(Closed) Request For Proposal – GPSNR-RFP-A02-024-Pilot Agroforestry Workshops for Smallholders

Share This Post

1. Introduction

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 producers and processors, vehicle makers, NGOs, and smallholder natural rubber producers. 

As of June 2022, GPSNR has 135 smallholder members from 10 countries. Smallholder members on the Platform have consistently advocated for the Platform to implement initiatives on agroforestry and were a catalyst for GPSNR’s commitment on agroforestry announced at COP26 in Glasgow[1].

To advance engagement with smallholders on agroforestry, GPSNR is seeking to hire a consultant to develop coaching materials on rubber agroforestry systems, and to conduct a pilot series of “Introduction to Agroforestry” workshops for smallholders in two to three countries in 2022.

Proposed programmes should be implemented in line with GPSNR environmental and social commitments and values, based on the GPSNR Policy Framework[2].

[1] GPSNR Announcement on Agroforestry: https://t.co/9aXbZeZpeS
[2]GPSNR Policy Framework: https://sustainablenaturalrubber.org/policy-framework/

2. Objectives and Deliverables     

Objectives

  1. To collate and prepare global, country, and region-specific peer-reviewed evidence and best-practice materials on agroforestry for natural rubber systems
    1. Content on environmental, economic feasibility of rubber agroforestry systems
    2. Where feasible, collated material to be disseminated to GPSNR smallholder members and their communities even where workshops are not planned for in 2022 
    3. Materials would be translated by GPSNR under a separate budget
  2. To conduct pilot workshops for GPSNR smallholder members and their communities, including active integration of women, youth, and minority representation, to introduce agroforestry concepts and practices, and provide guidance and answers for the following questions:
    1. What is possible to grow in your region or specific location, and how can this be achieved? Possible considerations include:
      1. Appropriate farm design
      2. Cultivation practices
      3. Cost estimation
    2. What is the market availability, demand, and potential economic/financial model and value chain of recommended crops, or of particular products, in your region?
    3. How can agroforestry investments benefit smallholders economically, environmentally, and socially? 

Deliverables

GPSNR has identified the following countries where materials, and workshops, should be prioritised in 2022:

  1. Cambodia: strong enthusiasm from smallholders, NGOs, and other partners to organise and kickstart agroforestry in the country, where little to none have been implemented at present 
  2. Indonesia: agroforestry possibilities and practices would vary widely across the country’s major rubber-producing regions; there is strong interest from smallholders as well; critical to blend or merge more traditional concepts such as jungle rubber with evidenced-based and structured forms of agroforestry
  3. Thailand: a well-organised and budding agroforestry movement is taking root especially in southern Thailand (termed “sustainable natural rubber” by smallholders and the Rubber Authority of Thailand); workshops could further provide a boost to smallholders in the region and country
  4. Next tier of countries: Cote d’Ivoire, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar 

The consultant may propose other priority countries in their proposal and justify their choice of countries based on metrics of their own construction.

The proposal should include key details such as the following:

  • Methodology of content and curriculum development
  • Proposed teaching or coaching pedagogy and approach for the workshops
  • List of local partners or experts, if any, that could be engaged for the workshops
  • Target number of smallholders in each country

Future Plans

In addition to the pilot series of workshops in 2022 in at least two countries, the consultant should present an outline to consider how the series of pilot “Introduction to Agroforestry Workshops” can be expanded (in terms of countries, content, level of engagement etc.) beyond 2022.

3. TENDER 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/accreditation of the bidder on agroforestry and agricultural production

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

  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.

4. Expected Timelines

The work shall begin by July 2022 and the various phases shall be completed in accordance with the approximate timeline below:
ActivityDue Date
RFP publication3 June 2022
Submission deadline for proposals1 July 2022
Contract Award8 July 2022
First Workshops ConductedSeptember 2022
Second Workshops ConductedOctober 2022
If Proposed: Third Workshops ConductedNovember 2022
Final Review and Project ConclusionDecember 2022

Consultants should detail a project timeline with milestones that are approximately in line with the above timeline.

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

5. Budget

The Platform is anticipating that the total budget of no more than 35,000 EUR be allocated to the project. The approximate expected breakdown for each Stage is as such:

Bidders should outline their expected budget expenditure in the proposal.

Payment terms shall be proposed by the bidder and discussed with GPSNR, in line with each Stage of the project.

6. Evaluation Factors

The proposal should include the following:

  1. A workplan that outlines all key activities in line with the stated Objectives and Deliverables
  2. Timeline and key stages of operations
  3. Budget, including detailed breakdown of expected manpower, logistics, and costs
  4. Description of past work and proof of technical expertise on natural rubber agroforestry systems is highly critical for this RFP
  5. A list of project team members with their roles in the project and associated qualifications
View RFP Document here

More To Explore
Tender

(CLOSED) Request for Proposal – Traceability and Transparency Tools Comparison

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. Development of the GPSNR was initiated by the CEOs of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Tire Industry Project (TIP) in November 2017. 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 GPSNR strategy and objectives.

GPSNR has created three core working groups to help advance the platform’s mission to reduce social and environmental risks throughout the natural rubber supply chain.  Working Group 3 (WG3) is dedicated to Traceability and Transparency, with the objective to recommend tools to trace, assess the risk and achieve transparency of any given natural rubber product buyer’s supply chain.

To achieve the WG3 objective, we are requesting proposals for projects that will assess supply chain risks, achieve supply chain traceability and achieve supply chain transparency. 

Scope of Work and Objective

1: Take stock of the traceability and transparency requirements

Understand the requirements of the traceability and transparency tools through discussions and interviews with various members and EC of GPSNR. This includes

  • What level of traceability and transparency (T&T) different stakeholders desire while meeting the criteria and policy?
  • What level of T&T is needed in high risk areas and in low risk areas?
  • How they define high risk and low risk areas?
  • How they plan to identify high and low risk areas?
  • What data in the supply chain (based on the draft GPSNR sustainability criteria) are different stakeholders (particularly downstream rubber industry) agreeable to sharing and with what entities (such as GPSNR, NGOs, competitors, and suppliers), and on what conditions?
  • What data is absolutely confidential that can’t be shared (even with an entity like GPSNR on a strictly confidential basis)?
  • What costs they are willing to pay/ton for T&T in different risk profile areas?

2: Assess Methodologies and Effectiveness of Traceability and Transparency Tools

The following request for proposal asks for a study of the functionalities of traceability/transparency tools being used by the natural rubber and other similar industry sectors: 

  1. Supply chain and product tracking
  2. Supply chain mapping
  3. Satellite and remote sensing (incl. Artificial Intelligence opportunities)

The study should look at each tool’s methodology for identifying origin and collecting information and make recommendations for which tools work best (and which do not) regarding the following key areas:

  • The process of data collection and types of data that can be collected
  •  The ability of the tool to identify risk and/or contribute to a risk assessment in the following categories[1]:
  • Social: Protecting internationally recognized human rights and labor rights (UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and ILO Core Conventions), securing Free, Prior and Informed Consent, Recognizing rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, provision of community livelihoods, etc.
  • Environmental: Deforestation, protection of High Conservation Values (HCVs) and rare, threatened and endangered species, water quantity and quality, soil protection, protecting peat lands, etc.
  • Legality: Applicable local, national and international laws on human rights, labour, land use and the environment.
  • Analyze the usability of results delivered – functionality (is it user friendly – pragmatic – “ready to go”)
  • Analyze the types of data that are accessible by each tool for:
  • Social: Protecting internationally recognized human rights and labor rights (UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and ILO Core Conventions), securing Free, Prior and Informed Consent, Recognizing rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, provision of community livelihoods, etc.
  • Environmental: Deforestation, protection of High Conservation Values (HCVs) and rare, threatened and endangered species, water quantity and quality, soil protection, protecting peat lands, etc.
  • Legality: Applicable local, national and international laws on human rights, labour, land use and the environment.
  • Explore challenges with data sharing considering confidentiality and data ownership (within each tool), but also consider feasibility and the possibility of sharing information between tools.
  • Understand the reliability of data and the auditability of data (verify).  Consider each tools ability to be audited to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party methods.  Consider the differences between tools that collect data via voluntary declaration of the suppliers vs onsite data collection by a 2nd or 3rd party.
  • Understand cost– what are other costs that need to be considered:
    • Set-up/prerequisite
    • Maintenance
    • Deployment
  • Understand the scalability of each tool.  At what geographic level can each tool perform and within what timeframes.
  • Adaptability of tool for use by GPSNR members to meet commitments and reporting requirements.

[1] Note: this bullet point is not asking the assessor to conduct a risk assessment themselves.  It is asking the assessor to identify which tools provide valuable data to evaluate and identify risk regarding specific environmental, social and legality factors.

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. A technical proposal must be provided that is not more than 4 pages. This technical proposal must provide an overview of the proposed tools for analysis as well as resumes of all key personnel performing the work. In addition, the technical proposal should provide a description of previous relevant work, and a proposed schedule.
  3. 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.
  4. Proposals must be signed by a representative that is authorized to commit bidder’s company.
  5. Proposals must be received prior to 19th August 2020 to be considered. Proposals should be submitted to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org for consideration.
  6. 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.

Budget

The Platform is anticipating a total budget of no more than 30,000 Euros for the study. 

Payment terms shall be:

  • 50% at the signing of the contract
  • 50% on delivery of the final report

Evaluation Factors

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

  • Responsiveness to the requirements set forth in this Request for Proposal;
  • Relevant past performance/experience;
  • Samples of work;
  • Cost, including an assessment of total cost of ownership;
  • 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.

Please submit your application to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org by 19 August 2020.

GPSNR Staff August 14, 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

© 2022 All rights reserved

Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber

Scroll to Top