Tender Notice – Travel Management Services (To North America, Latin America, and The Caribbean)

Tender Notice – Travel Management Services (To North America, Latin America, and The Caribbean)

International IDEA – The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

Re-Tendering Reference No:2023-03-028
Assignment Name: Travel Management Services (To North America, Latin America, and The Caribbean)
Project Name: Travel Management Services (To North America, Latin America, and The Caribbean)

Deadline for Submissions: Proposals must be submitted on or before 23:59 (CET) April 30^th2024. Late submissions will not be considered for evaluation.

Address for Submissions: E-mail: tendersubmissions@idea.int
This email address is set up with auto-response to acknowledge emails received. If you did not receive an autoreply, please send a text message (NO CALLS, CALLS WILL NOT BE ANSWERED) to this number +46725375735. In your text message, please provide the following:

• Tender reference no. and title;
• Email address you used for submission;
• Date and Time, you sent your submission (e.g. 1 March 2023, 12:30 CET).

Format for Submissions: Proposals must be submitted by email in English. Technical and Financial proposals must be submitted in separate files and marked accordingly. Price should not be mentioned in the Technical Proposal.

The following text should be put in the subject field of the email: Tender No. 2023-03-028 Technical and Financial Proposals – Do not open before 23:59 (CET) April 30^th, 2024.

Email Address for Clarifications: E-mail: tender@idea.int

Clarifications may be requested via e-mail no later than April 15^th 2024 at the above email address. Note a response to a request for clarifications will be issued to all tenderers on our website http://www.idea.int/. Therefore, tenderers are advised to check the website regularly during the process.

Note: there are two different email addresses as outlined above, one to be used for Submission of your final proposal and the second one to be used for clarifications and other related correspondence.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Section 1 General Information

1.1 The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1995, with member states across all continents, which aims to support sustainable democracy world-wide and assist in the development of institutions and the culture of democracy. At the interface between research, fieldwork and the donor community, IDEA provides a forum for dialogue, builds networks of experts, develops training materials, and provides strategic advice at international, regional, and national level, cooperating with a range of organizations.

1.2 International IDEA now invites proposals from qualified Travel Agency or Agencies for the provision of Travel Management Services for International IDEA to the North America, Latin America, and The Caribbean Region. The services include booking of flights accommodation, arranging visas, travel insurance, travel security, passports, and other related travel and accommodation needs for the Institute.

1.3 The main objective of this contract is to cooperate with a qualified Travel Agency or Agencies to cover the provision of travel management and related services with international coverage hereafter referred to as “Travel Management Services to the North America, Latin America and The Caribbean Region.”

1.4 Travel Management Services shall include, but are not limited to:

1. airline ticketing airline ticketing and preparation of suitable itineraries (including alternative routings, departures, and arrivals) which provide best value for money for purposes of official travels for International IDEA’s staff members, consultants, government officials and participants attending meetings or on official business;
2. airport transfer;
3. hotel reservations;
4. related services (visa services, travel insurances and security);
5. Other services to be provided include facilitating the arrangements of conferences, meetings, seminars and training workshops and providing security alerts, where applicable to various travel destinations.

1.5 Tentative timeframe: It is anticipated that the services will commence after June 1^st, 2024 for an initial period of two years and with a renewal period, for a maximum of 5 years, subject to funding availability, vendor performance, other relevant factors and the ability to maintain the agreed service within the previously established countries and region.

Section 2 Preparation of Proposals

Essential Requirements:

2.1 Language: The official language for the proposal, contract, reports, and any other documents in relation to the assignment is English.

2.2. Required experience: International IDEA seeks to establish an advantageous agreement with a competent travel agent that is a fully accredited as an international organization with a wide geographical spread, the Institute requires a travel agency or agencies with the capacity and links to support this geographical spread.

2.3 Eligibility requirements: The following documents are required:

1. Request for company profile, Tax documents and other associated documents;
2. Letter of reference/recommendation from past engagements;
3. Current VAT and tax clearance certificates;
4. IATA certification documents.

2.4 The technical proposal should provide the information as set out in section 5 Parts 1 and 2 of the Terms of Reference.

Financial Proposal:

2.5 Describe all your service fees in detail. Please include in your financial proposal a comprehensive list of all the cost of each service provided. Please use the Pricing schedule template to provide your financial proposal.

2.6 International IDEA is not tax exempt and does not have VAT number. The bidder must act in accordance with their country’s tax laws as it relates to providing services/goods to the customers/clients. The Bidder shall be responsible for their own tax obligations as per laws of the respective country.

2.7 The assessment of the financial offer will be based on the price indicated in the bidder’s proposal.

Declaration of Honour Form:

2.8 Please tick YES/NO as applicable. Please complete the form and submit it together with Technical and Financial Proposal.

2.9 In Section 3 of the Declaration and Honour Form, in the absence of conflict of interest, please mark this section Yes.

Section 3 Submission of Proposals

3.1 Proposers should have the organizational and technical capacity, experience, and professionalism to provide the service requirements outlined in the Terms of Reference and should be able to show proof of the past and/or present experience in similar projects, demonstrate financial soundness and resources available to carry out the services requirements and have the integrity and proven reliability to ensure good faith performance. Proposers should be able to demonstrate and understanding of the Institute’s requirements and come up with an appropriate work plan and overall approach on how to meet these requirements.

3.2 Proposals should be submitted in electronic format by e-mail. Technical and Financial Proposals must be submitted in separate files and marked accordingly. The full details on how to submit proposals in under Tender Notice at the beginning of this document.

3.3 Proposals must remain valid for at least 90 days following the deadline for their submission stated under the Tender Notice and should be flexible for extension should there be unforeseen delay on the tender process.

Section 4 Evaluation of Proposals

4.1 The travel Agency or Agencies contracted will provide a wide range of Travel Management Services and should have the capacity to handle commercial accounts.

4.2 The successful travel Agency or Agencies who will be contracted to serve the needs of International IDEA to the North America, Latin America and The Caribbean Region shall have the following minimum qualifications:

Mandatory requirements:

1. A travel Agency or Agencies licensed and register to operate in North America, Latin America, and The Caribbean with international coverage, maintaining global network/affiliates in major destinations;
2. The travel Agency or Agencies should be prepared to safeguard our data privacy interests (i.e. protect confidential company and traveller data);
3. Refer to eligibility requirements under section 2.3 (i to iii).

Technical Evaluation:

The proposals will be evaluated and scored against the following technical criteria with respective corresponding weights:

1. Specific experience in relevant sectors including depth and breadth of service offering and client listing and references as set out in Section 5 part 1 of the Terms of Reference. (Maximum 25 points);
2. Adequacy of the proposed methodology for provision of services as set out in Section 5 part 2.1 and 2.2 of the Terms of Reference. (Maximum 25 points);
3. Adequacy of the proposed methodology for handling complaints and problems including escalation procedures as set out in Section 5 part 2.3 of the Terms of Reference. (Maximum 15 points);
4. Granularity and ease of use, and frequency of reporting provided as set out in Section 5 part 2.4 of the Terms of Reference. (Maximum 10 points);
5. Adequacy of the account management proposals including the qualifications and experience of the key staff proposed as set out in Section 5 part 2.5 of the Terms of Reference. (Maximum 15 points);
6. Mechanisms in place to manage, monitor and minimize environmental impact of travel as set out in Section 5 part 2.6 of the Terms of Reference. (Maximum 10 points).

The maximum technical score (T) is 100 points. Only proposals that meet the mandatory requirements and that score a minimum of 75 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for further evaluation.

Financial Evaluation:

4.3 The financial proposals will be verified and, if necessary, adjustments will be made to the prices to ensure consistency and to eliminate arithmetical errors. The corrected prices for the total basket of services will then be used to obtain the evaluation price.

4.4 The currency used for evaluation is USD.

4.5 The financial scores (F) will be computed as follows:

The lowest evaluation price proposal (E_m) will be given a financial score (F_m) of 100 points.

The financial scores of the other proposals will be computed applying the formula:

F = 100 x E_m/E, where:

• E_m is the lowest evaluation price; and
• E is the evaluation price of the proposal under consideration.

Consolidated Technical and Financial Score:

4.6 The final consolidated scores (S) will be computed by applying the formula:

S = t x T + f x F, where:

• t is the weight given to the technical score;
• f is the weight given to the financial score.

4.7 The weights given to the technical and financial scores are:

• t = 60%;
• f = 40%.

4.8 This tender aim to establish a pool of service providers and the number of Framework Contracts will be determined in correspondence to the needs of the different offices. Please note that awarding a Framework Contract does not guarantee that International IDEA will give the service provider any engagements; the engagement of services under Framework Contracts is subject to the Institute’s needs.

4.9 The Travel Agency or Agencies ranked highest will be invited to negotiate the contract and if negotiations are successful, the selected travel Agency or Agencies will be awarded the contract. Should the negotiations fail; the second ranked travel Agency or Agencies will be invited to negotiations.

4.10 International IDEA reserves the right to directly award a follow up contract to the contractor selected for the tender to carry out potential future work related to this initial assignment. This will depend on satisfactory delivery of the tender assignment.

Section 5 Final Considerations

5.1. International IDEA will not be bound to select any of the proposals.

5.2 The following documents are enclosed with this Request for Proposals:

• Terms of Reference;
• Pricing Schedule;
• Declaration of Honor form;
• Contract terms and conditions.

5.3 Further information on International IDEA may be found on our website http://www.idea.int/.

5.4 Both the successful and unsuccessful bidders will be notified in writing following the completion of the evaluation and contract award process.

Complaints regarding any aspect of the tender process should be addressed in writing to both the Internal Auditor and the Executive Director at International IDEA. The address is tender.complaints@idea.int.

The Request for Proposals, Terms of Reference, Pricing Schedule, Declaration of Honour Form and Contract Terms and Conditions are available at: https://www.idea.int/procurement-and-tenders.