Running a crew travel tender means issuing a structured request for proposal (RFP) to travel management companies or airlines, asking them to bid for your crew change travel business. Unlike a standard corporate RFP, a crew travel tender must account for 24/7 operations, last-minute schedule changes, and the strict compliance requirements of industries such as maritime, aviation, and energy. The sections below work through the most common questions operators ask when approaching this process for the first time.

How is a crew travel tender different from a standard corporate RFP?

A crew travel tender differs from a standard corporate RFP because crew change travel involves unpredictable, time-critical bookings that cannot follow a standard approval workflow. Crew movements are driven by vessel schedules, port rotations, and operational demands rather than planned business trips, which means the RFP must evaluate suppliers on entirely different criteria.

In a typical corporate travel RFP, buyers focus on policy compliance, preferred airline deals, and cost savings on predictable routes. A marine travel RFP or crew change RFP must go further. It needs to assess how a supplier handles emergency rebooking at short notice, whether they can access crew-specific fares, how they manage multi-leg itineraries to remote ports, and what their 24-hour support model looks like. Operational resilience and flexibility carry far more weight than they would in a standard procurement exercise.

When should an operator run a crew travel tender?

An operator should run a crew travel tender when their current travel arrangement is no longer keeping pace with operational demands, when a contract is approaching renewal, or when travel costs have grown without a corresponding improvement in service quality. Growth, fleet expansion, or entry into new regions can also trigger the need for a formal procurement process.

Other clear signals include recurring complaints from crew about booking delays, a lack of visibility over travel spend, or an over-reliance on a single supplier with no competitive pressure on pricing. Even if the incumbent is performing well, running a periodic tender every two to three years ensures the business is benchmarking its arrangements against the market and is not missing better options. Crew travel procurement is a significant cost centre for most operators, and leaving it uncontested for too long can lead to complacency on both sides.

What should a crew travel RFP pack include?

A crew travel RFP pack should include a clear scope of services, a description of your operational profile, technical and commercial requirements, evaluation criteria, and a defined timeline for responses. The more precisely you describe your operations, the more accurate and comparable the bids you receive will be.

At a minimum, the RFP pack should cover the following areas:

  • Operational profile: Number of crew, vessel types, key ports and regions, average monthly booking volumes, and typical lead times for requests
  • Service requirements: 24/7 support expectations, emergency rebooking procedures, multi-leg itinerary capability, and visa or documentation assistance
  • Fare access: Whether you require access to crew-specific airline fares, group booking capabilities, or negotiated hotel rates near ports
  • Technology requirements: Online booking tool capability, reporting and analytics, integration with HR or finance systems, and approval workflow functionality
  • Commercial terms: Preferred invoicing arrangements, cancellation and rebooking policies, and any performance guarantees or SLA requirements
  • Evaluation criteria and weightings: How bids will be scored so suppliers can tailor their proposals accordingly

Including sample booking scenarios based on real past trips helps suppliers demonstrate how they would handle your specific requirements, rather than responding with generic capability statements.

How do you score and compare crew travel bids fairly?

You score crew travel bids fairly by agreeing on weighted evaluation criteria before bids are received, then applying those criteria consistently across all submissions. A scoring matrix that separates commercial, operational, and technical factors prevents any single dimension from distorting the overall assessment.

A practical scoring framework for a crew change travel RFP might weight criteria along these lines:

  • Commercial value: Overall cost, fare access, cancellation terms, and flexibility
  • Operational capability: 24/7 support, emergency response times, experience in your specific regions or sectors
  • Technology and reporting: Quality of the booking platform, data visibility, and integration capability
  • References and track record: Evidence of performance with similar operators
  • Implementation and onboarding: How quickly the supplier can be up and running

Where possible, involve stakeholders from operations, finance, and HR in the scoring process. Each function has a different view of what good looks like, and a multi-disciplinary panel produces a more balanced result than a procurement-only assessment. It is also worth conducting a structured Q&A session with shortlisted suppliers before final scoring, as written proposals do not always capture how a supplier actually operates under pressure.

How long does a crew travel tender take from start to finish?

A crew travel tender typically takes between eight and sixteen weeks from the initial scoping stage to contract award, depending on the complexity of your operations and the number of suppliers invited to bid. Larger operators with multiple vessel types or global port coverage may need longer to gather internal data and evaluate responses thoroughly.

A realistic timeline breaks down roughly as follows:

  1. Weeks one to two: Internal scoping, stakeholder alignment, and data gathering
  2. Weeks three to four: RFP document preparation and supplier longlist identification
  3. Week five: RFP issued to suppliers
  4. Weeks six to eight: Supplier response period, including Q&A
  5. Weeks nine to ten: Initial evaluation and shortlisting
  6. Weeks eleven to twelve: Presentations or demos from shortlisted suppliers
  7. Weeks thirteen to fourteen: Final scoring, negotiation, and contract award
  8. Weeks fifteen to sixteen: Transition and onboarding

Rushing the supplier response period tends to produce lower-quality bids and fewer genuine alternatives to compare. Building in adequate time for Q&A also reduces the risk of misunderstandings that surface only after a contract has been signed.

Should the incumbent agency be included in the tender?

Yes, the incumbent agency should almost always be included in a crew travel tender. Excluding them creates legal and reputational risk, and it removes a valuable benchmark. If the incumbent is performing well, including them in the process validates that and gives you a stronger negotiating position. If they are underperforming, the competitive pressure of a tender often prompts them to sharpen their proposal.

The key is to manage the incumbent carefully throughout the process. They have an information advantage from years of working with your operation, which can make it harder for new suppliers to compete on a level footing. Providing all bidders with the same operational data, sample scenarios, and evaluation criteria helps to level the playing field. It is also worth being transparent with the incumbent that the tender is a genuine competitive exercise, not a formality, so that they respond with their strongest offer rather than assuming the contract is already secured.

How C Teleport supports your crew travel procurement

Once a tender concludes and a new arrangement is in place, the real challenge begins: making sure the day-to-day reality of crew travel management lives up to what was promised in the proposal. That is where we come in.

At C Teleport, we built our platform specifically for the operational complexity that crew change travel demands. Here is what that means in practice:

  • Instant rebooking: When schedules change at short notice, crew bookings can be cancelled and rebooked in a few clicks, even on non-refundable tickets within the free cancellation window
  • Access to crew fares: We connect operators to over 400 airlines and 2.5 million hotels, including fares designed for crew movements rather than standard business travel
  • Real-time visibility: Built-in reporting and analytics give finance and operations teams direct access to booking data, cost breakdowns, and travel patterns without waiting for monthly reports
  • Automated travel policies: Spend controls and approval rules are embedded in the platform, so compliance happens automatically rather than relying on manual oversight
  • Fast integration: We connect with HR, finance, and ERP systems in under a day, so implementation does not become a project in its own right
  • Dedicated support: Our team holds a 4.9 customer support rating, and we are available when crew operations demand it, not just during office hours

Whether you are running a crew travel tender for the first time or benchmarking your current arrangement, we are happy to show you how the platform works in practice. Book a demo to see it in action, or explore C Teleport to learn more about what we offer.

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