Travel Management~2.docx

REQUEST FOR RESPONSE

Travel Agency Services COMMBUYS Bid# BD-19-1013-CAO00-FISCL-28672

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

Travel Management Services

ISSUE: July 17, 2018 BID OPENING DATE: July 31, 2018 at 10:00 AM

Procurement Contact Tina Urato Tina.urato@mass.gov

Contract Manager David Mahr David.mahr@mass.gov

1. Description or Purpose of Procurement:

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is seeking travel management services, to provide domestic travel, (air, water, rail, bus, etc), car rental, hotel accommodations and all other travel related arrangements as needed for MEMA

2. Applicable Procurement Law

Executive Branch Goods and Services, MGL c. 7, § 22; c. 30, § 51, § 52; 801 CMR 21.00

3. Acquisition Method:

This is a fee for service contract.

4. Request for single or multiple Contractors

The target maximum number of Contractors is 4, the Purchasing Department may award more or fewer contracts, if it is in the best interests of the Commonwealth to do so.

5. Use of a procurement by a single or multiple departments

This procurement is restricted to use by MEMA only.

6. Anticipated Duration of Contract (Initial Duration and any Options to Renew):

The initial contract will be executed for (2) two year and, and will run from the execution which will run until July 2020. Upon satisfactory performance by the contractor MEMA may exercise the options to renew, which are (2) two (2) two years periods each. The maximum years to this procurement is (6) six years.

Options to renew must be executed before the end date of the contract, vendor may not incur costs past the end date of the any executed contract.

7. Anticipated Expenditures and Compensation Structure:

Estimated Value of Procurement is estimated to be up to $5,000 per year or $ 30,000 accumulative. The funding for any contract resulting from this procurement is conditioned upon budget approval.

Please note: Amounts indicated are only estimates. Contract amounts during the period of the contract may increase or decrease significantly, based upon budget approval, availability of funds, level of travel agency reservation services required by MEMA, and evaluation of Contractor’s performance. The Commonwealth makes no guarantee that any commodities or services will be purchased from any Contract resulting from this Solicitation.

a. Compensation:

Contractor must not request any form of pre-payments by the eligible entity. MEMA will not pay Contractor until service is completed in a satisfactory manner and signed off by Eligible Entity, through a purchase order in COMMBUYS, unless authorized by the awarding authority prior to making the arrangements.

b. Prompt Payment Discounts All Bidders must agree to offer discounts through participation in the Commonwealth Prompt Payment Discount (PPD) initiative for receiving early and/or on-time payments, unless the Bidder can provide compelling proof that it would be unduly burdensome.

· This will be on administrative fees only. Understanding that costs are set by the airline and hotels Bidders must submit agreeable terms for Prompt Payment Discount unless otherwise specified by the SSST. The SSST will review, negotiate or reject the offering as deemed in the best interest of the Commonwealth.

The requirement to offer a PPD may be waived by the SSST on a case-by-case basis if participation in the program would be unduly burdensome on the Bidder. If a Bidder is claiming that this requirement is a hardship or unduly burdensome, the specific reason must be documented in the Bidder’s Quote.

c. Comptroller Bill Paying Policy All invoices issued pursuant to this contract are payable in accordance with the Comptroller’s Bill Payment Policy: http://www.mass.gov/osc/docs/policies-procedures/accounts-payable/po-ap-commonwealth-bill-paying.doc

9. Performance and Contract specification requirements

The vendor(s) awarded for this contract will be able to provide any or all of the travel management services, such domestic travel arrangements (air, water, rail, bus, etc), car rental services and all other travel related arrangements (hotel) as needed.

Vendors should be responsible for securing suitable arrangements in quick manner that meets the agencies policy, budget and timelines.

Vendor should have the capability to arrange and secure all services requested without pre-payment.

Vendor internal system should lend to paperless itinerary & invoices, unused ticket tracking & management, streamlined hotel direct bill options and 24 hour Customer Service access.

Contractor must have the ability to provide MEMA with prompt, efficient and accurate travel and hotel accommodations in writing within 48 hours of request.

Contractor must prepare all travel management invoices that provide MEMA with accurate travel itineraries documents.

In the case of any rescheduling and/or cancellations, Contractor must notify the person requesting the travel immediately via voice and in writing as well as waive any change fees by both the travel management company and their vendors.

Contractor must arrange all accommodations/reservations, prior to the dates of travel for MEMA staff, consultants or other personnel as requested by MEMA. Contractor will invoice MEMA for expenses incurred through travel and other accommodations as they occur.

Small Business Purchasing Program

This is a small procurement targeted to businesses participating in the Commonwealth’s Small Business Purchasing Program (“SBPP”). The Department intends to evaluate bid responses from and to award a contract to a SBPP-participating business(es) who submit a bid that meets or exceeds the solicitation criteria only. Subcontracting in these types of procurements is limited to no more than 20% of the value of the contract, unless it is with another SBPP registered participant. If determined that there is inadequate SBPP capacity, or no SBPP-participating vendors provide a responsive bid, the Department will evaluate and award bid responses received from non-SBPP businesses. To determine eligibility and to participate in the SBPP, please review the requirements and general program information at www.mass.gov/sbpp.

Supplier Diversity Plan (SDP) Plan

Supplier Diversity Program (SDP). Massachusetts Executive Order 524 established a policy to promote the award of state contracts in a manner that develops and strengthens Minority and Women Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) that resulted in the Supplier Diversity Program in Public Contracting. M/WBEs are strongly encouraged to submit responses to this RFR, either as prime vendors, joint venture partners or other type of business partnerships. All bidders must follow the requirements set forth in the SDP section of the RFR, which will detail the specific requirements relating to the prime vendor’s inclusion of M/WBEs. Bidders are required to develop creative initiatives to help foster new business relationships with M/WBEs within the primary industries affected by this RFR. In order to satisfy the compliance of this section and encourage bidder’s participation of SDP objectives, the Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Plan for large procurements greater than $150,000 will be evaluated at 10% or more of the total evaluation. Once an SDP Plan is submitted, negotiated and approved, the agency will then monitor the contractor’s performance, and use actual expenditures with SDO certified contractors to fulfill their own SDP expenditure benchmarks. M/WBE participation must be incorporated into and monitored for all types of procurements regardless of size; however, submission of an SDP Plan is mandated only for large procurements over $150,000.

A Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Woman Business Enterprise (WBE), M/Non-Profit, or W/Non- Profit, is defined as such by the Supplier Diversity Office (SDO). All certified businesses that are included in the bidder’s SDP proposal are required to submit an up to date copy of their SDO certification letter. The purpose for this certification is to participate in the Commonwealth’s Supplier Diversity Program for public contracting. Minority- and Women-Owned firms that are not currently certified but would like to be considered as an M/WBE for the purpose of this RFR should submit their application at least two weeks prior to the RFR closing date and submit proof of documentation of application for consideration with their bid proposal. For further information on SDO certification, contact their office at 1-617-502-8851 or via the Internet at mass.gov/SDO.

10. Instructions for Submission Requirements:

Responses must be sent via the “Create Quote” functionality contained in COMMBUYS. For instructions concerning how to submit a Quote, please see Appendix B.

Any submission which fails to meet the submission requirements of the RFR will be found non- responsive without further evaluation unless the evaluation team, at its discretion, determines that the non-compliance is insubstantial and can be corrected. In these cases, the evaluation team may allow the vendor to make minor corrections to the submission.

· Make sure to uncheck “no Bid “ and Click “No Charge”, not doing so will not allow the system to award the contracts. No Charge does not mean free.

11. Evaluation Criteria

Contractors must submit responses that meet all the submission requirements of the RFR. Only responsive proposals that meet the submission requirements will be evaluated, scored and ranked by the evaluation team according to the evaluation criteria. Additional information may be requested for evaluation purposes.

10. Procurement Calendar

Bid Release Date July 17, 2018 Deadline for Submission of Questions through COMMBUYS “Bid Q&A” Official Answers for Bid Q&A published within 1 week of entry Deadline for Bid Responses (“Bid Opening Date/Time” in COMMBUYS) July 31, 2018 10:00 AM Notification of Apparent Successful

Bidders are required to monitor COMMBUYS for changes to the procurement calendar for this Bid.

11. Instructions for Q & A

a. Online Questions (Bid Q&A)

Written Questions must be entered by pressing the “Bid Q&A” tab for the Bid in COMMBUYS no later than the “Online Questions Due” date and time indicated in the Estimated Procurement Calendar (above). The issuing department reserves the right not to respond to questions submitted after this date. It is the Bidder’s responsibility to verify receipt of questions.

It is the responsibility of the prospective Bidder and awarded Contractor to maintain an active registration in COMMBUYS and to keep current the email address of the Bidder’s contact person and prospective contract manager, if awarded a contract, and to monitor that email inbox for communications from the Purchasing Department, including requests for clarification. The Purchasing Department and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP) cause email communications sent to/from the prospective Bidder/Awarded contractor and the Purchasing Department to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering.

Written Responses to Questions will be released on or about the “Responses to Questions Posted Online” date indicated in the Estimated Procurement Calendar (above).

(Written questions and responses will be posted on the Bid Q&A Tab for this Bid in COMMBUYS.)

b. Bid Amendment Deadline: The Purchasing Department reserves the right to make amendments to the Bid after initial publication. It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for any amendments, addenda or modifications to this Bid, and any Bid Q&A records related to this Bid. The Purchasing Department and the Commonwealth accept no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit a Quote based on an out-of-date Bid or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

c. Quotes (Bid Responses) Deadline (Bid Opening Date/Time)

See the Quotes (Bid Responses) Deadline (Bid Opening) Date and Time indicated in the Procurement Calendar (above).

d. Estimated Contract Start Date

This is the approximate start date of any contract from this procurement. The actual start date will be the Contract Effective Date which is the date the Contract is executed by the Agency.

Required Forms

Responses to this RFR must contain the following documents

Additional Environmentally Preferable Products/Practices Electronic Submission Supplier Diversity Plan Form 1 (SDP Plan

The above attachments are available as attachments as part of the bid record under the attachment tab.

17. RFR ATTACHMENTS

Appendix A: Required Specifications

Appendix B: Electronic Quote Submission Instructions