Most pages about "military freight" are written to sound qualified. This one is written to be useful. Federal freight is bought through a small number of named programs, each with a published rulebook, a published list of what a provider must already hold, and a published way of handing loads out. If you are a prime contractor, a subcontractor or a parts supplier near a Southeast installation, the useful questions are which program actually touches your shipment, what the provider in front of you has to prove, and what you need to have ready before the truck shows up. That is what follows.
How federal freight is actually bought
There is no single "government load board". There are four channels, and a shipment lands in exactly one of them depending on who owns the freight at the moment it moves.
1. Department of Defense surface freight: ARTRANS tenders and the DFTS contract
DoD freight inside the United States is managed by the U.S. Army Transportation Command (ARTRANS), the Army component of U.S. Transportation Command. Until September 24, 2025 it was the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, SDDC; the Army announced the rename as a change of name rather than mission, which is why most forms, publications and email addresses still read SDDC.
Two things carry that freight. The first is the Freight Carrier Registration Program (FCRP), a roster of carriers, brokers and forwarders that may receive DoD tenders under the Military Freight Traffic Unified Rules Publication (MFTURP-1). Registration is open: the ARTRANS page says it is accepting registrations for all transportation modes, applications go in through the GFM registration portal, and the current rulebook is the ARTRANS FCRP Registration Package dated December 8, 2025. The form is not the hard part. The package requires every DOT authority applied for to have been active and uninterrupted in FMCSA for three consecutive years, states that there are no exceptions or waivers, and tells applicants to register in SAM.gov and obtain a UEI before they file; a new company is therefore three years of clean commercial operation away from the roster, however quickly the portal accepts its paperwork.
The second, and in volume terms the larger, is the Defense Freight Transportation Services contract. U.S. Transportation Command awarded DFTS II to Crowley Government Services in 2024; Crowley's July 2, 2024 release describes a seven-year, roughly $2.3 billion contract covering "all forms of surface transportation throughout the continental U.S., Alaska and Canada": less-than-truckload, truckload, expedited, time-definite and rail, plus cross-docking and warehousing, with about 300,000 movements a year handled through a network of carriers and suppliers that the prime says it grew by more than 500 percent. For a small carrier or broker, that network is a commercial onboarding with the prime, not a federal registration, and it is the route that does not run through the FCRP's three-year authority rule; what the prime asks of its carriers is its own commercial decision.
2. Civilian agencies: GSA's Freight Management Program
Civilian agencies ship through the GSA Freight Management Program, which GSA says serves 48 bureaus across 22 federal civilian agencies at 174 shipping locations, with no contract requirement to use its rates. Agencies book domestic moves in TMSS 2.0 against rates that each provider filed there for the current rate cycle (the Standard Tender of Service describes a fiscal-year rate filing cycle opened by GSA's General Request for Offers); unusual moves go out as one-time-only requests. The rulebook is the Standard Tender of Service (eighth edition, effective December 1, 2021) with its companion accessorial tariff (GSA 200-A) and baseline rate publication (GSA 1000-D). The provider bills the agency directly, and GSA's freight transportation handbook is blunt about what happens next: a bill of lading is mandatory for every shipment, a completed bill of lading signed off by the agency is required before a provider is paid, and agencies verify every transportation bill against the filed rates under 41 CFR parts 102-117 and 102-118.
3. FEMA: the annual Tender of Service
FEMA calls its Tender of Service Program "the primary way that FEMA obtains transportation services" from providers it has accepted in advance (FEMA transportation page). It needs truckload, less-than-truckload, maritime, air and rail capacity plus haulers for transportable temporary housing units, and it says plainly that it has no load board. Providers apply once a year in a published window; for the 2026 program year the window opened February 2 and closed March 27, 2026, with new applicants due by February 20. Loads are then awarded from the rates each provider filed, or by spot bid to providers contacted on a rotating basis, according to FEMA's own program FAQ.
4. Everything else: SAM.gov notices and state portals
Small, specific hauling jobs, such as moving a generator set between depots or clearing a yard, are sometimes bought as ordinary procurements. Federal contracting offices post pre-solicitation, solicitation and award notices as Contract Opportunities on SAM.gov, searchable without an account by keyword, NAICS code and set-aside type. States and localities run their own marketplaces: in Missouri, the state this company is based in, that is MissouriBUYS, the state's eProcurement system, and in Virginia it is eVA, the Department of General Services' eProcurement portal. Virginia is cited here as a worked example because it sits inside the seven-state dry van footprint, not because of where we are based. Check your own state's portal for its current rules. These are real but sporadic, and they are contracts, not tenders: you bid a price and sign for performance.
What each program requires, in plain terms
The table below is taken from the program documents linked above. Dollar figures are the programs' own stated minimums, not freight prices.
| Program | Who runs it | What a provider must already hold | How loads reach a provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| DoD Freight Carrier Registration Program | ARTRANS (formerly SDDC), under U.S. Transportation Command | Every DOT authority applied for active in FMCSA for three consecutive years without interruption, no exceptions or waivers (ARTRANS FCRP Registration Package, December 8, 2025). The same package lists an NMFTA SCAC, an active SAM.gov registration with a UEI before applying, a DoD performance bond of $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000 depending on company size and the number of states served ($100,000 flat for brokers, logistics companies and surface freight forwarders), $150,000 of cargo insurance under MFTURP-1, a US Bank Syncada account, an EDI tracking feed, and no suspension or debarment in SAM.gov. | Tenders under MFTURP-1 to roster carriers. Registration is open now through the GFM portal; ARTRANS says it is accepting registrations for all transportation modes. |
| Defense Freight Transportation Services (DFTS II) | U.S. Transportation Command prime contract held by Crowley Government Services (2024 award, about $2.3 billion over seven years) | Whatever the prime's own carrier onboarding asks for. It is a commercial relationship with the contractor, not a federal registration. | The prime tenders loads to its carrier network: LTL, truckload, expedited, time-definite and rail across the continental U.S., Alaska and Canada. |
| GSA Freight Management Program | GSA, for civilian agencies (48 bureaus, 22 agencies, 174 shipping locations) | GSA lists four vendor requirements: appropriate operating authority and insurance; SAM.gov registration with current business information; a US Bank Syncada (TPPS) account for digital invoicing; and rates filed in TMSS 2.0. Each agency sets its own billing rules, and customers that use Syncada must be invoiced through it. The Standard Tender of Service sets a $150,000 cargo insurance minimum. | Agencies book in TMSS 2.0 against the rates on file, or issue a one-time-only request. The provider bills the agency; bills are audited against filed rates. |
| FEMA Tender of Service Program | FEMA Logistics | Five consecutive years in business, checked in SAM.gov; active SAM.gov registration with a UEI; a unique NMFTA SCAC; a U.S. physical office; current operating authority; $300,000 cargo insurance per shipment with proof sent directly by the insurer; a signed TSP agreement. Brokers must meet the same insurance minimum. | Annual onboarding window (February 2 to March 27 in 2026). Loads awarded from filed rates or by spot bid through LSCMS-C; no load board. |
| SAM.gov Contract Opportunities | Any federal contracting office | An active SAM.gov entity registration to be awarded as a prime (free; renewed every 365 days). | Posted solicitations; you quote and sign a contract. |
| State and local portals (e.g., MissouriBUYS, Virginia's eVA) | State procurement agencies and participating localities | Supplier registration on that portal. | Posted solicitations and quotes. |
Where that leaves Averstone Logistics, honestly
The status box at the top of this page is the whole of it. We hold no FMCSA registration and no SAM.gov registration yet, which means we meet none of the thresholds in the table: not the three years of authority the DoD roster asks for, not the five years in business FEMA checks, not the rates on file that GSA books against. We will not describe ourselves as a defense or government carrier until an agency's own list says so, and we would rather you distrust any provider who does.
The groundwork, in the order we intend to do it: SAM.gov entity registration first, because it is free and every program treats it as the prerequisite; FMCSA property-broker registration next; then years of ordinary commercial performance, which is what every one of these programs is really measuring. In the meantime the freight that is open to a new company is the freight described below.
The realistic near-term path: contractor and supplier freight, bought commercially
Behind every installation is a supply base that ships like any other manufacturer. Primes and subcontractors fabricating, machining, assembling or kitting for a defense contract buy their inbound materials and ship their finished work under their own purchase orders. The government's rules bind the contract; what reaches the truck is whatever the prime writes into its PO, usually packaging and marking requirements, a delivery window, sometimes an insurance limit. That freight moves on ordinary rate confirmations and commercial bills of lading, and it clusters around places like Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Fort Jackson and Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina, Fort Stewart and Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, Fort Campbell on the Kentucky–Tennessee line, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, and the Hampton Roads and Quantico complexes in Virginia. Most of it is machinery, enclosures, electrical gear, structural steel, shelters and crated assemblies: hotshot partials, flatbed and dry van work.
Planned coverage once we open: Hotshot and flatbed freight nationwide (lower 48). Dry van truckload across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. USA only — no cross-border, no drayage, no rail, no temperature-controlled freight.
Much of it never touches a gate. Primes stage inbound parts at off-post warehouses and move finished goods on-post with their own people or a contract that already holds base access. When a delivery does go on-post, it goes under the sponsor's pass and the installation's commercial vehicle rules, which the shipper, not the carrier, has to obtain in advance.
What those shippers should have ready
- On-post or off-post. The consignee address decides whether base access is involved at all. Say which, and name the gate if you know it.
- The receiving rules from the PO. Appointment process, hours, who books it, what reference numbers must appear on the bill of lading, and whether the receiver accepts a partial.
- Marking and packaging. If the contract calls for MIL-STD-129 labels or a specific crate spec, that is the shipper's job and it is done before pickup.
- Driver and vehicle details for a pass. Full name, license, truck and trailer plates, carrier insurance. A driver swap the night before usually restarts the clock.
- Dimensions, weight, pieces and securement needs, the same as any open-deck or van move. The quote-ready checklist covers it on one page, and the pallet calculator settles van versus hotshot by weight.
- Who signs. The name of the person who will receive and sign, and how fast the prime needs the proof of delivery back for its own invoicing.
Worked example: a supplier delivery to an installation-adjacent site (illustrative)
A machining subcontractor in Greenville, South Carolina has 8 pallets of finished aluminum enclosures for a prime's staging warehouse in Fayetteville, North Carolina, off-post but a few miles from Fort Bragg. Each pallet is 48 × 40 × 50 in and about 1,175 lb, so 9,400 lb in total; the PO requires MIL-STD-129 labels and delivery by appointment Thursday between 8:00 and 11:00, with the PO number on the bill of lading and 24 hours' notice to the receiver. The lane is roughly 250 road miles.
Equipment. 8 pallets loaded straight take about 16 linear feet, comfortably a partial, but 9,400 lb is near the top of the roughly 8,000–10,000 lb a non-CDL rig nets, depending on how the truck and trailer are plated, so plan on a CDL hotshot or a dry van partial rather than counting on a non-CDL pickup-and-gooseneck. Timing. Pickup Wednesday 13:00 with labels already on; about 5 hours of driving; the driver stages near Fayetteville overnight and delivers at 08:30 Thursday. The rate confirmation states two hours of free time at each end and the appointment owner by name. Because the warehouse is off-post, no pass is needed and nothing about the government contract touches the truck except the labels and the PO number.
If the same load were going on-post instead: the prime's sponsor would need the driver's name, license and plate numbers 48 to 72 hours ahead to request a visitor pass, and the carrier would plan 45 to 60 minutes at the commercial vehicle gate for inspection, so the Wednesday pickup becomes a Tuesday one and the driver cannot change. All figures here are illustrative planning values; specific installations and receivers set their own.
Questions to ask any freight provider before a government-related move
Government-adjacent freight attracts a particular kind of marketing. These questions separate a provider's standing from its vocabulary. We would expect to be asked all of them, and today our answer to the first one is that we hold no FMCSA registration yet.
- Are you a motor carrier or a broker, and what are your USDOT and MC numbers? Check them yourself in FMCSA's public records: the Motus public search for active authority and current insurance filings (Motus replaces the former Licensing & Insurance system, which FMCSA is sunsetting), and the SAFER company snapshot for the safety record, before you tender anything.
- If a broker: is your $75,000 surety bond or trust fund on file? 49 CFR 387.307 requires it, evidenced on Form BMC-84 or BMC-85; since January 16, 2026 a trust fund must hold assets that can be turned into cash within seven days.
- What is your cargo insurance limit, and what does the policy exclude? Ask for the certificate. Electronics, machinery and used goods are common exclusions, and a "per shipment" limit below your load's value is your problem, not the insurer's.
- Are you claiming any federal program status? If so, which program, under which SCAC, and since when. ARTRANS, GSA and FEMA each keep their own roster. A SAM.gov registration or a UEI is a prerequisite, not a transportation status.
- Who will actually haul it, and is re-brokering prohibited in your carrier agreement? FEMA's tender bars double brokering outright; a commercial shipper should expect the same promise in writing.
- Can the driver meet base access requirements, and who requests the pass? Valid ID, registration and insurance in the cab; the sponsor requests access; the carrier supplies the driver and vehicle details on time.
- Does your confirmation state detention free time, accessorials and what happens at a refused gate? A truck turned away at a gate for a paperwork gap is a redelivery, and someone pays for it.
- Will you share the driver's name and truck and trailer numbers in advance, and tell us if they change? Pass requests fail on this more than on anything else.
- Do you understand the marking and packaging clauses in the PO? If a provider has never heard of MIL-STD-129, it should at least ask who is applying the labels.
- How fast do you return a signed proof of delivery? The prime's own invoice to the government usually waits on it.
The same questions are the standard we hold ourselves to on how we work, and they apply just as well to a nationwide hotshot as to a short run across the state line.