How to Write an RFP for Transportation Services (With Checklist)

What should an RFP for transportation services include?

An RFP for transportation services should include seven parts: a one-page background, a volume table, sample trips that every bidder prices, service requirements with clear definitions, safety and insurance questions, billing and reporting requirements, and the evaluation method with a timeline. Leave any of these out and bidders fill the gap with assumptions, which makes their answers hard to compare.

Write the background so a bidder can read it in three minutes. Name the cities, the trip types (airport transfers, hourly executive travel, event shuttles, employee shuttles), the approximate monthly volume per type, your busiest periods and what fails today. If you do not know a volume, say so and give a range. A bidder asked to price a guess will add margin for the unknown.

• Background: company, cities, trip types, who travels and current pain points
• Volume table by city and service type, with peaks flagged
• Four to six sample trips that every bidder must price
• Service requirements, each with a definition of how it is measured
• Safety, licensing, insurance and data-handling questions
• Billing format, reporting fields and payment terms
• Scoring weights, timeline, question deadline and pilot plan

How do you describe trip volumes so bidders can price them?

Give bidders a table of trips per month by city and service type, with recurring work separated from one-off work. Volume is the biggest single input to how a program is structured, and a table is far easier to price than a paragraph.

Illustrative arithmetic: suppose a company runs 40 airport transfers a month in each of three cities. That is 120 trips a month, or about 1,440 a year. If 70 percent are single-passenger sedan trips and 30 percent are groups of three or more, a bidder can plan the vehicle mix. These figures show how to present the data; they are not a benchmark.

Pull the numbers from expense reports, corporate card data, business rideshare accounts and current supplier invoices. Twelve months beats three, because ground transportation is seasonal: board meetings, sales kickoffs and conference season all create peaks that a short sample misses.

• Trips per month by city and service type
• Average and maximum group size
• Peak weeks, such as board meetings, conferences or sales kickoffs
• Share of trips booked less than 24 hours ahead
• Share of trips between midnight and 6 a.m., which affects staffing
• Typical waiting time and trip length, where known

Which sample trips should every bidder price?

Every bidder should price the same four to six sample trips, written to include the awkward details that change the total: an early pickup, a delayed flight, waiting time, a group with luggage and a short-notice booking. Identical scenarios are the only fair way to compare pricing structures that are built differently.

Ask for each quote to be itemized: base fare or hourly rate, minimum hours, waiting time, tolls, parking and airport fees, fuel adjustments, gratuity, and any administrative or after-hours fees. Ask which items are included and which are passed through at cost. A low base rate with expensive extras is a common surprise on the first invoice.

• Illustrative scenario 1: sedan airport pickup at 6:00 a.m. on a weekday; the flight lands 90 minutes late
• Illustrative scenario 2: SUV booked as-directed for four hours with three downtown stops
• Illustrative scenario 3: 30 people with luggage from the airport to one hotel in a single wave
• Illustrative scenario 4: late-night return after a client dinner, booked three hours ahead
• Illustrative scenario 5: two-day shuttle loop between three hotels and a venue
• Illustrative scenario 6: a routine trip in your least-served city, to test coverage claims

What service requirements should the RFP set?

The RFP should set service requirements you can define and measure, and ask each bidder which ones it will commit to in a contract and which it treats as targets. Do not demand a percentage you cannot measure; if you want an on-time target, define on time, who records it and what happens when it is missed.

Cover the unglamorous situations: driver no-shows, flight delays, a breakdown mid-trip, a passenger who cannot find the driver, and who answers the phone before dawn. Bidders that deliver through local partners should say so plainly and explain how they hold one standard across markets. Corporate Travel USA, for example, coordinates nationally and states in each proposal which markets are delivered by owned operations and which by vetted local partners.

• Definition of on time for pickups, and how it is recorded
• When driver and vehicle details reach the traveler
• Flight monitoring and the waiting rule after a delay
• Breakdown and replacement-vehicle process
• After-hours contact and escalation path
• Commitment versus target: which items the bidder will put in the contract

How do you verify a bidder's safety, licensing and insurance?

Verify safety claims against public records rather than relying on the response. Companies whose vehicles are designed or used to carry more than 8 passengers including the driver for compensation in interstate commerce must register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and hold a USDOT number, so those operators can be looked up.

FMCSA's Look Before You Book guidance for travel planners sets out the checks: search the company by USDOT number, confirm it is authorized to operate and has not been placed out of service, review its safety rating and public safety categories (BASICs), and confirm active for-hire passenger authority and insurance on file. Ask bidders for the USDOT number of every operator they would use in each market, partners included.

Insurance needs your risk team's judgment. Federal rules set minimum financial responsibility for interstate for-hire passenger carriers at $1,500,000 for vehicles seating 15 or fewer passengers including the driver, and $5,000,000 for vehicles seating 16 or more (49 CFR 387.33). Those are legal floors, not recommendations. Ask for certificates of insurance, coverage types and renewal dates, and set your own requirements.

Sedans and most SUVs carry 8 or fewer people including the driver, so they sit below that federal threshold and are licensed mainly under state and local rules that vary by market. Ask how each bidder screens and trains drivers, verifies licenses and permits, and inspects vehicles in each city. Ask how itinerary and passenger data is stored, who can see it and how it is shared with local operators, and attach your vendor security questionnaire.

How should billing, reporting and pricing structure be specified?

Specify the invoice format, required references and report fields in the RFP itself, so bidders price the administration you actually need. PO numbers, cost-center or matter codes, consolidated or per-trip invoices, payment terms and the dispute process all belong here.

Ask bidders to explain how pricing is structured, not only what it is: flat transfer rates, hourly rates with minimums, waiting rules, gratuity, fuel and tolls all vary between providers. Capabilities such as consolidated invoicing, cost-center reporting or an online booking tool should be described as what the bidder will scope and deliver, with a sample invoice and sample report attached.

• Invoice format: consolidated monthly or per trip
• Required references: PO, cost center, matter or project code
• Report fields: date, passenger, route, vehicle tier, waiting time, charges by cost center
• Payment terms and the dispute window
• A sample invoice and a sample report from each bidder

How should you score bidder responses?

Score responses with a weighted scorecard agreed before the RFP is released: give each category a weight, score each bidder from 1 to 5, multiply and add. Agreeing the weights first stops the scoring drifting toward whichever bidder the team already likes.

Illustrative arithmetic: with service model weighted 30, coverage 25, compliance 20, commercial 15 and reporting 10, a bidder scoring 4, 3, 5, 3 and 4 earns 120 + 75 + 100 + 45 + 40 = 380 of a possible 500. A second bidder scoring 3, 4, 4, 5 and 3 earns 90 + 100 + 80 + 75 + 30 = 375. Totals that close should be settled by references and a pilot, not by the scorecard alone.

Weights are your decision. Setting price at 80 percent treats ground transportation as a commodity, which multi-city service rarely is. Call references, and run a pilot in one or two cities before committing the full footprint.

Transportation RFP checklist: steps from draft to award

A transportation RFP runs most smoothly in six steps: draft the requirements, agree the scoring, release with a question deadline, answer every question to all bidders at once, shortlist and verify, then pilot and award. Publishing the dates up front gives bidders time to confirm delivery in each market instead of guessing.

Allow enough time for bidders to check local delivery in every city on your list. A response that says yes to every market within days deserves a follow-up question. Use the printable checklist on this page to confirm nothing is missing before release.

• Draft the background, volume table and sample trips
• Agree scoring weights and the evaluation panel
• Release with a question deadline and a submission date
• Answer all questions in one document shared with every bidder
• Shortlist, call references and check public safety records
• Pilot in one or two cities, then award and plan the rollout