Experts discussed tender preparation and conduction at ABT Educational Session
On April, 9th Radisson Blu Belorusskaya hosted the
The session was organized with the support of ABT partners: Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority in Russia and the CIS, Carey transport company and Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Hotel, the first international luxury hotel in Azerbaijan. Sponsors of the event were ART-TOUR travel company and UpJet Travel Group MICE-company.
Speakers of the Educational session were Marina Krechetnikova (Japan Tobacco International, JTI), Marianna Uspenskaya (Siemens), Irina Kostyukova (Kaspersky Lab.), Anastasya Artemenko (Amway) and Tatyana Poplavskaya (FC «Otkritie»).
According to the participants` unanimous opinion, tender preparation and conduction are the key elements of the corporate travel policy. The second part of the Educational session included such important issues as stages of the tender procedure, offer assessment criteria, after-tender documentation and agreements, tender risks, implementation of travel service agreements.
The event was opened by the moderator, ABT Vice-president and General director of HRG Russia Philip Lookianenko, who addressed the participants with the welcome speech and outlined the key issues and the session plan.
The first speaker Marina Krechetnikova, Director of Administrative department in Japan Tobacco International, told the audience about tender stages and described tender as a process. She divided tender preparation into internal and external activities and named three approaches how to choose a travel service provider. She emphasized the fact that it is very important to work out assessment criteria and to have a detailed description of the document flow, implementation procedures and reason codes (the reasons to choose a certain fare or rate). Besides, Ms Krechetnikova pointed out the problem of personal data protection and the necessity for the supplier to provide IT-support and automated reports.
«Indeed, we should not forget to analyze the tender process and its results. We always learn from our mistakes, we should learn from our mistakes. Such learning is very important, we should always be able to analyze our several months` work and to draw the right conclusion», she noticed.
The next speaker was Marianna Uspenskaya, RCA Supply Chain Management, Regional Commodity Manager in Siemens. She shared her company’s experience in preparing and conducting tenders and stressed that the main attention is paid to assessment criteria: «We work them out thoroughly and carefully. Each criterion has its weight and description, there are a certain number of points that the supplier gets for a certain service he provides.» Besides, Ms Uspenskaya immediately specified that only preferred agencies have a chance to win a Siemens tender, they are determined by the company’s headquarters. Important factors of supplier assessment include the agency’s competence, the number of daily transactions (16 as a minimum), the number of implants (5 as a minimum), financial aspects, VAT indication in air tickets, a
After the first two reports diplomas were handed over to the participants who successfully completed the ABT`s «Travel manager» educational course. The moderator turned the floor over to ABT Chairman, Vadim Zelensky, who greeted the audience, spoke about the educational course and handed over diplomas to Olga Shishkhanova (Sibur Holding), Olga Dubynina (Kaspersky Lab), Vladimir Prokopiev and Svetlana Blazhevich (Tekhnoserv).
The next educational course begins on May 28th 2013, enrolment is under way (for additional information please contact us by e-mail: education@businesstravelrussia.ru).
Also diplomas were handed over to ABT partners.
Specific questions of post-tender documentation and agreement work were raised by Irina Kostyukova, Head of Business Travel in Kaspersky Lab. She pointed out in her presentation and gave a detailed description of various types of documents used in the tender process. In particular, this refers to a non-disclosure agreement, which, according to the speaker, is preferably concluded at the RFP stage. Ms Kostyukova also spoke about the LOI and disclosed the notion of a SLA, which includes all conditions, details and specifics of services that are to be provided. The expert shared her own experience with the audience and explained what deserves attention when concluding agreements. She dwelled upon such issues as personal data protection, guarantees, liabilities and responsibility of the parties.
What is to be done if the supplier has been chosen but the choice has turned out to be wrong? This question was answered by Anastasya Artemenko, Partner Stores manager in Amway. She told the audience about the main tender risks and the ways to avoid dishonest and unreliable suppliers. Ms Artemenko outlined the main potential problem issues after the contract has been signed: change of terms and conditions (for example, extra services, change in the service level, costs growth), degradation in the service level, non-transparent accounting documents, improper use of confidential information, provider’s bankruptcy.
Tatiana Poplavskaya, Managing director and director of corporate support department in the financial corporation «Otkritie» presented her report «Implementation» with detailed information on plans, stages and time frames of the contract implementation. The speaker stressed, how important it is for the provider to be familiar with the customer’s expectations and demands, provisions and specifics of his corporate travel policy. Ms Poplavskaya also advised the audience to check how the
In the final part of the Educational session Mr. Lookiyanenko suggested having a question and answer section and a collective panel discussion. The experts gave answers to various questions, in particular, what quantity of suppliers is optimal, whether it is necessary to separate business travel and MICE, who is included into the tender committee and who evaluates offers, how much time is spent on a tender. Besides, they shared their negative experience with indecent suppliers in order to warn their colleagues. Finally, all speakers and participants of the session came at the conclusion that the main quality of any supplier is his reliability, so it is necessary to pay attention to the company’s reputation. Besides, it is important to make yourself safe by means of clear requirements regarding the potential supplier, thorough elaboration of agreement provisions and careful paper work.
After the session Tombola took place, prizes provided by partners and sponsors were raffled off. The first prize from UpJet, a romantic weekend in Istanbul, went to one of the speakers, Anastasya Eremenko. UpJet raffled off another prize — a toy helicopter, the symbol of the company, which went to Natalia Shubina (Pepsi Co). Rachel Piper, representative of ABT`s partner Carey, handed in the prize, a $50 voucher, to Tatiana Khokhlova from BBDO. By some unbelievable coincidence the second similar prize from Carey went to her colleague, Julia Zakharova. The next prize, a voucher for a 3 nights` stay in an executive suite in Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Hotel with free breakfast and access to the SPA-centre was handed in by the hotel representative Daniel Kempf to Natalia Beschastnova (Avaya).
The
The session participants highly estimated the organization level of the event and especially mentioned important and useful information they received. In particular, «Renaissance Insurance» event manager, Anastasya Bubenschikova, stressed that «it was a good way to put information in order and to structure your knowledge. I have not yet participated in tenders, but I am going to deal with it soon. Of all the reports, the most remarkable was the assessment system of tender participants and the suppliers questionnaire, which were worked out by Siemens and allow to take into consideration such details as the company’s invoices, statistical forms, SLA and others. The
Partners and sponsors also spoke positively of the event. Maria Bolshevykh, Sales Coordinator of the Jumeirah Group hotel chain in Russia and the CIS also mentioned Ms Uspenskaya`s speech: «For me, as for a hotel representative, the session was interesting because I got an idea of the criteria according to which suppliers are chosen. It was interesting to learn about some new criteria». Tatyana Konovalova, Head of Sales development department in UpJet said that it was useful to know what clients pay attention to when conducting a tender: «I did not even think how important it was to take account of details like statistical forms or the number of implant employees that are necessary for the supplier to be included into the short list. When we receive a RFP, we usually think that it is the price that matters, but this aspect is not always decisive. Details are very important».
All speakers` presentations are available to ABT members on ABT`s website (http://www.businesstravelrussia.ru). The photo report from the event can be viewed on ABT`s page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ABT.Russia) in the Photos section and Albums subsection (https://www.facebook.com/ABT.Russia/photos_albums).
The next educational session will take place on October 11th 2013, the topic is under discussion.
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Vlada Stekanova |