Request For Proposal – GPSNR-RFP-A02-022-Pilot Provision of Certified Planting Materials in Indonesia – Clone Orders

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Deadline for submission has been updated to 8th July 2022

1. Introduction

The Global Platform for Sustainable Naural Rubber is an international, multi-stakeholder, voluntary membership initiative committed to improving the socioeconomics and environmental performance of the natural rubber value chain. Development of the GPSNR was intiated by the CEOs of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Tire Industry Project (TIP) in 2018. 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.

The GPSNR aims to support the natural rubber sector to become more sustainable. Key element in achieving this is to ensure there is capacity among smallholders and industrial plantations to adopt best practices in NR production.

The GPSNR aims to support the natural rubber sector to become more sustainable. Key element in achieving  this is to ensure there is capacity among smallholders and industrial plantations to adopt best practices in NR  production.

GPSNR, through the GPSNR Capacity Building Working Group (Indonesia National Subgroup), is seeking to procure approximately 40,000 certified plants from licensed and accredited institutions in Indonesia. The planting materials are to be delivered by January 2023 at the latest for replanting at selected nursery or budwood garden sites (exact locations to be determined).

Proposed planting programmes should be implemented in line with GPSNR environmental and social commitments and values, based on the GPSNR Policy Framework[1].

[1] https://sustainablenaturalrubber.org/policy-framework/

2. Context

There are approximately 2.25M smallholders in Indonesia, representing 83% of national natural rubber production (3.6 M tonnes). Smallholders cultivate less than 2 ha of land with an average yield of slightly below 1 ton/ha, as compared to state and private commercial plantations achieving 1.4 ton/ha and 1.5 ton/ha respectively. 

Indonesia’s average rubber yield is significantly lower than neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia; such low yield is due to low-quality clones, limited knowledge of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and aging trees.

Most rubber trees in Indonesia were planted from 1978-1991 through several government schemes. Given that rubber trees only have a 25-year productive lifespan, with steeply declining yields thereafter, almost all rubber trees planted under these schemes have passed their peak production. Whilst there is no formal data available on tree aging in Indonesia, the Ministry of Agriculture estimates around 600,000 – 700,000 ha of natural rubber plantations need rejuvenation. Replanting should ideally occur on about 4% of plantations annually to ensure a stable output. Yet, it is estimated that between 2010 and 2017 replanting of only 1.3% was undertaken. 

Using the right clone makes a tremendous difference in a rubber tree’s lifetime yields. The productivity of rubber clonal and seedling-derived plants is almost 3 x lower than for certified clones. Across the region, only 5% of farmers received their seedlings through a government programme. Certified nurseries are only located in provincial and district capital cities resulting in limited access to high-yielding planting materials for remote smallholders.

Additionally, poor tapping techniques are another major cause of low yields and can decrease the productive life of trees by up to 50%. It is estimated that an average smallholder with 1.5 ha of rubber will earn 57% less than the Indonesian minimum wage.  

Five provinces contribute 66.5% of national production: South Sumatra, North Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, and West Kalimantan. South Sumatra province is Indonesia’s largest and most productive area. Its natural rubber area is almost 23% of the total national productive area and smallholders’ plantations take up 98.5% of this area. The productivity of smallholders in South Sumatra is the highest among smallholder areas in Indonesia, producing 1.3 ton/ha, and more likely to have received GAP training. In 2019 the government announced a replanting plan for 2019 – 2027, with a focus on South Sumatra (92,600 ha), South Kalimantan (76,550 ha) and Jambi (69,900 ha). However, this plan has no large-scale lending programme associated with it and is to be executed by local governments and has not yet been implemented. Demand for replanting is strongest in Jambi, where 40% of farmers are willing to undertake replanting. Demand is lowest in West Kalimantan, where only 1 farmer out of 79 was contemplating. Most likely the demand in Jambi is due to peak planting being undertaken in 1995 – 2005 and the majority of the trees are approaching their maximum productive age, and Jambi farmers are more aware of the importance of good quality clones and their impact on yield – they also have the highest rate of nursery clone purchase – and have suffered less from disease. 

Source:
Financial Assessment of Smallholder Natural Rubber Production in Indonesia. July 2020. USAID Green Invest Asia, HeveaConnect, SNV and Financial Access.[2]

[2] https://www.facsglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Final-Rubber-report-2020.pdf

3. Expected Deliverables

The overall objective of the Pilot Provision of Certified Planting Materials project is to deliver approximately 40,000 plants by January 2023. GPSNR has identified the following clones for procurement:

  1. IRR 220
  2. IRR 112
  3. RRIC 100

The service provider should also detail the initial certification process prior to delivery of clones.

The proposal should justify whether GPSNR should proceed with all of any of the three clones above, and the recommended number of clones to procure.

Submitted proposals should also provide brief justifications and details on the costs, timeline, and rationales for each of the clones listed above, and provide rationales for where the clones are most needed amongst the following regions:

  1. Northern Sumatra
  2. Southern Sumatra
  3. Central Sumatra
  4. West Kalimantan
  5. East Kalimantan

The GPSNR Capacity Building Working Group (Indonesia National Subgroup) may prioritise funding for specific regions based on relative productivity, coverage of existing coaching services, socio-economic needs, or other considerations.

Service providers are also expected to operate in line with principles and values set forth in the GPSNR Policy Framework[3] such as commitment to environmental protection and sustainability, zero deforestation, community engagement and FPIC etc.

The selected service provider may also be expected to work closely with the GPSNR Capacity Building Working Group (Indonesia National Subgroup) to fine-tuned or further augment the clone selection and delivery timelines.

Key Metrics

The proposal should elaborate on how the following key metrics can be achieved and measured:

  1. Total planting materials delivered by January 2023
  • Initial certification of clonal materials

  • Overall expected costs

  • Level of details in justifications for selected clones and recommended regions for replanting

Propoals are also encouraged to include key metrics of importance not listed above.

[3] https://sustainablenaturalrubber.org/policy-framework/

4. Proposal Format and Contents

The proposal should include the following:

  1. A workplan that outlines all key activities of the deliverables (as outlined in 3. Expected Deliverables above)
  2. Timeline and key stages of operations (based on 5. Expected Timeline below)
  3. Budget, including detailed breakdown of expected manpower, logistics, and costs (based on 6. Budget below)
  4. Description of past work and technical expertise that is relevant to this RFP
  5. A list of project team members with their roles in the project and associated qualifications

5. Expected Timelines

The work shall begin by July 2022 and the various phases shall be completed in accordance with the approximate timeline below:
RFP publication3 June 2022
Submission deadline for proposals8 July 2022
Contract Award1 July 2022
First Full ReviewOctober 2022
Delivery of clonesJanuary 2023

Consultants will also provide fortnightly or monthly progress updates to the GPSNR Capacity Working Group, or on an as-needed basis.

6. Budget

The Platform is anticipating that the total budget of no more than 26,000 EUR be allocated to the project.

Payment terms shall be:

  • 30% at the signing of the contract
  • 20% upon the First Full Review
  • 50% upon the delivery of planting materials

7. Evaluation Factors

GPSNR will rate proposals based on the following factors:

  1. Responsiveness to the requirements set forth in this Request for Proposal

  2. Relevant past performance/experience of the consultant

  3. Samples of work (e.g., previous training or coaching programmes in Indonesia)

  4. Technical expertise/experience of bidder and bidder’s staff

  5. Proposed timeline of operations

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.

View RFP Document here

More To Explore

(CLOSED) Request for Proposal – Study on Human Rights and Labour Rights’ risk mapping in the global Natural Rubber value chains

Through a process led by the Strategy and Objectives Working Group the Platform has developed stated goals with a strong focus on developing a framework that supports and sustains responsible supply chain . Important among the information needed to undergo these developments of is a better understanding of the social risks including (but not limiting to) Human Rights and Labour Rights in the Natural Rubber value chains, globally.

Each country has its own governance and social structure which contributes to different social risks from country to country. While these risks are associated to the wider population, there are specific characteristics of social risks that are particularly associated to agricultural production. For the countries where law enforcement is weak, there is a risk that the workers are exposed to poor work conditions without any access to a fair complaint mechanism.

Although the initial focus of this project is on human rights and labour rights (including migrant workers), the consultant is expected to elaborate how human and labour rights are associated to other social risks (i.e. land acquisition, community health, safety and security, etc.) in order to recommend risk mitigation methods to the Strategy and Objectives Working Group.

The consultant is expected to develop generic risk profile at a global level, and specific risk profile at a regional level. The tentative regions for specific risks study are proposed as following:

  • – Production Unit and Rubber Block Processing Unit- Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam), Africa (Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana) and Latin America (Brazil, Guatemala);
  • – Tyre Manufacturing Unit – China, Southeast Asia, Europe and US.

The list of regions above is tentative and can be adjusted upon the discussion between the consultant and the Strategy and Objectives Working Group members. After the risk profiles are developed, the consultant is expected to come up with recommendations for risk mitigation strategies for each region.

The consultant will collect the information via desktop study, interviewing of GPSNR members, research institutes, social NGOs, governmental organizations, etc. A primary list of stakeholders will be provided by the Secretariat together with the Strategy and Objectives Working Group members. A complementary list will be developed by the consultant. Regular contact and updating to the Strategy and Objective Working Group together with the Secretariat will be required. It is estimated that there will be the need for a series of face to face meetings in South East Asia over the course of the project. Travel plans shall be made by the consultant

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 as well as hourly rates and an estimated total number of days.
  5. Proposals must be signed by a representative that is authorized to commit bidder’s company.
  6. Proposals must be received prior to 10th January 2020 to be considered. Proposals should be submitted to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org for consideration.
  7. GPSNR anticipates shortlisting at least two individuals or firms to have more in-depth discussions with, and will make an award to one of these “down-selected” individuals or firms

Download full Request for Proposal here

GPSNR Staff December 3, 2019

Request For Proposal – GPSNR-RFP-C03-036-Review and support the development of a Central Repository

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 rubber products manufacturers, natural rubber suppliers and processors (PPTs), end users, smallholders, and civil society organisations. 

The Manufacturer’s Subgroup (SG) consists of GPSNR members who are rubber product manufacturers only.  Traditionally tracing each companies supply chain takes on an individualistic approach due to the sensitive nature of the data. However, to expedite the enhancement of traceability in view of EUDR, the SG has decided on a collaborative approach by developing a Central Repository. 

The Central Repository functions as a database for storing polygons and supply chain information contributed by individual members. It will also link the smallholders, PPTs and manufacturers on a single platform while reducing duplicated mapping efforts between different manufacturers. The Repository should allow for easy extraction of information for GPSNR’s Due Diligence System and be integrated with the EU information system. Moreover, the repository should either integrate different Risk, Traceability and Deforestation mapping tools or have the data formatted in a way that allows for seamless input into the tools. 

In addition, considering the sensitive nature of individual companies’ supply chain information, the platform must implement various layers of access control. This will ensure that each manufacturer can only access information pertaining to their own supply chain. Furthermore, the repository should have distinct tiers of users, including end users, manufacturers, PPTs, and smallholders, with each tier granted access privileges relevant to their role.

Objectives and Scope of Work/ Deliverables
GPSNR expects the consultant to deliver the following:

  1. Craft a database that stores polygon and supply chain information to the plantation level and allows for the upload of geo-mapping information. 
    1. The database should also have an online dashboard view of mapped / Mapping-in-progress farmlands, contract/seller invoice information – outstanding and shipped)

  2. The Central Repository should allow data to flow to and from or store data in a way that is compatible for the uses below:
    1. Traceability tool providers (Eg – Koltiva, TRST01, Harmuni (Agridence etc))
    2. Deforestation mapping tools (Eg – LiveEO, Satelligence, Starling etc)
    3. Risk assessment systems/tools (Eg – ASI Tool or Others as available etc)

  3. Create levels of access authorizations for different accounts within the platform – 
    1. User accounts for uploading geo mapped data
    2. Access to viewing the geo-mapped data linked to user accounts for the PPTs and Manufacturers
      1. Users should only have access to information from within their own supply chains or information that they input to the repository
      2. Users should be able to form links across different tiers. For example, users should be able to form links between smallholders and PPTs, PPTs and manufacturers. 
      3. When there are several members which require access to geo mapped data from one user, the platform should have the ability to extend access authorization to multiple users.
    3. Extracting information from Due Diligence Systems and integrating it with the EU Information System (this should be limited to manufacturers only)

  4. The platform should be compliant with applicable data privacy norms and regulations which include but are not limited to the GDPR and PDPA.

  5. A fee structure including management of shared cost arising from overlapping access to geo mapped data.

  6. Data protection and cyber security policies

  7. Service Level Agreements including downtime, maintenance, customer support and service, updates.

  8. Data Backup

  9. Server location – Singapore (Preferred)

  10. A timeline for development of the Central Repository (milestones with details)

  11. Optional – Deforestation monitoring tool integrated with central repository and the applicable fee structures

Proposal Format and Contents
The proposal should include the following:

  1. A workplan that outlines all key activities of the deliverables (as outlined in Expected Deliverables above)
  2. Timeline and key stages of operations (based on Project Timeline below) 
  3. Budget, including detailed breakdown of expected manpower, logistics, and costs 
  4. Description of past work and technical expertise that is relevant to this RFP
  5. A list of project team members with their roles in the project and associated qualifications.

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, a cost breakdown, and daily rates and an estimated total number of days. 
  5. Proposals must be signed by a representative that is authorized to commit bidder’s company. 
  6. Proposals should be submitted to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org and 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. 

Project Timelines 

RFP Published

4 Sep 2023

Proposal Submission Deadline

25 Sep 2023

Contract Awarded

9 Oct 2023

First consultation with Manufacturer’s Subgroup 

23 Oct 2023

Bi-weekly progress updates

23 Oct – 18 Dec

Final Report + Deliverable submission

19 Dec 2023

Budget
The Platform will review budget proposals from service providers and the budget will comprise an important part of awarding the contract.

Payment terms shall be:

  • 20% at the signing of the contract
  • 30% at the midpoint date to be agreed upon and memorialized in the contract based on the submitted work plan
  • 40% on go-live 
  • Balance 10% – 1 month after go-live

Evaluation Factors
GPSNR will rate proposals based on the following factors, with cost being the most important factor:

  1. Responsiveness to the requirements set forth in this Request for Proposal
  2. Relevant past performance/ experience
  3. Samples of work
  4. Cost, including an assessment of total cost of ownership
  5. Technical expertise/experience of bidder and 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.


View RFP Document here

GPSNR Secretariat September 6, 2023

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