Month: April 2024

PUBLIC CONSULTATION: GPSNR’s Assurance Model

To develop and implement an assurance system that will support GPSNR in demonstrating its long-term positive impact on the natural rubber industry and help GPSNR members companies validate their sustainability claims and commitments, GPSNR is conducting a 60 day public consultation from 1 May to 30 June 2024 on the three of the four mandatory elements of its Assurance Model. This includes the Assurance Assessment Checklist, Assurance Protocol, and Remediation Protocol. The Assurance Assessment Checklist captures the themes and minimum requirements that were previously discussed during the platform’s in-person meetings in February 2024. The Members Journey Model (MJM) can be found here, the MJM has already been developed and is being put forward for vote at the upcoming Extraordinary General Assembly. The Members Journey Model outlines the development path that members are expected to take once they join GPSNR.

GPSNR Assurance Model Structure (pending Extraordinary General Assembly vote)

 

After the consultation, the GPSNR Secretariat will review the comments from this public consultation, feedback from the GPSNR in-person meetings in June, and the learnings from the Assurance Model pilots which will be ongoing till July 31st and make necessary changes. A second 30-day consultation will be conducted after the documents have been revised in Q3 of 2024.

 

Any feedback on the documents should be added to this file by 30 June 2024.

 

Document Name

Link 

Feedback Link 

Assurance Assessment Checklist 

Linked here

See here

Assurance Protocol 

Linked here

Remediation Protocol 

Linked here


Public Consultation on GPSNR AM Structure

GPSNR Working Groups Update: April 2024

Strategy and Objectives Working Group: Feedback on the Assurance model resolution has closed, and the finalised version of the resolution will be released shortly, along with other voting materials. The agenda for the in-person meetings has been released, and discussions will focus on further developing the assurance model. Members will now vote on the assurance model resolution at the Extraordinary General Assembly. Members are encouraged to participate in the in-person meetings and provide input on the assurance model content.

 

Smallholders Representation and Capacity Building (SCB) Working Group: A consultation call was held with smallholder members to discuss resolutions for the upcoming Extraordinary General Assembly. Instructional videos have been developed to aid smallholders in effectively using Zoom. All projects are progressing as planned, and we continue to oversee all ongoing projects.

Currently, the Income Diversification and Rubber Agroforestry Taskforce is actively preparing for a rubber agroforestry workshop in Liberia, planned for May 2024. Additionally, the project proposal template has been finalised, and we will soon issue a call for proposals to both members and the public. Once submitted, these proposals will be added to our project library for member review and potential funding.

Shared Responsibility Working Group: The Value Transfer Group has held subsequent meetings to discuss the value transfer proposal. The group continues to meet to refine this proposal, which will be presented at the in-person meetings in June. After the in-person meeting, the group hopes to run a pilot to test the proposal in the field.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION: GPSNR OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE FOR EUDR IN THE NATURAL RUBBER SUPPLY CHAIN

Public feedback is currently closed and under review 

The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber has prepared three guidance documents to support GPSNR members in their efforts to comply with the upcoming European Union Deforestation Regulation. 

The Platform is now conducting a 30-day public consultation on these documents. After the consultation, a multi-stakeholder task force within the Platform will review the comments, make the necessary changes, and send these documents for endorsement by the Executive Committee.

Any feedback on the documents should be added by 15th May 2024.

The final version will be publicly available once all the feedback has been incorporated. 


Add your feedback here before 15 May 2024

GPSNR supports the inclusion of smallholder farmers in EU natural rubber supply chains, and affirms their customary and native land use rights

Smallholder farmers are key stakeholders in natural rubber supply chains accounting for 85% of global supply, and enabling the resilience and sustainability of the value chain. However, smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable to major changes in the economic and regulatory landscape. Their vulnerability is heightened by the fact that many smallholders lack formal land documentation. Fortunately, many rubber producing countries are progressively implementing land tenure formalization programmes for smallholders but they undoubtedly will take significant amounts of time to fully implement.

The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) supports the intent and implementation of the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR), and considers it a bold and necessary step to addressing deforestation, human rights violations, and illegality in commodity production, including natural rubber. However, it is key that its implementation ensures the continued inclusion and support of smallholders in EU supply chains.

GPSNR includes more than 200 smallholder farmers from 12 countries in its membership and has heard their concerns regarding the potential unintended consequences of the law.

As reflected in its Policy Framework, GPSNR is committed to recognise and protect the customary, traditional and communal land tenure and use rights of Indigenous People and local communities (IPLC), including smallholder farmers who have such rights, even in cases where they are not formalised yet in the legal system of the country in which they reside.

In view of supporting the inclusion of smallholders in EU supply chains, while ensuring due diligence against illegality, the GPSNR requests the European Commission provide additional EUDR guidance to competent national authorities regarding how to effectively check that operators and traders have conducted sufficient due diligence to determine the legality of commodities falling within the scope of the Regulation considering the mosaic of native and customary land rights arrangements found on smallholder farms around the world. Examples of how this could be achieved might include: 

  •  The creation of a shared information system amongst competent national authorities to assess the practical state of producing countries’ efforts to document and formalize recognition of customary land tenure arrangements for smallholder farmers;

     

  • Work with producer country governments to identify prevalence of customary tenure.

     

  • Providing practical guidance to EU competent authorities and regulated companies on:

     

    o How to robustly assess and map the customary land title claims in each country to ensure smallholders are not cut out of supply chains before formal land registries are created and protect the right to self-determination of IPLCs who do not wish to engage in land title formalisation even if it becomes available. 

    o In countries where formalization of land tenure is still under development, prioritize assessment of legality to establish that commodities placed on the market do not originate from land that has been occupied or acquired in violation of national land laws or customary tenure arrangements (i.e., through a “land grab”); through dispossession or abuse of the rights of vulnerable members of a population by elites; or which is located within prohibited areas such as national parks, wildlife reserves, or other protected areas, or from other restricted use areas.

    o Specifics on the types of documentation to collect to substantiate the rights (formal or customary) of smallholder farmers to use land parcels for the production of the relevant commodity. This could include documentation recognized by local authorities, or other evidence of locally recognized land tenure, and evidence that key regulatory bodies in producing countries have indicated general acceptance that smallholder farmers cultivating land under customary and/or communal land tenure arrangements may legally produce and sell rubber (this may be explicit – e.g., through a license – or implicit, e.g. through the provision of official extension support, credit schemes, or marketing assistance to registered smallholders);

We call the Commission and other EU and national institutions for a joint effort to enable smallholder farmer organizations to meet EUDR compliance; and proactively work with the producing countries to address potentially conflicting national laws, issues of inadequate law enforcement and corruption, and provide support to producing countries to tackle these issues and empower smallholders to maintain access to EU markets. GPSNR commits to support just transitions to secure forms of land tenure. We will collaborate with members to enhance capacity in land tenure and support programs facilitating smallholders’ access to formal land documentation where applicable.

Finally, we wish to clarify that the above proposals are in no way intended to avoid compliance by GPSNR operators and traders purchasing and selling natural rubber products covered under the scope of the Regulation. Rather, they are designed to support and enhance the position of the six million smallholders in global rubber supply chains to help realize the potential of the law, whilst themselves benefiting from it. These proposals are supported by GPSNR’s smallholder and civil society representatives, alongside industry members.

The GPSNR Executive Committee has sent this letter to the European Commission for further deliberation. 

Request For Proposal – RFP-A03-039 – National Risk Assessments Request for Proposals

Introduction & Background

 

The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) is an international, multi-stakeholder, voluntary membership initiative seeking to lead improvements in the socioeconomic and environmental performance of the natural rubber value chain. Members of the platform include tire manufacturers, rubber suppliers and processors, vehicle makers and NGOs. Representatives from each of these stakeholder groups have contributed to the development of the Singapore-based platform and the wide-reaching set of priorities that will define strategy and objectives.

In 2023, the GPSNR’s Risk assessment subgroup commissioned Assurance Services International (ASI) to create a risk tool that would allow GPSNR to classify risk across different geographies and scales. ASI has completed the tool and it is available at this link (not for wider distribution, only provided as a reference for this RFP). The role of this consultancy will be to fill in this tool using the most relevant and up-to-date information.

The risks that are assessed by the tool are Child Labour, Forced Labour, Freedom of Association, Health and Safety, Working Hours, Wages, Land and Community Rights, Deforestation, HCV, Fire, and Peat. The tool also includes the different risk criteria to be assessed and sources of information.

 

The Engagement

 

The GPSNR Secretariat is seeking a consultant to utilize the risk tool and complete risk assessments for 20 countries across all 11 risks. The consultant will be expected to complete the tool template at the country level for each of the 20 countries. Assessments at the regional or farm level are not required. The risk assessment scope should be limited to the natural rubber supply chain. The consultant is not required to propose mitigation measures for this exercise and risks should be assessed as-is (without factoring in any mitigating actions).

The consultant should list any additional sources of evidence and also include justification for each risk’s classification. The consultant should reference existing studies where possible and is strongly encouraged to consider previously commissioned GPSNR studies (such as the Environmental Risk Study and Social Risk Study both of which provide risk information pertaining to the Natural Rubber Supply Chain).

We require risk assessments to be conducted for:

  1. Brazil
  2. Cambodia
  3. Cameroon
  4. China
  5. Colombia
  6. Ghana
  7. Guinea
  8. Guatemala
  9. India
  10. Indonesia
  11. Ivory Coast
  12. Liberia
  13. Malaysia
  14. Mexico
  15. Myanmar
  16. Nigeria
  17. Philippines
  18. Sri Lanka
  19. Thailand
  20. Vietnam

While this is intended to be a desk-based exercise, consultants who are able to consider the perspectives of indigenous peoples and local communities will be looked upon favourably for this tender.

Consultants may propose focusing on a subset of countries from this list for risk assessment. In this scenario, consultants should specify which countries they would be covering. 

After the first drafts are available, the platform will conduct a 30-day consultation with members. This consultation with members will be facilitated by the Secretariat. Consultants should factor in the need to review and respond to members feedback after the consultation period and provide the Secretariat with a complete list of feedback, together with the consultant’s response to each piece of feedback received.  At the same time, the consultants should also review the first draft based on the feedback review.

The second version of risk assessment will be considered final, and acceptance of this version will mark the conclusion of this engagement.

 

Proposal Format and Contents

 

The proposal should include the following:

  1. Workplan that outlines a timeline and key stages of work, with a focus on the amount of time needed for the initial drafting phase and for the review of and response to members’ feedback. Consultants should ensure that there is sufficient time allocated for reviewing and responding to feedback.
  2. Budget with a breakdown of costs
  3. Description of past work and technical expertise that is relevant to this RFP
  4. List of project team members with their roles in the project and associated qualifications and expertise.
  5. (If applicable) A list of IPLC groups that the consultant is familiar with and would engage for this project if selected.

Submission Guidelines & Requirements

 

The following submission guidelines & requirements apply to this Request for Proposal:

  1. Proposals will only be accepted from individuals or firms with experience relevant to this project.
  2. Examples of previous relevant work should be provided as well.
  3. A technical proposal must be provided that is not more than 4 pages. This technical proposal must provide an overview of the proposed solution as well as resumes of all key personnel performing the work. In addition, the technical proposal should provide a proposed schedule and milestones, as applicable.
  4. A price proposal must be provided that is not more than 1 pages. This price proposal should indicate the overall fixed price for the project and may include a breakdown of costs if consultants consider it relevant.
  5. Proposals must be signed by a representative that is authorized to commit bidder’s company.
  6. Proposals must be received prior to the 9th of May to be considered. Proposals should be submitted to aidan@gpsnr.org for consideration.
  7. GPSNR reserves the right to amend the scope and budget of this RFP in order to get the most suitable consultant for each topic.
  8. Bidders must ensure that all external personnel involved in preparing and executing this proposal are under exclusive agreements specific to this RFP. These agreements must obligate the external personnel to exclusively dedicate their services to the bidder’s proposal, prohibiting their engagement in any other proposals for the same RFP. This measure is to maintain the integrity of the bidding process and prevent conflicts of interest.
  9. Award of this project is subject to confirmation of financing from GPSNR members.

 

Project Timelines

 

Proposals submitted by consultant to aidan@gpsnr.org

9th May 2024

Contract Award

6th June 2024

Drafting and delivery of first draft of risk assessments

Timeline to be proposed by consultants

Members consultation

30 day period starting from delivery of first draft

Review of risk assessments, compilation of responses to feedback, and delivery of final risk assessments.

Timeline to be proposed by consultants

 

Budget

 

The Platform invites consultants to submit a competitive price proposal, the proposed budget will be factored into selection of the consultant.

Payment terms shall be:

  • 20% at the signing of the contract
  • 30% at the delivery and acceptance by the Secretariat of the first risk assessment
  • 50% on delivery and acceptance by the Secretariat of the finalized risk assessment and compiled responses to members’ feedback.

 

Evaluation Factors

 

GPSNR will rate proposals based on the following factors, in no particular order:

  1. Responsiveness to the requirements set forth in this Request for Proposal
  2. Relevant experience with risk assessment, including samples of work
  3. Relevant experience with the natural rubber supply chain including the countries relevant to this RFP
  4. Cost
  5. Technical expertise/experience of bidder and bidder’s staff
  6. The proposed timeline of work completion

GPSNR reserves the right to award to the bidder that presents the best value to GPSNR as determined solely by GPSNR in its absolute discretion.

 

Note: The award of this contract will only be considered complete upon securing full funding and completion of the contract signing.


View RFP Document here

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