The managing director of a UK travel management company has commended the process of the recent bid for travel management services for central government departments.

Daryl Pinnington of York-based NYS Corporate told Public Sector Travel: “Some of the surprise and criticism surrounding the award of Lot 2 to Redfern Travel seems to me to be misplaced.

“The Government Procurement Service has delivered exactly what they said they would. It was always very clear that this contract was seeking the most appropriate booking system at the lowest price. The requirement was for clearly specified management information. The objective to reduce the transactional cost in the provision of travel to the central departments was clear through the weighting of the price in any bid.

“The Government Procurement Service has also conducted a bid in line with the philosophy of the Government. The Government said they were looking for their procurement teams to take calculated risks and to be more inclusive in their award of contracts, not having a scoring system that disadvantaged SMEs and that is in fact what happened.

He added: “All UK SMEs should be pleased. Redfern’s winning of this contract should encourage all of us to bid for government business. My congratulations go to Redfern and the Government Procurement Service.”

Pinnington’s comments are in strong contrast to criticisms levied by the head of one of the unsuccessful bidders.

The end of the “Alcatel” standstill period following the decision on the winning bidders passed on 11 November with none of the unsuccessful bidders lodging a complaint. This means that Redfern Travel and HRG, which won the international lot, will now be handed the two contracts.

The global contract is expected to be worth between £450m and £1.17bn over four years while the domestic lot is estimated at between £550m and £1.43bn over the same period.

Redfern Travel’s holding company’s A.I.T. Travel’s accounts for the year to 31 December 2010 show a total turnover of £37.4 million.

 Print This Post