Management Consultancy · Service

Scoring a freight tender

What goes in the matrix, and how to argue the weights.

Discuss a mandate Part of Management Consultancy ↗

At a glance

Activity Management Consultancy

Engagement Scoped mandate

Markets UAE · India · UK · US · Europe

Replies Two working days

What it is

“Weights set after the bids arrive are not weights. They are a justification.”

A principal, Kaelo Management Consultancy

A freight tender is decided by its scoring matrix, and the matrix is usually assembled in the week before award by whoever has the spreadsheet open. The result is a scoring model nobody can defend three months later when the winning carrier underperforms. Building it first — and arguing the weights before the bids arrive — is the single highest-use hour in the process.

What’s included

Four areas of scope

The criteria that belong in the matrix

Rate by lane and weight-break; transit time and its variance, which matters more than the mean; capacity commitment and what happens when it is breached; customs and compliance competence; claims history; systems and EDI integration; financial standing. Anything you would not defend to a carrier does not belong in it.

Weights argued before bids arrive

Weights set after seeing the bids are not weights, they are a justification. Fix them beforehand and record the reasoning.

Normalising what carriers actually send

Bids arrive on different assumptions about accessorials, fuel and currency. Normalisation is unglamorous and it is where most comparison errors are introduced.

Sensitivity, before you award

Re-run the model with the rate weight moved ten points. If the winner changes, the award is resting on a number somebody chose casually — and you should know that before signing.

How the work runs

STEP 01

Criteria workshop

What matters, and what you would defend publicly.

STEP 02

Weight setting

Argued and recorded before the RFQ closes.

STEP 03

Normalisation

Bids restated onto one basis.

STEP 04

Sensitivity and award support

Test the model before it decides anything.

When to come to us

01 You are designing a tender rather than reacting to one.
02 A previous award produced a carrier you would not choose again.
03 You need the decision to be defensible internally after the fact.

What we do not do

Setting weights after seeing bids.
Publishing a standard weighting we have not derived from your network.
Scoring on criteria you would not be willing to show the carriers.