Prior information notice
This notice is for prior information only
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Welsh Government
Commercial and Procurement ICT, Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ
UK
Contact person: ICT Procurement
Telephone: +44 3000257095
E-mail: ICTProcurement@gov.wales
NUTS: UKL
Internet address(es)
Main address: http://gov.wales
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA0007
I.3) Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Business-to-Business Wales Tourism Product Distribution & Data Insight Platform
Reference number: D189/2021/2022
II.1.2) Main CPV code
48100000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Supplies
II.1.4) Short description
The Welsh Government requires an Off-the-Shelf Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that will enable Wales tourism industry suppliers, including SMEs to transact with international and domestic markets, through online travel agents (OTAs) and other travel trade distributors; this will enable various stakeholders to access key travel and booking information with the ability to enter business-to-business contracts on this one platform.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
600 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
48100000
48217000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKL
Main site or place of performance:
Delivered to Welsh Tourism suppliers across Wales
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
This PIN notice is to test the market to identify any suppliers that are able to provide an Off-the-Shelf Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that will enable Wales tourism industry suppliers, including SMEs to transact with international and domestic markets, through online travel agents (OTAs) and other travel trade distributors; this will enable various stakeholders to access key travel and booking information with the ability to enter business-to-business contracts on this one platform.
The solution will require minimal configuration and be available within eight weeks of the contract start date, to ensure that Wales’ industry suppliers are not disadvantaged from promoting their products and services.
The deadline for implementation is critical due to the current pandemic and impact on tourism providers and distributors, and the increase in demand to find solutions for a seamless digital option for engaging the full range of Wales tourism industry businesses (accommodation, attractions, tours, guiding services and events) with global distributors. There will need to be an effective reporting mechanism available at the same time, for Welsh Government to access all booking data for analytics and reporting on a national level.
The contract will be for 5 years with an annual review break included to assess performance and outputs.
The budget range for the contract per annum is 60,000 GBP - 120,000 GBP excluding VAT, including implementation and subscription charges to meet the requirements detailed in the "Additional Document" section of this notice.
There is a 5 year budget of 600,000 GBP, this would include:
- A one-off implementation cost;
- Annual Subscription, covering access to the system for: Welsh tourist Industry Suppliers; Destination Marketing Organisations; and The Welsh Government, and
- Ad-hoc development to meet specific Welsh Government requirements, estimated at 20% – 30% of the annual subscription charges.
II.2.14) Additional information
The full description of the requirement can be found in the "Additional Documents" section in the Sell2Wales notice.
II.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice:
28/02/2022
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
The successful supplier must be able to meet the following requirements of the service/system:
- Allow for easy onboarding of suppliers - enabling them to upload, create and modify digital content for tourism products aligned to their bookable inventory. This must be available for accommodation, attractions, tours and events.
- The capability to manage tourism product inventory both directly and through connectivity to existing industry booking systems.
- The capability to manage where supplier products are distributed to, allowing them to select the commercial partners that they want to distribute through.
- The capability to manage commercial agreements between suppliers and distributors. Support for the net and commissionable pricing.
- The capability to support electronic ticketing.
- The capability to allow transactions in multiple currencies.
- The platform should be cloud based to ensure scalability and accessibility.
- A full set of APIs to be consumed by travel distributors to search book and manage content on the platform.
- Reporting and analytics capability for each individual party on the platform.
- The solution should have pre-built connectivity into distributors including Expedia, Ctrip, Booking.com, Agoda, TripAdvisor, Viator. and VisitBritain Shop.
- The solution should enable certain distributors to connect in a way that enables the supplier to be the merchant, and receive payment directly from the consumer.
- The solution should be PCI-DSS, cyber security, and GDPR compliant, and have the ability for customisation of other service standard requirements, agreed with the provider throughout the lifetime of the project.
- The platform must be able to be aligned to accessibility standards (i.e. WCAG 2.1 AA at present) where appropriate. Where the provider requires customisation, the supplier will periodically commission an audit of the platform to identify any compliance issues. Where recommendations are made, the supplier must issue a Statement of Work (with costs, risks and timescales) to make the recommended changes. The platform should offer business hours support, available via telephone and email throughout the lifetime of the contract. The supplier should offer the provision to consider Welsh Language options both online and offline if the provider deems it necessary to include throughout the lifetime of the project.
- The supplier will need to have sufficient knowledge of the UK tourism industry, with relevant experience in building and hosting similar platforms.
- The supplier will need to have sufficient capacity to ensure the platform is available and live within 8 weeks of contract award as not to disadvantage Wales suppliers alongside other nations of the UK using an existing platform.
NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=116662.
(WA Ref:116662)
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
17/12/2021