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The Hawaii Tourism Authority is working under an extremely tight timeline to award its largest contract to provide destination management services and promote Hawaii in the US market, the state’s largest visitor source market .
Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau has always had HTA’s largest contract and is expected to bid on the next one.
Interested candidates must register their intention to apply by Friday and proposals must be submitted by May 17. Finalists are expected to be selected by the week of May 23, with winner notification by the week of June 6.
A new contract was originally scheduled to take effect on January 1; however, State Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism Director Mike McCartney rescinded an offer HTA had made to the top candidate.
McCartney said in a statement that DBEDT determined that the solicitation “did not provide for the consideration of all factors material to the agency, therefore it is in the best interests of the State of Hawaii to rescind the offer and re-solicit the (request for proposals).
McCartney said in December that a new US RFP would be released in the coming weeks, but it took HTA months to revise and reissue the RFP.
HTA created a stopgap by granting HVCB, its longtime contractor and a competitor in the failed bidding process, a six-month contract extension. The extension, valued at $8.5 million, began Jan. 1 and ends June 29.
HTA’s next contractor, whether HVCB or another entity, is expected to start June 30, with contract terms running through December 31, 2024, with an additional two-year option. The fixed contract price is nearly $16.4 million for the first calendar year. The following year, the fixed-price contract was worth more than $18.8 million.
The new RFP seeks a subcontractor to provide “comprehensive branding and visitor education services in the U.S. market” and “support services for Hawaii’s official travel website , app, social media channels and creative content used around the world for brand marketing and visitor education.”
Selection scores will be weighted with 25% focus on business and staff capabilities, 25% on a brand marketing plan, 20% on a destination management support plan, 10% brand and product knowledge of Hawaii, 10% for a long-term vision and roadmap for HTA’s destination management action plans, 5% for an overall support and 5% for costs.
The RFP asks respondents to set their own targets for average daily spend growth in 2021 and total spend growth in 2021.
The latest RFP can be downloaded from the State Procurement Office, the Hawaii Awards & Notices Data System, the Bidding Opportunities website at hands.ehawaii.gov, or the RFP page of the HTA website at hawaiitourismauthority.org/rfps.
Inquiries regarding the tender should be directed to contracting@gohta.net.
