Annex Orbis

Brokers · Tendering & rate cons

Get the rate con signed. Broker, then carrier.

Fill a rate confirmation for the load and send it out for signature in order: your side first, then the carrier’s. The carrier signs from an emailed link and attaches its certificate of insurance, and every step lands on the agreement’s audit trail. Then attach the signed copy to the load, next to the BOL.

Rate con e-sign · Broker → CarrierIn testingDocuments on the loadIn testingTenders the carrier can act onComing
Talk to usSee the full tender flow
In testing. Signing runs in a computer’s or a touch tablet’s browser; signing on a phone is coming. No agreement has completed in production yet, and counsel’s review of the consent wording is pending.

Illustration · fictional names and data

Where it works

Sent from the web. Signed in a browser on a computer or a tablet.

Rate cons and agreements live in Files › Agreements in the web app, and a load’s paperwork on the load itself. The carrier needs no account: the signing link arrives by email.

Status by device

  • WebIn testingFill the starter, send it in order, follow who has signed, and attach the signed copy, the BOL and the COI to the load. A signer at a computer types a name or uses a saved signature.
  • TabletIn testingSign in the tablet’s browser and draw the signature by touch. The tablet app lists tenders read-only and has no agreements.
  • MobileComingSigning a rate con on a phone is coming. Today a phone’s browser can’t open the workspace, a signing link opened on a phone can’t be signed there, and the app’s Tenders list is read-only.

The tablet and mobile apps are test builds on company devices, not in any store. In a phone’s browser, the public link pages open: quotes (/q), tracking (/p, /t, /track), invoices (/pay) and the FMCSA lookup (/fmcsa).

The rate conIn testing

The carrier signs from an emailed link, COI attached.

Start from the freight rate confirmation starter, or from your own PDF. Replace the [bracketed] placeholders with the load: pickup, delivery, commodity, equipment, the rate and its conditions. Send it, and the carrier’s turn opens only when yours is done.

  • The carrier fills in the driver’s name and the truck and trailer numbers as it signs
  • Add an attachment field and the carrier uploads its certificate of insurance, filed next to the signed PDF
  • A copy to your billing desk, and reminders on weekdays, 9 AM–5 PM in the signer’s time zone
  • Decline, hand it to someone else, or ask you a question, all from the signing page

Starter wording — have it reviewed before use. The starters are general wording with [bracketed] placeholders, not legal templates, and today a rate con is filled by hand.

More on e-signature

In testingThe carrier’s signing page, in a computer’s browser

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On the loadIn testing

The rate con, the BOL and the COI, on the load they belong to.

Every load has a Documents tab. Attach the signed rate confirmation, the bill of lading and the carrier’s certificate of insurance, each under its own label, and the paperwork stays with the load it belongs to, filed in Files with its versions.

  • Attach a rate con, BOL or COI to the load, with a labelIn testing
  • Filed in Files under the load, with versionsIn testing
  • The load itself: stops, appointments, equipment, commodity, weight, reference and rateAvailable
  • Import a rate confirmation PDF into a draft loadComing
  • Proof of delivery and BOL photos from the driver’s phoneComing

Build the load in the TMS

In testingA load’s Documents tab, in the web app

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Tenders and carrier arrangementsComing

Offer the load. Let the carrier answer.

Set up a carrier arrangement once: find the carrier by its USDOT or MC number, and it accepts in its own inbox. Then send a tender with what the carrier needs to say yes — the lane, the stops and times, the equipment and who’s offering. The carrier accepts, declines or counters with a rate; you reply, cancel or re-tender.

  1. ComingArrangementFound by USDOT or MC, accepted in the carrier’s inbox
  2. ComingTenderLane, stops, dates, equipment and the rate
  3. ComingCounterA rate back from the carrier, and your reply
  4. ComingAcceptedOn the carrier’s board and the driver’s phone ★
  5. ComingRate conFilled from the load and bound to the tender
  6. In testingOn the loadThe signed rate con, BOL and COI, kept with the load
  • From a saved quote, Turn into tender starts at the buy rate; the carrier sees the tender rate and the route, never your sell rate or margin
  • A carrier on your do-not-use list is flagged before you offer
  • Cancel a tender, or re-tender the load to another carrier, without building it again
  • The carrier’s public FMCSA records — authority, insurance filings, inspections — a click away, with their dates

Carrier vettingQuotes & lane pricing

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Before you tenderComing

Can the driver legally make the window? Know before you offer.

When the carrier runs its ELD on ANNEX ORBIS and shares its drivers’ hours for a tender, the offer screen plans the trip against them: driving, breaks and rest, from the hours left today and in the cycle. A driver who can’t make the delivery window isn’t offered the load.

  • Plans the 30-minute break, the 10-hour rest and a 34-hour restart where the cycle runs out
  • The same hours-aware engine that times the lane on your quote, solo or team
  • Shows when the truck should arrive, beside the appointment

★ Possible because ANNEX ORBIS runs the carrier’s ELD

It decides the tender, never the driver.

The check decides whether a tender goes out. It never changes a duty status: driving is recorded automatically while the truck moves, and at any stop the driver can choose any status, Drive included.

How the ELD keeps the hours

ComingThe hours check on a tender

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After the yesComing

Accepted, and it’s already on their board.

When the carrier runs ANNEX ORBIS, accepting writes the carrier of record and puts the load on its dispatch board and its driver’s phone, with nothing typed twice. The rate con is filled from the load, bound to the tender and signed on a phone. Carriers that don’t use ANNEX ORBIS get the same tender by link.

  • Coming★ When the carrier runs ANNEX ORBIS

    On the carrier’s board and the driver’s phone

    The accepted load lands on Ridgeline Freight’s dispatch board with its stops and appointments, and Marcus R. finds it in his Work on his phone.

  • Coming

    A rate con bound to the tender, signed on a phone

    The rate confirmation fills itself from the load and the agreed rate. Confirming the tender freezes it with its signing record, and the carrier can sign from its phone.

  • Coming

    Carriers not on ANNEX ORBIS, by link

    Send the tender by email or text. The carrier accepts, counters or declines and signs the rate con from the link, with no account to make.

Illustration · fictional names and data

Navigation for the carrier’s truck

Sponsor ANNEX ORBIS truck navigation for the carrier’s driver on your load, for that load only.

ComingTruck navigation

Status, plainly

The rate con is in testing. The tender is coming.

Available is live in production. In testing is built and running, not yet proven with real customers. Coming is planned or partly built.

Rate con and agreements

  • Freight rate confirmation starter, filled by handIn testing
  • Carrier–broker agreement starterIn testing
  • Signing in order: broker, then carrierIn testing
  • Signing in a computer’s or a touch tablet’s browserIn testing
  • Certificate of insurance attached while signingIn testing
  • Audit trail, Certificate of Completion and tamper-evident sealIn testing
  • Signing a rate con on a phoneComing

Documents on the load

  • Load builder: stops, appointments, equipment and rateAvailable
  • Files drive with versions and sharingAvailable
  • Rate con, BOL and COI attached to the loadIn testing
  • Rate confirmation PDF imported into a draft loadComing
  • Proof of delivery and BOL photos from the driver’s phoneComing
  • Transaction record kept three years (49 CFR 371.3)Coming

Tenders

  • Carrier arrangements with an inbox, found by USDOT or MCComing
  • A tender with lane, stops, dates, equipment and brokerComing
  • Counter with a rate, reply, cancel and re-tenderComing
  • Turn a saved quote into a tender at the buy rateComing
  • Tenders to carriers not on ANNEX ORBIS, by linkComing

Handoff to the carrier

  • Public FMCSA records on the carrier, with their datesAvailable
  • Rate con filled from the load and bound to the tenderComing
  • Accepted load on the carrier’s board and the driver’s phoneComing
  • Driver’s hours checked against the window before you tenderComing
  • Navigation for the carrier’s truck on your loadComing

Not offered

  • Load-board posting or search
  • EDI tenders (204 and 990)
  • ID-document checks on a signer
  • A trusted third-party certificate or timestamp

Look up a carrier’s public FMCSA records

FAQ

Questions brokers ask

Can we send our own rate confirmation instead of the starter?

Yes. Choose your PDF from Files and place the fields; Suggested fields picks up signature lines and labels like “Date”. Set the order, broker then carrier, and send. The starters are general wording with [bracketed] placeholders: edit them and have them reviewed before you use them.

Can the carrier sign on a phone?

Not today. The carrier signs from an emailed link in a computer’s browser, by typing a name, or in a touch tablet’s browser, by drawing. A link opened in a phone’s browser can’t be signed there. Signing a rate con on a phone is coming, with the rate con bound to the tender.

Does the carrier need an ANNEX ORBIS account?

Not to sign. The link arrives by email and works without an account; every signer needs an email address. Tenders are different, and both kinds are coming: a carrier on ANNEX ORBIS will get the tender on its own board, and a carrier that isn’t will get it by link.

Can we tender a load from a quote today?

Not yet: tenders are coming. Today you price the lane on the quote, build the load and send the rate con for signature. When tenders arrive, a saved quote becomes a tender at the buy rate, and the carrier sees the tender rate and the route, never your sell rate or margin.

Will an e-signed rate con hold up?

We don’t promise that, and counsel hasn’t finished reviewing the consent wording. What each agreement keeps is the record: the consent the signer accepted and its version, every view and signature with its time, IP address and device, and a sealed PDF that shows any later change. For terms that matter, ask your own counsel.

Do you post loads to load boards?

No. ANNEX ORBIS doesn’t post to or search load boards, and it doesn’t take EDI tenders. Find capacity your own way, then check the carrier against public FMCSA records — authority, insurance filings and inspections, from the full index of 2026-09-19 — before you book.

Keep exploring

The rest of the broker platform

Every rate con signed in order, and kept on its load.

Tell us how you cover loads today. We’ll walk you through the rate con, the signing order and the paperwork on the load, and show you where tenders are headed.

Talk to us