3PL RFP Template: Exactly What to Ask Before You Sign
Most companies spend more time evaluating a new laptop than they do vetting a 3PL partner. That's a mistake. A bad 3PL selection costs you inventory accuracy, customer satisfaction, and eventually market share. A good one becomes a genuine competitive advantage — lower landed costs, faster delivery windows, more flexible capacity, and a partner who flags problems before they reach your inbox.
The RFP (Request for Proposal) process is your best opportunity to separate the operators from the salespeople. Done right, it forces every provider to answer the same questions on the same terms, surfaces capability gaps before they become your problem, and gives you the documentation trail you need to hold a partner accountable after the contract is signed.
This template covers every major evaluation category — operations, technology, pricing, compliance, value-added services, and risk management. Use it verbatim or adapt it to your situation. Either way, don't skip the questions that feel uncomfortable to ask. Those are usually the ones that matter most.
How to Run a 3PL RFP That Actually Works
Before you send a single document, do three things.
Define your requirements precisely. Volume (current and projected), SKU count, order profile (B2B vs. DTC vs. both), any special handling needs (hazmat, temperature-sensitive, fragile, high-value), geographic requirements, and integration dependencies. Vague RFPs attract vague responses.
Shortlist before you send. An RFP is not a discovery exercise — it's a structured comparison among providers you've already qualified as viable. Limit your distribution to 3–5 providers. More than that and you're spending more time evaluating responses than running your business.
Score responses blind if you can. Assign each section a weight, score responses before comparing vendors side by side, and document your reasoning. Intuition is useful but evidence wins disagreements.
Section 1: Company Background and Capabilities
These questions establish baseline credibility. You're looking for specific, verifiable answers — not marketing language.
Company and experience:
- How many years have you operated? How many of those years were in this facility?
- What is your total warehousing footprint in square feet, and how many facilities do you operate?
- What percentage of your current client base is in our industry vertical?
- Provide three client references in our product category. Include contact name, phone, and tenure.
- What is your largest current client by volume, and what does that relationship look like operationally?
Staffing and management:
- What is your total headcount? How do you ratio management to floor staff?
- What is your average warehouse employee tenure? What is your annual turnover rate?
- How do you staff for peak season? What is your surge capacity and how quickly can you scale?
- Who would be our day-to-day account manager, and what is their caseload?
- What happens to our account if our primary contact leaves?
Facility specifics:
- Describe the specific facility that would house our inventory — age, condition, location, square footage.
- What is the facility's current utilization rate?
- What are the hours of operation? Do you offer extended or 24/7 receiving?
- Is the facility owned or leased? If leased, what is the remaining term?
Red flags: Evasiveness on references, inability to name specific clients, turnover rates above 50% annually, a single facility operating above 90% capacity, a lease expiring within 12 months with no renewal confirmed.
Section 2: Operations and Fulfillment
This section tests execution capability — the daily work of receiving inventory, storing it accurately, picking orders, and shipping on time.
Receiving:
- What is your standard receiving SLA for inbound LTL and FTL freight?
- How do you handle discrepancies between the PO and what arrives on the dock?
- What is your process for receiving damaged goods? Who absorbs the cost of damaged inbound product?
- How quickly does received inventory become available for order fulfillment?
Inventory management:
- What is your current inventory accuracy rate? How do you measure it?
- How often do you conduct cycle counts? How often do you conduct full physical inventories?
- What is your shrinkage rate? How do you investigate and resolve shrinkage events?
- How do you handle lot tracking, FIFO, FEFO, or LIFO requirements?
- What is your process when inventory discrepancies are found between your system and ours?
Order fulfillment:
- What are your standard order cutoff and ship times for same-day fulfillment?
- What is your order accuracy rate? How is this measured and reported?
- Describe your pick methodology — zone picking, batch picking, wave picking? How do you determine the right method for a given order profile?
- How do you handle rush orders or expedited fulfillment requests?
- What is your process for backorders and out-of-stock situations?
Shipping and carrier management:
- What carrier relationships do you maintain? Are you rate shopping on every shipment?
- Do clients get access to your negotiated carrier rates, or are they passed through at a markup?
- How do you handle carrier failures — lost packages, late deliveries, damage in transit?
- What is your claims process and average resolution time?
Returns (if applicable):
- Describe your returns processing workflow. What happens to returned product from the moment it hits your dock?
- What is your standard returns processing SLA?
- How do you handle disposition decisions — restocking, refurbishment, destruction?
- What is your current returns accuracy rate?
Red flags: Inventory accuracy below 99%, order accuracy below 99.5%, vague answers about cycle count frequency, no documented process for discrepancy resolution, carrier rates that are marked up without disclosure.
Section 3: Technology and Integration
Technology integration failures are the most common source of operational friction in 3PL relationships. These questions matter as much as any operational question.
Warehouse Management System (WMS):
- What WMS platform do you use? What version? When was it last updated?
- Do you own and control your WMS, or are you dependent on a third-party vendor?
- What is your WMS uptime guarantee? What was your actual uptime last year?
- How do you handle WMS outages during business hours?
- Can clients access real-time inventory visibility directly in your system, or only through reports you generate?
Integration and connectivity:
- What EDI and API integration capabilities do you offer?
- Which e-commerce platforms, ERPs, and order management systems have you integrated with?
- Who bears the cost and development burden of building a new integration?
- What is your standard integration timeline from kickoff to go-live?
- How do you handle integration failures — a dropped order, a failed shipment confirmation, a missed inventory update?
Reporting and visibility:
- What standard reports do you provide, and on what cadence?
- Can we access a client portal with real-time order status, inventory levels, and receiving status?
- Are you able to provide custom reporting? What is the process and cost?
- How do you communicate proactively about exceptions — delayed shipments, inventory discrepancies, receiving delays?
Red flags: Proprietary WMS with limited API access, integration timelines longer than 60 days for standard platforms, no client-facing visibility portal, reactive rather than proactive exception communication.
Section 4: Pricing Structure
Pricing questions serve two purposes: understanding what you'll actually pay, and understanding whether the provider is being transparent with you. Opacity in the pricing section of an RFP is a preview of opacity in the billing relationship.
Fee structure:
- Provide a complete fee schedule — storage, receiving, pick-and-pack, shipping, returns, special handling, and any minimum charges.
- Are fees fixed or variable? Over what volume range does your pricing model hold?
- What is your billing cycle and payment terms?
- What fees are not listed in the standard schedule that we might encounter?
Storage:
- How do you measure storage — by pallet, bin, cubic foot, or square foot?
- Is storage billed on peak inventory level, average inventory, or daily?
- Are there minimum storage commitments? What are the penalties for falling below them?
Value-added services:
- Provide a rate card for kitting, bundling, labeling, repackaging, and custom inserts.
- Are value-added services priced per unit, per hour, or per project?
- What is the minimum order quantity or lead time for value-added services?
Volume and commitment:
- Do you offer volume-based pricing tiers? At what thresholds?
- Are there contract minimums? What happens if we miss them?
- Are rates locked for the contract term, or subject to annual escalation? At what cap?
Red flags: Fees for receiving discrepancies that are your fault, storage billed at peak rather than average, markups on carrier rates without disclosure, per-phone-call or per-email support fees, rate escalation clauses above CPI without a ceiling.
Section 5: Value-Added Services
For operations that need more than pick-and-ship, value-added capabilities can determine whether you need one partner or three. The right 3PL can consolidate contract packaging, kitting, labeling, and fulfillment under one roof — removing handoffs, reducing lead time, and eliminating the margin stack that comes with separate vendors.
Packaging and kitting:
- Do you offer contract packaging services in-house, or do you subcontract?
- What packaging machinery do you operate? What run speeds can you achieve?
- Describe your quality control process for packaging lines. What is your defect rate?
- Can you accommodate retail-ready packaging, club store requirements, or Amazon compliance standards?
- What is your minimum run size for kitting and custom packaging projects?
Labeling and compliance:
- Do you offer GS1-compliant labeling? RFID tagging? Retail routing guide compliance?
- How do you manage label changes or product updates across active inventory?
Assembly and light manufacturing:
- Can you perform product assembly, bundling, or light manufacturing?
- What is your production line capacity? How many lines do you operate?
Red flags: Value-added services that are subcontracted without disclosure, quality control processes that are verbal rather than documented, no defined defect rate or SLA for packaging work.
Section 6: Compliance, Certifications, and Risk Management
These questions protect you from liability and confirm the provider meets the baseline standards your business, customers, and trading partners require.
Certifications and regulatory:
- What quality certifications do you hold? (ISO 9001, FDA registration, SQF, etc.)
- Are you C-TPAT certified or enrolled?
- Do you have experience with FDA-regulated products, USDA requirements, or food-grade storage?
- How do you handle products that require specific handling conditions — temperature, humidity, light sensitivity?
Insurance and liability:
- What cargo insurance do you carry? What are the per-occurrence and aggregate limits?
- What is your policy for inventory loss or damage caused by your operations?
- Are you self-insured for any category of liability?
- Will you provide a certificate of insurance naming our company as an additional insured?
Business continuity:
- What is your documented business continuity and disaster recovery plan?
- Have you ever experienced a significant operational disruption (fire, flood, system failure, labor action)? How did you handle it?
- How do you protect client inventory in the event of a facility closure or financial difficulty?
- Who holds title to inventory while it is in your care?
Security:
- What physical security measures are in place — cameras, access control, guard service?
- How do you vet and screen warehouse employees?
- What is your protocol for handling high-value inventory?
Red flags: No C-TPAT enrollment for international supply chains, cargo insurance limits below your inventory value, no documented BCP, unwillingness to name your company as an additional insured, no employee background check program.
Section 7: Transition and Implementation
How a 3PL manages the transition from your current operation tells you everything about how they manage operations generally. A disorganized onboarding is a preview of a disorganized partnership.
Onboarding process:
- Describe your standard client onboarding process from contract signature to first shipment.
- What is a realistic timeline for a client of our size and complexity?
- Who leads the implementation? Is this the same team that manages the ongoing relationship?
- What do you need from us to begin, and what is your process if we're slow to provide it?
Integration and testing:
- How do you test integrations before go-live?
- What happens if an integration fails after go-live? Who is responsible for remediation?
Parallel operations:
- Can you support a parallel operation period where both our current and new 3PL are active?
- What inventory reconciliation process do you follow at the transition point?
Red flags: No defined implementation project manager, timelines that feel compressed relative to your complexity, no formal testing protocol for integrations, no willingness to discuss parallel operations.
Scoring Framework: How to Compare Responses Objectively
Assign weights to each section based on your priorities. Below is a suggested default weighting — adjust for your situation.
| Category | Suggested Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Operations and fulfillment | 25% | Core function — weight heavily |
| Technology and integration | 20% | Critical if you have complex tech stack |
| Pricing transparency | 20% | Comparability requires apples-to-apples |
| Company background and references | 15% | Validate, don't just read |
| Compliance and risk | 10% | Higher if regulated industry |
| Value-added services | 5% | Higher if packaging is a requirement |
| Transition and implementation | 5% | Higher if timeline is tight |
Score each provider 1–5 on each question, multiply by section weight, sum to a weighted total. Compare scores alongside reference check outcomes and your own gut read on the relationship. The highest score doesn't always win — but if the highest scorer fails a reference check, that's your answer.
Minimum thresholds to consider non-negotiable:
- Inventory accuracy: 99% or better
- Order accuracy: 99.5% or better
- On-time shipping: 98% or better
- Cargo insurance: Minimum coverage equivalent to your peak inventory value
- References: At least two verified, positive references in your product category
What to Watch for in Responses
The best 3PL partners answer RFP questions with specifics. Numbers, processes, named systems, named references. Providers who are good at what they do have nothing to hide — they want you to know exactly what you're getting.
Here are the patterns that should give you pause:
The pivot to the relationship. "We'd rather walk you through our facility and tell our story in person." Maybe. But first answer the questions. A provider who resists putting specifics in writing doesn't want specifics in writing.
Vague SLAs. "We pride ourselves on fast turnaround" is not an SLA. "Orders received before 2 PM ship same day, and we maintain a 99.6% on-time rate, audited monthly" is an SLA. One of these is a commitment; the other is a feeling.
The missing rate card. If a provider won't give you a complete fee schedule in writing, you will spend the next 12 months arguing about invoices. Insist on it.
References who only speak in generalities. When you call a reference, ask specific questions: What is their inventory accuracy rate? Have you ever had a significant operational failure? How did they handle it? If the reference can't answer or deflects, probe further.
Technology as a black box. "We have a great WMS" is not an answer to questions about uptime, integration capability, and client visibility. Get specifics. Ask to see the client portal before you sign.
Working With AnkerPak
AnkerPak operates 350,000+ square feet across four facilities in Columbus, Georgia — 180 miles from the Port of Savannah, the East Coast's largest container port. If your supply chain runs through Savannah, that proximity matters. Inventory coming off vessels can be in production or fulfillment within hours, not days.
What makes us different from most 3PLs is that we combine contract packaging and logistics under one roof. We operate 11 production lines handling kitting, assembly, labeling, club store compliance, and retail-ready packaging — all inside the same four walls where your inventory is stored and orders are fulfilled. For brands that currently split their packaging and fulfillment across two or three vendors, consolidating with a single partner removes handoffs, compresses timelines, and reduces the margin stack embedded in each vendor relationship.
We serve Fortune 500 clients and work hard to bring enterprise-grade operations to mid-market brands who need the same capabilities without the 10,000-pallet minimums.
If you're running an RFP, we'll answer every question in this template in writing, provide a complete rate card with no hidden fees, and connect you with active client references in your category. That's the baseline — not the differentiator.
To start the conversation, request a quote or reach out directly. We're straightforward to deal with, and if we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.
This template was developed based on AnkerPak's experience onboarding clients across retail, e-commerce, consumer goods, and food and beverage categories. Adapt it freely for your evaluation process.