RFQ Nº UNFPA/FJI/RFQ/24/010 – Comprehensive Travel Management Services for UNFPA’s Country Offices

25 April 2024

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

RFQ Nº UNFPA/FJI/RFQ/24/010

Dear Sir/Madam,

We hereby solicit your quotation for carrying out “Comprehensive Travel Management Services for UNFPA’s Country Offices” as specified in the scope of works and the Terms of Reference (Annex II). UNFPA PSRO is required to procure two highly qualified, independent travel agents to provide full and comprehensive travel management services.

This Request for Quotation is open to all legally constituted companies that can provide the requested items and have legal capacity to deliver in the country, or through an authorized representative.

1. About UNFPA

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is an international development agency that works to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.  

UNFPA is the lead UN agency that expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives. To read more about UNFPA, please go to: http://pacific.unfpa.org

Objective:

The Contract with the selected Travel Agent would cover the provision of travel management and related services that include, but are not limited to, air travel reservation; ticketing; visa arrangement and advisory; and arranging all formalities related to travel documents processing for UNFPA. The selected vendor is expected to provide such services, based on the specific Purchase Order submitted to the vendor.

Scope of Work:

The selected Travel Agent shall provide full, prompt, accurate, and expert services to staff of UNFPA in accordance with the UN policies, procedures, and guidelines. The services required under this Terms of Reference shall include, but not limited to, the following:

1. The Travel Agent shall provide all personnel, equipment, systems, materials, supervision, and other items and services necessary to perform travel management services.
2. The Travel Agent shall be equipped with fully automated accounting system interfaced with computerized reservation system and ability to make the systems compatible with UNFPA systems and requirements. Financial reports, statements and invoices shall be generated and printed directly from the financial package.
3. The Travel Agent shall be able to manage e-ticketing and issuance of e-visas.
4. The Travel Agent shall provide courteous, responsive, and efficient service at all times to fulfill the UN Agencies requirements.
5. Official travel must be organized on short notice, thereby placing a premium on efficiency and rapid communication in handling all travel related matters. In providing the service, the Travel Agent shall comply with all aspects of UNFPA’s travel policy.
6. For every request from the designated travel staff at UNFPA, the Travel Agent shall within two (2) hours from time of request make bookings based on the lowest available fares and the most direct and economic routing that are consistent within the entitlement of the applicable travel policy and prepare appropriate itineraries and formal quotations.
7. For every approved UN Travel Authorization (TA) or Purchase Order (PO), the Travel Agent shall immediately within twenty-four (24) hours arrange for the issuance and delivery of the tickets for the traveler.
8. In case of an emergency situation and in case an approved Travel Authorization could not be submitted, the Travel Agent should act on the basis of instructions from an authorized UN personnel. Such person(s) with the authority to instruct a travel without a Travel Authorization shall be determined and informed to the Travel Agent.
1. Tickets and other travel documents shall be available in accordance with the standards agreed with the Travel Agent, but no less than forty-eight (48) hours before time of departure, unless the request for ticket comes lesser than forty-eight (48) hours.
10. The Travel Agent shall promptly issue and deliver accurately printed tickets and detailed itineraries showing the accurate status on all segments of the journey to the travelers or their authorized representatives up to their office premises. The Travel Agent shall verify with the concerned focal point regarding the itinerary data, class service and fare amounts prior to releasing travel documents.
11. The Travel Agency shall in a timely manner provide reconfirmation and revalidation of Airline Tickets which are returned as a result of changed routing. Printed itineraries showing complete information on status of reservation on all carriers should be provided. For wait-listed bookings, the Travel Agent shall provide regular feedback on a daily basis on the status of the booking.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation:

• Local Business license or TIN registration confirming more than 5 years of operations in Fiji.
• Copy of IATA Accreditation
• Reference from other employers or contact details of 3 Referees.
• Provide CV’s of 2 dedicated travel consultants and a Travel Manager confirming more than 5 years of travel experience

Financial Evaluation – Price Schedule

The below table is a sample of the routes that UNFPA has utilized over the past years. The travel agent is required to provide total airfare cost inclusive of base fare, taxes and relevant service charges for each of the routes at restricted fare level for economy class option.

Note:

• The below sample will be used for the purpose of the financial evaluation, the agreement will not only be limited to these routes as this just serves as a sample. The travel services management agreement will include tickets for all domestic and international travel for UNFPA travelers.
• Travel agent may use the current market rates to obtain the fare levels of the below routes noting that the actual ticket cost for these routes at the time of ticketing may have a +/- 10%.
• Partial bidding is will not be considered, you are required to provide a quote for each of the routes and the fare levels.

2. Questions

Questions or requests for further clarifications should be submitted in writing to the contact person below:

The deadline for submission of questions is Monday 29 April 2024, 10.00am, Fiji Time. Questions will be answered in writing and shared with all parties as soon as possible after this deadline.

3. Content of quotations

Quotations should be submitted in a single email whenever possible, depending on file size. Quotations must contain:

1. Technical proposal, in response to the requirements outlined in the specifications should comply with and fill in the technical requirements form.
2. Price quotation, to be submitted strictly in accordance with Price Quotation Form.

Both parts of the quotation must be signed by the company’s relevant authority and submitted in PDF format.

4. Instructions for submission

Proposals should be prepared based on the guidelines set forth in Section III above, along with a properly filled out and signed price quotation form and are to be sent by email to the contact person indicated below no later than: Wednesday 01 May 2024 @ 5.00pm, Fiji Time.

Please note the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

• The following reference must be included in the email subject line: RFQ Nº UNFPA/FJI/RFQ/24/010 – Comprehensive Travel Management Services for UNFPA’s Country Offices. Proposals that do not contain the correct email subject line may be overlooked by the procurement officer and therefore not considered.
• The total email size may not exceed 20 MB (including email body, encoded attachments and headers). Where the technical details are in large electronic files, it is recommended that these be sent separately before the deadline.
• When submitting electronic offers, Bidders will receive an auto-reply acknowledging receipt of the first email. Should you offer require to submit more than one email, in the body of this first email, bidders are requested to list the number of messages, which make up their technical offer and the number of messages, which make up their financial offer. If you do not receive any auto-reply for the first email from UNFPA’s email system, please inform Amrita Josu, Finance Analyst at: josu@unfpa.org.
• Any quotation submitted will be regarded as an offer by the bidder and does not
  constitute or imply the acceptance of any quotation by UNFPA. UNFPA is under no obligation to award a contract to any bidder as a result of this RFQ.

5. Overview of Evaluation Process

Quotations will be evaluated based on the compliance with the technical specifications and the total cost of the goods (price quote). The evaluation will be carried out in a two-step process by an ad-hoc evaluation panel. Technical proposals will be evaluated for technical compliance prior to the comparison of price quotes.

6. Award

In case of a satisfactory result from the evaluation process, UNFPA shall award a Purchase Order to the lowest priced bidder whose bid has been determined to be substantially compliant with the bidding documents.

7. Right to Vary Requirements at Time of Award

UNFPA reserves the right at the time of award of Contract to increase or decrease, by up to 20%, the volume of goods specified in this RFQ without any change in unit prices or other terms and conditions.

8. Payment Terms

UNFPA payment terms are net 30 days upon receipt of shipping documents, invoice and other documentation required by the contract.

9. Fraud and Corruption

UNFPA is committed to preventing, identifying, and addressing all acts of fraud against UNFPA, as well as against third parties involved in UNFPA activities. UNFPA’s Policy regarding fraud and corruption is available here:  Fraud Policy. Submission of a proposal implies that the Bidder is aware of this policy.

Suppliers, their subsidiaries, agents, intermediaries and principals must cooperate with the UNFPA Office of Audit and Investigations Services as well as with any other oversight entity authorized by the Executive Director and with the UNFPA Ethics Advisor as and when required.  Such cooperation shall include, but not be limited to, the following: access to all employees, representatives agents and assignees of the vendor; as well as production of all documents requested, including financial records.  Failure to fully cooperate with investigations will be considered sufficient grounds to allow UNFPA to repudiate and terminate the Agreement, and to debar and remove the supplier from UNFPA's list of registered suppliers.

A confidential Anti-Fraud Hotline is available to any Bidder to report suspicious fraudulent activities at UNFPA Investigation Hotline.

10. Zero Tolerance

UNFPA has adopted a zero-tolerance policy on gifts and hospitality. Suppliers are therefore requested not to send gifts or offer hospitality to UNFPA personnel. Further details on this policy are available here: Zero Tolerance Policy.

11. RFQ Protest

Bidder(s) perceiving that they have been unjustly or unfairly treated in connection with a solicitation, evaluation, or award of a contract may submit a complaint to the UNFPA Head of the Business Unit, Mr. Iori Kato, UNFPA PSRO Director and Representative at kato@unfpa.org. Should the supplier be unsatisfied with the reply provided by the UNFPA Head of the Business Unit, the supplier may contact the Chief, Procurement Services Branch at procurement@unfpa.org.

12. Disclaimer

Should any of the links in this RFQ document be unavailable or inaccessible for any reason, bidders can contact the Procurement Officer in charge of the procurement to request for them to share a PDF version of such document(s).

PRICE Quotation Form

Price Schedule (Quote economy fare in FJD)

I hereby certify that the company mentioned above, which I am duly authorized to sign for, has reviewed RFQ UNFPA/FJI/RFQ/24/010 including all annexes, amendments to the RFQ document (if applicable) and the responses provided by UNFPA on clarification questions from the prospective service providers.  Further, the company accepts the General Conditions of Contract for UNFPA, and we will abide by this quotation until it expires.

ANNEX I:

General Conditions of Contracts:

De Minimis Contracts

This Request for Quotation is subject to UNFPA’s General Conditions of Contract: De Minimis Contracts, which are available in: English, Spanish and French