How to Run a 3PL RFP: A 6-Phase Guide for First-Time Buyers

Learning how to run a 3PL RFP for the first time is less about writing the perfect document and more about knowing what order to do things in, how much time each phase actually takes, and when you're ready to start at all. This guide walks through the process we use with brands running their first fulfillment RFP, broken into six phases with realistic time estimates for each. ## Are You Actually Ready to Run an RFP? Before you send anything to a 3PL, it's worth checking whether you're ready for the process itself. Brands who start too early tend to get proposals back that don't mean much, because their own data isn't settled yet. A few signs you're ready: - You've had consistent order volume of 200 or more per month for at least three consecutive months. One spike from a product launch doesn't count. - Your inventory data is clean and matches what's actually on shelves. - You have an established shipping strategy, not something still being figured out order by order. - You're running at least a basic WMS. - Your margins have room for 3PL fees, typically $5 to $8 per order all-in for smaller brands. - You have three or more months of cash runway to get through onboarding. - You have the time to manage onboarding itself, which usually runs four to six weeks of back-and-forth even after a provider is selected. If most of these aren't true yet, it's worth waiting. An RFP run on unstable data produces proposals that fall apart during onboarding. ## The 6 Phases of a Structured 3PL RFP Once you're ready, the process breaks into six phases. ### 1. Align Get internal stakeholders on the same page before anything goes external: who owns the decision, what the non-negotiables are, and what "done" looks like. This phase typically takes a few hours, but skipping it costs much more later. ### 2. Create Build the RFP itself: scope of work, order profile, projected volumes, storage and receiving needs, and your evaluation criteria. This is also when you identify your candidate list of potential providers. ### 3. Formalize Turn the draft into a real document and validate it, sales channel by sales channel and SKU by SKU, so providers are responding to accurate information instead of guesses. ### 4. Analyze This is the longest phase. Proposals come back in different formats, different pricing structures, and different levels of detail, and someone has to normalize all of it before a real comparison is possible. ### 5. Sign Negotiate terms with your finalists, often including in-person or video walkthroughs of the facilities still in the running, and get the contract signed. ### 6. Launch & Beyond Onboarding, integration, and the early weeks of actually shipping through the new provider. Build in buffer here, since something always comes up. ## How Long Should It Actually Take? For a straightforward RFP, six to twelve weeks depending on complexity is a realistic range. Simpler, single-channel setups can move faster. Some brands with urgent timelines have compressed the whole process into about four weeks by running phases in parallel instead of sequentially. On the other end, we've seen brands take six months or more, not because the RFP itself was complicated, but because internal alignment and procurement approval moved slowly, or because a contract requirement imposed from outside took months to negotiate. The RFP is rarely the bottleneck. The decision-making around it usually is. ## What to Do Next Running a 3PL RFP well means separating the parts that take structure (the document, the evaluation criteria, the comparison) from the parts that take judgment (who you actually trust to run your fulfillment). Getting the structure right is what makes the judgment call easier. For more on procurement best practices generally, [the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals](https://cscmp.org/) publishes research on supply chain vendor selection that's a useful outside reference point.