SONAR Upgrades Batch Rate Intelligence Into a Full RFP Pricing Engine

Freight brokers live and die by their RFP pricing. Submit too high and you lose the lane. Submit too low and you win business you’ll spend the next year regretting. SONAR’s latest release is designed to close that gap.

SONAR this week released a significant upgrade to Batch Rate Intelligence, expanding the feature from a bulk lane analysis tool into what the company describes as a complete RFP pricing workflow.

The update arrives alongside expanded flatbed market-level visibility within the platform’s STVI (Spot Truckload Volume Index) and STRI (Spot Truckload Rate Index) indices.

From spreadsheet replacement to bid strategy engine Batch Rate Intelligence was already one of SONAR’s most used broker-facing features, letting users upload large lane files and pull market rate context at scale. The new version builds substantially on that foundation.

The updated tool now includes forward-looking rate and seasonality insights — letting users see not just what rates look like today, but where market conditions are trending as bids are executed and the contract period begins.

It also introduces bid positioning and risk visibility, surfacing lanes where a broker’s target rate may be misaligned with market expectations before a bid is submitted. The cleaner output interface is designed to support internal review, customer conversations, and bid strategy, making it easier to act on the data rather than simply export it.

“Instead of relying only on static spreadsheets, users can bring lane files into SONAR and quickly identify where rates may need adjustment, where opportunities exist and how market conditions should inform pricing decisions,” the company said in its release notes. Why it matters now The timing tracks with broader market dynamics.

Freight contract markets have spent much of the past 18 months in a slow normalization cycle, with spot rates compressing and shippers pushing for more aggressive contract pricing. That environment puts broker margin under real pressure during RFP season — exactly the scenario where better rate intelligence has the most leverage.

For brokers managing hundreds or thousands of lanes in an RFP, even modest improvements in bid accuracy across a large lane file can have material impact on both win rates and margin outcomes.

Flatbed visibility expansion The release also expands flatbed market data within SONAR’s STVI and STRI indices, giving users broader market-level visibility into a segment that has historically been harder to benchmark than dry van or reefer. The Batch Rate Intelligence update is available now within SONAR.

Users can access the feature by uploading a lane file directly within the platform. Not a SONAR user yet? Request a demo → The post SONAR Upgrades Batch Rate Intelligence Into a Full RFP Pricing Engine appeared first on FreightWaves.