics guide, from the first lane quote to the quarterly review.
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Contract rate schedulesA customer's lanes, zones, minimums and accessorials in one schedule, approved, signed and dated to expire.Explore
-
AI-drafted quotes & reports with MCPAn AI assistant connected through QuoteCloud's MCP service drafts quotes and reports from your data for your team to review.Explore
-
Pricing approvals & marginsDiscounts and big contracts routed to the right manager, with cost and margin visible only to your team.Explore
- Lane & spot freight quotesA priced lane quote back the same hour: chargeable weight, linehaul, fuel and accessorials, accepted online.
- Chargeable weight & rate calculatorsYour cubic conversion, zone rates and fuel surcharge in a Spreadsheet block whose cells price the quote lines.
- 3PL & warehousing proposalsPallets × weeks × rate, handling, pick and pack in a calculator, an onboarding plan and a set-up fee paid on signing.
- Quarterly service reportsShipments, on-time delivery and claims for each contract customer, with next quarter's options priced inside.
- Rate reviews & contract renewalsExpiring schedules found early, the new rates sent to every contract customer, and each one signed before expiry.
- TMS, CRM & accounting integrationsYour transport management system, CRM and accounts, connected the way each one really connects.
- Logistics templatesReal QuoteCloud templates for transport agreements, storage, service levels and quotes.
- QuoteCloud implementation for freight & 3PLYour rate tables rebuilt as a calculator, your templates converted, approvals set and the pricing desk trained.
- FAQAnswers to the questions carriers, forwarders, 3PLs and couriers ask most.
Your next tender, answered lane by lane
Free for 14 days. No credit card required.