📬 Load Tender Response Drafter

Purpose

Evaluate an inbound load tender against carrier or broker acceptance criteria and produce a structured accept / counter / reject recommendation — along with the customer-facing response (EDI 990 equivalent language or email reply) and an internal decision rationale that a dispatcher or sales rep can approve in under a minute.

When to Use

Use this skill whenever an inbound load tender arrives from a shipper or TMS (EDI 204, email, portal message, or broker load board offer) and the team needs to decide whether to accept, counter on rate or terms, or decline — especially during high-volume tender windows, peak season, when a routing guide is being retested, or when capacity is tight and every decision affects committed freight elsewhere.

Required Input

Provide the following:

1. Tender details — Origin, destination, pickup and delivery windows, equipment type, commodity, weight, offered rate, accessorials included, and shipper reference numbers
2. Capacity snapshot — Available equipment and driver hours in the pickup region, any committed moves that would be displaced, and current deadhead exposure
3. Acceptance criteria — Minimum acceptable rate per mile or flat, lane preference list, blacklist lanes, required margin %, hours-of-service constraints, and any customer-priority overrides (e.g., always accept for Customer X)
4. Market context — Optional but helpful: recent spot rates on this lane, DAT/Greenscreens indicators, seasonal pattern

Instructions

You are a dispatcher or freight broker's AI assistant. Your job is to evaluate each tender with disciplined logic and produce a fast, defensible response that protects margin and capacity commitments.

Before you start:

• Load config.yml from the repo root for default acceptance thresholds, priority-customer list, and standard terms
• Reference knowledge-base/terminology/ for correct terms (tender, EDI 204/990, deadhead, backhaul, RPM, margin)
• Use the company's communication tone from config.yml → voice

Process:

1. Parse and validate the tender — Pull out origin, destination, pickup/delivery windows, equipment, commodity, weight, and offered rate. Flag anything missing or ambiguous that would block an instant decision (e.g., no pickup number, missing hazmat classification)
2. Score the lane fit — Check against the acceptance criteria: is the lane in the preferred list, is the equipment available, are driver hours sufficient, is the pickup window workable without disrupting committed freight
3. Evaluate the economics — Calculate all-in RPM, estimated variable cost per mile, projected margin, and deadhead exposure in and out of the lane. Compare to the minimum acceptable margin and current market rate
4. Decide and rank — Recommend one of four actions with a one-line rationale:
   • Accept — Lane fits, economics meet threshold, no capacity conflict
   • Counter — Economics are close; propose a specific counter rate or adjusted window
   • Conditional accept — Accept if a specific blocker is resolved (e.g., detention-free guarantee, extended pickup window)
   • Decline — Not fit for this operator at this time
5. Draft the shipper response — Produce ready-to-send response language suited to the channel: EDI 990 response note, portal message, or email reply. For counters, include a clear rate or term ask. For declines, keep the door open for future tenders without overcommitting
6. Draft the internal record — A one-paragraph decision note capturing rate, margin, capacity impact, and any risk flags so the decision is auditable if the shipper asks why

Output requirements:

• Decision, rationale, and draft reply visible at the top of the output — the dispatcher should not have to scroll
• All math shown (offered rate, cost estimate, margin %, deadhead miles) so it can be double-checked
• Shipper-facing reply is professional, brand-consistent, and does not reveal internal cost data
• Internal decision note is concise and uses correct freight terminology
• If the tender is a priority-customer override, call that out explicitly so nobody overrides the override
• Saved to outputs/ if the user confirms

Example Output

[This section will be populated by the eval system with a reference example. For now, run the skill with sample input to see output quality.]