Project HOPE Looking for REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL #HQ-22-08-001- INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AGENCY at Washington, DC  Full Time

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL #HQ-22-08-001- INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AGENCY, Global Health

Location:
District of Columbia
United States

Project Hope
Request For Proposal
#HQ-22-08-001- International Travel Agency

Table of Contents
1.Company Overview. 1
2. Request For Proposal Timeline and Protocol 2
2.1 Response Deadline. 2
2.2 Selection Criteria. 3
2.3 Proposal Validity. 3
2.4 Submission Instructions. 3
2.5 Payment Terms. 5
2.6 Questions/ Clarification Request: 5
3. Scope of Work. 5
3.1 General Requirements. 6
3.2 Business Hours. 7
3.3 After Hours support & Emergency Response. 7
3.4 Compliance. 8
3.5 Contract Requirements 9
3.6 Reporting and Other 9
3.7 About Your Agency and Services: 9
3.8. References. 15
4. Appendix 1 – Supplier Profile. 15
4. Appendix 2 – Fee Structure – Example. 16

1.Company Overview

Project HOPE (HOPE) is an international
humanitarian aid organization with global operations, working to increase
access to health care services and improve the knowledge and skills of health
care workers in communities in need around the world. HOPE’s emergency response
teams not only provide lifesaving aid following disaster, they often stay
behind to support communities as they recover with long-term support for
damaged health care systems and communities
To
learn more about us, visit https://www.projecthope.org/

Project Hope is seeking a full-service
Travel Management Company (TMC) for a period of three years with possibility
for extension of contract for additional two years (1+1) based on satisfactory
results.
Below is our historic spending for
reference only and does not commit Project Hope to any future spending.

Reference only, and this does not commit
HOPE to any future spending nevertheless the yearly average in the past three
years was $450.000 per year, this is not accounting Car rentals and Visa
Expenses that were around $75.000 in total per year.

However due to rapid growth of HOPE
international portfolio of countries and their missions around the world HOPE
predictions are that the total expenditure in years to come will double if not
triple.

The Travel Management Company
(TMC) must provide local support to these offices during local business hours
while having a network to support requests from PROJECT HOPE programs sites worldwide. The bulk of the
inquiries will be initiated from our US office
Washington DC, USA
Skopje, North Macedonia
2. Request For Proposal Timeline and Protocol

Event Date
Date of RFP issued 01-Sept-2022
Notice
of intent to participate 05-Sep-2022
RFP questions due 07-Sep-2022
Project
Hope response to questions 09-Sep-2022
Agency proposals due 23- Sep-2022
Project
Hope bid opening 26-Sep-2022
Proposal evaluation and follow-up
questions, if any 30- Sep-2022
Presentations
by finalists, if necessary TBD
Contract starting date TBD
Timetable
subject to change

2.1 Response
Deadline
An open period for submitting
questions will begin on the issuance date of the RFP. All questions MUST be
submitted to the RFP contact email address, [email protected] no later 3pm EST on 07th Sep, 2022 Questions will be compiled, and responses sent to all
Bidders by 5pm
EST on 09th Sep, 2022.
Quotations
received after the stated deadline are considered invalid, but exceptions may
be made on a case-by-case basis at Project Hope discretion.

2.2 Selection Criteria
In
evaluating the proposals, HOPE will seek the best value for money.
Specifically, proposals will be evaluated on the basis of the following
criteria. To ensure consideration for this Request for Proposal, your proposal
should be complete and include all of the following criteria:

Criteria %
Global Coverage & Response SLA 20
COMPANY
experience & past performance 15
AIRLINE AND HOTELS HUMANITARIAN RATES
ACCESIBILITY 10
FEE
STRUCTURE 10
ONLINE BOOKING TOOLS 5
REPORTING
10
PAYMENT MODALITY 10
ONLINE
APPROVAL SYSTEM MODALITY 15
IMPLEMENTATION 5

Project
Hope reserves the right to seek clarification and ask additional question in
the evaluation of bid stage.

2.3 Proposal
Validity

The Proposal should be valid for 120 days from the RFP due date. If not possible, list best validity time.
The Proposal includes, but is not limited to cost, pricing, terms and conditions, service levels, and all other information. If your company is awarded the contract, all information in the RFP and negotiation process is contractually binding.

2.4 Submission Instructions

Bidders should provide, at a minimum, the following components as part of their proposal for consideration

Bidder Profile, Appendix 1.
The following documentation:

Evidence of Bidder’s legal company registration, incorporation or license to do business issued by a competent authority in the country of registration.
Audited financial statements for the previous fiscal year.

Three (3) active references whose environment, size, and scope are most similar to HOPE. Include a summary of the work completed for each account.
Include reference contact names, with telephone numbers and email addresses where they may be reached.

Proposal must be submitted Via email to secured email address including our RFP reference in subject HQ-22-08-001

– In order to be
considered, proposals must be received no later than 3pm EST on 23rd Sep, 2022. Proposals must be
submitted through [email protected]

All document submissions and communications related to this tender should be made to the Project HOPE e-tender mailbox: [email protected]

– NOTIFICATION OF INTENT: Each prospective
Bidder shall, on or before 05th Sep, 2022, state their intent to
submit a proposal. Intent to participate must be submitted through
[email protected]
The
Subject line should state “Intent to Submit” and the reference number for this
RFP.
Do not copy other email addresses on your offer submission, inability to do so may disqualify your offer.

To be eligible, Proposal should:
Provide full, accurate and complete information as required by this solicitation and its attachments, including any certifications attached.
Be submitted on Bidder’s company letterhead and preferably signed by the authorized company officer.
It is recommended that the price schedules be copied on Bidder’s letterhead.
It is recommended that letter head includes bidder’s registration number, VAT, Tax ID/EIN, or fiscal #, address, capital (as applicable), etc.
W-9 or W-8BEN-E, as applicable

As a minimum, offers should show:
The RFP reference number
The name, addresses (street, email, other), and telephone number of the Bidder
A detailed technical description /specification of the services being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation.
“Remit to”/” Submit to” address, if different than mailing address
Confirmation of acceptance of Request for Proposal Terms and Conditions.

All Proposals must be in the English language, signed and dated by an authorized employee of the Bidder. In addition to required documents requested, proposals can include additional items such as templates, brochures, media, etc.

HOPE reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to request presentations from individual Bidders prior to its pre-qualification decisions.

Vendor Registration
All vendors must register with Project Hope prior to being awarded a contract.

2.5 Payment
Terms

We will consider all form of payment options that fit our month end reconciliation & reporting needs as described in section 2.5 Payment Terms and 3.6Reporting

2.6 Questions/
Clarification Request:

Should you have questions about this Request for Proposal, please contact Toma Siprak at Project Hope via e-mail at [email protected] as already indicated in 2.1 Response Deadline

3. Scope
of Work

The following describes the services HOPE will require of its Travel Management Company. Vendors wishing to submit proposals must provide a written description of their capability and/or willingness to meet the following service criteria:

To facilitate its work around the world, HOPE seeks to select a Travel Management Company with the capability to support ongoing operations and emergency response. Due to the nature of emergency response, service requirements (i.e. flights, hotel, VISA`s and vehicle booking, timing, etc.) are unknown until the actual need for service arises.
HOPE, therefore, invites only experienced and reputable Travel Management Company service providers with an extensive range of services and geographical coverage to submit proposals consideration. Selection criteria will include, without limitation, areas of services, experience with INGOS, price, technology, and other relevant certifications as listed in the 2.2 Selection Criteria.

This RFP constitutes an invitation to prospective Bidders (“Bidder”) to submit proposals (“Proposal”) for the services described herein, and is not considered an offer of contract. All bidders must submit a response that complies with the minimum requirements contained herein.

3.1 General
Requirements

The Travel Management Company (TMC) should have considerable experience in the INGO/NGO sector and a proven track record of access to charity / missionary / humanitarian fares.

The TMC is expected to offer multiple booking solutions from:
Online booking tool
Agent-assisted bookings to after-hours service, calls and E-mails
Mobile app

The TMC is expected to offer an Online ticketing approval system which will enable HOPE to streamline approvals from requestor(traveler) through several layers of approval within HOPE.
The TMC have provision of these services is subject to availability of airline seating, hotel accommodations or other travel services.
RISK management tracking tool option.
VISA & PASSPORT assistance throughout the world.
The TMC is required to establish Service-Level Agreement (SLA) and share measures response time for both email inquiries and agent assisted calls within hours of the initial request. The SLA should extend to the After-Hours service with a separate set of measurements and goals. The SLA should include customer or unforeseen issues follow-up response time; see 3.3.3 Service Level Agreement.
Provide plan for airline cancellation & changes handled during normal & off normal business hours.
Share access to GDS (Sabre) with Project Hope for self-booking and ticketing.

Project
Hope currently has program offices in the following countries:
Zambia * Sierra Leone *
Ethiopia * Malawi * Namibia * Nigeria * Ecuador * The Bahamas * Columbia * USA
* Haiti * Mexico * Honduras * Dominican Republic * Kosovo * North Macedonia *
Ukraine * China * Yemen * Egypt * Philippines * Indonesia

3.2 Business
Hours

Cover normal business hours (9 am-5pm) in each respective city time zone as listed below and a window beyond their normal business hours to include weekend support.
Washington, DC, USA
Skopje, North Macedonia, Europe

Any rate difference for the
selected hours should be noted under Fee summary.

3.3 After
Hours support & Emergency Response
3.3.1 After Hour Support

Please include in your
proposal the following answers regarding:
Is your after-hours service owned and operated in-house?
Does your after-hours bridge to other companies from different offices within your own network?
Does your online booking tool allow full access to all profile builds from any given office?
Are Humanitarian fares available from all offices?
Hypothetically speaking, in situation where a request is coming from Europe after working hours of European office, will this request be picked up by USA branch and vice versa?
Identify examples that are not covered by your after-hours assistance.

3.3.2 Emergency response
solution/support

The Travel Management Company (TMC) agrees to have an additional support plan in place with the capability to support an emergency response. An emergency response can happen at any time triggered by a natural or man-made disaster, civil war and/or terrorist act where HOPE will provide humanitarian support ASAP globally.
An emergency response can happen without advance notice & the TMC must have the ability to provide support to staff when called upon. This set-up is mainly for servicing support staff based in the US. The ability to support during and after normal business hours to include weekends and holidays.
The ability to handle multiple deployments on a rotating basis for several weeks at a time if the emergency response extends multiple months. Advance notice for staff/volunteer rotations will be advised in the event this becomes a requirement of the response.
The ability to provide VISA assistance at any given time based on request (more under 3.7.7 VISA & PASSPORT assistance

3.3.3 Service Level Agreement

When emailing a new request what turnaround time can you commit to for a normal request versus an urgent request for an agent assisted booking?
How will calls be handled during peak call times, when dedicated agents require backup assistance?
What compensation does the client have, if any, if service levels are not met?
Turnaround time between approval of ticket and receiving final itinerary invoice e-ticket.
Service-level agreement when booking the CEO, VP & VIP travelers.
What measuring tool is used to monitor service and at what frequency?
The SLA should extend to the After-Hours service with a separate set of measurements and goals.
The SLA should include customer or unforeseen issues follow-up response time.
What is the minimum standard/target and how often is it measure?

3.4 Compliance

All agents are required to
work in support of the clients Travel Policy and be familiar with all policies
and procedures. Ensure any third partners are kept up to date.
The Travel Management Company
(TMC) must adhere and be familiar with the Fly America Act and OPEN skies
agreement

The TMC must be aware and
help enforce the EU Safety list of banned airlines https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/safety/air-ban_en

Each agent-assisted booking
is required to offer a minimum of three quotes on
the initial request on any combination of published, humanitarian or contracted
fare whichever best meets the request. Even in limited markets comparisons that include double or triple
connections and/or remarks on limitations in availability or class of
service.
This rule applies to both domestic and international
requests.

3.5 Contract
Requirements

The Travel Management Company (TMC) should provide pricing based on a three-year agreement with an option to extend to additional two years (1+1) agreed upon by both parties.
Contract renewals are not automatic and must be agreed upon by Project Hope and TMC.
The TMC should provide any other terms that would result in a substantial cost savings.

3.6 Reporting
and Other

Do you offer online reporting?
What standard travel management and accounting reports are typically provided? Provide examples.
Must have the capability to accept a six(6) to nine (9) digit ID number from the time of ticketing to invoice to reporting.
Overall goal of Online Travel Approval System and Reporting is to create and link a unique number to be later used. The requirement is that this number follow any air, hotel, car or train; new, changed or cancelled transaction to help us identify the charge and link with bank transaction.
The approval number should be reflected
on the following transactions/documents:
All transactions
Invoice
Month-end statement
Credit card statement
Reports

Examples of reports possible to generate to be shared along with the package.
Separate reporting for hotels, rent a car, ticketing and VISAs will be required.
Will your company be able to provide following reports:

Report A – Monthly Fee Report – capturing only monthly fees for online booking, agent assistant fees, etc summarizing all fees except actual ticket price, hotel room price, rent a car price. Report must be able to connect with six to nine digit code given in the onset of the process.

Report B – Destination Report – By country that includes the standard fields, name, destination, travel dates and Travel number generated through Online Travel Approval System and cost of a plane ticket, hotel room, rented vehicle.
Report C – Overall Reporting – Excel report for easy manipulation consisting of – Office of request – Transaction status (just quote or actual booking) Department Code, Passenger Name, Ticket Number, Invoice (for tracking purposes) booking date, travel date, return date, Class, Ticket Type, Product Description, Carrier name, Transportation cost, Handling fee (if any) Origin city, destination city, origin country, destination country, origin continent, routing, City pair

3.7 About
Your Agency and Services:
3.7.1 Locations

List all domestic & international office locations that will support HOPE worldwide?
Advise if your offices are networked together though the same Global Distribution System and back office or do they work independently of each other?
If not addressed earlier, expand the explanation on after-hours coverage service with each travel agency location.

3.7.2. Client Base and Staff

Please provide percentage of your company’s client base that fits in these related industries- (just approximates); Humanitarian or entertainment related industry (i.e., Government, Non Profits, Humanitarian companies & entertainment related)
Please list all possible way of communication, in examples: E-mails, Watts app, Chat systems etc..

Agency Volume Business Mix
Please provide the percentage of your agency’s current and
active total business mix in each of the following volume segments (just
approximates):
o
Under $1 million
o
$1-5 million
o
$5-15 million
o
$15-25 million
o
$25 million+

Average Experience
What is the average working experience of your international agents? (in years)
What is the average agent time working for your company? (in years)
How are your agents measured on performance?

Collaboration with International SOS
HOPE is a partner of ISOS
Please advise if you have ever worked with ISOS and share some experience if any?
Elaborate on integration of offered software solution with ISOS

Agent assisted bookings
Advise, set-up and the number of assigned agents that would support HOPE account and from what offices?
Identify INGO/NGO industry specific experience? Have your company ever worked on emergencies in the world? How many different International NGO you are supporting?
Do you offer a group desk option to handle conferences ranging from 10-50 travelers?
Do you have a VIP desk to handle up to dozen VPs & Senior consultants? Please expand details of service.
Service-level responsibility when not available at the time of booking. The expectations of calling the airlines directly or confirming via the airline website. What mechanisms are in place to follow-up when not available at the time of booking or ticketing?

3.7.3. Air Option

Minimum three quotes per request for Agent-Assisted bookings. What solution can you offer to meet this policy for online bookings?
Please summarize all fare options that are applicable servicing this account beyond the standard publish fare including
Does requesting certain airlines for their Miles program is something that your company can offer?
In which way Project hope can be sure that TMC will use humanitarian fees for Project Hope bookings? Until now Project Hope had a practice to verify the rates provided by Travel company making sure they follow discounted prices and humanitarian rates. However, going forward we would like transfer this to our future TMC provider.
Please elaborate if providing humanitarian rates for flight tickets and hotel booking is something you company can provide without consultancy with HOPE?

3.7.4 Hotel Option

Explain any special hotel programs with exclusive corporate rates can support our current hotel practices described below.
Our primary booking source is www.hotels.com. This guarantees payment of all room & tax for our travelers, an immediate receipt for all transaction plus we’ve earn free room nights annually. Currently, the client takes ownership of these bookings but open for discussion on level of responsibility. Do you interface with this vendor or any other hotel vendors to enhance this are of support?
All hotel bookings must adhere to GSA http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104877 and US State Department https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp per diem rates
Which markets do you cover and do you apply to the lower fares?
Apart from having a credit card for hotel incidentals, which other ways a traveler will have in disposition to cover for hotel incidentals? (in situation traveler does not have a credit card)
What is approximate number of hotels globally that your program cover?
In how many countries can we expect the cover by you?

3.7.5 Rent a Car Options

Project Hope preferred vendor as of now is National/Enterprise that includes full insurance and direct billing.
Please list companies and rates for major Rent a car options in USA and Internationally that will allow us full insurance and direct billing.
Make sure to indicate services and companies that are not available internationally.
What corporate advantages your company will provide if we decide to secure a Rent a Car option trough your company?

3.7.6 Risk Management Tool Option

A system to monitor real-time itinerary information &
communication during critical emergency situation by combining travel
intelligence, traveler tracking, and real-time threat alerting across the
network.
Prepares travelers with customized and automated pre-trip advisories
Sends targeted alerts to at-risk travelers and Project Hope designated staff
Enables a confident response when problems arise
Creates reports that support price negotiations and budgeting requirements
Supports bookings outside the host agency worldwide
Capability to add manual bookings

3.7.7 VISA &
Passport Assistance

Do you offer in-house support, or do you have a visa service partnership?
Are you able to support entry and transit visa requests worldwide?
Please include and list all related service fees for Visa and Passport assistance
What is the turnaround in regards of requests for international travel?
Are you familiar with OK TO BOARD procedures? Which office with your network will oversee request?
HOPE, whenever possible would like to have VISA in hand prior to the traveler departure

3.7.8 Online Travel Approval System

Will your company be able to provide a software solution (desktop and mobile phone) that will ultimately enable internal HOPE approval to travel.
Step by step approval protocol from traveler requesting a travel up to final approver from security and division president (if applicable).
Present in which way a non-Project Hope individual (volunteer) will be able to submit a travel approval if not listed in the Project Hope employee database?
If yes, in which way your software will integrate with Project Hope employee’s database?
Please describe Implementation Plan in terms of time and resources.
List how many tiers of approval will your application sustain, from requester to final approver.
In the case of Emergency Response, due to the nature of business in some situation HOPE will not have enough time to approve the flight trough the Online Travel Approval System due to various reasons; please elaborate if after-the-fact approval of flight (after actual ticket is purchased) will be possible in terms of connecting it with purchasing information for auditing purposes.
Overall goal of Online Travel Approval System to create a unique number to be later used. The requirement is that this number follow any air, hotel, car or train, changed or cancelled transaction to help us identify the charge.
The six-digit approval number should be reflected on the following transactions/documents:
All transactions
Invoice
Month-end statement
Credit card statement
Reports

3.7.9 Online Booking Tool and Technology

Online booking tool (currently not in use)
Must have custom screen capability (accept six to nine digit Travel ID) & approval option for bookings booked out of policy
Capability to book, cancel, change, and track unused tickets
Describe the process for contacting a customer if there is an issue with a reservation.
Do you currently utilize an Automated Quality Control System that looks for the lowest fares, preferred seating and class of service upgrades? Please explain how that process works.
Are contracted and/or humanitarian fares available on the online booking tool you propose?
Can you set up pre-payment of room & tax on all hotel bookings?
Must have mobile access.
Can this tool be used for international flights or only for domestic?
Please describe Implementation Plan in terms of time and resources
Describe in which way a Rent a Car option will be utilized if booked online.
Hypothetically speaking can you advise more on the differences between Lightening & Concur or other and which one would you suggest any why?
Will your software solution be integrated with Concur?
Can you provide access to GDS (Sabre) to Project Hope for self- booking and ticketing?

3.7.10 Implementation Plan

If your organization is selected as HOPE travel agency,
what would be its implementation plan? Please include for both: Online Travel
Approval System and Online Booking Tool.
Outline of major action items and phases
Your role in communicating with and educating user groups, travelers, (including VIP’s), staff, and management]
Process to be used for creating travelers profiles
Incentive program to encourage travelers compliance (both manual and automated)
Implementation timeline surrounding Booking Tool and Online Approval system.
If not already please elaborate in which way people outside of HOPE data base will be in position to submit Request for Travel through Online Travel Approval System
Make sure to list approximate cost for implementation of these tools.

3.7.11 Fees

A list of all transactions and related fees, where applicable both publish and humanitarian/contracted fares.
The breakdown should include agent assisted and online bookings, if applicable. Primary and secondary pricing model option, if possible
Transaction-based and management fee structure for the various service configurations including After Hours support for a 24/7 operation, VP’s, Groups etc.
Will you be able to track budget codes given by Project Code in regards of tracking and future reconciliation?
Cost, if any, for ad hoc reports – Management fee, if any.
All potential planned design alternatives
If applicable share fees in other currencies
Make sure to include the approximate cost for implementation of Travel Ticketing approval system and Online booking tool.
Annual MGMT fee and other
In your pricing proposal, please include a clear and complete definition of “transaction.”

Please include all fee structure for
the various types of request.
Please refer to Appendix 2, where some of the fees are listed (optional list, include more if not listed)
Propose all potential means of payment and modality for each payment (in example: by company credit card, prepaid by HOPE, direct money transfer).
Elaborate in which way a non-HOPE employee will be able to pay for a ticket once ticket is approved.
Make sure to include VAT in all listed Fees

3.7.12 Innovative ideas

Briefly describe any services or ideas that have not been addressed in the Request for Proposal. Any services or ideas presented in the section must be accompanied by appropriate pricing (if any) for labor, equipment, and software to successfully provide these services.
Special focus should be put on online solutions that will enhance and upgrade HOPE productivity and reporting
Address how the TMC can improve revenue, secure discounts for travelers and/or add value.

3.7.13 Staffing Plan

Confirm that you will maintain appropriate staffing levels during specified hours of operation to cover US & International time zones.
Confirm you will only allow fully trained experienced agents to work our account due to the heavy international bookings.
If not happy with the performance of one of your agents, what is the process to correct or worse case replace? It is the expectation that an agent be removed and replaced upon request.

3.8. References

Please provide three references that have similar size and
scope to our company & the length of time servicing account.

4. Appendix 1 – Supplier Profile
Instructions
to Bidders: Please fill out the form below. Additional information or documents
may be attached as required.

Appendix 1 Bidder Profile
Directions to Bidders: Please complete form below
in detail. Please add any additional lines or pages as needed.
Company Information
Legal Company Name
D/B/A if Different
Address
Telephone
E-mail
Website
Name of Contact Person
Title of Contact Person
Phone number of Contact Person
Email of Contact Person
Billing Address
Country of Registration
Tax Registration or equivalent document.
DUNS Number (if applicable)
Parent Company (if applicable)
Parent Company Address
Subsidiaries, Associates, Associations, Overseas Representatives
Type of Business (corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship,
etc)
Year Company was Established
Number of permanent employees
List other related services the company provides
Within the last three years, has administrative, civil or
criminal litigation been filed or pursued in any country against your
Company? If yes, provide specific
details.

4. Appendix 2 – Fee Structure – Example

Appendix 2 Fee Structure Comment
Description of
Fees amount per
transaction* in USD including VAT
Online booking tool fee
Air fee
Car/Hotel fee
Annual Maintenance fee
Online Agent intervention
Online Transaction Fee
Online Transaction Fee for Car/Hotel only Bookings
Online Transaction fee for Rail
Agent Assist Required/Requested
Hold Fee
Split Ticketing – Online Booking Tool
Agent Assisted – Domestic
Agent Assisted – International
Seat assignments
Extra Leg room request
Extra Luggage request
Hotel pre-payment
Publish Tickets
Humanitarian ticket
RUSH tickets
After-hours
VISA Services
UNUSED tickets
Refund fee
Void fee
Reissue/Exchange fee
Split ticket
Please list you company definition of transaction