Travel Management Services (TMC) Request for Information (RFI)

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), staffed with Caltech employees, and is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) under the sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). JPL is recognized as a member of the NASA family.

JPL currently has a subcontract in place that provides some travel services to support an estimated 3,000 traveling employees. The subcontract will reach its fifth and final year on October 19, 2027. To ensure that JPL continues to receive quality services and competitive prices, there may be an opportunity for a new subcontract to be competed for a potential fiveyear (one base year with up to four one-year options) engagement following the conclusion of the existing subcontract in 2027.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and description utilized for this effort is 561510, Travel Agencies (SBA.gov Size Standard: $25M).

Potential and interested sources should be aware that JPL does not have a mandated travel program. JPL allows travel bookings to take place on our selected TMC Services platform and elsewhere, under the condition in which the outside bookings are compliant to our organization’s policies and federal regulations.

JPL does not manage the travel spend outside of the existing travel subcontract. Within the bounds of that effort, to illustrate the magnitude of travel spend at JPL, please see below for an example breakdown for one fiscal year period:

• Overall (Air, Hotel, Rental Car, and Trains): $12,838,004
  • o Air: $8,395,961
    • Average Ticket Price: $945
      • This value is blended – domestic and international.
      • This price may be misleading as there are circumstances in which several one-way tickets from the origin to the destination were more reasonable than one round trip ticket, e.g. traveling from the U.S. to India for NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) project.
    • Air Tickets: 8,886
• Hotel: $3,622,686
  • Average Room Rate: $178
  • Room Nights: 20,359
• Car Rentals: $814,842
  • Average Daily Rate: $49
  • Number of Days: 16,630
• Trains: $235
  • Average Ticket Price: $235
  • Rail Tickets: 1

The Statement of Work (SOW) provided, Attachment A, consists of General SOW subsections applicable to TMC Services.

JPL is interested in learning more about all qualified companies with the capability to provide comprehensive travel management services. Comprehensive travel management services are clarified in detail in the SOW, but overall, JPL is looking for integrated, policy compliant, and cost-effective travel services that enhance traveler experience, ensure fiscal accountability, and meet all applicable JPL, Federal, and NASA travel requirements.

To help JPL understand the competitive environment, we invite firms that are or may be interested in competing for this opportunity to respond to this RFI by completing the following:

1. Submit a Rough-Order-of-Magnitude (ROM) following the review of Attachment A, the SOW.
   1. The ROM should provide pricing information on a monthly basis.
2. Provide answers to the questions listed below:

Questions

1. Are you interested in participating in this solicitation?
2. What is your company’s socio-economic status under NAICS Code 561510?
3. Do you have any recommendations for the Statement of Work (SOW) which JPL may need to consider?
4. Describe your experience supporting federally funded government travel.
5. What percent of your business supports government travel?
6. Provide examples of clients with complex travel compliance requirements
7. What is your 24/7/365 support structure? Is it after-hours, in-house, or outsourced?
8. What is the average agent experience level?
9. Describe your handling of the scenarios below within federal funded government travel:
   1. Complex international and multi-leg travel
   2. Remote/hard to reach destinations
   3. Last minute/mission-critical travel
   4. VIP/executive travel
10. How do you ensure consistency and quality across all agents?
11. Which Online Booking Tool (OBT) platforms do you support?
12. How do you enforce policy compliance at point of sale?
13. Provide examples of reporting related to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) such as call wait time, ticketing turnaround, email response, emergency handling, after-hours handling.
14. How do you measure customer satisfaction, agent quality, cost control?
15. Provide examples of reporting that provide insightful analytics into compliance.
16. Provide examples of reporting that provide insightful analytics into spend, identify savings and optimize travel programs.
17. Describe your experience supporting government audit requirements.
18. How do you track justifications, exceptions, unused tickets, fare comparisons/cost avoidance?
19. Do you integrate with security/risk intelligence providers? If so, please provide information  on your integration.
20. Describe your experience obtaining country clearances/embassy requirements for foreign travel.
21. What Global Distribution System (GDS) platforms do you use?
22. Provide examples of reporting unused tickets. What steps are taken to prevent expiration of unused tickets?
23. Describe your pricing structure.
24. Describe your transition approach from in-house/“Rent-a-plate” to fully outsourced.
25. What is the typical implementation timeline?
26. Describe your account management structure. Do you provide a dedicated account manager? Regular business reviews?
27. What is your continuous improvement/process optimalization approach for your company?

The requested information is for preliminary planning purposes only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that JPL will solicit you for such procurement in the future. Neither JPL nor the Government will be responsible for any costs incurred by you in furnishing this information.

Prospective subcontractors are advised that any information provided shall be deemed to be furnished with unlimited rights to JPL, with JPL assuming no liability for the disclosure, use, or reproduction of such data.

If your organization wishes to be considered as a potential source, you are requested to submit the above requested information to the undersigned by email by no later than 3:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time, March 6, 2026. Below are some critical dates as it pertains to this Request for Information (RFI):

• Written RFI Questions due by 2/19/2026 and submitted to the undersigned by email.
• JPL will respond to written questions by 2/27/2026.
• As stated above, all responses shall be submitted by 3/6/2026.

Should you have any questions regarding this RFI, please address them to the undersigned by email.

Thank you for your interest in this matter.

Respectfully,

Sara W. Tan
Subcontracts Manager
Phone No.: (626) 437-8710
E-mail: Sara.W.Tan@jpl.nasa.gov