September 1, 2005 (Amended September 29, 2005)

Dear Transportation Service Providers:

This Request for Offers (RFO) transmits the Special Filing Instructions
(SFI) for the submission of non-alternating rate offers on behalf of the
**National Industries for the Blind and Severely Handicapped
(NIB/NISH)** and the **Eastern Distribution Center (EDC), Burlington,
NJ** for freight-all-kinds (FAK) traffic. Please note that rate offers
for the **Western Distribution Center** are on a two (2) year filing
cycle and do not expire until **October 31, 2006**. Rate offers filed in
response to this RFO and its SFI will be in accordance with the terms
and conditions of the General Services Administration's (GSA's) Standard
Tender of Service (STOS), this RFO and its SFI. Please note that in some
instances this RFO and its SFI will deviate from and will supersede
those published in the STOS, General Freight Tender of Service No. 1-F
(GSA TOS No. 1-F), supplements and reissues thereto.

Traffic to be included under this RFO and its SFI will be FAK shipments
moving via closed van for all less than truckload (LTL) (0 pounds to
10,000 pounds) shipments and all truckload (TL) (20,000 pounds to 40,000
pounds and over) shipments. Rates will be applicable only to interstate
shipments moving in the Continental United States (CONUS) and the
identified intrastate shipments within CONUS.

Please be aware that electronic rate offers previously accepted will
automatically expire on October 31, 2005 (with the exception of the
Western Distribution Center); [consequently, it is imperative that all
firms submit new rate offers electronically in accordance with this RFO
and its SFI if a firm wants rates effective November 1,
2005.]{.underline}

All Transportation Service Providers (TSP's) who have met GSA's approval
requirements per the STOS 1-F Section 2, Participation, may submit rate
offers in accordance with this RFO and its SFI. Rate Filing Service
Providers (RFSP) who have a valid Trading Partner Agreement on file with
the Program Management Office (PMO) and have met all other approval
requirements established by GSA may act as a RFSP on behalf of approved
firms. Rate offers submitted in response to this RFO and its SFI must be
submitted to GSA in accordance with Sections 8, 10, 11 & 12 - **NO PAPER
RATE OFFERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.**

**[Please note the following significant items/changes:]{.underline}**

**1. [EDC Traffic]{.underline}:** Please pay close attention to the EDC
traffic identified in Section 10 of this RFO and its SFI as this is the
first time that GSA has requested the electronic submission of rate
offers for the EDC for inclusion in the Transportation Management
Services Solution (TMSS) system. For the EDC Service Area Codes EDC01 --
EDC05, only truckload rate offers are being requested. For the EDC
Service Area Codes EDC06 -- EDC30, only less-than-truckload rate offers
are being requested. All accepted rate offers will

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be effective for the time period of November 1, 2005, throught October
31, 2006, with the EDC having an option to extend through October 31,
2007.

**2. [Continuation of Existing Rate Offers Filed via
TMSS]{.underline}:** If submitting rates via TMSS for the identified
NIB/NISH traffic during the initial rate filing window of September 1,
2005 through October 12, 2005, [please note that if a TSP has existing
rates on file in TMSS for NIB/NISH that those rate offers automatically
expire October 31, 2005]{.underline}. In order to continue those rates
for an effective date of November 1, 2005, at least one change must be
made to each rate tender on file within TMSS. If a TSP does not wish to
change an existing rate or add a new rate, the tender number(s) must be
changed in order to "submit" the tender(s) for an effective date of
November 1, 2005. Existing tenders that do not have any changes made to
them during the open filing window will be deleted from TMSS effective
October 31, 2005. The above does not apply to the identified EDC traffic
as this is the first time rates have been requested electronically for
the EDC.

**3. [Taxpayer ID Number (TIN) and E-Mail Address]{.underline}:** TSPs
submitting rate offers under this RFO and its SFI must provide a valid
TIN within the header record of the rate file. TSPs submitting rates via
TMSS are also mandated to provide a TIN number on the appropriate TMSS
screen. A TIN is defined as a business entity's Employer Identification
Number (EIN). Rate offers will not be accepted without a valid TIN on
file. For those TSPs not submitting rate offers in response to this RFO
and its SFI, GSA requests that TSPs access TMSS during the open filing
window and select "Freight Rate Filing." TSPs will then be given the
opportunity to verify or update their TIN. Valid TINs will become a
requirement for participation once the Payment module is implemented
within TMSS. TSPs must also submit an email address with each rate
submitted and are encouraged to provide a fax number.

**4. [NIB/NISH Traffic:]{.underline}** Two new NIB/NISH work centers
have been added to Section 8 of this RFO and its SFI: Heartland Cup
Company in Allen, OK (NOK02) and Somerset County Blind Center in
Somerset, PA (NPA09). The verbiage "Cargo may require TSP offload at
destination" has been added to the description of NOK01. In addition,
several other changes to exisiting addresses and/or phone numbers have
been made and are highlighted in red within Pargraph 8-1.B.

5.  **[Electronic Rate Filing]{.underline}:** All rate offers must be
    transmitted electronically. The

Government will not consider any rate offer that is not transmitted
electronically. Further, electronic transmissions that do not conform to
formatting requirements specified in this RFO and its SFI in Sections 8,
10, 11 and 12 will not be accepted. NOTE: If your firm intends to
transmit its own rate offer via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) instead
of using an RFSP or the TMSS on-line rate filing capabilities and you do
not have a user id and password for the FTP server, you will need to
contact the PMO as identified in Section 12.

> **6. [Electronic Rate Submission by FTP]{.underline}:** Electronic
> rate offers must be submitted

to GSA in accordance with the time frames identified Section 1,
Paragraph 1-2. of this RFO and its SFI. Per Section 12, once a rate file
is submitted by FTP it will be processed for errors that evening and an
error report will be submitted back to the TSP's or RFSP's FTP

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directory immediately following validation. An e-mail will also be sent
to the TSP or RFSP identifying the number of records added, rejected,
and identified as suspect. TSPs and RFSPs may continue submitting
corrections until all errors are corrected or until the closing date of
October 5, 2005. Rate files and error corrections submitted on the
closing date of October 12, 2005, will be accepted and validated at
10:00am, 1:00pm, and 4:30pm CST. TSPs and RFSPs will not have an
opportunity to correct any errors detected in a file submitted during
the 4:30pm validation ***(see Section 1, Paragraph 1-2.B. and Section 12
for further details).*** Rate offers created using TMSS are validated in
real time.

If you have any questions regarding the identified NIB/NISH traffic,
please contact Maria Gutierrez at (415) 522-2846 or via e-mail at
[maria.gutierrez@gsa.gov](../maria.gutierrez@gsa.gov). Questions
regarding the identified EDC traffic should be directed to Mathis
Gardner at (202) 619-8933 or via e-mail at
[mathis.gardner@gsa.gov]{.underline}. Questions dealing with the
submission of electronic rate offers should be directed to Jim Stroup at
(816) 823-3646 or via e-mail at <jim.stroup@gsa.gov>.

Sincerely,

Ed Hodges

Ed Hodges, Director

Property & Traffic Management Division