The U.S. General Services Administration has awarded a
five-year contract to manage the FedRooms government lodging program to Birmingham,
Ala.-based travel management company Adtrav, a GSA spokesperson this week
confirmed to BTN. However, incumbent provider CWTSatoTravel has protested the
award, according to a filing with the U.S. General Accountability Office.
FedRooms is an optional hotel program offered by GSA to any U.S.
government and military personnel traveling on official business of fewer than
30 nights. More than 10,900 properties in more than 3,000 markets are included
in the program, according to GSA. Participating hotels must offer certain
benefits including negotiates rated that do not exceed federal per diem
guidelines and amenities including the availability of day-of-arrival
cancellation by 4:00 p.m. and no early departure fees.
Adtrav's role will be to manage the program's sourcing,
including negotiations with participating hotels, and overseeing data
management and reporting, Adtrav president and CEO Roger Hale told BTN on
Thursday. Travelers using FedRooms properties would not book through Adtrav,
however, instead using authorized government booking tools—ConcurGov, E2
Solutions or the Defense Booking Tools—or individual federal agency TMCs.
Adtrav also will be charged with increasing FedRooms use by
government travelers, Hale said. "One of the challenges for us is to
increase its usage, and that's going to be accomplished by working with federal
agencies and working with the hoteliers to make the program as attractive as
possible and widely communicated out to the federal travel workforce," he
said.
The contract long has been sought by Adtrav, Hale said,
noting that the TMC has experience running state-level government travel
programs as well as corporate programs.
"This is something that we've had our eyes on for a for
a number of years because it's something that mirrors what we currently do for
a number of our corporate customers. And so this was a natural extension for us,"
he said. "This is obviously much larger than a standard corporate program
of a state program, but the principles are very, very, very similar."
The five-year deal includes a base two-year contract with
three option years, a GSA spokesperson told BTN via email. Adtrav's contract
was to have begun Oct. 1, but Hale noted that CWTSatoTravel's protest of the
bid award would delay that date.
CWTSato has served as incumbent FedRooms provider for many
years, and most recently was awarded
a five-year contract in 2019.
CWTSato has protested the GSA's decision to award Adtrav the
FedRooms contract, according to a filing with the GAO. CWT declined comment on the award.
This is not the first time in recent years CWTSatoTravel has
protested losing a federal travel-related contract. CWT in 2020 protested the
award of the U.S. Army's travel management services business for the contiguous
United States to BCD Travel, first with the GAO, then with the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims. The court
backed CWT's protest, blocked BCD from beginning service, and the Army in
2022 awarded
CWTSatoTravel a five-year contract after revising its bidding process.
Along with the scheduled Sept. 30 expiration of CWTSatoTravel's
FedRooms contract will be the demise of the FedRooms.com website, through which
government travelers could book discounted leisure travel, according
to the Federal Times.