Method and System for Brokering Shipping Contracts Between Solicitors and Service Providers

A system for facilitating shipping contract awarding by communicating a contract awarding confirmation from a solicitor to a provider and facilitating post-awarding communications between the solicitor and the provider, the system comprising:

• a. a data storage database containing contact details previously inputted by the solicitor and contact details previously inputted by service providers;
• b. a central processing computer system connected with the data storage database and configured to:
• i. record a solicitor-awarded contract based on a solicitor-selected quote from among multiple quotes received through communication from different ones of the service providers in response to a quote request from said solicitor;
• ii. send notification of the solicitor-awarded contract to a one of the service providers who provided the solicitor-selected quote;
• iii. send a notification of rejection to one or more of the service providers who provided a non-selected one of the quotes;
• iv. send notification of bid closing to any of the service providers that were included in a list for distribution of the quote request, but did not submit a quote;
• v. receive service provider communication from the one of the service providers who has been awarded the contract, the communication containing updates about the shipping service progress.

A system for executing shipping contracting communications between a solicitor and a service provider comprising:

• a. client computer hardware and software means to enable the solicitor and the service provider to send and receive communications;
• b. means to store data sets of required shipping service parameters and quotes previously and respectively inputted by the solicitor and the service provider;
• c. central computer hardware and software means to:
• i. receive a solicitor communication from the solicitor containing information about a required shipping service;
• ii. distribute communication to solicitor-defined service providers containing details of a quote request for the required shipping service;
• iii. receive service provider communications from service providers containing quotes for the required shipping service;
• iv. match the service provider communications and solicitor communication on the basis of a unique identification number;
• v. generate a report in which the quotes received in the service provider communications are grouped based on the details of the quote request previously inputted by the solicitors and distributed by the central computer hardware and software means;
• vi. record a solicitor-awarded contract based on selection by the solicitor of one of the quotes received through the service provider communications from the service providers;
• vii. send a notification of the solicitor-awarded contract to a one of the service providers whose quote was selected by the solicitor;
• viii. send a notification of rejection to one or more of the service providers whose quote was not selected by the solicitor;
• ix. send a notification of bid closing to any of the service providers that were included in a list for distribution of the details of the quote request, but did not submit a quote;
• x. receive a post-awarding communication from the one of the service provider who has been awarded the contract, the post-awarding communication containing updates about progress of the required shipping service.

A method for operating a computer to execute communications necessary for requesting and receiving shipping service quotes and distributing request for shipping service quote from solicitors to service providers, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. receiving a solicitor communication from a solicitor containing information about a required shipping service;
• b. receiving service provider communications from the service providers, each containing details of a quote for the required shipping service;
• c. generating a report notification about the received quotes upon completion of a quoting period;
• d. sending a confirmation of an awarded contract as a communication to a one of the service providers whose quote was selected by the solicitor;
• e. sending a notification of rejection to one or more of the service providers whose quote was not selected by the solicitor;
• f. sending a notification of bid closing to at least one service provider that was included in a list for distribution of the quote request, but did not submit a quote;
• g. making available a notification of shipment status and details as a post-awarding communication between the solicitor and the one of the service providers that was awarded the contract.

A method for operating a computer system to execute communications necessary for allocating the cost of contracting fees for shipping contracts awarded by solicitors to the service providers, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. from an operating entity, receiving configuration parameters of a service plan applied to solicitors who have been assigned different classes, the service plan determining a contracting fee amount to be charged to a service provider for a successful quote based at least partly on a respective class of a solicitor who requested the quote;
• b. making information about the contracting fee amount available to the service provider for each request for quote, where such information is:
• i. made available to the service provider upon said service provider reviewing a request for quote received from the solicitor;
• and
• ii. made available prior to the service provider submitting a quote to said solicitor in response to said request for quote.