UNSPSC 80161502: Meeting planning services

UNSPSC 80161502 Meeting planning services is a Commodity code capturing the full suite of logistics and coordination work state and local governments procure to execute internal and external meetings, conferences, and stakeholder convenings. The code spans event venue negotiation and site selection, catering and beverage management, audiovisual and technology setup, speaker logistics, registration and attendee management, on-site staffing and operations, and post-event reporting and evaluation. State and local issuing bodies soliciting under this code include state education agencies, county health systems, state workforce commissions, and special-purpose public authorities. The Texas Education Agency is a repeat buyer, having recently solicited audio-visual support for hybrid Council meetings and comprehensive event planning for afterschool program evaluations; the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine similarly procured umbrella meeting planning services with event-specific scopes to follow. Scope varies from specialized technical services (AV integration with Zoom and recording capabilities for multi-location hybrid meetings) to full-service planning and execution of multi-stakeholder conferences requiring venue negotiation, speaker coordination, and hospitality logistics.

Recent opportunities cluster in Texas, California, and the Pacific Northwest, with secondary activity in Wisconsin and Virginia. Representative current solicitations include the Texas Education Agency's RFP for audio-visual services supporting quarterly Council and Committee meetings in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio (responses due October 21, 2026), and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's RFP 26CM000413 for comprehensive meeting planning and logistics services with individual event budgets capped at $500,000 and annual cost limit of $2 million (responses due June 18, 2026). A third example, now closed, was the Texas Education Agency's RFP 701-26-018 for evaluation services supporting the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which included annual presentations to project directors as a deliverable. Pricing models vary: some solicitations structure compensation as per-event fixed fees or tiered hourly rates; others use contingency or pass-through mechanisms aligned to deliverable acceptance. Evaluation emphasis typically splits between vendor experience managing comparable events, technical approach and project methodology, team qualifications and staffing capacity, and cost reasonableness.