RFP for Travel Services

Background

Pathfinder is driven by the conviction that all people, regardless of where they live, have the right to decide whether and when to have children, to exist free from fear and stigma, and to lead the lives they choose.

Since 1957, we have partnered with local governments, communities, and health systems to remove barriers to critical sexual and reproductive health services. Together, we expand

access to contraception, promote healthy pregnancies, save women’s lives, and stop the

spread of new HIV infections, wherever the need is most urgent.

Our work ensures millions of women, men, and young people are able to choose their own paths forward.

Description of Assignment

The overall goal of the RFP process is to select a highly collaborative, world class agency partner with the experience, expertise and capability to provide full travel agent services, integrate with International ISOS Travel Ready, Travel Tracker. Please also indicate whether you have other experience with integrating with Healix, Everest, and Berkley.

Pathfinder is currently seeking a vendor firm to provide the following services:

1. Provide domestic and/or international airline, or railway tickets at the most favorable rate available to meet all arrival and departures times at the locations requested by all Pathfinders globally.
2. Ability to request Pathfinder required charge codes from Travelers prior to booking travel. Ability to provide Pathfinder with a report showing reservation and assigned charge codes.
3. Have and maintain a list of locations where Pathfinder does not approve of to transit through.
4. Arrange hotel accommodation, if requested. Pathfinder currently has negotiated rates with hotels, however; if provider is able to provide more aggressive corporate rates, please propose this as an “add on service”
5. Capability to sync with International SOS (forward the Passenger Name Records (PNRs) of all tickets to ISOS travel tracker) for live connection and issuing of pre-travel briefing documents. Please also indicate whether you have other experience with integrating with Healix, Everest, and Berkley.
6. Maintain additional authorization step for purchase for travel to or through countries designated as High or Extreme risk in International SOS rating system.
7. Ability to integrate with UKG.
8. Formulate, arrange, and provide all trip itineraries taking full advantage of any and all governmental, corporate, group, and/or seasonal discount rates available.
9. Demonstrate a secure server for the storage of PII (personal identifying information) and organizational information.
10. Demonstrate the ability to communicate with passengers via various methods [i.e skype, WhatsApp, etc] in addition to phone and email.
11. Demonstrate the ability to work across all time zones.

Proposal Guidelines and Instructions

Offerors will be required to submit two electronically sealed proposals, one a technical proposal and the other a cost proposal. All proposals must be signed and valid for a minimum of sixty (60) days.

Your proposal should provide basic information about your Company/Individual and relevant service offerings. It should have a section addressing each of the following areas:

1. Company/Individual Profile
2. Past Performance
3. Customer Service
4. Technical Approach (offeror will be evaluated based on their responsiveness to the Scope of Work)
5. References
6. Relationship disclosure and mitigation plan
7. Key Personnel

Responses should include the following information:

1. Technical Proposal

Company/Individual Profile

• Company’s values, mission and customer service approach and how they relate to your performance
  • Description of the company’s travel system, backend and automation technology including any tools to automate travel approval, quality control and auto-ticketing
  • Company’s designation as small business, veteran owned, minority owned, etc.

Past Performance

• Description of experience serving small to mid-size International NGOs/ small to mid-size businesses with a wide geographic footprint, stretched over numerous time zones
  • Average customer size and industry/countries in which customers operate in.

Customer Service

• Average length of time that travelers and arrangers should expect to wait for a return phone call or email with regards to their travel arrangements
  • Availability of backup agents to provide to the needs of customers during busy times
    • Ability of company to provide VIP/priority service for select travelers
    • Capability to work with various time zones
    • Accessibility during holidays and off-peak/nontraditional working hours. After hours and weekend service arrangement
    • Brief description of the policy or methods for addressing customer service issues or complaints.

Technical Approach

• Online/in person training program to ensure easy transition and adoption of the new system
  • Description of types of management reports that are available
    • Technology offerings that allow any billing, tracking or reporting tools
    • Outline of fares available to agency (i.e. nonprofit fares, humanitarian)
    • Ability to integrate with International SOS Travel Ready and Travel Tracker. Please also indicate whether you have other experience with integrating with Healix, Everest, and Berkley.
    • Capability to ensure security of travelers’ private information
    • Description of any special rate agreements with hotels or car rental agencies
    • Describe your policies and procedures for ensuring compliance with Pathfinder’s travel policy? How would you ensure best value to Pathfinder?

References – pass/fail

• Submit two written (2) client references for the organization
• Provide any other information to demonstrate the Contractor’s capability in relation to the Scope of Work

Relationship disclosure – pass/fail

• Describe any current or past relationships your organization may have with Pathfinder, and if it is a potential conflict of interest. If there is a potential conflict of interest, please explain how this risk will be mitigated.
• Describe any personal or familial relationships any employee of the Contractor has with any employee of Pathfinder. If there is a relationship, please explain how any conflict of interest risk will be mitigated.
• Disclosure does not automatically disqualify offeror.

Key Personnel

• Describe the key personnel to be utilized on the engagement along with resumes of key personnel. Indicate their degree of expertise and prior experience, which would be appropriate for the engagement;
• Please include resumes of the proposed key personnel (max 2 pages each)

1. Cost Proposal

Provide detailed and complete information on the setup costs that will be incurred by Pathfinder International. Such costs must include all items that will be from your company and any subcontractors.

1. Provide detailed and complete information for each program component. Include all ongoing fees and costs.
2. For any services based on monthly management fees, please provide a summary of what the fee will include and what additional fees may be incurred.
3. For services billed on an itemized basis, please provide estimates for production costs, for creative services, etc.

Evaluation Criteria

In evaluating the proposals, Pathfinder International will seek the best value for money

rather than the lowest priced proposal. Pathfinder will use a two-stage selection procedure:

• the first stage will evaluate the Technical Proposal. The technical proposal opening will be attended only by Pathfinders, as no information other than who submitted an offer will be read out at this stage.
  • the second stage will evaluate the Cost Proposal for proposals that pass the Technical Proposal evaluation. Only proposals with an average score of 70 and above will be considered eligible for stage 2
  • Contractors passing stage 1, will be invited to a public cost proposal opening. Attendance is not mandatory and the cost proposal opening will be shared with all eligible contractors.

Specifically, the selection committee will evaluate each proposal upon the following criteria:

Evaluation Criteria- Weight (Total of 100 Points)

Bid Submission

1. Bid submitted on time - Pass/Fail
2. Offeror is eligible to receive funding per background checks - Pass/Fail
3. Any potential conflict of interest is sufficiently mitigated - Pass/Fail

Past Performance - 25 Points

• Description of experience serving small to mid-size International NGOs/ small to mid-size businesses with a wide geographic footprint, stretched over numerous time zones
• Average customer size and industry/countries in which customers operate in.

Customer Service - 25 Points

• Average length of time that travelers and arrangers should expect to wait for a return phone call or email with regards to their travel arrangements
• Availability of backup agents to provide to the needs of customers during busy times
• Capability to work with various time zones
• Accessibility during holidays and off-peak/nontraditional working hours. After hours and weekend service arrangement
• Brief description of the policy or methods for addressing customer service issues or complaints.

Technical Approach - 40 Points

• Online/in person training program to ensure easy transition and adoption of the new system
• Description of types of management reports that are available
• Technology offerings that allow any billing, tracking or reporting tools
• Outline of fares available to agency (i.e. nonprofit fares, humanitarian)
• Ability to integrate with International SOS Travel Ready and Travel Tracker. Please also indicate whether you have other experience with integrating with Healix, Everest, and Berkley.
• Capability to ensure security of travelers’ private information
• Description of any special rate agreements with hotels or car rental agencies
• Describe your policies and procedures for ensuring compliance with Pathfinder’s travel policy? How would you ensure best value to Pathfinder?
• Ability to work globally. All Pathfinder offices will be using the same travel services, please demonstrate your ability to work in multiple time zones.

References - 5 points

• Submit two written (2) client references for the organization.
• Provide any other information to demonstrate the Contractor’s capability in relation to the Scope of Work.

Key Personnel -5 points

• Describe the key personnel to be utilized on the engagement alongwith resumes of key personnel. Indicate their degree of expertise and priorexperience, which would be appropriate for the engagement;
• Please include resumes of the proposed key personnel (max 2 pages each)

Pathfinder is not bound to accept the lowest or any proposal and reserves the right to accept any proposal in whole or in part and to reject any or all proposals.

Pathfinder shall not be legally bound by any award notice issued for this RFP until a contract is duly signed and executed with the winning offeror.

The evaluator will tally all the individual scores for each section and calculate the total score. If the total number points meet or exceeds the 70 point threshold, the suppliers cost proposal will be eligible for consideration.

The score for the cost proposal will be calculated in the following manner:

Cost proposal score = 100 x Lowest cost/ cost of the proposal under consideration. The lowest cost proposal will receive the full 100 points.

The total score will be calculated as follows:

Total Score= Technical proposal score of the proposal under consideration multiplied by 70 plus (+) Cost proposal score of the proposal under consideration multiplied by 30.

Evaluation of Platform/Demo Presentation

As part of this RFP process, Pathfinder reserves the right to conduct interviews with bidders, inclusive of presentation and demonstration of their platforms which would be evaluated in determining the overall winning bid.

Questions and Answers

Question 1- could you please confirm how supplier charges are settled under this engagement—for example, whether airfare and other travel costs are paid at booking by
Pathfinder, by corporate card/direct supplier payment, through an advance, or reimbursed to the travel provider after ticketing or travel?

Answer 1- We provide a corporate credit card to charge all travel to.

Question 2- We would also appreciate any clarification on whether the International SOS Travel Ready/Travel Tracker requirement must be provided directly by the bidder or may be supported through approved third-party infrastructure.

Answer 2- We would not be able to develop an in-house integration, and if the bidder cannot meet this requirement, we would need to hire a consultant to develop something. Our preference is to not incur additional costs.

Question 3- Travel Activity and Spend (for the most recent full year, or preferably the last two full years):

• Total air ticket volume and annual spend
• Total hotel booking volume and annual spend
• Total car rental booking volume and annual spend
• Total rail booking volume and annual spend

Answer 3- Please see below for calendar year 2025:

Question 4- Travel Management Technology and Adoption:

• Are you currently utilizing an online booking tool?
• If so, what percentage of bookings are made through the online booking tool versus through a travel consultant/agent?
• What is your overall online booking compliance rate?

Answer 4-

1. Yes, our current provider has their own online booking tool. Please see above graphic for online booking vs through an agent.

Question 5- Our records indicate that you last awarded this agreement in 2024 - please provide some context for why you are reviewing your travel management provider now.

Answer 5: Pathfinder goes out to market on a routine basis to ensure Pathfinder is receiving the best value for money.

Question 6- Has anything changed and/or are you experiencing service issues? If so, please explain.

Answer 6: A consistent service issue across all our historical travel vendors has been response time and/or ease of use of the online booking system. We have used Concur as well as an in house tool from our vendor.

Question 7- Has your incumbent provider been invited to provide a proposal?

Answer 7: Yes

Question 8- Please provide some information on your volumes? How many trips do you book annually and/or how much do you spend?

▪ Please see above, Answer 3

Question 9- Please provide a breakdown of your volumes by US domestic, international, and regional travel?

▪ Please see above, Answer 3

Question 10- Please provide a breakdown of your volumes by flight, hotel, rail, rental car, other. Please see above, Answer 3

▪

Question 11- You state a requirement to be able to work globally across multiple time-zones – please describe your global needs in more detail, including which countries you require to be supported.

Answer 11: We work in the following countries: Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Kenya, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, Egypt, Ethipoia, Uganda, and Jordan. Potentially expanding to Lebanon, Oman, and Iraq.

Question 12- Please provide a breakdown of your volumes by country.

▪

Question 13- Which online booking tool/s do you currently use? What is your online adoption rate?

▪ Please see above

Question 14- How are traveler profiles managed today?

Answer 14: Profiles are created in the travel management company's online booking tool.

Question 15- How is travel requested, and do you have an approval process? If so, please describe.

Answer 15: Travel happens in 2 stages: Pre-booking and Booking.

Question 16- How do you pay for travel currently?

▪ Please see above

Question 17- Do you book group travel?

Answer 17: No

Question 18- Will meetings & events be in the scope of your RFP?

Answer 18: No

Question 19- Do you purchase refundable tickets?

Answer 19 No, as they are usually more expensive

Question 20- Do you have any direct agreements with travel vendors? i.e. airlines, hotels, etc.

Answer 20: Only hotels where we have presence. see above list of countries.

Question 21- What ratio of your travel is funded by USG?

Answer 21: None. We do not have any USG funding and do not currently require compliance with Fly America.

Question 22- Do you book travel for unprofiled travelers? i.e. guest/consultants

Answer 22- On occasion, but not high volume

Question 23- What are your most important travel programs improvement goals and/or what are your biggest challenges in managing travel today?

Answer 23- Our biggest challenges continue to be booking travel in advance, utilizing online booking tool, travelers finding flights they want, approval and response time

Question 24- What do you need from a TMC that you are not already getting?

Answer 24- Some travelers state they can find cheaper flights on tools such as Kayak or directly with airlines/

Question 25- Can you provide a copy of your travel policy?

Answer 25- We can provide it at the selection stage, if you need it right now, please confirm.

Question 26- Does C-Suite or VIP travelers have a different policy to others or specific exceptions?

Answer 26- No, all travelers abide by the same policy

Question 27- Can you advise how much air, hotel and rental car spend you had in 2025?

Answer 27: See above

Question 28- Do you have any negotiated rates? If so with what carriers, hotels and rental car companies?

Answer 28- With hotels only.

Question 29- How much of your spend is international travel?

Answer 29- See above

Question 30- How is travel booked today?

• See above

Question 31- Do you currently use an online booking tool?

See above

Question 32- If yes, what is your online adoption percentage?

See above

Question 33- If yes, and you are utilizing SAP Concur Travel do you have a direct agreement with Concur or utilizing a reseller agreement?

See above

Question 34- Where do your travelers originate from?

See above

Question 35- Are you looking for ticketing globally or just through the US? If yes, please elaborate on your global travel needs, regions, language, currency requirements etc.

Answer 35: Globally, please see above for list of countries. It would be ideal if we could have an online tool that also supports french and portuguese. Our current provider has this capability. Travel would be billed to 2 US credit cards.

Question 36- How is travel paid for?

Answer 36- See above

Question 37- What is working well with your program today?

Answer 37- We have dedicated team of agents, online tool in multiple languages

Question 38- Where do you see areas of improvement?

Answer 38: See response to 23

Question 39- How many travelers does your organization have? How many of those are executives/VIPs?

Answer 39- About 70 total travelers, 4 VIPs

Question 40- Do you require any additional services for those deemed VIP outside of the standard TMC offering?

Answer 40: A shorter response time is helpful

Question 41- While you operate in several countries, are you looking to have all travel managed and booked within the USA or local in country support of each?

Current TMC Relationship

Answer 41- All international travel must be booked through our TMC. We are not looking for agents to be based in the countries, however; if you a regional support model, that would be a plus.

Question 42- What has your current TMC done well that you want to maintain?

Answer 42 They offer integration with ISOS, assistance with reconciliation, monthly spend report that includes coding information Pathfinder requests at the start of the process, multiple languages with the online booking tool, and dedicated agents.

Question 43- What was the key reason your decided to go to RFP?

Answer 43: This is a normal part of our process

Question 44- What are the top 3 challenges you are having with your current TMC?

Answer 44: See above in regards to timeliness

Question 45- Are you satisfied with your current policy compliance rate?

Answer 45: No, we would like to see an increase in use of the online tool.

Question 46- Are there specific approval workflows in place that you are evaluating or wanting to implement?

Answer 46- No, just an integration with ISOS and/or other providers such as Helix, Everest, or Berkley

Question 47- What expense platform are you currently using?

Answer 47- Databasics + manual paper process

Question 48- Are there any other tech integrations that you require outside of your current list?

See above

Question 49- Are there plans to evaluate new technologies within the next year or so?

Answer 49- No

Question 50- Is Pathfinder implementing an online booking tool for all domestic bookings? If you have one in place, which OBT are you currently using.

See above

Question 51- If you are already on an OBT- are you planning to stay with it or open to alternative OBTs?

Answer 51- We would need to change, should we not stay with our current TMC. It is their tool.

Question 52- New TMC Requirements & Priorities-What are your top 3 areas of priority within this RFP?

Answer 52- Response time, ease of use of online tool, overall support model

Question 53- What are you looking for in a new partner?

Answer 53- See above

Question 54- What factors will influence your decision in choosing a new TMC?

Answer 54- See response to question on top priorities, as well as our evaluation guidelines/criteria

Question 55- Are there any requirements that would be a deal breaker if not met?

Answer 55- A customer support model that is US focused vs global, no online booking tool, and no ability to integrate with a security support vendor such as ISOS, Healix, Berkley, and Everest.

Question 56- Are there any current challenges with your current reporting program?

Answer 56- No

Question 57- Are there any challenges with your current account management program?

Answer 57- None

Question 58- Please provide the number of travelers per country

Answer 58- These numbers fluctuate a lot, however; you can average about 3 travelers per country

Question 59- Provide clarification on the POS model. Is Pathfinder returning to a U.S. POS model.

Answer 59Our POS is not centralized in the US. All international travel is booked by individual travelers from the country they reside in. Pathfinder has offices in multiple countries and we are looking for a TMC that can work across all time zones, not just the US. The bulk of our staff is outside the US, with around 25 US staff, one of which is our CFO. The rest of our leadership team is overseas. The Senior Admin & Ops advisor who overseas the travel program is based in the US. Please let us know if this answers your question.

Question 60: Can travel services be delivered centrally from the UK, supported by local partners where required?

Answer 60: Yes, travel services can be managed anywhere; however, bidders should describe their customer support model for a global organization working across multiple time zones.

Question 61: Which countries require local ticket issuance, invoicing or in-country support?

Answer 61: Travel within countries outside the US is managed by local agencies. The globally managed TMC is expected to support US domestic travel and all international travel. Invoicing is centralized, as it is charged to global travel cards. There is one card for US travelers and another for all others.

Question 62: What proportion of bookings are expected to be made online versus through travel consultants?

Answer 62: We do not have targets, however; to minimize costs and for efficiencies sake we do request travelers to use the online booking tool. Ideally, over 80% of our bookings would be made online.

Question 63: Does Pathfinder currently use an online booking tool, or should bidders propose one?

Answer 63: We currently use our TMC’s booking tool, if we were to switch providers, we would need the bidder to provide an online tool.

Question 64: Is an existing International SOS integration in place, and will Pathfinder facilitate access to the relevant technical specifications?

Answer 64: Yes, currently there is an integration in place. Pathfinder and ISOS would provide you with the necessary information.

Question 65: What proportion of travel involves humanitarian, nonprofit, complex or high-risk destinations?

Answer 65: Travel to high risk destinations (Iraq,Oman, and Lebanon) is expected to increase in mid 2027,s should Pathfinder be awarded a proposal it has submitted. We try to utilize humanitarian and or charity fares when they are economically favorable.

Question 66: What implementation and anticipated go-live dates should bidders work toward?

Answer 66: We would be looking at Spring 2027 to go live.

Question 67: Is there an expected contract duration, including any extension options?

Answer 67: We would be looking at a 1 year term, with option to extend for an additional 2, 1 year terms.

Question 68: What management reports and reporting frequency are required?

Answer 68: Service level agreement reports on a montly basis, reconciliation reports on the first of the month, unused ticket reports on a quarterly basis.

Question 69: Can Pathfinder confirm the solicitation number that must appear in the email subject line and proposal documents?

Answer 69: 51238

Question 70: Could you share how you envision your Travel Management Company integrating and aligning with your existing third-party suppliers and applications, specifically Berkley, Everest, and UKG? We would appreciate understanding the role these platforms play within your travel, risk management, and HR ecosystems, as well as any expectations regarding data exchange, traveler tracking, reporting, approvals, or workflow integration.

Answer 70: The integration would be similar to our current setup with ISOS. A traveler completes a pre booking questionnaire, a unique ID is generated and shared with the TMC. That ID is tagged to the travelers itinerary and information automatically populated within the security providers travel tracker module. A ticket cannot be purchased without the unique ID number, it will be one of the data fields the TMC needs to capture prior to issuing the ticket