Travel Management Services
Framework Description
SUPC's Travel Management Services framework gives member universities access to travel management companies for business, research and student group travel. It started on 1 April 2024 and ends on 31 March 2027, with no extension. SUPC's framework page lists three lots, Business Travel, Student Group and Combined, with five travel management companies appointed. Applications for this framework are closed (it is not a DPS). This framework is used by SUPC and APUC.
Context & Use Case
Universities send staff and researchers to conferences, fieldwork and partner institutions, and run group trips for students, so they need managed booking routes for both. Finance teams want bookings to feed expense systems, and sustainability teams want travel emissions reported. Members contract with appointed companies through call-off or mini-competition, choosing the business, student group or combined lot.
Scope of Services
Business travel Student group travel Combined business and student group travel Online booking tools and expense management integration Travel policy and sustainability advice
Lots
Business Travel; Student Group; Combined
Who Can Apply
Suits travel management companies with online booking tools, expense integrations and academic clients, as well as student group travel specialists. Applications for this agreement are closed, so companies not among the five appointed cannot join; SUPC's replacement, expected around March 2027, is the next opening.
Buyer Benefits
Travel spend is spread across hundreds of staff, so buyers value control and visibility: one booking channel, policy rules built in, management information and emissions data. Duty of care matters too, especially for staff on fieldwork abroad. Pre-agreed fees let an institution appoint a TMC without running a full tender.
Next Steps
The agreement expires on 31 March 2027, so the replacement procurement may be published in the coming months. Keep checking SUPC's travel framework page, and prepare booking tool demonstrations, traveller tracking and duty of care processes, sample carbon reports and university references.
How Athena Can Help
Travel management tenders can involve booking tool demonstrations as well as written answers, so preparation pays. Athena's bid planning and writing team builds win themes on duty of care, data and sustainability, and prices transaction fees and management charges so you win without giving away margin.
Our mapping of open frameworks lines up other public-sector travel agreements alongside this one, and our go/no-go advice helps you decide early whether the full scope suits your business.
