Questions and Answers.docx

Questions and Answers - Travel Management Services Solicitation Solicitation # SBG300-12-R-0001, Amendment # A001 & A002

Dear Prospective Offeror, Please see answers in response to the questions received from the following contractors regarding Travel Management Services Solicitation:

Questions from Saimon Overseas Ltd.:

Question 1: Under section 4, Evaluation factors, will there be weightage given to pricing and technical competence? If so what will the weightage be?

Answer: There are no weightage factors for evaluation. The evaluation will be to determine technical acceptability and the award will be made to the lowest price technically acceptable offeror. The evaluation factors are clearly described in Section 4 of the solicitation.

Question 2: Should all the proposals be put in one envelope or the pricing proposal be put in a separate envelope?

Answer: Technical proposals and price proposals are required to be submitted in separated envelopes. The Offerors shall submit an original and three copies of the complete quotation, including all supporting documents.

Question 3: How do we handle pricing under section 2.3 for Charge card and CBA separately?

Answer: Please see the Amendment A002,which deals with Transaction Fee for i) Ticket purchased using a Government Travel Charge Card or CBA Program and ii) Tickets purchased NOT using the Government Travel Charge Card or CBA Program.

Question 4: Under pricing section 2.3, there is a mention of Online booking and the estimated number of transactions given is 100. We do not have that capability in Bangladesh. How do we handle it?

Answer: The facility of online booking is not available here in Dhaka now. But this option has been included considering future implementation. The Embassy will work with the awarded contractor to accommodate it when such facilities become available.

Questions from Al Waseet Travel & Tourism Services:

Question 5: What are the estimated number of transactions per year as the RFP states 4000 but it is mentioned as estimated Domestic/International Transaction Fee, so am not clear about the same.

Answer: The estimated number of annual transactions is 4000 tickets which is inclusive of domestic and international tickets.

Question 6: Is the local presence a mandatory factor or not?

Answer: Onsite service is mandatory

Question 7: Is the insurance policy for the staff is mandatory or not?

Answer: Insurance policy for the staff is mandatory

Question 8: For off duty hours, can we give an toll free number for our Kuwait station? We do have a US Toll Free number in out Kuwait office

Answer: As the service is being provided in Dhaka, you will need to provide a local number. If calling Kuwait is indeed toll free, then it is acceptable. However, the offeror should demonstrate in its offer that the difference in time does not impact the availability of service.

Questions from Tendering Authority

Question 09: List of Items, Schedule of Requirements, Scope of Work, Terms of Reference, Bill of Materials required

Answer: This information is available at FedBizOpps https://www.fbo.gov and also available at Embassy Website http://dhaka.usembassy.gov/business_opportunities.html

Question 10: Soft Copy of the Tender Document through email.

Answer: A soft copy was sent through email

Question 11: Names of countries that will be eligible to participate in this tender.

Answer: There is no restriction on this

Question 12: Information about the Tendering Procedure and Guidelines

Answer: Please see the section 3 & 4 of the solicitation. Instructions to offerors and Evaluation factors are outlined in detail.

Question 13: Estimated Budget for this Purchase

Answer: Not applicable here

Question 14: Any Extension of Bidding Deadline?

Answer: Proposals are due by September 16, 2012 before 1600 hours.

Question 15: Any Addendum or Pre Bid meeting Minutes?

Answer: All Amendments to the solicitation are available on the FBO.gov website and the US Embassy Dhaka website. There was a pre-proposal conference held on September 5, 2012. The meeting minutes of this pre-proposal are given below:

1. Contracting Officer advised the offerors to study the solicitation package very attentively

1. Contracting Officer clarified to all the participants that all the contractors will be treated equally in the process. If anyone feels otherwise, request to inform the Contracting Officer with one’s complain.

1. Contracting Officer advised the contractors that the Embassy will strictly follow the Federal Acquisition Regulations, and no late submission will be accepted (as already mentioned in the solicitation that is due no later than at 16:00 hrs. on September 16, 2012)

1. Contracting Officer clarified the participants that during the process in awarding the contract, no contractor will be allowed to contact any person in the Embassy other than the Contracting Officer. And in absence of the Contracting Officer, contractors will contact Mr. Maruful Islam for any clarification on the solicitation.

1. Contracting Officer updated participants about the new contact of E-2 Solutions and E-Travel Services (Amendment A001)

1. Contracting Officer advised participants to submit the cost of transaction fee as follows:

Ticket purchased using a Government Travel Charge Card or the Centrally Billed Account (CBA) and Ticket purchased not using the Government Travel Charge Card or CBA

1. Contracting Officer advised the offerors that no telephone call will be entertained but only the written request would be reviewed.

1. Contracting Officer informed the attendees that no offeror should attach false information in the offer that creates extra work to the Contracting Office. He suggested to include actual resources in the offer as the Technical Team of the USG will do the spot check to make sure that the offerors correct information.

1. Contracting Officer explained the offerors about the criteria for evaluation factors: the Government will award the contract to the responsible company submitting an acceptable quotation offering the best price.

1. Contracting Officer advised the offerors about the procedures on how to prepare the price offer and technical offer. CO also informed Advised/instructed the attendees to submit the price offer separately from the technical offer and advised them to follow the Section 3 – Solicitation Provision, Section 4 – Evaluation Factors and Section 5 – Offeror Representations and Certifications.

1. Contracting Officer instructed the attendees to provide detailed resume showing the level of experience of key personnel (Project Manager, Site Manager and three Travel Counselors), describing the extent to which each person will participate in the performance of the proposed contract. CO also informed about the personnel requirement as saying that all Contractor personnel will provide services under this contract shall be fluent in English as well as in the local language.

1. Contracting Officer briefed about the insurance policy of the staff who would be assigned under the contract as resulted out the solicitation. The contractor who would be awarded for this service, at its own expense, shall provide and maintain during the entire period of performance of this contract, whatever the insurance is legally necessary.

1. Contracting Officer invited some verbal questions on the solicitation in the pre-proposal conference. CO also advised the offerors to send us questions, if any, through e-mail and they must reach us no later than September 5, 2012.

1. Contracting Officer also assured the offerors that we would provide answers to all the questions to all bidders received by us during the specified time. After the above period, the Embassy will not entertain any questions and we would e-mail the answers of all questions to all bidders.

1. Contracting Officer mentioned the evaluation factors for award as follows:

1. Transaction fee evaluation: responsible company submitting an acceptable quotation offering the lowest transaction fee, b) Technical Evaluation: to be considered technically acceptable, the technical proposal must provide the information requested to the requirements of the solicitation.

1. CO categorically mentioned the following points that will be evaluated for the purpose of assessing the quoter’s compliance with the terms of the Quotation:

1. adequate financial resources or the ability to obtain them;

1. ability to comply with the required performance period, taking into consideration all existing commercial and government business commitment;

1. satisfactory record of integrity and business

1. necessary organization, experience, and skills or the ability to obtain them and

1. otherwise qualified and eligible to receive and award under applicable laws and regulations.

1. The contractor would have to handle a number of VIP visits every year

1. To handle this, the contractor shall provide trained, experienced and qualified personnel in managing the travel services.

1. The contractor shall provide reservation agents, personnel and equipment necessary to assure that the highest quality of service is provided.

1. The contractor shall have adequate financial resources so that it can maintain a good relationship with the airlines and can make the tickets available to the customers as and when necessary.

1. The contractor shall have to be flexible in terms of changing the tickets in the last moment. The contractor must agree to re-issue the tickets following the customer’s request as it might have to change the air schedule a number of times.

Thanks and regards, Shahana Begum

Contracting Specialist Procurement and Contracting Section American Embassy, Dhaka, Bangladesh Tel: 880 2 8855500 Fax: 880 2 8822551