QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - Travel Management Contract FINAL 19C02022Q0011.pdf

PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE

FORMAL

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

REQUEST 19C02022Q0011

TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SERVICES.

U.S. Embassy Bogota convened a pre-proposal conference on Tuesday, Friday, March 4, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. for the above referenced solicitation for TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SERVICES.

The questions and answers below are responsive to the inquiries received at the meeting and via e-mail.

Question #1: We request the Embassy to allow our proposal to be delivered to the address shown on form 1449, Carrera 45#24B-27 ATN GSO Bogota Colombia directly by an Agency official and not by mail.

Answer: Offers must be delivered no later than April 11 at 4PM at Carrera 45#24B-

27 ATN GSO Bogota Colombia. No electronic offers are permitted. The delivery method is at the discretion of the offeror.

Question #2: We appreciate clarifying if the VAT value of each item should be included in the quote. Number 2.3.A

Answer: VAT must be included for each option year pricing. See the pricing tables at

2.3. B.

Question #3: Please clarify what the CLIN Rates refer to in Number 2.3.A

Answer: CLIN means Contract Line Item Number.

Question #4: Please inform us of the Embassy's payment method, that is, if all services will be paid with Citibank credit cards. We understand that each traveler will have a credit card for his/her use.

Answer: No. Payments can be made by Embassy’s government credit cards, (approximately 12 credit cards from different agencies) but some travelers will have also their own government travel cards, therefore, every request through a travel order, will be charged to the agency’s credit card, but

Embassy of the United States of America

Bogotá, D.C., Colombia travelers can pay with their travel cards as well for a couple of specific agencies when no travel order is issued.

Question #5: We appreciate clarifying the information and the means that the American

Embassy will provide to the Travel Agency for reconcilement. The reconcilement speaks of loading accounting systems through interface, for which the technological scopes of these interfaces are needed. Since each Embassy employee has an individual card, how many cards would need to be reconciled?

Answer: The contractor will need to reconciliate approximately 12 credit cards from the different government agencies, which pay trough a travel order (TA, GTR, E2, Etc). this reconciliation will be Monthly, and the Financial Office will provide the credit card statements from Citibank so that the TMC can start doing the reconciliation. The US Embassy has an existing procedure and an excel chart that will be provided to the selected vendor.

Question #6: Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC) - Used by the Government to audit the

Contractor's billings. SCAC code may be obtained from the National Motor

Traffic Association, Inc. 2200 Mill Road, Alexandria, VA 22314; telephone (703)

512-1800. The current cost is $28.00 ($24.00 to renew). The SCAC is only applicable if a GTR is used for payment. Please clarify the scope of this code and how will the Travel Agency be accessing it.

Answer: GTR is not to be used by the US Government as a payment mechanism.

Question #7: 3. 9.3.2. Agencies participating in the Government's charge card program have agency CBA accounts established with the charge card company. The charge card company will provide the Contractor with magnetic tapes or floppy disks of a month's CBA 2an 2ings for each participating agency, at the agency's request. In order to perform automated reconciliation of accounts, the Contractor must have a tape drive and sufficient computers capacity. The Contractor shall run these tapes/disks against its own tape of transactions to provide each agency with reconciled charges, no later than five (5) working days from receipt of the charge card vendor's billing tapes. We appreciate clarifying the means that will be used to receive the information, because in the previous point you mention interface and now you are mentioning tapes.

Answer: The means that will be used in this Post are electronic, that is PDF and

Excel Files sent by e-mail. In the same way, the contractor will provide all documentation via e-mail to the FMC and GSO Travel. The contractor must keep a database from each reconciliation in case further details are required. No tapes, hard disks nor portable storage devices are used by

Embassy Bogota.

Question #8: CBA - Centrally Billed Account. Account established by a charge card Contractor at the request of an agency as defined in this document. Consolidated airline ticket charges accrued through use of centrally billed accounts shall be billed monthly.

Expenses billed against centrally billed accounts are paid to the Government travel charge card program Contractor. This item states that the invoicing will be monthly, however, the previous items specify that it will be done by credit card.

In this case, for example, the ticket services will be charged at the same time the ticket is issued. Our company uses electronic invoicing, with automatic sending of invoices through the filing mailbox as defined by the Embassy and according to

DIAN's provisions.

Answer: In this Post, each airline ticket purchase will be done at the same time as usual. This means that the travel agency will have access to all of the CBA’s and once they received final approval to issue an airline ticket, the travel agency will proceed to make the charge to the credit card and then to issue the ticket. The credit card reconciliation will be made monthly. Along with the credit card reconciliation, the travel agency will prepare credit card reconciliation packages to be sent to the financial office. The package will need to include, Invoice, Credit Card Slip, Electronic Ticket Copy, Travel

Order.

Question #9: 3.1. Taxes - When reservations are made for official business, the Contractor shall ensure that rate does not include tax for which diplomatic personnel are exempt.

Please let us know how airlines and service providers exclude the tax item in the case of diplomatic personnel. Is there is a law that regulates this?

Answer: Yes, there is a rule that regulates them. The tax exemption for officials and diplomats is the departure tax (DG), when the travel agency issues official tickets for travelers holding diplomatic, or American official passports, they have to remove that (DG) tax from the ticket. The airlines already know about this process but the traveler always needs to do the exemption at the airport so that they are not charged at the check-in time. There are special exemptions as well for Colombian Military Personnel which are exempted for the (CO, and DG) but they need to comply with specific criteria like additional documentation from the Colombian Government/Presidencia. In this case, the travel agency will inform that they require that documentation and then proceed to issue the air ticket by removing those taxes, if they get the proper approval from the government agency.

Question #10: 3.2 Transportation

3.2.1 The Contractor shall comply with mandatory Government programs for air travel. Except for the constraints of the "City Pairs" contract program noted below, and the Fly America Act, the Contractor shall book the lowest available fare that satisfies the agency's mission requirements. If reservations made by the

Contractor are not at the lowest available rate allowed by policy, the Contractor shall refund the agency the difference. We thank the Embassy for informing us how to access the Fly America Law rates, how the Travel Agency negotiates these rates and if it is guaranteed that these rates will always be available. How will they be handled on routes not covered by the authorized airlines in the Fly

America Law?

Answer: The travel agency never negotiates rates by themselves. The U.S. government makes the negotiation globally with the U.S. Carriers every fiscal year (Jan-

Sep), for publishing by mid-August every year. The travel agency will have access to the government rates, and must comply with contract carrier policy

(City-Pairs), and American flag policy. The travel agency needs to verify with it’s GDS if the government rates are available, or if they need to be loaded by the GDS administrator. The government rates are displayed in the system as Fare Basis (CA) and as (DG) for discretional rates. There is a full guidance to use each of them, in the FAM, FAH, And FTR. For more details when specific cases appear, the awardee shall contact the COR.

Question #11: 3.3.2. Where the Government has agreements with hotels/motels for discount

Government rates, the Contractor shall endeavor to obtain such rates for

Government travelers. (Frequently these rates are capacity-controlled.) If necessary to obtain Government rates, the Contractor shall call such hotels directly, rather than by toll-free numbers. The Contractor shall also make available to the Government any lower-priced, guaranteed corporate or other discount rates it has negotiated at these or other hotels. Please let us know how the

Travel Agency will access the rates negotiated by the Government with Hotels and other suppliers. If the Travel Agency has lower rates when making the comparison than those negotiated by the Government, can it apply them?

Answer: The US Embassy in Colombia negotiates the hotel rates with their key and approved hotels within Colombia, through the GSO Travel and VIP Visits

Coordinator. There is a list of specific hotels which we already work with domestically, and in order to get those rates, the Travel Agency only needs to contact the hotel and ask for the US Embassy negotiated rate. On the other hand, most of the hotels have also the possibility of making the rate available for the travel agency’s GDS, by assigning a specific code. This will allow the travel agency to reserve US Embassy rates domestically from their GDS

(Sabre or Amadeus). You can try to assign one single code for all properties.

For international travel, the hotels will have U.S. Government rates available within the per diem (allowable amount for lodging nights), by just entering the international government rates code in their GDS (GOV). Under no circumstances, the travel agency can use other than negotiated rates for the

US Embassy, unless that the specific hotel requested does not have a negotiated rate with us, even though the rate seem cheaper. The travel agency must comply always with the per diem rates for each city.

Question #12: Does the Embassy have the percentage of service issued through rates directly negotiated by the Government?

Answer: The question is not clear. The estimate number of transactions are included in the Solicitation.

Question #13: Please inform us if the issuance of tickets is done through the IATA of the local

Travel Agency.

Answer: Yes, the travel agency needs to have IATA and the possibility to issue

Electronic Tickets. Every year, the travel agency needs to provide the Travel and VIP Visits coordinator their updated IATA, RUT, Camara y Comercio and Registro Nacional de Turismo certificates.

Question #14: Please inform us with which GDS does it have the integration of ETS

Answer: No specific GDS is required. The US Embassy only requires that the GDS is capable of having interconnection with their invoicing system to load all PNR information and data bases. The US Government systems and tools will never be integrated to the GDS.

Question #15: 3.14 eTravel Service (eTS) - The electronic travel (eTravel) project is grounded in the President's E Government initiative and the Administration's commitment to employ the latest technology to create a more efficient, citizen-centered Federal

Government. The eTravel project was launched in response to The President's

Management Agenda. eTravel is a change management initiative that is supported and enabled by technology . Its mission is to improve the internal efficiency and effectiveness of the Federal Government by simplifying applicable policies and regulations and by implementing common administrative processes for

Government travel services that eliminate duplicative and redundant processes and systems. eTravel is a collaborative, inter-agency initiative whose purpose is to realize operational efficiencies, cost-savings, and increased service to the Federal traveler through a common, automated, and integrated approach to managing

Federal Government travel functions. The eTravel initiative provides a web-based, end-to-end travel management service for use by all civilian Executive

Branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government. There are currently three vendors awarded contracts to support the eTravel: Northrop Grumman

Mission Systems; CW Government Travel; and EDS. Use of the eTravel Service

(eTS) by Executive Branch agencies is established by policy and regulation. The eTravel Program Management Office ensure compliance with the policies, regulations, and use of the common Government-wide eTS our company does not currently have integration to (ETS) systems, please expand information and define the scope of what is intended with these services.)

Answer: This represents no issues. In this Post, we use E2 Solutions which is the travel request system, but the travel agency only needs to guarantee that no issuances or charges will be made without the proper authorization when the payment is through approximately 12 government agencies’s credit cards.

The travel agency does not need access to E2 Solutions.

Question #16: 3.15 eTravel Service Requirements - In support of eTS, as specified in agency task orders, the Contractor shall: Ensure that products/services provided to participating agencies complement and support the eTravel Service (eTS) and its objectives in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The objective of the eTS is to: How can the eTravel Service be complemented and supported through integrations or application of standards?

Answer: In this Post all what we need for ETS is that the travel agency complies with the services specified in the travel authorization, which means to honor the route requested, dates, and verify the amount authorized for air fare. The travel agency can not issue a more expensive ticket than the authorized amount shown in the E2 Travel Authorization. Of course, all travel regulations need to be meet, for all types of travel. When in doubt, the awardee shall contact the COR.

Question #17: The Contractor must state its understanding that its services, products and processes offered must complement the eTravel Service (eTS) for all civilian agencies using the eTS. If the Contractor is offering a booking engine in conjunction with its offered services, it must state its understanding that such a booking engine may only be offered to those agencies not participating in the eTS

(in full or in part) and/or to those agencies not subject to the Federal Travel

Regulation . Please provide us with an induction regarding the eTS connection/integration.

Answer: This Post only uses E2 Solutions System to approve the issuance of air tickets. The travel agency does not need to have self-reservation tools, since we require to have a staffed office within our compounds. The travel agency won’t manage any of the requests done through self-reservation tools.

Question #18: In the STANDARD format FORM 1449 Number 12 a discount is requested.

Given the conditions of the Travel Agencies after the pandemic, is it mandatory to offer this discount?

Answer: It is not required. The idea is to know all the benefits we can get from each vendor. This is why it is important that each vendor states their procedures, and scope of services (technology, procedures, service level, times of response, 24 hours service, etc).

Question #19: If a traveler requires a ticket, hotel, and ground transportation, can the administrative fee proposed in Annex 2.3.B be charged for each of the services provided.

Answer: Yes, you can propose a fee for each service. Just remember that the U.S.

Government seeks for the most advantageous option in terms of service, quality, and price. Adding numerous fees for each service will also increase the number of transaction into the credit card statement and reconciliation.

Question #20: 2.1 Transaction Fee. The Government shall pay the Contractor a transaction fee based on a fixed rate per transaction. See also Section 1, continuation of block 20, paragraph 2.0, Definitions, and paragraph 17.0 for further information on handling of transaction fees. See also paragraph 15.0 for a further description of

Government Travel Charge Card, Centrally Billed Account (CBA), and

Government Travel Request (GTR) sales. We wish to clarify that the administrative fees charged by the Travel Agency of Line 1.A to 1.F in its number

2.3.B correspond to the rate regulated by the Civil Aeronautics which is of mandatory compliance according to Resolution 03596 of 2006. These rates have an annual increase according to the CPI, which depends on the behavior of a set of goods and services that analyzes the cost of living each year, which means that it cannot be projected over time for the following years of the proposal which puts the different proponents at a disadvantage by making an uncertain projection. We propose that the value of the first year regulated by the Aeronautics be taken for all years. Furthermore, we propose that the Embassy indicates a percentage of projection so that all the proponents are in equal conditions of evaluation.

Answer: For this specific bidding, we are using the current Administrative Fee

Colombian Resolution, but we know that this is subject to modifications annually. All vendors will be in equal conditions since we will work with the actual administrative fee (domestic and international) regulation for year

2022.

Question #21: Key Personnel: Let us clarify that the personnel assigned to the attention of the

American Embassy will have the salaries assigned as defined by the Travel

Agency within its own salary scale.

Answer: Yes, these are employees of the selected contractor, the Embassy has no decision on these salaries.

Question #22: We appreciate clarifying what insurance policies are required for the performance of the Contract.

Answer: See Section 1 numeral 22.0 Comprehensive General Liability, Workers'

Compensation and Employer's Liability. See section 3 Defense Base Act, see section 3 of the solicitation.

Question #23: If the contract is awarded to our company, please clarify what type of withholding would be made to us at the time of receiving the payment. As a foreign entity, an intermediary in the provision of travel services, would we have any income tax exemption? The attached W14 form requests information about tax exemption in the United States and we really do not have it, therefore the form will be left blank, only the initial part and the signature will be filled out.

Answer: If the Contractor is a foreign person and has only a partial or no exemption to the withholding, the Contractor shall include the Department of the

Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form W-14, Certificate of Foreign

Contracting Party Receiving Federal Procurement Payments, with each voucher or invoice submitted under this contract throughout the period in which this status is applicable. The excise tax withholding is applied at the payment level, not at the contract level. The Contractor should revise each

IRS Form W-14 submission to reflect the exemption (if any) that applies to that particular invoice, such as a different exemption applying. In the absence of a completed IRS Form W-14 accompanying a payment request, the default withholding percentage is 2 percent for the section 5000C withholding for that payment request. Information about IRS Form W-14 and its separate instructions is available via the internet at www.irs.gov/w14

Question #24: We would appreciate the Embassy to inform us if the eTS tool has any cost for the travel agency?

Answer: No, it does not have any cost for the travel agency.

Question #25: We thank the Embassy for sending us the contract that would be signed between the parties.

Answer: The Solicitation is duly posted in https://sam.gov http://www.irs.gov/w14

Question #26: We thank the Embassy for clarifying if the withholding described below applies to the Travel Agency. (d) The Government will withhold a full 2 percent of each payment unless the Contractor claims an exemption. If the Contractor enters a ratio in Line 12 of the IRS Form W-14, the result of Line 11 divided by Line 10, the Government will withhold from each payment an amount equal to 2 percent multiplied by the contract ratio. If the Contractor marks box 9 of the IRS Form

W-14 (rather than completes Lines 10 through 12), the Contractor must identify and enter the specific exempt and nonexempt amounts in Line 15 of the IRS Form

W-14; the Government will then withhold 2 percent only from the nonexempt amount. See the IRS Form W-14 and its instructions.

Answer: If the Contractor is a foreign person and has only a partial or no exemption to the withholding, the Contractor shall include the Department of the

Treasury Internal Revenue Service Form W-14, Certificate of Foreign

Contracting Party Receiving Federal Procurement Payments, with each voucher or invoice submitted under this contract throughout the period in which this status is applicable. The excise tax withholding is applied at the payment level, not at the contract level. The Contractor should revise each

IRS Form W-14 submission to reflect the exemption (if any) that applies to that particular invoice, such as a different exemption applying. In the absence of a completed IRS Form W-14 accompanying a payment request, the default withholding percentage is 2 percent for the section 5000C withholding for that payment request. Information about IRS Form W-14 and its separate instructions is available via the internet at www.irs.gov/w14

Question #27: The Antiterrorism Insurance does not exist in Colombia. Please inform us through which insurer can such insurance be processed and what is the value of the policy for each insured official.

Answer: In fact, DBA does not exist in Colombia. Therefore, this will need to be obtained from an American insurance Company. More guidance on DBA can be found in the Department of Labor Website:

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/dlhwc/lsdba.

Colombian offerors can find on the internet U.S. vendors that can quote this insurance.

Question #28: Can all prices be quoted in US dollars. We see here some quotes in Colombian currency.

Answer: No, please quote based on what is stated in the solicitation.

http://www.irs.gov/w14 https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/dlhwc/lsdba

Question #29: 1.On page number 3, we see that the blocks 12, 23 and 24 are not highlighted.

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT/ORDER FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

OFFEROR TO COMPLETE BLOCKS 12, 17, 23, 24, & 30 That means we do not have to complete them? Also, we see that the box 26 which is for governmental use only is highlighted. Do we have to complete it?

Answer: See Section 3, Solicitation Provisions, 52.212-1 Addendum 1.1.

Question #30: Regarding page 33 (DELIVERIES), what should we do? Just complete our address? Does this form should be completed now or after the award? We assume that COR refers to Quality Control? Is that right? What do COR, COR-FMC and

COR-traveler mean?

Answer: Offerors need to fill in only in the spaces that apply to them. See Section 3, Solicitation Provisions, 52.212-1 Addendum 1.1. Definitions and Acronyms are contained within the solicitation, please see section 1 of the Solicitation.