Why shippers switch
More than a standalone RFP tool, for a fraction of the usual cost.
Traditional RFP software is built to run one bid event a year. Broker Buddy™ runs your RFPs too, then keeps working for you every day in between, at a price you can see before you talk to anyone.
| Typical standalone RFP platform | Broker Buddy™ | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Quoted after a sales process, usually as an annual enterprise contract | Posted publicly: $499 a month for unlimited RFPs, or $750 for a single RFP |
| Getting started | Implementation projects and onboarding fees are common | Self-serve. Upload last year's lane file or copy your last RFP and launch the same day |
| Commitment | Multi-year terms are common | Month to month. Cancel in your account, no phone call |
| Your team | Often priced per user | 3 seats included. Add more in packs of 5 for $49 a month. Reviewers for a single RFP are free |
| Who can bid | Whoever you email the RFP to | You can cap how many companies can express interest and how many make the bidding pool |
| Spreadsheets | CSV exports you reformat by hand, or a paid TMS integration | Formatted Excel workbooks that open in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice, or a Google Sheet that keeps updating |
| Your carriers | The carriers you already know, who you invite by email | Your carriers plus verified small and mid-sized fleets you couldn't see before. Invited carriers join free |
| After the award | The event ends; carrier checks go back to spreadsheets and onboarding portals | Every carrier stays monitored, with alerts the moment something changes |
| Carrier data | Documents carriers emailed in, current as of the day they were sent | Insurance certificates and W-9s uploaded by each carrier and tracked to their expiration date, plus connected compliance accounts, with a last-updated date and name on every profile, project and RFP |
A full year of unlimited RFPs, rounds, carrier monitoring and 3 team seats on the subscription. Running one RFP a year? It's $750. Pilot shippers pay nothing during the pilot.
Your rates, your accessorials
All-in, linehaul plus your fuel surcharge program, or per mile. Set your own accessorial schedule, or have carriers quote theirs and see how they rank each round.
Works with any spreadsheet
Upload lane files and bid sheets from Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers or LibreOffice. Comparisons and awards come out as formatted Excel workbooks with headers, filters and dollar formats, or go straight to a Google Sheet or Excel online that keeps updating.
Saves as you go
RFP setup and bids save automatically, even if the page sleeps or someone clicks away. Up to three sealed rounds, bid lane by lane from any device.
Screening you set once
Years in authority, fleet size, safety rating and verified identity. Save your rules by name, like “Standard dry van”, and reuse them on every RFP. Look-alike accounts are caught automatically.
An independent score
Every carrier is scored 0 to 100 on verified compliance and shipper reviews. No one can pay to raise it.
Live partner alerts
Insurance lapses, authority changes, safety downgrades and major news reach you the same day.
Company profiles
Website, LinkedIn, D&B profile and recent news for every carrier and brokerage, in one click.
Reviews and scorecards
Only parties to an award can review each other, and both reviews unlock together. Grade carriers each period on tender acceptance, on-time service and claims, or upload the scorecards you already keep, and they count toward the score.
A complete audit trail
Every invitation, bid, round and award is time-stamped and exportable for your auditors.
Continuous visibility
See any carrier, any day, not just when they call you for business.
At most shippers, a carrier or broker reaches out for business, procurement takes a look, and once freight is allocated the transportation team works with them load to load. No one is assigned to keep checking on them after that. With Broker Buddy™, if a carrier's insurance or authority changes, you're already in the know. Active, ongoing alerts reach you the day anything changes, and you can look up any carrier whenever you want.
Up to date because it's connected. Registration, authority and identity come straight from FMCSA's Motus system. Carriers and brokers upload their insurance certificate and W-9, which are tracked to their expiration date, and link their compliance and safety accounts plus their Carrier411 profile with a running count of FreightGuard reports, so their profiles update on their own. Every profile shows which sources are connected and when it last updated, so you're never relying on last year's certificate.
- Open any carrier's profile anytime: score, compliance, reviews and recent news, without waiting for them to reach out
- Authority, safety rating and out-of-service rates from FMCSA, and each carrier's insurance certificate tracked to its expiration date
- Changes to name, address or contact details, the warning signs of identity fraud
- Major news: bankruptcies, acquisitions, serious crashes
- One alert by email, plus a pop-up when they're signed in, so procurement and the transportation team see the same thing
Typical approach checked when they pitch and when freight is allocated
Broker Buddy™ watched every day
Example: a carrier pitches you in January and is allocated freight in August. Its insurance lapses in May and its authority is revoked in October. Without monitoring, the transportation team keeps tendering to it. With Broker Buddy™, you're alerted the day each one happens.
Compliance is now part of procurement
Know who you're trusting with your freight, and find more of them.
In a time when compliance is imperative to doing business, Broker Buddy™ gives you a clear view into every carrier's safety and reputation, and widens your reach so every lane has more qualified competition.
Their safety
The record behind every bid, before you award.
- Operating authority and years in business
- FMCSA safety rating and out-of-service rates
- Certificate of insurance and W-9 on file, with the expiration date tracked
- Registration and identity pulled directly from FMCSA Motus
- FreightGuard report count from linked Carrier411 profiles
Their reputation
What other shippers found when they worked together.
- Reviews only from parties to an actual award
- An independent 0 to 100 score
- Website, LinkedIn, D&B profile and recent news
Your reach
More qualified bidders on every lane.
- Verified small and mid-sized fleets beyond your routing guide
- Vetted brokerages with bonds and cargo insurance
- More competition per lane means more room to save
Wider reach, wider savings. Every qualified carrier you add to a lane is one more sealed rate competing for it, and every one of them is screened, scored and monitored before you award.
Join the pilotExpand your freight
Reach freight contracts you've never had access to.
Annual shipper RFPs decide where most contract freight goes for the next year, and they usually go out by email to a short list of carriers the shipper already knows. Broker Buddy™ puts your verified profile in front of shippers when they're choosing who gets to bid.
Without Broker Buddy™
- RFPs reach a shipper's existing routing guide, not you
- Contract freight goes to fleets big enough to have a sales team
- You rely on spot loads and broker margins
- Every new shipper means another onboarding packet
With Broker Buddy™
- See open RFPs that match the equipment you're authorized to haul
- Bid on annual lanes with real volumes, directly with the shipper
- Get invited free when a shipper wants you in their pool
- One verified profile and score that every shipper sees
Contract freight, not just spot loads
An award is lanes with annual volumes: steady freight you can plan trucks and drivers around.
Shippers you couldn't reach
From regional manufacturers to national brands, plus brokerages that allocate freight for shippers.
Matched to your equipment
Only RFPs that need the equipment you're authorized to haul show up, checked against your years in authority. Location doesn't limit you: a truck can run anywhere, so every lane is open to bid.
Your record travels with you
Every award, review and shipper scorecard builds the same profile, so a small fleet competes on safety and service, not size.
Direct with the shipper
Broker Buddy™ stops at award. You work with the shipper directly, with no broker margin in between.
Free to join, free when invited
Express interest in an RFP you find yourself for one bid. When a shipper invites you, it's free.
Connect your compliance accounts to Broker Buddy™.
Your Broker Buddy™ score can only be fully calculated when your compliance information is connected. Upload your certificate of insurance and W-9 once, then log in once to the compliance and safety services you already use, and your records stay current on their own. Your registration, authority and identity come straight from FMCSA's Motus system. Everything else you connect. Until it's all connected, shippers see your profile marked as partial data.
- Connect once. No re-sending certificates and packets to every shipper you bid with.
- Link Carrier411 too. Your profile shows a running count of FreightGuard reports, so shippers see your record in the open instead of looking it up behind your back.
- Never miss a renewal. We email you 30, 14, 7 and 1 day before your insurance certificate expires, and stop as soon as you upload the renewal.
- Trusted by shippers. A "Connected" badge and a last-synced date on your profile show your information is live, not a year-old PDF.
- Your login stays yours. Broker Buddy™ gets read-only access, and you can disconnect anytime.
How we compare
Everything contract freight needs, in one place.
Today a shipper's RFP tool, its carrier network and its compliance checks are three different products, and most of them only reach carriers the shipper already uses. Broker Buddy™ puts them together and opens the door to verified fleets of every size.
Network-backed procurement
Emerge, Uber Freight ExchangeContract and spot bidding with a large carrier network and scorecards. Gap: tied to a spot marketplace or a broker, custom pricing, no two-way reviews.
Sourcing and optimization
Transporeon, Keelvar, GoodShip, FreightosStrong RFP events and award modeling. Gap: shippers bring their own carriers; little or no vetting or monitoring.
TMS sourcing modules
Oracle OTM, SAP TM, Blue Yonder, MercuryGateSourcing inside the enterprise TMS. Gap: long implementations, heavy cost, closed carrier pools.
Carrier compliance
Highway and similar servicesIdentity checks and ongoing monitoring. Gap: no RFPs; sold separately and plugged into other tools.
| Capability | Broker Buddy™ | Emerge | Uber Freight Exchange | Sourcing tools | TMS modules | Compliance services |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contract RFPs with sealed bidding rounds | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Mini-bids or supplemental RFPs for peaks and surges | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | – |
| Carriers beyond the shipper's own list | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | – | – |
| Small carriers can find RFPs and ask to join | ✓ | ~ | ~ | – | – | – |
| Identity and fraud checks on carriers | ✓ | ~ | ~ | – | – | ✓ |
| Ongoing monitoring of insurance and authority, with alerts | ✓ | – | ~ | – | ~ | ✓ |
| Shipper scorecards for carrier performance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | – | – |
| Carriers review shippers (two-way reviews) | ✓ | – | – | – | – | – |
| A score for every carrier and shipper | ✓ | – | – | – | – | – |
| Brokers host RFPs after the shipper confirms authority | ✓ | – | – | – | – | – |
| Independent of any freight broker or spot board | ✓ | ~ | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Self-serve setup, live the same day | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | – | ~ |
| Pricing published on the website | ✓ | – | – | – | – | – |
✓ Offered~ Partly, or not described in detail– Not found in public materialBased on vendors' public pages and review sites as of October 2026, not hands-on trials.
The problem
Freight procurement still runs on spreadsheets and blind trust.
Manual, scattered RFPs
Lane files go out by email, bids come back in a dozen formats, and someone rebuilds them into one spreadsheet by hand.
Weak carrier vetting
Shippers check authority and insurance one carrier at a time, with no standard view of track record.
Rates leak
Open bidding and side conversations let early numbers shape later ones. That is unfair to every carrier in the process.
No lasting reputation
When a project ends, what both sides learned about each other is lost. Good carriers can't prove it.
Estimated U.S. cargo theft losses in 2025, up about 60% in a year and driven by fictitious pickups and identity fraud. Knowing who you're tendering to is now part of procurement.Source: Verisk CargoNet 2025 cargo theft analysis
Hidden capacity
Put verified small fleets on your shortlist.
The vast majority of America's trucking companies are small fleets. Yet shippers' carrier networks, at companies of every size, tend to favor the fleets with the size and sales reach to get noticed. Reliable regional operators with strong safety records often never reach the person buying the freight.
Broker Buddy™ brings those carriers into your RFP already qualified. You widen your capacity base and add competition on every lane without adding vetting work or risk.
of U.S. trucking companies operate 10 or fewer trucks.
Source: ATA American Trucking Trends 2025Qualified before you look
Authority, fleet size and safety rating are checked against FMCSA public records, and contact details are verified. Your own screening rules decide who reaches your shortlist.
Proven by their record
Every awarded carrier is reviewed by the shippers it has served. A small fleet can show the same documented track record as a national one.
Matched on what matters
Carriers are matched to your RFP by the freight types they're authorized to haul, their years in authority and your requirements, not by where they're based. A truck can run anywhere, so good carriers aren't filtered out by a map.
Carrier compliance and scoring
One compliance profile. One independent score.
A carrier's compliance record is usually scattered across government databases, insurance filings and the separate onboarding portal of every shipper and broker it works with. Broker Buddy™ brings that record together in one profile and grades it on its own terms.
Compliance from multiple sources
Registration, operating authority and identity verification come directly from FMCSA's Motus system. Safety rating and out-of-service rates come from FMCSA records, insurance certificates and W-9s are uploaded by each carrier and tracked to their expiration date, and compliance services, ELD data and Carrier411 FreightGuard reports come from the accounts each carrier connects. All of it lives in one profile that the carrier keeps up to date once, not once per customer. Brokerages get the same treatment: broker authority, BMC-84 bond and contingent cargo insurance.
An independent score from 0 to 100
Every carrier gets a Broker Buddy™ score built from its verified compliance data and the reviews left by the shippers it has served. Open compliance alerts lower the score until they are resolved. No carrier can pay to raise its score, and no shipper can buy a better one for a favorite carrier.
A record that grows with every RFP
Shippers can run as many RFPs a year as they need, and carriers can bid on every one that fits their trucks. Each award and each review adds to the same profile, so a carrier's standing carries from one shipper and one RFP to the next.
- Operating authority activeFMCSA
- Safety rating SatisfactoryFMCSA
- Certificate of insurance current, expires Mar 2027Uploaded by carrier
- Contact details match the recordIdentity check
- Average review 4.5 of 5Shipper reviews
Live partner alerts
Know the moment a partner changes.
Broker Buddy™ keeps watching after the award. When a partner's status or key information changes, every shipper and carrier working with them gets an email right away, and a pop-up when they're signed in.
- Shippers hear about carriers and brokers: authority revoked or reinstated, an insurance certificate expiring without a renewal, a broker's bond cancelled, safety rating changed, out-of-service rate rising, or a change of name, address or contact details.
- Carriers hear about shippers: payments running late, a credit downgrade, or a change of company details.
- Major news, too: every carrier, shipper and brokerage profile links to the company's website, LinkedIn page and Dun & Bradstreet profile when it has them, and to its stock profile if it's publicly traded, with a feed of recent news that mentions it. Anyone can follow a company to hear about big news like a bankruptcy filing, an acquisition, a serious crash or a recall.
Keep trucking in trust.
How it works
Every RFP follows the same path.
Shippers stay in control at each step, and carriers always know where they stand.
Post your RFP
Projected volume, pickup cities and the truck types you need. Start from scratch or copy last year's RFP.
Invite or select
Invite the carriers and brokerages you already trust. They take part free, and your requirements don't apply to them. During a window you set, others who run your trucks can use a token to express interest, which is only used up if you select them. Anyone who meets some of your requirements comes to you to decide; only those who meet none are declined, before they're charged, and told why.
Get the go-ahead
When selection closes, you get an email: your bidding pool is set and Round 1 is ready to open.
Set up your lanes
Upload your lane file from Excel or CSV and choose the bid format: all-in, linehaul plus fuel, or rate per mile.
Run sealed rounds
Rates stay hidden until each round closes, from everyone including you. Change a lane's volume, dates or peak mid-round and every bidder sees exactly what changed. Advance the carriers you want and share their rank, never a competitor's rate.
Up to 3 roundsAward lane by lane
Pick a primary and a backup carrier for each lane, see your spend against current rates, and export the award as a formatted Excel workbook or to Google Sheets. Send any bidder a private note on how its rates compared.
Cover the peaks
Run a short supplemental RFP for a peak season or a surge, and get committed loads per week and rates from your awarded carriers or your whole pool.
Review and grade
After the award, shipper and carrier rate each other, and you grade each carrier's performance every period. It all stays on the record and feeds the score.
Dispatch is yours
Broker Buddy™ stops at award. Tendering and payment happen directly between you and your new partner.
Who it's for
Built for every side of the load.
For shippers
From a regional distributor running one RFP a year to a national shipper with a large lane network.
- Reach small and mid-sized fleets you wouldn't otherwise see, each verified and screened before it reaches your shortlist.
- Open any carrier's profile for its website, LinkedIn page, D&B profile and recent news before you award.
- Run a full RFP in one place instead of email and spreadsheets.
- Compare screened, sealed bids lane by lane, with savings against your current rates.
- Rebid only the lanes and carriers you choose, for up to three rounds.
- Keep an auditable record of who bid what and why each lane was awarded.
For carriers
- Get in front of shippers of every size, from regional manufacturers to national brands, on the strength of your safety record and reviews rather than your fleet size.
- Only see freight that matches your equipment and authority, wherever it runs.
- Check each shipper's profile before you bid: its website, its stock listing if it's public, and recent news.
- Compete on a fair, sealed basis against bigger fleets.
- Fill the bid sheet in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, on a computer or your phone, and upload it, or bid lane by lane.
- Ask the shipper how your rates compared after the award, and see every lane change the moment it's made.
- Build a reputation that helps you win the next RFP.
Joining, keeping your profile and taking part in RFPs you're invited to are always free. Expressing interest in an RFP you find yourself holds a token, and you get it back if you aren't selected. Join free as a carrier
For brokerages
- Bid on shippers' RFPs with your carrier network, screened on broker authority, BMC-84 bond and contingent cargo insurance instead of power units.
- Take part free in any RFP a shipper invites you to.
- Allocate freight for a shipper? Prove it once and your profile becomes Shipper & Broker: host RFPs for that shipper's freight and keep bidding on others.
- We confirm allocation authority with the shipper directly before hosting turns on, so carriers know who they're bidding to.
Brokerages join free. Join as a brokerage
Trust
Built for the people who have to trust the truck.
Verified carriers
Carrier registration, authority and identity come directly from FMCSA's Motus system, with fleet size and safety rating from FMCSA records. Contact details that don't match the record, a common sign of a look-alike account, are flagged and declined.
Sealed bids
No one sees a rate until the round closes, not even the shipper. Every carrier gets the same fair shot.
Two-way reviews
Only parties to an awarded lane can review each other. Reviews can't be deleted, so a track record means something.
No payment requests, ever
Broker Buddy™ never handles freight payments and never asks for passwords or bank details by email, text or phone.
Verified allocation authority
A brokerage can host an RFP for a shipper only after we review the signed contract or allocation letter, and the shipper itself confirms through a link sent to its company email or by a call to its published number. The shipper is told whenever an RFP goes out in its name and can stop it. Authority ends on the contract's end date unless it's confirmed again.
Serious interest only
Invited partners take part free. Everyone else uses a token to express interest, so a shipper's list is made of companies that mean it. Not selected? The token comes back. No one is charged when screening would turn them away.
Pricing
Simple prices, posted in public.
Pay per RFP if you bid freight once a year, or subscribe if you bid it often. No sales call needed to see what it costs.
Shipper subscription
For shippers who run RFPs regularly.
- Unlimited RFPs and bidding rounds
- Screening rules and sealed bidding
- Formatted Excel and Google Sheets exports, and two-way reviews
- 3 team seats; more in packs of 5 for $49 a month
- Free reviewers for a single RFP
Single RFP
For occasional shippers, or to try Broker Buddy™ with no commitment.
- One complete RFP, from posting through review
- Free reviewers for that RFP
Carriers and brokerages
Keep your profile and score, and take part free in every RFP a shipper invites you to.
- 1 token to express interest in an RFP you find yourself: $25 for one, or Token Packs of 5 for $99 or 15 for $249
- The token is used only if you're selected; otherwise it comes back
- Up to 10 tokens on hold at once
- 2 team seats included; more in packs of 5 for $19 a month
- Premium, $29 a month: priority visibility, early alerts on matching RFPs and an enhanced profile
Shipper & Broker accounts host RFPs on the shipper plans. Pricing takes effect at public launch in Q2 2027. Pilot partners use Broker Buddy™ free during the pilot and keep founding-partner pricing for their first year.
Pilot program · Q1 2027
Run your next RFP with us, free.
We're looking for a small group of shippers to run a real truckload RFP on Broker Buddy™ with their current and prospective carriers.
- Free use for the whole pilot
- Hands-on setup for your first RFP
- A direct say in features and pricing
- Founding-partner pricing for a year