Once a contract is awarded to a TMC/CTO and the papers are signed by the government contracting and travel company officials, the TMC/CTO has to act relatively quickly to implement the contract, sometimes in just two months with multiple new onsite locations. However, the proposal will provide for the contract implementation process or schedule, from the day the contract is awarded to the official start date of the contract. Usually, a schedule or timeline chart will be submitted for use by the contracting staff and the TMC/CTO to ensure implementation.
The TMC/CTO Project Manager or Contract Manager serves as the single point of contact and will organize and oversee all activities, and will report to the Contracting Officer or designee. Implementations of accounts handled internally within the TMC/CTO corporate offices will be less obvious to the government traveler than implementation of a full service onsite office. One of the most important transition points to the government traveler is the successful transfer of profiles containing all travel information and any future reservations. On the other hand, a few of the most important transition points for the TMC/CTO are: working with the incumbent contractor to make sure there is a seamless transition; hiring for the new onsite; training of any new onsite employees; and installation of any new data lines, among many other important aspects.
Furthermore, members of the implementation team will be assigned work projects associated with the responsibilities of the team. Each task will be given a schedule with a start date and end date as part of the overall timeline in order to ensure successful completion of the implementation process before the contract start date. Although there are a lot of things that must be accomplished in a short time upon being awarded a contract, the goal of the TMC/CTO during the implementation of the contract is to provide as much of a seamless transition as possible for their government client.
By: Ian Petrulli