(CLOSED) Request for Proposal – Study on Living Income Gap in Global Natural Rubber Value Chains – Thailand

Introduction & Background

At GPSNR, we bring together companies, smallholders, academia and civil society to transform the natural rubber supply chain into a sustainable, equitable and fair one.

Even though it was launched just in 2018, more than 50% of the world’s natural rubber demand already finds membership in GPSNR. This is only a small reflection of the amount of work that has taken place over the last three years.

We are seeking a web design consultancy to design, code and publish a webpage style annual report for 2022, which can be easily downloaded as a PDF version. The content for the webpage will be provided by the GPSNR secretariat.

Key Requirements 

Working closely with the GPSNR secretariat, the consultant will:

• Create and finalise three web-page mockup (wireframes, prototypes, and corresponding user interface components like templates, stylesheets, scripts, images, etc) for the team to choose from.
• Once the mock up has been chosen by the team, the consultant will include four rounds of feedback from the GPSNR secretariat and key stakeholders in the development of the final page.
• Integrate components in the CMS to allow review and testing, and make corresponding adjustments based on feedback received.
  Liaise with GPSNR’s Communications Manager to ensure that the mockups are feasible for the GPSNR website.

Terms

The engagement will take place for a period of four weeks from 4 November to 9 November. Interim dates for wireframes and approvals will be mutually agreed upon after confirmation.

Necessary Competencies:

• Solid understanding of the concepts of user experience, user interface design principles and conceptual design.
• Expert knowledge in Wordpress CMS and Elementor
  Knowledge of Bootstrap, jQuery and AngularJS, HTML, and Elementor Shortcodes
  Knowledge of industry-standard design tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver.
• Knowledge of Wordpress Content Management System, particularly with respect to page template design, will be considered an asset.
• Eye for design and attention to detail are essential.

Submission Guidelines & Requirements

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

• Proposals will only be accepted from individuals or firms with experience relevant to this project.
• Submissions must include 1) a portfolio of previous work 2) a paragraph describing how the consultant would approach such a project 3) a financial proposal with a breakdown of how much each competent of the work would cost.
• Proposals must be signed by a representative that is authorized to commit to the bidder’s company.
• Proposals must be received by 31 October 2022 to be considered.
• Proposals should be submitted to bani.bains@gpsnr.org for consideration.

Project Timelines

Budget

The Platform is anticipating a total budget of up to 4000 SGD for this project. 

Payment terms shall be:

• 20% at the signing of the contract
• 30% upon midpoint as mutually agreed
• 50% at the completion of the project

Evaluation Factors

GPSNR will rate proposals based on the following factors:

• Responsiveness to the requirements set forth in this Request for Proposals
• Relevant past performance / experience and / or any samples of past work
• Cost, including an assessment of total cost of ownership
• Technical expertise/experience of bidder and the bidder’s staff

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.

Introduction

GPSNR

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. Development of GPSNR was initiated by the CEOs of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Tire Industry Project (TIP) in 2019. 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 define GPSNR strategy and objectives.

As of October 2022, GPSNR has 157 smallholder members from 10 countries.

HCSA

Established in 2014, the HCSA sets the standard approach for implementing no deforestation commitments on the ground for any commercial crop grown in moist tropical forest landscapes (for example, of palm oil, wood pulp or cocoa). It is underpinned not only by a commitment to no deforestation, but also by a commitment to respect the rights and livelihoods of local people.

To this end, the HCSA has developed a Toolkit that provides practical guidance to help companies, local communities, and other stakeholders to agree on which lands should be used for commercial agriculture or forestry, what activities will take place on community lands, which areas of forests should be conserved, and how lands should be managed and monitored. 

HCVN

The Network is a member-based organization that promotes the High Conservation Value (HCV) Approach, a three-step methodology to identify and protect ecosystems, biodiversity, and the needs of local communities and indigenous groups where development takes place.

Over several years the HCV Network has developed smallholder adapted HCV procedures, tailored to certification schemes, including for RSPO, Better Cotton Initiative and Fairtrade. More recently, The HCV Network have developed Nature Positive Farming, a tool to scale up engagement with smallholder producers who are not certified, and support them transition towards no-conversion and HCV protection production.

Project Summary

GPSNR is working with a Partnerships for Forest (P4F) grant to create mechanisms and systems to support and sustain long-term participation of smallholder members on the platform.

Under the P4F grant, a collaborative effort between GPSNR and HCSA was proposed due to the timely development of the HCSA Smallholder Approach which required further trials towards the development of a global, cross commodity framework and practical guidance for smallholders. 

Key Project Details

Smallholder farms utilise approximately 12% of global agricultural land and smallholder farms are estimated to support a population of more than 2 billion people directly and indirectly[1]. Smallholder farms therefore play a critical role in food security, poverty reduction and sustainable development for a very large proportion of rural populations, globally. This being said, it is also important to identify the role of smallholder farmers in sustainable commodities production and trade.  

HCSA Smallholder Approach

The HCSA Smallholder Approach is being developed with the aim to provide a framework and practical guidance for smallholder groups to identify and manage forests and other conservation values in their administrative areas. It is designed to provide simple, clear steps to formulate and implement an initial plan to manage these forests and other conservation values sustainably. The HCSA Smallholder Approach was developed and tested in the Indonesian context and for smallholder farmers that produce palm oil in mixed production landscapes, i.e., in combination with other commodities including rubber, agroforestry systems, home gardens, and that manage forest areas as part of shifting cultivation regimes
or as customary forests.

HCVN Nature Positive Farming

The Nature Positive Farming programme is an early engagement programme for companies and landscape initiatives to support non-certified smallholder farmers protect High Conservation Values and natural ecosystems as part of responsible sourcing commitments.

It is built around facilitated, structured dialogue with smallholders and their communities. It aims for conservation and support agreements between smallholders and project partners, for maintaining and enhancing environmental and social conservation values on and around their farms. The first field trial was conducted with smallholder producer communities in the Siak Pelalawan Landscape, Riau, Indonesia.

[1] Lowder et al. 2016; Goldman et al. 2016

Deliverables

Proposals should provide a timeline and plan that covers the four project phases set out below. 

Proposals should include a timeline and budget for either project option:

Option 1
Field trials only for the HCSA Smallholder Approach

Option 2
Concurrent field trials for the HCSA Smallholder Approach and the HCVN Nature Positive Farming Programme

 Phase 1: Project Preparations

a.   Dialogue with key Task Force members, including understanding GPSNR’s (in-development) risk assessment approach

b. Assessment and proposal of suitable field trial locations for natural rubber smallholders in the following regions in Indonesia:

a.    North Sumatra, and/or

b.    Jambi, and/or

c.    South Sumatra

d.    Bidders may also propose other regions with reasons and justifications

c.    Initial networking with key actors on-site in Indonesia

 Phase 2: Outreach and Training

a.    Develop training systems and materials for implementing actors for the HCSA (and HCVN) toolkits, including training sessions for field staff

b. Plan for actively involving locally embedded actors in pilot activities and engagement with smallholders

Phase 3: Field Trials

a.    Plan to implement 1-2 field trials for the HCSA (and HCVN) toolkits with natural rubber smallholders, communities, or cooperatives in the proposed locations of Jambi and/or South Sumatra

b.    Plan should include:

§ Target total number of smallholders or farms involved in the trials

§ Level of actor engaged (e.g., village; cooperatives; individual smallholders) engaged for the field trials

§ Targets such as gender, minority, and youth representation

§ Description of the proposed relevant Areas(s) of Interest (ideally village-level trials, but project is open to trials with independent smallholder cooperatives)

o  In case areas under control by cooperatives or individual farmers deviate (significantly) from official village administrative areas, an outlook on how this will be considered during field trials and post-trial review

§ Description of field trial methods including an outlook whether different methods are going to be tested during field trials (in relation to verification of maps, assessment of vegetation strata, land use zoning, etc.) 

Noting ideal requirements for smallholder representatives or community-leads: adequate level of reading and writing ability

 The consultants would be responsible as well for providing technical guidance to smallholders throughout the trials

Phase 4: Post-Trial Review

a.    Analyse strengths and weaknesses of each toolkit from the perspective of natural rubber smallholders

b.    Provide recommendations (e.g. contexts on when/how to use the tools, areas of toolkit improvement, how the toolkits support delivering on the GPSNR systems i.e. risk assessment, risk mitigation, assurance framework, reporting framework and shared responsibility mechanism)

c.    Contribute to developing a strategy to upscale pilot activities in the project areas, or to other project areas

  Intended project outputs and outcomes

Through the field trials, the Task Force aims to develop a strong understanding of the feasibility of the HCSA (and HCVN) toolkits for the following:

1. Mapping: Areas for development / conservation areas / mixed, multi-layered production areas, e.g., community use areas including shifting cultivation, agroforestry, home gardens, others as applicable  

2.    Conservation: Toolkit that can be passed on to GPSNR smallholder communities to
effectively map and manage areas for conservation; to understand their land and
land-use plans; showcase their commitment to no-deforestation 

 3. Integration with GPSNR Risk-based Approach: Toolkits as a risk mitigation tool that GPSNR member companies can use to identify and address land-use risks, and to channel funding and other related commitments accordingly 

i.     Analysing the extent to which the toolkits can be a mitigation tool for specific/multiple policy commitments in the GPSNR Policy Framework and
other systems 

 Submission Guidelines & Requirements

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

 1.  A detailed technical proposal must be provided. This technical proposal must provide an overview of the proposed methodology for the three Phases of the project. In addition, the technical proposal should provide a proposed schedule and milestones, as applicable. 

2.    A detailed price proposal must be provided. This price proposal should indicate the overall fixed price or expected price range for each Phase of the project, including daily rates and an estimated total number of days for each Phase of the project.   

 3.     Proposals will only be accepted from individuals or firms with experience relevant to this project. Examples of previous relevant work should be provided, as well as resumes of all key
personnel performing the work.

4.    Proposals must be signed by a representative that is authorised to commit the bidder’s company.

Project Timelines

The Request for Proposal timeline is as
follows:

Budget

The Platform is anticipating a total budget of up to 92,000 GBP for the project.

Payment terms shall be:

·      30% at the signing of the contract

·      10% upon completion of Phase 1: Project Preparations

·      10% upon completion of Phase 2: Outreach and Training

·      20% upon completion of Phase 3: Field Trials and Analysis

·      30% upon completion of the entire project

Evaluation Factors

GPSNR will rate proposals based on the following factors:

1. Responsiveness to the requirements set forth in this RFP
2. Methodology for completing all three Phases of the project
3. Costs and expected timeline for all three Phases of the project
4. Technical expertise/experience, including team composition, past performance/experience

When evaluating bids, GPSNR may request for more information as part of a full due diligence to understand bidders’ technical and commercial background, assess potential conflicts of interests and independence vis-à-vis natural rubber smallholders and the wider agricultural sector, and level of competence for the project.

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.

Digital Guidelines and Considerations

The consultant should commit to follow the guidelines specified in the Principles for Digital Development.

The principles of data protection legislation must be taken into account when processing personal data:

• The data must be processed lawfully (lawfulness)
• Data must only be processed if this is required and reasonable (fairness).
• The data must be processed transparently (transparency).
• The data must be processed for defined (time-limited), clear and legitimate purposes (earmarking).
• Only as much data as is required may be processed (data minimisation).
• Accuracy and currency must be ensured (data accuracy).
• The principle of integrity and confidentiality must be guaranteed through an appropriate level of protection (data security).

View RFP Document here