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

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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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Tender

(CLOSED) Request for Proposal – Smallholders workshop facilitator

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 civil society organizations. GPSNR’s structure consists of an Executive Committee and various Working Groups, supported by the Secretariat. All members meet and vote on resolutions at an annual General Assembly (GA).

Since its inception, GPSNR has been working towards smallholder inclusivity, particularly to ensure relevant representation of smallholders in GPSNR’s governance. As part of this effort, a series of workshops was conducted in the last quarter of 2019 aimed at raising awareness of GPSNR and the issue of sustainable natural rubber amongst rubber smallholders.

In 2020, 27 smallholders from 7 countries joined GPSNR as members. They will be participating, for the first time, in the GA scheduled to take place in September 2020. During the GA, a resolution will be proposed to form a new membership category for smallholders, which will be called ‘Smallholder Producers’. As an established category, smallholders will then be involved in voting on other resolutions and will elect representatives to be part of the Executive Committee.
GPSNR requires the services of a facilitator to facilitate several online sessions to prepare the smallholders for the GA, as well as their roles and responsibilities as members of GPSNR.

Objectives of the Sessions
The objectives of the online sessions are:
a) To foster relationships amongst smallholders from all 7 countries (particularly to encourage smallholders to interact with smallholders who are not from their country).
b) To familiarize the smallholders with fellow GPSNR members and GPSNR structure and governance, including but not limited to: Working Groups and their respective scopes of work and deliverables, knowledge of position of other member categories, GA voting process and the impacts of their votes.
c) To trigger and facilitate discussion amongst smallholders on subjects including but not limited to ensuring fair representation amongst smallholder representatives, identifying smallholder needs and priorities for GPSNR, and effective integration of smallholders into the fabric of GPSNR.

Roles and Responsibilities of Facilitator
The facilitator will be the main facilitator for the online sessions. Where necessary, subject matter experts (i.e. GPSNR Members) may be required to make specific presentations for certain sessions. For such sessions, the facilitator will take on a supporting and coordinating role. It is expected that the facilitator will be required to engage in several preparatory calls with GPSNR prior to the actual sessions.

Other responsibilities of the facilitator will include:
i. General familiarization with GPSNR structure and processes, including relevant organizational documents
ii. Familiarization with smallholders, inputs from the previously conducted workshops and national conversations
iii. Develop session methodologies and materials in conjunction with GPSNR
iv. Sessions must be participatory where possible, and designed to provoke critical thinking from the participants
v. Assist GPSNR in planning and coordinating the sessions, including communications to be sent to selected participants (e.g. any pre-workshop reading or activities)
vi. Provide a summary report of the sessions, with recommendations for follow-up activities and strategies to support smallholder integration based on the priorities and recommendations expressed by the participants

Qualifications and Experience
The facilitator should possess the following qualifications/ experience:
• Demonstrated high level of skill and experience in facilitating workshops or meetings involving farmer groups/ indigenous people from several regions
• Demonstrated high awareness and practical and inclusive facilitation skills in working in multicultural and multi-lingual workshop settings
• Experience in planning and designing participatory workshops and consultations with engaging facilitation methods and activities, preferably experience in facilitating online sessions
• Excellent communication skills
• Fluent in written and spoken English
• Fluency in one or more of the following languages is a plus: Bahasa Indonesia, French, Myanmar, Thai, Vietnamese

Submission Guidelines
Interested applicants should ensure that their application contains the following:
1. Profile of facilitator
2. References to similar work1 / projects undertaken
3. Proposed work-plan
4. Detailed costing set against tasks and deliverables

Please submit your application to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org by 24 July 2020.

Download RFP here:Download

GPSNR Staff July 16, 2020

Request For Proposal – GPSNR-RFP-A02-031-Proposing a Quantitative Orientation for GPSNR’s Reporting Matrix

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 producers and processors,  end users, smallholders and NGOs.

In 2021, GPSNR members approved Reporting Requirements that would allow member companies to report on their progress implementing their commitments under the Policy Framework. With the approval of the Reporting Requirements, ordinary member companies now report annually on the questions included in the Reporting Matrix, which is organized by member category. Many of the questions in the matrix require qualitative responses.  While qualitative information is helpful to understand a company’s progress in implementing its policy, it makes data analysis either to evaluate its progress year to year or to assess progress within a particular stakeholder category difficult.

GPSNR Policy Toolbox Working Group is seeking a consultant to review the GPSNR Reporting Matrix and revise the questions to generate quantitative responses wherever possible.  The consultant should review the following GPSNR documents to inform these proposed revisions: draft GPSNR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), GPSNR risk assessment guidance documents, feedback from member survey on Year 1 reporting. The consultant should also do a crosswalk with other credible reporting frameworks commonly used by members (e.g., Global Reporting Initiative – GRI, CDP Forest and ZSL SPOTT) to inform proposed changes.

Objectives and Scope of Work

 

  1. Review GPSNR’s Reporting Matrix to  identify questions that currently generate qualitative responses that could generate quantitative responses and propose revisions (this may not be feasible in all cases).
  2. Do a crosswalk of the draft category specific KPIs to determine if they can replace any questions with qualitative responses in the reporting matrix.
  3. Do a crosswalk of the Reporting Matrix questions with GRI, CDP Forest and ZSL-SPOTT reporting questionnaires to identify gaps between the GPSNR Reporting Matrix and the identified reporting schemes and propose equivalent questions from the identified reporting schemes to be integrated into the Reporting Matrix.
  4. Review the recommendations for clarifying reporting questions and responses in the Reporting Matrix that were made by the consortium of consultants that prepared the GPSNR Reporting Guidance (Proforest, Are We There Yet, and Hevea Connect), and propose revisions to reporting questions/responses accordingly.

The consultant can also reference other GPSNR work, such as the risk assessment matrix and the draft Due Diligence Manual.

 

Expected Deliverables

GPSNR expects the consultant to:

Review and revise questions in the GPSNR Reporting Matrix that require a qualitative/narrative response that could be modified to generate a quantitative response. To support the process, the consultants should do the following:

  1. Crosswalk the GPSNR Reporting matrix with reporting frameworks such as GRI, CDP Forest, and ZSL-SPOTT
  2. Use feedback from members’ survey and report from consultants that prepared the reporting guidance to revise reporting questions/responses that have been flagged as unclear and in need of rewording.
  3. Reference the below-listed GPSNR work and determine if any of the work could be used in place of the existing questions in the Reporting Matrix to obtain quantitative responses.
    1. Draft stakeholder category KPIs document
    2. Draft risk assessment guidance framework
    3. Draft due diligence guidance document

Proposal Format and Contents

The proposal should include the following:

1. A workplan that outlines the key activities towards the deliverables outlined in Expected Deliverables above

2. The timeline and key stages of operations based on Project Timeline below

3. Budget, including detailed breakdown of expected manpower, logistics, and costs based on Budget below

4. Description of past work and technical expertise that is relevant to this RFP

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 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 the 14 Apr 2023 to be considered. Proposals should be submitted to savi@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

 

Proposal Publishing date

17 Mar 2023

Proposals submitted by consultant to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org

14 Apr 2023

Selection of Top Bidders / Notification to Unsuccessful Bidders

21 Apr 2023

Contract Award / Notification to Unsuccessful Bidders

28 April 2023

First consultation with Policy Toolbox Working Group

3 May  2023

Final Report + Deliverable submission  

16 June 2023

(if needed) Closing meeting with the Working Group

18 June 2023
   

 

Budget

The Platform is anticipating that a total budget of no more than $10,000 USD be allocated to this engagement with an additional amount available to support approved travel, if
necessary.

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.

·        50% on delivery of the final report

The allocation of the payment shall be based on the net amount after travel
expenses, if deemed necessary by both the consultant and Secretariat, are
incurred and documented.

 

 

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.eforestation Regulation consolidated text 20-12-22

 


View RFP Document here

GPSNR Secretariat March 28, 2023
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