The logistics community recently gathered in Chicago at the Journal of Commerce Inland Distribution Conference, providing a crucial platform for discussing the challenges facing the broader supply chain. A key conversation centered on navigating the approaching Request for Proposal (RFP) season and the technology that is transforming how brokers approach pricing and strategy.
We sat down with Jonathan Salama, a computer engineer by trade and co-founder of Transfix, who shared insights into what is currently top of mind for freight brokers and how technological advances are helping them secure profitable business.
The Looming RFP Season and Market Outlook
As the year winds down, RFP season is upon us, and brokers are heavily focused on prepping for 2026. The market is rife with speculation, with some predicting a burst upwards, while others remain pessimistic.
Jonathan fundamentally agrees that rate increases will be gradual, not overnight, and driven by seasonality. He anticipates a new, more normalized increase during the produce season in the middle of the year.
However, the real differentiator for brokers won't be in guessing the market. Transfix specializes in helping brokers understand their own costs rather than merely tracking the market’s trajectory.
Jonathan: “We’re there to explore and help brokers understand their own cost... Understanding where your cost is going is a lot more scientific. It’s a lot more defined. It’s a lot more impactful.”
There can be a massive delta between the general market rate and a broker’s actual cost. A broker might have cornered a specific geography or lane, enabling them to buy better than the market. If they rely on a volatile industry average, they risk giving an unnecessarily aggressive price in lanes where they are the best.
The interviewer, a freight expert, emphasized the danger of blanket industry rates:
“So many companies have these just different niches or markets or geographies that they service more competitively than others, that for them to go take like an industry average blanket rate and use that for their pricing would be doing themselves a disservice.”
Tackling the "Garbage Data" Myth
Historically, the brokerage community has struggled to articulate the thought process and strategy behind its RFP submissions. Jonathan noted that data accessibility is a major hurdle, particularly within traditional Transportation Management Systems (TMS).
Jonathan is passionate about refuting the common refrain of “garbage in, garbage out”:
Jonathan: “I am tired of hearing garbage in, garbage out... You have to make bad data good. You have to figure it out. That’s what we help most brokers we work with, understanding their own data, understanding their own weaknesses, and making sense of the ‘garbage’. There’s no such thing.”
If a broker is told their data is too poor for analysis, it’s a "terrible" and "sad" situation because they cannot simply wave a wand and fix their existing processes. Technology must work for the data that exists, not the other way around.
Strategy: Get a Head Start and Bid Selectively
With the RFP season underway, Jonathan’s overarching advice is simple: Don’t wait for it.
• Proactive Prep: If you have last year’s RFP file, get a head start now. Shippers rarely drastically change their networks year over year, allowing brokers to start working long before the official drop.
• Targeted Outreach: If you didn't win any lanes last year, proactively reach out to the shipper and ask which five lanes you want to focus on.
• Focus on Strengths (and Weaknesses): Brokers must ask where they are competitive and, perhaps more importantly, where they are weak.
◦ Brokers should avoid spinning their wheels bidding aggressively on lanes where a massive asset carrier incumbent has a five-year drop pool and 99% Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
◦ If you have a geography you are not competitive in, save your time and effort by skipping the bid entirely. As the freight expert noted, "I have done RFPs where it was several thousand lanes and I submitted pricing on like 130."
Technology That Transforms Time
One of the biggest obstacles in RFP season is the time commitment. Jonathan highlighted how technology can drastically reduce this effort.
When using advanced tools, a broker can receive a file from a shipper and upload the completed pricing back into the shipper portal within an hour. This dramatic time savings comes largely from automating the manual process of data cleansing and ingestion.
Jonathan: “You can upload the shipper file as is as an Excel file, poorly formatted with wrong zip codes in half of the lane. You can upload that, and we will ingest it without any help.”
The technology uses advanced modeling to translate poorly formatted files, handling issues like wrong zip codes or missing state data, saving immense time and preventing errors that often plague manual bid submissions.
Transfix currently prices across full truckload modes—dry van, reefer, and flatbed—along with communities in between, such as hazmat and live versus drop.
Ultimately, for brokers navigating a difficult season, the best strategy is to be flexible, set up a rigorous strategy by shipper and by lane, and leverage internal data to make scientific bets on where they can buy freight most competitively.