REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) - GLOBAL TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SERVICES

BACKGROUND

ITPC is an issue-based global organization working to achieve health and social justice for all through robust community engagement. ITPC was founded in 2003 in Cape Town, South Africa, by a committed group of 125 HIV activists from 65 countries who refused to accept a world in which people living with HIV were denied access to life-saving medicine. As ITPC grew into a Global Activist Network (GAN) advocating for the needs of communities affected by HIV and TB, it also laid the groundwork for community-driven work extending beyond singular diseases and addressing the systemic issues affecting people’s health and quality of life— exposing and resisting entrenched global power dynamics that consistently prioritize privilege and profit over the right to health and dignity.

Request for proposal:

ITPC is a remote global organization that requires its employees, partners and program delegates to travel domestically and internationally throughout the year.

The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals for the services of a non-exclusive travel agency to manage and coordinate official travel needs for the employees of ITPC and group travel for delegates when required.

ITPC is soliciting proposals from travel agencies who can demonstrate knowledge of Non-Profit Sector Travel Regulations; charge costs to multiple internal department cost centers and offer a 30-day credit account facility; and generate invoices and reports outlining costs related to each cost center. Additionally, the bidder must demonstrate, via references, that such travel services have been provided to similar organizations with numerous travelers across multiple countries. Furthermore, ITPC is seeking a travel agency that will prioritize efforts to resolve any travel-related problems or emergencies that may arise, and can demonstrate the achievement of cost savings for clients comparable in size and complexity.

Scope of Work:

ITPC is interested in securing the highest quality travel services, maximizing service convenience for its staff and various programs delegates, while minimizing travel cost and developing a database that will give ITPC an accurate reference of its travel expenditure patterns.

ITPC reserves the right to use other travel services, when necessary.

The Contractor shall provide corporate travel services for official domestic, regional, and international travel of ITPC employees and various program delegates. Services that the Contractor shall provide include the following:

1. Offer corporate travel services on credit terms - 30 days after invoice payable via EFT.
2. Offer competitive and preferential rates, with worldwide origin with minimal number of stopovers.
3. Travel reservations, issuance and delivery of E-tickets for air, rail, or land transportation with advance seat assignments.
4. Assisting with no-cost flight/accommodation reservations for visa application purposes.
5. Transfer assistance during the travel, if necessary.
6. Securing reservations for lodging accommodations within ITPC set per diem for domestic, regional, and international locations or cheaper or as directed by ITPC.
7. Coordinating commercial car rental services, as needed.
8. Advice on necessary health requirements, including types of inoculations and vaccinations whether required or suggested for foreign travel.
9. Provision of information on visa requirements for different nationalities to travel to different countries.
10. Detailed travelers' itineraries.
11. Be able to provide invoices and statements in USD or local currency, as/when appropriate.
12. Management information and billing reports derived from the booking database.
13. Reconciliation of travel charges incurred against ITPC account.
14. Collection & reporting of total expenditures by airline/hotel chain.
15. Ability to provide services for approximately 500 travel units per year.
16. Ability to source options for priority passes for multiple lounge access and other airport benefits – particularly to frequent flyers or those on long haul flights.
17. Any other services which may be of value add can be added to the proposal as a separate line item.

Contractor’s other Service Requirements:

In addition to providing the services listed under the scope of work, the Contractor shall perform the following:

1. The contractor shall comply with mandatory ITPC Travel Policy when making all travel arrangements.
2. The contractor will follow the instructions provided by the program officer/ITPC Staff for the conduct of travel.
3. As many of our travelers will be coming long distances, requiring several transfers and connections, it would be useful to set up a reservation form as simple as possible. Ideally, travelers should only need to enter their city of origin, and the Travel Agency should be able to plan the best route(s) to destination.
4. The Contractor shall be able to provide advice on travel risk management for example annual travel insurance services for staff who travel frequently.
5. The Contractor shall be able to provide a minimum of 3 estimates for all travel from 3 different airlines and 3 estimates from 3 different lodging facilities and book the lowest available or the requested class of service fare that satisfies the ITPC mission requirements. If reservations made by the Contractor are not at the lowest available rate or at the requested class of service rate allowed by policy, the Contractor shall refund ITPC the difference.
6. Promotional or other types of discount fares can be used under this contract provided that the contractor shall not use any restricted fare which provides for a monetary penalty for itinerary changes or flight cancellations without consulting the program officer/assistant in charge of the relevant official travel arrangements first.
7. When ITPC travelers include personal legs of travel in their official itineraries, the contractor should be able to separate the official cost from the personal cost on a cost construct basis and coordinate payment of the personal difference with the traveler directly.
8. The Contractor shall provide ITPC with the reservation and ticketing services which industry practice normally accords corporate or private travelers, to include new and improved reservation and ticketing technologies.
9. The Contractor shall provide ITPC with a 24-hour phone number accessible by travelers to perform emergency itinerary changes and emergency services outside regular business hours. The Contractor shall be responsible for ensuring that any subcontractor providing such emergency service complies with all conditions of the contract.
10. The Contractor may only issue business or premium class tickets for which ITPC will have to pay an additional amount only with advance authorization. This does not apply to situations in which frequent flyer benefits will be used to obtain the premium class tickets.
11. The Contractor shall provide delivery of tickets, itineraries, and boarding passes (if applicable), and other travel documents, as determined necessary. Tickets shall routinely be provided no earlier than 14 days in advance of international travel and 7 days in advance for domestic travel unless ITPC requests otherwise. The Contractor shall deliver tickets in the form of either E-tickets or Paper tickets (if no E-tickets are available).
12. The Contractor shall provide off-site service, Monday through Friday, compatible with ITPC standard workday schedule from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. excluding the official holidays observed in country of contractor residence (a list of the holidays will be provided separately to the bid winner). The Contractor should provide ITPC with exact physical address and other branches of operation in case in-person service is requested by ITPC official travelers.
13. In the event of emergencies (e.g. declared disasters, airline strikes, fires, natural disasters, terrorist attacks including evacuations etc.), the Contractor shall maintain operations necessary to support ITPC under the contract. This includes maintaining services 24 hours a day as required by ITPC responding to the emergency and providing necessary delivery of tickets.
14. The Contractor is required to identify qualified personnel for project management and for handling reservation requests. They should be fluent in English (writing and reading) and experienced in providing international travel and management services for ITPC.
15. Contractor's Account Representative – The Contractor shall assign an Account Representative who shall be responsible for the administration, supervision, and coordination of ITPC travel operations. The Account Representative shall have experience in the management of travel services and shall have adequate authority to make decisions for the timely resolution of problems. The Account Representative shall coordinate closely with the designated person in ITPC.
16. Travel Counselors/Reservationists – The Contractor shall assign full-time travel counselors/ reservationists. The Travel Counselors/Reservationists shall have been trained in operating the proposed automated reservation and ticketing equipment. The Contractor shall provide qualified substitute personnel for absent employees, or when service levels are negatively impacted, as determined by ITPC.

Reporting and Monitoring:

The Contractor is required to provide management cost reports or access to online reporting to include spend analysis for ITPC various cost centers (projects/donors) incurred against individual credit account and or credit cards, activity management, reconciliation analysis, etc. The reports should detail specific expenditures related to project/donor i.e. Airfare, car rental, hotel, and designated travel locations, as well as individual travel expenditure.

The Contractor is also required to provide quarterly summary reports.

In addition to the above, the Contractor is required to maintain an internal monitoring process for identifying and correcting deficiencies in the quality of service furnished to ITPC. This may include but is not limited to generating quality service survey forms that address travel services to be furnished under this contract.

Type of Contract: This is a per-transaction fixed fee contract. ITPC shall pay the contractor a transaction fee based on a fixed rate per transaction (see transaction fee procedures for details).

Contract Term: One-year period from the date to start services with two-year option to renew.

Estimated Annual No. of Official Travel Units: 500 including ITPC staff and delegates to workshops, meetings, trainings etc.

In accordance with the requirements of this proposal, the undersigned offers and agrees, if their proposal is accepted, to furnish any and all services for which the prices are submitted in accordance with the attached conditions as specified by the proposal.

The bidder assumes sole responsibility for the complete effort required in this RFP. No special consideration shall be given after bids are open due to bidder’s failure to be knowledgeable of all the requirements under this RFP. By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, the bidder confirms that it has satisfied itself of all the requirement of this RFP.

Transaction Fee Procedures:

1. These procedures apply only to official ITPC travel, not personal travel. Any transaction fee charged to an individual on personal travel shall be between the traveler and the Contractor.
2. As directed by ITPC, when the Contractor is required to arrange for official air transportation of one or more individuals, the Contractor may charge only one transaction fee per itinerary per individual when the ticket is issued. The individual’s itinerary could involve multiple tickets, but only one transaction fee is charged for this itinerary regardless of the no. of ticket(s) issued (the transaction fee is not based on the number of tickets needed to complete the individual’s itinerary). Until such time as ITPC requests the Contractor to issue and the Contractor issues a ticket for transportation, no transaction fee shall be charged for any services associated with that transportation, including but not limited to:
   • the original transportation reservations.
   • changes to the original transportation reservations.
   • lodging reservations.
   • car rental reservations; and
3. Once the official ticket is issued, if the traveler requests a personal change in that ticket that requires ticket reissuance, the Contractor shall charge the traveler directly any additional transaction fee associated with the ticket change. However, if the change is requested by ITPC for official purpose, ITPC will cover the additional transaction fee. No additional transaction fee shall be charged for any other services.
4. After ticket issuance, if the Contractor must change and/or change and reissue the ticket because the Contractor or ITPC discovers a Contractor-caused error in the routing, carrier or other problem, there shall be no additional transaction fee charge.

Cost Liability:

ITPC assumes no responsibility and bears no liability for cost incurred by bidders in the preparation and submittal of proposals in response to this RFP.

Business Registration Notice:

Any travel agency submitting a proposal is required to be in good business standing and should adhere to all country of operation/registration requirements. Proof of a valid business registration is required prior to conducting business with ITPC. Failure to submit such valid registration with a bid will render the bid materially non-responsive.

License and Permits:

The contractor shall obtain and maintain in full compliance and affect all required licenses, permits, and authorizations necessary to perform this contract. The Contractor shall supply ITPC with evidence of all such licenses, permits and authorizations. This evidence shall be submitted subsequent to the contract award.

In addition to the above, the Contractor should be a registered and certified member in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC), and must have worldwide recognition and acceptance by major airlines, hotels, car/bus rental companies, restaurants and other travel related industries.

Ownership of Material:

All data, technical information, materials gathered, oriented, developed, prepared, used or obtained in the performance of the contract, including but not limited to, all reports, surveys, plans, written procedures which are completed for or are a result of services required under this contract shall and remain the property of ITPC and shall be delivered to ITPC upon a 30 day notice.

Data Confidentiality:

All financial, statistical, personnel and/or technical data supplied by ITPC to the contractor is confidential. The contractor is required to use reasonable care to protect the confidentiality of such data. Any use, sale or offering of this data in any form by the contractor, or any individual or entity in the contractors charge or employ, will be considered a violation of this contract and may result in termination for cause. In addition, such conduct may be considered a breach of contract that is liable to litigation.

The contractor shall not use ITPC’s name, logos, images, or any data or results arising from the contract without first obtaining the prior written consent of ITPC.

Suspension of Work:

ITPC may, for a valid reason, issue a stop order directing the contractor to suspend work under the contract for a specific time. The contract services shall be paid until the effective stop date of the stop order.

Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions:

The bidder is required to follow the instructions contained in this RFP and in the bid cover sheet in preparing and submitting its bid proposal. The bidder is advised to read thoroughly and follow all instructions.

Each bidder is given wide latitude in the degree of detail it elects to offer or extent to which plans, designs, systems, procedures are revealed. However, insufficient detail may result in a determination that the bid proposal is materially non-responsive or may lower its technical score.

Proposal Form and Content:

The bidder shall set forth its overall technical approach and plans to meet the requirements of the RFP in a narrative format. The narrative should convince ITPC that the bidder understands the objectives that the contract intends to meet and the nature of the required work level necessary to successfully complete the contract while adhering to ITPC travel policy.

The proposal should be submitted in the format below:

A. The Bidder’s ability and plan to handle approximately 500 units or more of international airline and accommodation reservations a year.

B. The Bidder’s ability to report on frequency and spend sorted out by airline and/or hotel chain.

C. Company capabilities and financial statements for the prior three years of operation

D. Number of employees/staffs handling such travel service needs

E. References from clients with similar needs including names and titles for contact purposes

F. The Bidder’s ability to reconcile centrally billed airfare & accommodation fees against an account used for various cost centers, and the ability to separate personal from business travel arrangements

G. Description of management information system AND the accommodation and airline reservation system(s)

H. Twenty-four-hour emergency service capacity.

I. Identification by name and title of the key individuals, especially an account representative, who would direct and provide the services including a resume of each individual that describes his or her experience and responsibilities

J. The Bidder’s approximate waiting time to respond to a call and or return a voicemail message

K. A description of the bidder’s plans for e-ticket confirmation or physical delivery if necessary

L. Sample copy reports the bidder can produce to ITPC

M. A description on how the bidder will ensure the utmost customer satisfaction

N. A list of the Bidder’s proposed service enhancements unique to the Bidder including any franchise agreements, discounts, or rebates. ITPC is interested in any arrangements that can be made to eliminate or minimize penalties when legitimate reasons exist for ticket cancellations, or to waive the “Saturday stay over” often required on fares

O. The bidder’s philosophy and approach to securing air travel and other travel services at the lowest most logical available fare or rates

P. The Bidder’s approach to quality control

Q. The bidder’s approach to identifying projected savings for ITPC and the methodology and format that would be utilized to present this information to ITPC. In addition, ITPC is interested in the type of recommendations the bidder would provide regarding the ways to achieve future savings

R. The Bidder’s normal business days and hours, and description of how international travelers may obtain assistance after the normal work hours

S. The Bidder is required to include the location of the bidder’s office that will be responsible for managing the contract. The Bidder should include the telephone number and name of the account representative.

T. A description of any special procedures or unique features, i.e., development of traveler profiles, meet and greet services, etc.

U. Alternate offerings deemed by the Bidder to be of added value to this proposal may be submitted in addition to the preceding technical requirements.

Questions:

ITPC will only accept written questions and inquiries from potential bidders receiving this RFP. Written questions should be emailed to procurement@itpcglobal.org.

The deadline to submit questions is no later than 15 February 2025.