The 3PL Tender: What to Put in the RFP and How to Score the Answers

A 3PL tender fails for one of two reasons: you gave providers too little data to quote accurately, so the numbers are not comparable, or you scored on price alone, so you picked the cheapest quote rather than the best fit. Fix the first by sending a real order profile rather than a monthly total: SKU count, order volume, lines per order, weight and dimension distribution, channel split, returns rate and seasonality. Fix the second by scoring capability, commercials, technology, service and risk separately, with price weighted at no more than about a third. The quotes you receive are only as good as the data you sent.

Most Tenders Compare Numbers That Are Not Comparable

The usual pattern: a brand sends four providers a short brief with monthly order volume and a SKU count, receives four quotes with different structures, builds a spreadsheet, and picks the lowest total. Three months later the invoice does not resemble the quote, because the provider priced on assumptions you never corrected.

Almost all of that is preventable at the brief stage. A provider cannot quote accurately on information you did not give them, and the gap between their assumption and your reality is where repricing conversations come from.

What to Send Providers Before They Quote

This is the single highest leverage part of the exercise. Send all of it, in a spreadsheet, to everyone, at the same time.

Data	Why it changes the quote
SKU count, active and total	Determines how many storage locations you consume, which often matters more than volume
Monthly order volume, with the last twelve months	Reveals seasonality that an average hides completely
Average lines per order, and the distribution	A two line order and a twelve line order cost very different amounts to pick
Units per line	Separates each picking from multi unit picking
Weight and dimension distribution	Drives both storage pricing and carrier rate selection. Send the real spread, not an average
Channel split	Marketplace, own store and B2B orders have different handling and documentation needs
Returns rate by channel	Returns processing is a real cost and is frequently left out of quotes
Inbound profile	Containers or palletised, how often, and how many SKUs per receipt
Stock cover in weeks	Tells the provider how much space you will actually occupy
Peak multiple	What your busiest week looks like against an average week
Special handling	Batch and expiry, serial numbers, fragile, flammable, temperature, kitting
Delivery zone split	Where your orders actually go, by emirate and by country

Two notes. First, send the distribution rather than the average wherever one exists, because averages hide exactly the cases that cost money. Second, send the same pack to everyone on the same day, otherwise you are not running a tender, you are running several separate conversations.

What to Ask For in Return

Ask for the rate card in a structure you define, not in theirs. If each provider answers in their own format you will spend a week normalising the responses and will still get it wrong.

•   Storage, with the unit stated, plus any minimum monthly charge and how it is calculated

•   Inbound receiving, per container and per pallet

•   Putaway, if charged separately

•   Pick and pack, split into per order, per line and per unit components

•   Packaging materials, itemised

•   Returns processing, per return

•   Value added work: kitting, bundling, relabelling, per unit

•   Delivery, by zone and weight break, including COD fees and failed delivery charges

•   Onboarding and integration costs, one off

•   Exit costs: notice period, removal charges, and what the final month is billed at

That last line is the one almost every tender omits and almost every brand later regrets. Ask for the cost of leaving at the same time as the cost of joining.

The Questions That Are Not About Price

Group these into the sections you will score. Keep them answerable: a question nobody can answer precisely produces marketing copy rather than information.

Capability

•   Does the facility hold stock at two levels, bulk and pick face, or only one?

•   What special handling can you take, and what can you not?

•   What is your current capacity, and what headroom do you have for my peak?

•   Which of my channels can you receive orders from without manual work?

Performance

•   What are your measured order accuracy, on time dispatch, dock to stock and inventory accuracy, and how is each defined?

•   What is your first attempt delivery rate, by zone?

•   What happens when you miss, and what remedy is written into the contract?

•   Can I see a reporting pack from a live account, with the client details removed?

Technology

•   Is your warehouse system a commercial platform or built in house?

•   Can I see the live order and stock screens before signing rather than a slide deck?

•   What can I see in the portal, and what can your team see that I cannot?

•   If I leave, what data can I export, in what format, and within how long?

Risk and commercials

•   What is your liability for lost or damaged stock, is it capped, and is it at cost or retail?

•   Who is the importer of record on my inbound shipments?

•   How do you price increases, and how much notice do I get?

•   Who is my named day to day contact, and what is the escalation path?

A Scoring Model That Works

Decide the weightings before the quotes arrive. Doing it afterwards means the weightings get adjusted, consciously or not, to match the answer you already like.

Section	Suggested weight	What you are really testing
Capability fit	25%	Can they physically do the work your range requires
Commercials	30%	Total modelled cost, not headline rates
Technology and integration	20%	Whether you will have visibility and whether onboarding will be weeks or months
Service and performance	15%	Measured numbers with definitions, plus the remedy on a miss
Risk and exit	10%	Liability, price increase mechanics, and what leaving costs

Price at around thirty per cent is deliberate. Weighted much higher and the exercise becomes a reverse auction, which selects for the provider most willing to underquote and reprice later. Weighted much lower and you will talk yourself into an expensive provider on the strength of a good meeting.

Score commercials on a modelled annual total using your real order profile through each rate card, not on the rates themselves. Model a flat month, a peak month and a bad month at half volume, and note which quote degrades worst. The provider who is cheapest at plan is frequently not the cheapest in a bad quarter.

A Realistic Tender Timeline

Stage	Duration	Notes
Build the data pack	1 week	The part that determines quote quality. Do not rush it
Longlist and issue	A few days	Four to six providers is plenty. More is noise
Provider questions	1 week	Answer in writing to everyone, not individually
Responses due	2 weeks	Less than this and you get templated answers
Scoring and shortlist	1 week	Score before the site visits, not after
Site visits	1 week	Two or three providers. Go unannounced if they will allow it
Clarification and best offer	1 week	Clarify, do not renegotiate line by line
Decision and contracting	1 to 2 weeks	Then the migration, which is its own project

Seven to nine weeks before migration starts. Compressing it is possible and usually comes out of the data pack and the scoring, which are the two stages that actually determine whether you choose well.

The Site Visit Is the Real Test

Everything above is paper. An hour in the building tells you more than any response document.

•   Ask to see a live order picked, start to finish, including the system screens

•   Look at the returns area. It is the part nobody tidies and it shows you how the operation actually runs

•   Ask what their inventory accuracy was last month and how they know

•   Look at whether stock is in defined locations or in general areas

•   Ask the supervisor on the floor a question, not just the person giving the tour

•   Look at how full the building is. A facility at capacity has no room for your peak

How We Handle This

Eshopify Fulfillment responds to tenders regularly, and the ones that produce good outcomes have two things in common: a real order profile sent up front, and a scoring model agreed before quotes arrive. We will quote on the full rate card rather than a headline rate, and we will state minimums and exit costs in the response rather than in the contract.

We also welcome the site visit question, which is the one providers like least. Stock is tracked to location in an enterprise warehouse management platform, so the live order and stock screens are something you can look at rather than hear described. Our published operating accuracy is 98% inbound, 98% outbound and 99% inventory accuracy.

If you are building a tender and want a sanity check on the data pack before you issue it, send it over. A better brief produces better quotes from everyone you ask, including our competitors, and that is still the right outcome for you.

Send us your draft tender pack and we will tell you what is missing before you issue it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should go in a 3PL RFP?

A real order profile rather than a monthly total: SKU count, twelve months of order volume, lines per order and their distribution, units per line, weight and dimension spread, channel split, returns rate by channel, inbound profile, stock cover, peak multiple, special handling requirements and delivery zone split. Then a rate card template in your structure so responses are directly comparable.

How many 3PL providers should I invite to tender?

Four to six. Fewer gives you no real comparison, and more produces a scoring exercise so large that it gets done badly. Send the same pack to everyone on the same day, and answer provider questions in writing to the whole group rather than individually, otherwise you are running several separate conversations instead of a tender.

How should I weight price in a 3PL tender?

Around thirty per cent of the total score. Weighted much higher and the exercise becomes a reverse auction, which selects for whoever is most willing to underquote and reprice later. Weighted much lower and a good meeting can talk you into an expensive provider. Score commercials on a modelled annual total using your real orders, not on the headline rates.

Why do 3PL quotes turn out to be wrong later?

Almost always because the provider priced on assumptions that were never corrected. If you send a monthly order total and no distribution, they will assume an order shape, and the gap between that assumption and your reality surfaces as a repricing conversation a few months in. Sending the real distribution rather than averages prevents most of it.

What should I ask about exit costs during a tender?

Ask for the notice period, removal or de-stuffing charges, whether the final month of storage is billed in full regardless of when stock leaves, and whether a lien clause lets the provider hold your goods against unpaid invoices. Ask for the cost of leaving at the same time as the cost of joining, because almost nobody does and almost everybody later wishes they had.

How long does a 3PL tender take?

Seven to nine weeks from building the data pack to signing, before the migration itself begins. The two stages worth protecting are the data pack and the scoring, because those determine whether you choose well. Compressing the timeline usually comes out of exactly those two.

What should I look for on a 3PL site visit?

Ask to see a live order picked end to end including the system screens, look at the returns area because nobody tidies it, ask what last month's inventory accuracy was and how they know, check whether stock sits in defined locations or general areas, ask a floor supervisor a question rather than only the tour guide, and notice how full the building is. A site at capacity has no room for your peak.