TMC RFI 1 Q and A Posting.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 13 KB Posted
- Attached to
- GSA Shared Service Solution Travel Management Company (TMC) Strategy Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- 47QMCB23N0012
- Issued by
- GSA Federal Acquisition Service
About this file
This document contains questions and answers regarding a Request for Information released by the General Services Administration concerning its strategy for travel management company services across the federal government. Key details include that draft requests for proposals are anticipated to be released by individual federal agencies in the second quarter of 2024, with final RFPs to be released in the fourth quarter of that year and awards expected in fiscal year 2025. The Initial Operating Capability phase will involve five pilot agencies transitioning to the new ETSNext system beginning in the third quarter of 2024, with all agencies to complete transition by February 2027. The GSA anticipates making approximately 43 task order awards to support ETSNext. Small business set asides and teaming agreements will be allowed where permitted by agency policy. Ultimate procurement decisions will be made by individual agencies in accordance with applicable regulations and procedures.
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Other files for this federal contract opportunity
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| GSA Shared Service Solution Travel Management Company (TMC) Strategy.pdf | ||
| TMC Data Elements (3).xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet |
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Text version
Sheet1
| Q# | Reference | Question | Government Response |
| 1 | If I do not respond to the RFI will this prevent me from participating and responding to the RFP(s)? | A lack of response for the RFI will not prohibit any firm from participating in any future solicitation. See Section 1.2 Purpose of this RFI for additional information. | |
| 2 | Under ETS1 and ETS2 as a small women owned travel company, I have benefited from the embedded TMC model. Since GSA is eliminating this model and only procuring TMC Services as Accommodated, can I participate in both working as a subcontractor under a larger Prime TMC as well as respond to the RFP(s) as a Prime? | A supplier has the opportunity to subcontract or submit as a prime to any potential future solicitation. | |
| 3 | If a TMC does not have a TSS Contract with GSA are they still able to participate and respond to the RFP(s)? | It is anticipated the MAS program will be utilized for future TMC services acquisitions. A supplier must have a MAS contract to respond to a solicitation using the MAS program. For more information on obtaining a MAS contract, please visit https://vsc.gsa.gov/vsc and select "I want a contract" at the top of the page. | |
| 4 | The purpose of the RFI released by GSA is to assist GSA in a comprehensive strategy for TMC services across the Federal Government. The GSA Presentation outlined the TMC Anticipated Acquisition Timeline on page 14 – please respond to: | Draft RFP(s) are to be released in 2Q24 – will the draft RFP(s) be released directly from GSA or from individual Federal Agencies? | It is not known at this time if a Draft solicitation will be released by GSA or from individual agencies. |
| 5 | Who are the TMCs that GSA is engaging with to participate in the IOC that is expected to be awarded in 3Q24? | GSA has yet to determine which TMCs are supporting IOC. The agencies that are participating in the IOC are Treasury, Fiscal Service, Administrative Resource Center; General Services Administration; Department of Transporation, Federal Aviation Administration, Enterprise Service Center (including the Department of Transportation, the agency); Department of Homeland Security, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; and the Department of Labor. In addition to these five (5) agencies that will be implementing ETSNext during the IOC, there are additional agencies serving in an advisory capacity. These include the Department of Homeland Security, Chief Financial Officer's Office; Department of the Interior, Interior Business Center; Department of Health and Human Services; and the National Gallery of Art. The following are also serving as advisors, the Office of Government-wide Policy, The Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Standards Lead and the Financial Management Quality Service Management Office, in support of the Travel & Expense Business Standards. | |
| 6 | Is GSA looking to award to 1 TMC for the IOC? Or several? | It is anticipated that the IOC agencies will be responsible for identifying and contracting for their TMCs. | |
| 7 | What does the rolling out phases of Federal Agencies look like? | For the transition to ETSNext, there are five (5) agencies (see response #5 above) that will be implemented during the Initial Operating Capability (IOC) phase, which is a 12 month period from award of the ETSNext Managed Travel and Expense Shared Service. After that, ETSnext will move into the Full Operating Capability (FOC). That will be another 12 month period. All agencies need to be transitioned to ETSNext by February 23, 2027, so agencies will be roughly divided into thirds, to be implemented during this time frame. How they will be divided up is still to be determined. | |
| 8 | Final RFP(s) to be released 4Q24 – again, will GSA be releasing one master RFP or will each individual Federal Agency release the RFP? | It is anticipated there will be individual Task Orders or calls for each agency. The vehicle is yet to be determined but will likely be off the GSA MAS. | |
| 9 | Award(s) expected FY25 – will GSA limit the number of awards to TMC(s)? How many TMC awards is GSA anticipating to award? | GSA will not limit the number of awards a TMC wins and anticipates roughly 43 Task Orders to support the ETSNext contract. | |
| 10 | Will GSA set aside TMC opportunities for only Small Business to participate? Or is GSA expecting small businesses to compete with large TMCs? | GSA encourages the use of small business set asides. GSA is not able to determine set asides, as the decision to set-aside for small business is an agency level decision; however GSA encourages it as often as practicable. | |
| 11 | Will GSA allow for teaming/joint agreements in responding to the Draft and Final RFP(s)? | At this time, it is anticipated that teaming agreements are allowed for both the draft and final RFPs/RFQs. | |
| 12 | What if a Federal Agency wants to sole source their travel services to a specific TMC will GSA allow that? | That will be up to the agency and the requiring agency contracting officer and agency policies and procedures; however per FAR 8.405-6, a sole source procurement will require a limited sources justification. | |
| 13 | Under Section 2.3 Technology: | What is the travel counselor desktop application that ETSNext is requiring? Please provide details of this application | This is not a requirement for the TMCs. We are seeking to understand the current marketplace. The counselor desktop we are referring to is an "intelligent overlay" on top of the GDS. |
| 14 | This RFI was released on 9/15 with an industry call on 9/20 – will GSA consider extending the due date of the RFI responses to give small businesses an opportunity to strategize their best approach to respond? | Yes, GSA will extend the due date to October 13th, 11:59pm EST. | |
| 15 | 1.3 Accommodated TMC Model | Can you kindly help us to understand the process in which the government agencies will select a TMC provider? | Government agencies will determine their selection for award based on the criteria that will be released in the solicitation. Evaluation criteria may differ based on each solicitation so pay close attention to those annoucements and the evaluation criteria they contain to understand how the solicitation will evaluate for award. |
| 16 | Who will be the procuring body(ies) for upcoming agency TMC contracts? Do you expect this to be same body (ies) for DoD as well as civilian agencies? | GSA is considering all options at this time, including a self-service BPA or other contract vehicle for agencies to fulfill their TMC requirements. GSA may also offer assisted acquisition support to customer agencies, depending on the level of interest and resource availability. | |
| 17 | Do you anticipate any large business (non small business set aside) contracts to have a small business requirement within them, that would result in a subcontract to a small business? | At this time, GSA is not able to determine set-aside details for small businesses. If agency level orders or calls are used to procure TMC services, the agency makes that decision. | |
| 18 | Is there any chance that the company providing the technology solution for ETSNext, or a new DoD travel system, will have the ability to restrict usage of their technology to a TMC that is not “affiliated” with that technology provider? In contrast, will there be any advantage to a TMC having an affiliation with that technology provider? | The awarded vendor for ETSNext is expected to work with the TMC(s) selected by the agency. Most agencies are expected to use a TMC associated with the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) whether awarded by the agency off of the MAS, from a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) set up under the MAS, or via Assisted Acquisition Services potentially available from GSA. The MAS will be updated, both in support of ETSNext and other agency needs. This will include an update once ETSNext is awarded to ensure that TMCs are able to support the technical requirements of the ETSNext Travel & Expense provider. | |
| 19 | Will prior experience serving the federal government travel be removed from award criteria, or consideration of any kind? | Past Performance information required for any solicitation has not been established at this time and the evaluation criteria will be laid out in any future solicitation(s). | |
| 20 | To ensure a thorough and adequate response, we request an extension of time until October 24, 2023 to submit. Any consideration, by your team, would be greatly appreciated and I assure you that it will benefit both your GSA team and the ETSNext program. | See response to Question 14. |
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