NATIONAL Treasury is delaying the
appointment of TMCs to provide travel
management services to government
departments in accordance with the
long-awaited tender published in July.
An industry insider told TNW that
it was unlikely that Treasury would
appoint any TMCs to manage
government accounts by the beginning
of October as initially stated, and that
Treasury was currently meeting with
state departments to determine how
the next phase of the bidding process
would work.
“Treasury needs to find out what
type of information TMCs would
need to submit regarding how their
management fees are structured.
Each department has slightly different
requirements and they must
ensure they address the
departments’ needs so that
TMCs can submit accurate
bids,” the insider said.
Originally, Treasury had said
the assignment of tenders
would happen in two phases
– in the first phase agencies
would be elected to the
National and Provincial panels
based on their functionality
and ability to provide travel
management services (see
TNW, July 13). In phase
two, agents would then be
invited to bid again, this
time submitting their pricing
structures in their proposals.
However, travel agents have
yet to hear from Treasury
whether they have made it
through to the next phase or
not and some agencies believe
that the appointments of
TMCs to government accounts
will only happen next year.
“We have not received any
official communication about
the status of the recent
Treasury travel tender where
the commencement date
was set for October 1. Right
now tenders are running on
contracts that are currently
in place, whereas those that
have expired are running on a
month-to-month basis,” says
Sailesh Parbhu, md of XL
Nexus Travel.
One agent, who preferred to
remain anonymous, said that
Treasury had advised them
that the appointments were on
hold. “I think we will only know
by early next year who’s been
selected. In the meantime
we are very busy; our existing
contracts are being renewed,
so at least we still have
business.”
Meanwhile, some
departments have advertised
short-term tenders, including
smaller departments like
municipalities; the Department
of International Relations
and Cooperation (Dirco) and
the Department of Public
Enterprises (DPE). Dirco put
out a four-month tender and
DPE’s tender was also only for
a 12-month contract.
Treasury had not commented
at the time of publishing.
