National Institutes of Health, Office of Procurement Management, 6011 Executive Blvd., Rockville, Maryland 20892-7260

V -- TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SERVICES POC Penny Koontz, Tel. No. 301-402-2852 E-MAIL: Contracting Officer, koontzp@od.nih.gov. The National Institutes of Health has a requirement for Travel Management Services. The contractor will implement a fee-based travel booking system with multiple methods for reservations including, but not limited to fax, e-mail, in-person, telephone and electronic self-booking system. The Contractor shall deliver cost effective transportation and related TDY accommodations reservation activity and support quality travel. The Contractor shall maintain a centralized location to provide this service. The centralized center does not need to be located on the NIH Headquarters campus. The Contractor shall also establish a separate on-site reservation center at the NIH Clinical Center, Building 10, in Bethesda, Md. to service, at a minimum, patient transportation requirements. The typical quality of travel and lodging for travelers shall be maintained while achieving appropriate economies through use of GSA negotiated rates. NIH official air travel volume for FY 1998 was approximately $10M. NIH nation-wide total was approximately $12 million. NIH Headquarters leisure travel volume is estimated at $1M. In addition, in FY 1998 approximately $6M of travel was done by authorized travelers whose transportation requirements, though not paid by NIH, are in support of the NIH mission. It is expected that these authorized travelers will use the contractor's services, and that reporting of transactions will be made available to relevant NIH customers. The Contractor shall provide a 24-hour staffed, toll free number available to travelers to perform emergency itinerary changes and emergency services outside regular business hours. The Contractor will be responsible for domestic and international travel as well as lodging and car rental. The management of the NIH transportation program will require a designated Account Manager to interface with NIH and the Contractor. The Contractor's hiring priorities for reservationists must include the following: each reservationist must possess three (3) years experience in government travel services and must have received training from an accredited airline computer reservation system (CRS). One agent must have at least five (5) years of international experience in government travel services. The Contractor must have a Quality Control Plan. Performance objectives will be established for the Contractor in the fulfillment of its service requirements and penalties will be established for failure to maintain performance standards. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. The purpose of this synopsis is to ascertain small business sources for this type of service. It must be understood that all sources must have the financial capacity to handle this volume of business and that reimbursement may not be made by the Government for 60-90 days after the contractor has incurred the costs. Responses will not be considered as either bids or proposals and cost and pricing data must not be submitted. Concise responses directed specifically to the requirements mentioned above are requested and will be considered. Only interested small business sources possessing experience shall demonstrate their capabilities and financial capacity to handle the specified services. NOTE: Standard Industrial Code is 4724. The Size Standard is the average annual sales or receipts for its preceding three (3) fiscal years are not in excess of $1M. Send original and two copies of responses to Penny Koontz. Closing date for receipt of responses is fifteen (15) calendar days from the publication date of this notice. Posted 04/23/99 (W-SN323646). (0113)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0083 19990427\V-0003.SOL)