Expression of Interest (EOI) for provision of Travel Management Services for GIZ Rwanda

Reference Number: 83430596

Context

1.1 Background

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. GIZ has worked in Rwanda for over 40 years. The primary objectives agreed to between the Government of Rwanda and the Federal Republic of Germany are poverty reduction and promotion of sustainable development. To achieve these objectives, GIZ Rwanda is active in the sectors of Decentralization and Good Governance, Sustainable Economic Development, Climate and Energy, Digitalization and Mineral Governance and Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region.


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GIZ Office Rwanda intends to conclude a contract with a travel agency to provide airline ticketing services for its operations in Rwanda. The service provider will be responsible for the procurement of airline tickets (domestic and international) of the GIZ Office and its joint programmes. The service will include – among others - booking, issuing and billing of tickets as per GIZ guidelines and travel regulations.

1.2 Purpose

The purpose of these terms of reference is to request a suitable service provider to submit a proposal with regards to provision of travel management services to GIZ Rwanda.

GIZ does not guarantee any minimum order or quantity of services.

1.3 Objective

The proposed contract with the Travel Agent will cover airline ticketing and incidental services such as issuance/delivery, revalidation, re-routing, reissuance, reconfirmation, processing refunds and cancellations, and preparation of suitable itineraries (including alternative routings, departures and arrivals) at most direct and lowest cost for GIZ staff members (official purposes), government officials and participants attending meetings or on official business for GIZ Rwanda.

The successful bidder (“the Travel Agent”) will be required to sign a contract with GIZ to perform travel services specified under this Terms of Reference and agreeing to clearly identified service levels.

1.4 GIZ Travel Policy

The Travel Agent shall be given copies of GIZ’s travel policies and procedures and introduced to the regulations in a physical kick-off meeting between GIZ’s Focal Point and responsible staff of the Travel Agent. The Travel Agency shall be fully familiar and comply with these policies and procedures for all official travel. The Travel Agency must apply the current valid version of GIZ’s travel guidelines as they might change throughout the contract period.

The Travel Agent is required to book the most direct routing and least costly fares and to research alternate itineraries in order to provide the lowest appropriate fares and ensure that tickets issued are in accordance with entitlements prescribed in the Travel Authorization. Full economy fares may be used if no appropriate reduced fares are available and business class are applicable in limited situations.

The Travel Agent must be knowledgeable of and prepared to offer special fares, restricted fares, discount fares, and bulk fares for use whenever appropriate. Fares, which entail restrictive conditions, shall only be booked with the express approval of the GIZ.

1.         Scope of Services

2.1 General

Primarily, the Travel Agent shall provide travel services during working days (Mo-Fr) and working hours (08:00-18:00hours Rwandan time) and within that timeframe respond to any inquiry of GIZ within 3 hours. Additionally, the Travel Agent shall provide 24 hours a day emergency service, as well as for services during weekends and other official holidays whenever emergency travel services are required. Services from the Travel Agent can only be requested by GIZ staff based in Rwanda through their business e-mail firstname.surname@giz.de (i.e. max.mustermann@giz.de). Bookings for external partners (e.g. government officials, staff of partner organizations) must be facilitated through a GIZ Rwanda employee. The Travel Agent must not issue tickets for private/leisure travel.

2.2 Reservation and Ticketing

All ticketing requests by GIZ must be accompanied by GIZ’s official travel application form (to be shared with successful bidder) and the approval by the respective line manager of the staff. The Travel Application Form must be validated via physical signature or e-mail approval by the responsible line manager or officer responsible for the programme (AV). The signatory must be copied in the final confirmation. Only this process qualifies for air ticket issuance and service provision by the Travel Agent to GIZ staff.

As per GIZ’s Travel Guidelines, combining private trips with business trips is permitted only if the trip is primarily undertaken on GIZ business. In cases where GIZ staff would like to extend their trip for private reasons, the Travel Agency must indicate in their offer whether additional costs will be incurred by the extension or if the price remains the same. Additionally, and for GIZ’s internal documentation, the Travel Agency must provide the price comparison for the privately motivated duration of the trip. The Travel Agent must only obtain this information if explicitly requested by the Traveller. Staff members do not need to provide evidence of a price comparison of the flight costs if they include a private stay at the place of business the weekend directly before or after the business trip.

GIZ authorizes the Travel Agent to return requests which do not adhere to the agreed standards.

Upon receipt of the travel request, the Travel Agent will provide the GIZ staff member with three (3) flight options within 3 hours (during official working hours) and recommend the most economic flight option available at the time. The Travel Agency must provide proof -screenshot of how and where the offers were received from. This proof must be from the official airline website or from any of the Global Distribution System (GDS) systems the Travel Agent uses. GIZ reserves the right to obtain comparable offers from the official airline website with the same flight conditions to ensure economical purchases (see section 2.14). The offers must clearly indicate the base fare and any additional fees (i.e., taxes, commission by the airline, other costs) and the ticketing deadline – time limit. If the booking confirmation comes after the ticketing deadline, the TA must inform the traveller accordingly and provide again three (3) quotes.

In the event that required travel arrangements cannot be confirmed, the Travel Agent shall notify the requesting party of the problem and present alternative routings / quotations for consideration.

In cases where three options cannot be provided, the Travel Agency must submit a justification. All offers must be fully refundable. The offers should also indicate any cancellation fees of the airline. Tickets for first class must not be booked or proposed under any circumstance.

Upon written approval by the signatory and in accordance with GIZ travel guidelines, the traveller can book a less economical flight option.

In the event that required travel arrangements cannot be confirmed, the Travel Agent shall notify the requesting party of the situation and present alternative routings/quotations for consideration.

For wait-listed bookings, the Travel Agent shall provide regular (at least daily) feedback on status of flight.

The Travel Agent shall accurately advise GIZ of ticketing deadlines, holding times and other relevant information every time reservations are made, in order to avoid cancellations of bookings.

The Travel Agent shall provide an information service to notify the GIZ and the traveller of such events as airport closings, cancelled or delayed flights, trains, buses voyages and strike situations as well as of local political or safety conditions, which may affect travel to any particular destination. This information service shall also include information regarding flight/ ticket restrictions, involuntary stop-overs, hidden stops, and other possible inconveniences of the itinerary and provide required documentation for the traveller.

Any special or seasonal offer or a special discount provided by the Airline should be disseminated to GIZ by the Travel Agent.

The Travel Agent shall provide each traveller a complete itinerary document which includes the following:

• Flight number(s) and seat assignment(s);
• Confirmed upgrade (if applicable)
• Departure and arrival time(s) for each segment of the trip
• Intermediate stops
• Airport and other taxes
• Travel Agent’s emergency assistance number
• Any other information such as change in international date lines.

2.3 Refunds

Should the situation arise where the GIZ travellers anticipate that he/she will not be able to take up the flight he/she should immediately contact the Travel Agent and convey this information. Only then is the Travel Agent in a position to cancel the flight. This will reduce the costs of ‘No show’ tickets which are costly and should be avoided.

By using the Travel Agent’s emergency / after-hours assistance the traveller must indicate whether he will re-use the ticket or require a refund. Re-used tickets must be taken up within 12 months for international flights.

For each booking, the Travel Agent will provide the traveller with the emergency / after-hours assistance together with the e-mail of confirmation of the flight booking.

GIZ shall be reimbursed by the Travel Agent for partly or fully unused tickets and cancelled tickets subject to applicable regulations. The Travel Agency shall process these refunds on all returned airline tickets within 30 days through credit note and payment.

Furthermore, the Travel Agency shall ensure that in such cases cancellation fees and charges imposed by the airlines are avoided. The Travel Agent will also limit refund charges at airline rates only, i.e. no additional charges will accrue to the travel agency and absorb all cancellation and / or change date charges which are due to no fault of GIZ or the traveller.

2.4 Service Standards

The Travel Agent shall provide the necessary personnel to provide prompt, courteous and efficient service to GIZ. The number of assigned personnel shall be sufficient to meet all services requirements under this Terms of Reference. The Travel Agent shall sensitize his staff on a customer service-oriented approach for all exchanges with GIZ. Aside from the initial submission of the 3 offers within 3 hours, all ongoing ticketing requests must be responded to within 1 working day (24 hours).

The Travel Agent must nominate a focal point who shall be available for overarching queries by GIZ, resolve issues as they arise as well as participate in regular exchanges with GIZ as and when necessary. Furthermore, GIZ shall be informed of the focal points absence and an alternate nominee shall always be accessible.

The Travel Agent is responsible for providing replacement personnel in case of absenteeism, vacation, sick days, etc of the regular personnel assigned.

2.5 Supplier Relations

The Travel Agent shall not favour any particular carrier when making reservations. The Travel Agent shall maintain excellent relations with all carriers for the benefit of the GIZ. Potential conflict of interests must be reported to GIZ immediately.

Furthermore, the Travel Agent shall negotiate with airlines on preferred carrier fares for GIZ and load such fares in the Travel Agent’s Computerized Reservation System

Lastly, the Travel Agent shall negotiate with airlines preferred fare conditions for GIZ, such as ticketing deadlines to be as flexible as possible and advise market practices and trends that could result in further savings for GIZ.

2.6 Reporting

The Travel Agent shall provide GIZ with quarterly management information reports consisting, of sales activity showing detailed analysis of the number of trips (total bookings), the value in RWF, destinations (domestic and international), carriers used, booking class (economy or business) savings achieved from the carrier’s lowest available fare, CO2 emissions generated in the respective period. The reports shall be submitted to GIZ’s Head of Finance and Administration as well as other authorized personnel. Based on GIZ’s feedback, the format or content of the report must be adjusted for subsequent reports. Additionally, subsequent reports should include comparative figures if applicable, e.g. month to month, year on year.

The report is due within 10 working days after the respective reporting period. The Travel Agent shall submit the statistics without being requested to do so.

The Travel Agent shall hold meetings with GIZ’s authorized travel services personnel at regular intervals to address any issues which may arise and opportunities for improved cooperation. These meetings shall take place at a minimum on a quarterly basis.

2.7 Other services

The Travel Agent is not allowed to offer any other service (i.e., hotels, car rentals, travel insurance, visa etc.) other than the booking of airline tickets to GIZ. Should there be a need for the service, the service provider will be informed.

2.8 Data Protection

Any and all data relating to the contract as well as any other information of which the contractor becomes aware in the course of performing the contract must be treated as confidential during and beyond the term of the contract. The contractor shall not be permitted to make use of any such data and information for the contractor’s own purposes. Personal Data of GIZ staff (i.e., passports or similar) that is not relevant for the invoicing process shall not be shared with GIZ Rwanda’s Finance Department.

The contractor must not make documents and/or work results of any kind, including in particular, but not limited to, reports, accessible to third parties without prior approval in text form by GIZ. Third parties under this provision also include the ultimate commissioning party/client.

The consultancy agrees to and cooperates on the following: Personal data will be processed on behalf of the client, represented by GIZ. Therefore, an agreement on "Outsourcing of data processing (AuV)" will be concluded with the consultancy in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU). For this purpose, the technical and organisational measures (TOM) for compliance with the data protection requirements must be outlined prior to conclusion of the contract. If the consultancy has already been audited by GIZ in the past, an update in accordance with GDPR must nevertheless be sent. After a positive check, the contract is concluded with the AuV attachment. The AuV is attached as part of these tender documents.

The bidder is required to submit the TOM along with the technical proposal. The TOM that must be outlined are specified in the document “Annex 1 - Outsourcing of data processing”. The TOM will not be assessed during the evaluation of the technical proposal; however, it is mandatory to submit them.

Failure to do so can result in your bid being excluded from the tender procedure.

2.9 Payments

GIZ will not issue any advance payments at any time throughout the contract period.

The Travel Agent is permitted to send invoices on a monthly basis. All booked and issued tickets shall be registered and summarized in one spreadsheet/overview and sent to GIZ Rwanda. The invoice, booking overview, a generated EBM and all supporting documents must be printed and physically sent/brought to GIZ Rwanda Country Office located in 17 KN 41 St, Kigali. Additionally, the contractor shall submit the invoice and all supporting documents digitally to GIZ Rwanda’s Finance Unit (invoice.rwanda@giz.de).

The respective invoice must include:

• Ongoing invoice number and invoicing period
• Summary of booking overview and costs per project reference number as given by the passenger
• Total costs for invoicing period

The booking overview must include the following details for each flight:

• Traveller’s name
• Project reference number (12 digits)
• Travel route and dates (outbound / inbound)
• Booking specifications (class, domestic/international flight)
• Charges for flight changes, cancellations, upgrades or similar
• Booking reference number, ticket number and airline code

In addition to the digital submission (see above), each invoice should include the following supporting documentation printed recto verso:

• All correspondence from new to old (date)
• Flight options suggested from Travel Agent and selection from GIZ of the most economical option
• Copy of e-ticket
• Screenshot of ticket status (i.e. Boarding Pass)
• Traveller’s Travel Application Form with line manager approval

For those cases where the initial booking by the traveller has to be amended after the Travel Agent has already invoiced GIZ, the Travel Agent will ensure that the revised (second) invoice captures the changes requested by the traveller; thereby linking the initial invoice to the revised invoice, by indicating the invoice number of the initial invoice on the revised invoice.

This rule would also apply to cancelled flights where a refund is requested or where the ticket is left open for future use within the required time.

GIZ will inform the Travel Agent’s Finance Department immediately regarding remittances made by e-mailing them a summary of the invoice numbers and individual amounts which total the transfer in order for the Travel Agent to allocate the invoices correctly in their system.

The Travel Agency must be equipped with a fully automated accounting system interfaced with the computerized reservation system to cater for GIZ requirements.

All payments will be made in accordance with the original invoices provided as per the bookings on a monthly basis. The invoices for each billing cycle shall be generated and submitted within 5 working days. Payments will be issued in accordance with GIZ’s General Terms and Conditions of Contract.

2.10 Complaint Management System

The Travel Agent shall investigate any complaints from Travellers and GIZ staff and follow up on the recovery of lost baggage, if any. The complaints shall be summarized and incorporated in the regular reports to GIZ (see section 2.6).

2.11 Deadlines

The below stated deadlines apply for regular tasks as outlined in these Terms of References:

Deadlines for other tasks not listed in this overview will be communicated by GIZ when necessary.

2.12 Contract Period

The service provision shall commence on July 1^st, 2023. The framework agreement will be concluded for an initial two (2) years, with the option to extend the contract for a further one (1) year as per the requirements listed in chapter 8.

2.13 Estimated Quantity of the Service Provision

As per recent estimations, GIZ Rwanda is currently expecting that the Travel Agency shall issue tickets worth the following volume (incl. VAT, commission and other associated costs) throughout the next 24 months:

Economy Class Tickets:         1.200.000.000,00 RWF (maximum of 2.000.000.000,00 RWF)

Business Class Tickets:         0.120.000.000,00 RWF (maximum of 0.350.000.000,00 RWF)

GIZ does not guarantee any minimum number of commitments during the contract period in case of any deviation due to internal or external reasons.

2.14 Termination

GIZ reserves the right to withhold, reduce or refuse payments if

• the Travel Agent’s performance is not in line with the above-mentioned requirements,
• the Travel Agent repeatedly misses deadlines for bookings, refunds, reports, or other tasks,
• the Travel Agency violated Data Protection Guidelines, Supplier Relations Requirements or overcharged GIZ.

Depending on the severity of the above-mentioned infringements, GIZ reserves the right to terminate the agreement with 30 calendar days’ notice.

In case of any delay, wrong reservation or request for ticket issuance from unauthorised personnel, the Travel Agent shall be liable for paying the ticket or replace it with another ticket.

2.         Technical Proposal

In the bid, the bidder is required to show how the objectives defined in Chapter 2 are to be achieved. In addition, the bidder must describe the project management system for service provision. A template following the structure of the technical proposal is provided (Annex 4). The following key points must be addressed in the technical proposal:

Technical-methodological concept

Strategy (20 % weighting in the technical assessment grid): The bidder is required to consider the tasks to be performed with reference to the objectives of the services put out to tender (see Chapter 1). Following this, the bidder presents and justifies the strategy with which it intends to provide the services for which it is responsible (see Chapter 2).

The bidder is required to describe the key processes (10 % weighting in the technical assessment grid) for the services for which it is responsible and create a schedule that describes how the services according to Chapter 2 are to be provided. In particular, the bidder is required to describe the necessary work steps in accordance with Chapter 2.

Project management of the contractor

(13 % weighting in the technical assessment grid)

The Travel Agent is required to explain its approach for coordination with the GIZ project.

In addition to the reports required by GIZ in accordance with the General Terms and Conditions, the contractor submits the reports as detailed in chapter 2.

The bidder is required to draw up a personnel assignment plan with explanatory notes that lists all the experts proposed in the bid, their background and their respective tasks.

The bidder is required to describe its backstopping concept. The following services are part of the standard backstopping package:

• Service-delivery control
• Managing adaptations to changing conditions
• Ensuring the flow of information between GIZ and Travel Agency
• Securing the administrative conclusion of the project
• Ensuring compliance with reporting requirements
• Sharing the lessons learned by the contractor and leveraging the value of lessons learned on site 

Further requirements

(10 % weighting in the technical assessment grid)

In the technical proposal, the bidder is required to elaborate on the ticketing procedure and how he intends to transparently communicate the offers. Further, the bidder is also asked to explain how the most cost-effective flight prices will be obtained throughout the contracting period. Lastly, the bidder is asked to submit an example of a round-trip economy fare from Kigali, Rwanda (Departure 12.06.2023) to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Departure 24.06.2023). The price itself will be considered as part of the financial evaluation (see chapter 6), however, here it will be evaluated whether the format of the three offers complies with the specifications set out in Chapter 2.

3.         Personnel concept

The bidder is required to provide personnel who are suited to filling the positions described, on the basis of their CVs (see Chapter 7), the range of tasks involved and the required qualifications.

The below specified qualifications represent the requirements to reach the maximum number of points. The percentages reflect the weighting in the technical assessment grid.

Focal Point

Tasks of the Focal Point

• Overall responsibility for the service provision (quality and deadlines)
• Coordinating and ensuring communication with GIZ Country Office, GIZ Staff and the GIZ Management Team
• Personnel management of the assigned staff
• Regular reporting in accordance with the deadlines

Qualifications of the Focal Point

• Education/training (2.1.1, 5 %): University qualification (Master’s degree) in Travel, Tourism, Hospitality, Business, Management, or similar
• Language (2.1.2, 1 %): Fluent business language skills in English
• General professional experience (2.1.3, 8 %): 8 years of professional experience in the Tourism and Hospitality sector
• Specific professional experience (2.1.4, 5 %): 3 years of experience in retail, customer service, travel management or similar
• Leadership/management experience (2.1.5, 3 %): 4 years of management/leadership experience as project team leader or manager in a company
• Regional experience (2.1.6, 3 %): 3 years of experience in projects/companies in Sub-Sahara Africa (region)

Expert-pool with minimum 2, maximum 8 members

Tasks of the expert pool

• Day-to-Day Tasks as detailed in chapter 2, among others:
  • prepare and issue flight tickets for GIZ Rwanda staff
  • advise GIZ Rwanda staff on most economical itinerary
  • arrange refunds and handle complaints
  • support the focal point in compiling the quarterly overview of issued tickets
  • uphold service standards

Qualifications of the expert pool

• Education/training (2.6.1, 3 %): At least 1 expert with university qualification (German ‘Diplom’/Master) in Tourism, Hospitality, Business, Management or similar
• Language (2.6.2, 1 %): All experts with very good language skills in English
• General professional experience (2.6.3, 8 %): 2 experts with 4 years of experience in the Tourism and Travel sector,
• Specific professional experience (2.6.4, 7 %): 2 experts with 2 years of experience in retail, customer service, travel management or similar
• Regional experience (2.6.5, 3 %): 2 experts with at least 1 year of experience in Sub-Sahara Africa (region)

The bidder must provide a clear overview of all proposed short-term experts and their individual qualifications and compare them with these requirements.

4.         Financials and Financial Proposal

As elaborated in chapter 2, GIZ shall not be charged any additional commission fees by the Travel Agent. All fees, taxes and profit shall be included in the price that is communicated to the GIZ Staff. Additionally, the Travel Agency must clearly indicate how the price was calculated (i.e., table with base fare, airline commission, profit, other costs). Any ticket that is issued without these requirements will not be reimbursed by GIZ.

Working days/hours of staff for tasks such as the compilation of reports and participations in meetings with GIZ will not be remunerated separately.

As part of the financial evaluation, the bidder is required to submit 3 quotes each for the following routes:

All options must be in booking class economy as well as fully refundable. The proposed quotes must align with the specifications set in chapter 2.

5.         Eligibility Requirements

In order to be considered for the technical and financial evaluation of the tender, bidders are required to fulfil the following eligibility requirements:

The Travel Agent must have provided travel related services for a minimum of three (3) years to exclusive clientele, and must have capacity to provide the whole range of services requested in the TOR with the following qualification:

• Evidence of commercial register entry (i.e., Registration Certificate issued by RDB)
• Evidence of tax registration/clearance (i.e., VAT Certificate issued by RRA)
• Accredited IATA Travel Agency duly licensed in the country (i.e., IATA Certificate)
• Maintains a good track record in serving international organizations, embassies and medium to large multi-national corporations (i.e., 3 reference letters must be provided including name, function and contact details of referees)
• Financial Stability (i.e., last 2 annual reports (2021 and 2022 must be provided as well as a copy of the financial statements (balance sheets and profit and loss account))

Additionally, the Travel Agent must provide the following information that does not factor into the above-mentioned eligibility assessment:

• Detailed company profile of the Travel Agency
• Number of issued tickets in calendar years 2021, 2022 and 2023 (to date)
• Number of employees as of 31.12.2022

6.         Requirements on the format of the bid

The structure of the bid must correspond to the structure of the ToRs. In particular, the detailed structure of the concept (Chapter 3) is to be organised in accordance with the positively weighted criteria in the assessment grid (not with zero). It must be legible (font size 11 or larger) and clearly formulated. The bid is drawn up in English (language).

The complete bid shall not exceed 12 pages (excluding CVs).

The CVs of the personnel proposed in accordance with Chapter 4 of the ToRs must be submitted using the format specified in the terms and conditions for application. The CVs shall not exceed 4 pages. The CVs must clearly show the position and job the proposed person held in the reference project and for how long. The CVs can also be submitted in German (language).

If one of the maximum page lengths is exceeded, the content appearing after the cut-off point will not be included in the assessment.

A template following the structure of the technical proposal is provided (Annex 4).

To summarize, the following documents must be submitted:

• Eligibility documents (see chapter 6)
• Technical Proposal (incl. Sample Travel from KGL – ADD) + CVs (see chapter 3)
• Outsourcing of data processing (see chapter 2)
• Financial Proposal with the four sample flights (see chapter 5)

Failure to submit the required documents can lead to an exclusion of the entire bid.

7.         Option

After the tasks put out to tender have been completed, important elements of these tasks can be extended within the framework of a follow-on assignment.

1. Type and scope:The Travel Agent shall be required to perform the same services as stated in chapter 2 for one (1) more year. The extension will not be issued automatically but only on the condition that GIZ issues a letter expressively requesting this.

The option is exercised in the form of an extension to the contract based on the already offered individual rates. 

8.         Submission of offer

Please deposit your EoI in 2 separated envelops (technical & Financial offer), until latest 30^th April 2023 at 4:00PM, at the front desk of GIZ Office Rwanda / KN 41 St. / Nr.17, Kiyovu, P.O. Box 59, Kigali.  Please you must write on each Envelop the following: 83430596-Technical/financial offer/ Travel Management Services for GIZ Office Rwanda 

GIZ reserves all rights.

9.         List of abbreviations

AVB                     General Terms and Conditions of Contract (AVB) for supplying services and work 2022

AV                       Officer responsible for the commission

EBM                    Electronic Billing Machine

GDS                    Global Distribution System

GIZ                      Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH

IATA                    International Air Transport Association

RDB                    Rwanda Development Board

RRA                    Rwanda Revenue Authority

ToR                     Terms of reference

10.      Annexes

Annex 1 – Outsourcing of Data Processing

Annex 2 – Grid for the eligibility assessment of bids

Annex 3 – Grid for the technical assessment of bids

Annex 4 – Template for the Technical Proposal