RFP Template for Corporate Travel Agency

1. Involve a diverse internal stakeholder group but ensure a unified voice:

Identify all key stakeholders in your organisation and involve them in the RFP creation process. However to ensure clarity, consistency, and avoids duplications in the RFP, designate one person to lead the project and merge the different stakeholder perspectives into a single, unified voice.

2. Research the market and be selective:

Conduct thorough market research to understand potential suppliers. Instead of issuing the RFP to a large number of suppliers, consider implementing a pre-qualification stage to filter down to a more manageable shortlist of bidders. This saves internal resources and allows you to focus on suppliers who can best meet your requirements.

3. Engage with bidders and establish realistic timeframes:

Encourage dialogue with bidders during the RFP process. Share the outputs of these engagements with all bidders to ensure fairness. Avoid a faceless procurement process conducted solely electronically, as it may deter bidders. Be available and responsive, and set appropriate timeframes for submissions to allow bidders to prepare comprehensive proposals.

4. Define clear specifications and scope of requirements:

Invest time in creating a clearly defined scope of requirements. Avoid vagueness or poor writing, as it may result in unclear proposals and contracts. Clearly identify what you must have and what are merely desirable ‘nice to haves.’ This clarity sets expectations and helps suppliers understand your needs.

5. State your goals, objectives, problems, and challenges:

Move beyond capability-focused questions and focus on your specific challenges and objectives. Avoid asking generic questions that yield similar responses. By highlighting your unique challenges and asking how bidders will help overcome them, you can differentiate potential suppliers based on their ability to deliver value to your business.

6. Explain your evaluation criteria or methodology:

While it may seem counterintuitive, sharing your evaluation criteria helps bidders understand what is important to your organisation. This allows them to emphasise their strengths in those areas and helps you identify suppliers who grasp your organisation and industry sector.

7. Ask for evidence and quantifiable proof points:

To assess both capability and performance, request references and case studies from bidders’ client portfolios. These provide tangible evidence of their expertise, experience, and understanding of your organisation and industry. Case studies help evaluate their ability to meet your specific requirements.

8. Enable an ‘apples with apples’ commercial comparison:

To provide meaningful commercial proposals, share relevant data regarding your travel spend profile and the complexity of your travel requirements. This enables bidders to suggest achievable savings plans over the contract duration. Consider providing a pricing template for a like-for-like comparison, but exercise caution with e-auctions, ensuring a clear scope to avoid unrealistic pricing outcomes.

9. Always ask for or allow an Executive Summary:

Request an Executive Summary from bidders, which provides a quick overview of who they are, their values, infrastructure, experience, and understanding of your business. It should also highlight how they intend to solve your problems and meet your objectives, offering reassurance that they are the ideal travel partner for your organization.

10. Provide open and honest feedback:

After bidders invest significant time and effort in responding to the RFP, it is essential to provide meaningful feedback. Constructive feedback helps suppliers understand any shortcomings in their proposals and improve their offerings for future engagements. This fosters a beneficial relationship and better outcomes in future procurement processes.

Read our blog to further understand the RFP process for travel management services.