INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural 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 initiated 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 Statutes mandate the creation of an independent Compliance Panel to review and ensure that Members meet GPSNR membership requirements in conformance with Statutes, Code of Conduct, decisions, standards and processes, and make recommendations to GPSNR Executive Committee. The Compliance Panel will administer decisions in line with relevant GPSNR procedures. The panel shall be composed of three external experts and will operate independently from the membership and Secretariat.

GPSNR is seeking a consultant to help define procedures and guidelines required for the transparent and impartial operations and activities of GPSNR Compliance Panel.

PHASE I: OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF WORK

Objectives: To review GPSNR Statutes and relevant procedures, and develop recommendations and propose options available for the structure, operations and verification protocols of the Compliance Panel. 

The current GPSNR membership statutes document stipulates the following: 

10. Compliance System and Compliance Panel. The Executive Committee shall establish a Compliance System to ensure that Members meet Platform membership requirements in conformance with the Platform’s Statutes, Code of Conduct, decisions, standards and processes. The operating procedures of the Compliance System shall be defined in terms of reference to be adopted by the Executive Committee, consistent with the following core provisions: 

a. The Compliance System shall be administered by the Secretariat. 

b. Recommendations and decisions under the Compliance System shall be made by a Compliance Panel. 

c. The Compliance Panel’s functions shall include the review of whether a Member (in the period after its admission) meets the requirements for membership. 

d. The Compliance Panel shall operate independently from the Executive Committee and General Assembly. 

e. The Compliance Panel shall be composed of an independent body of three external experts that meet on a regular basis. 

f. Experts shall be nominated by an Ordinary Member and elected by a decision of the General Assembly to serve a 3-year term. 

g. A Member of the Compliance Panel may be removed by a consensus decision of the Executive Committee with a clear justification available to members upon request. 

h. Members of the Compliance Panel shall be subject to a conflict of interest policy, as adopted by the Executive Committee. 

i. The Compliance System shall ensure that Members are afforded an opportunity to be heard and an opportunity to cure any findings of non-compliance, alleged by either the Compliance System or Grievance Mechanism. 

The consultant is expected to provide an outline of relevant existing compliance models, a comparison of options that GPSNR could consider, and justified recommendations based on: 

• Review of other existing membership and/or compliance panel models  
• Review of GPSNR Statutes and other relevant GPSNR documents  
• Interviews with GPSNR members and relevant external stakeholders 
• Other relevant expert advice and guidance 

Scope of Work:

GPSNR is seeking a consultant to recommend operational procedures and guidance for the GPSNR Compliance Panel, to include: 

• Proposed roles and responsibilities of GPSNR Compliance Panel 
• Suggested scope of the CP’s activities 
• Recommended qualification requirements and selection protocols for Compliance Panel members; covering necessary relevant expertise, how to avoid conflict of interests, and procedures for the appointment and removal of Panel members  
• Options for the structure of decision-making within the panel 
• Proposed verification procedures by the panel to assess ongoing compliance of GPSNR members with membership requirements 
• Procedure for issuing appropriate recommendations to ensure compliance of GPSNR members, based on the submitted results of the verification process.  
• Options for GPSNR to deal with situations where members cannot demonstrate compliance with relevant membership requirements, including steps towards potential suspension or termination in cases of major or persistent noncompliance 
• Suggestions for appeal procedures related to the decisions/recommendations of the GPSNR CP 
• Procedure for recording and reporting of Compliance Panel decisions/recommendations  

PROPOSAL FORMAT AND CONTENTS

• Description of past work that is relevant to this RFP. 
• A workplan that outlines all key activities of the pilot study, cost for each and timeline for completion. 
• A description of deliverables and indication of accessibility to GPSNR members and/or the public.  
• A list of project team members with their roles in the project and associated qualifications. 

TERMS

The work shall begin by 21 May 2021 and the various phases shall be completed in accordance with the dates outlined in the timeline below: 

BUDGET

The Platform is anticipating that the total budget of no more than 10,000 SGD be allocated to the engagement. 

Payment terms shall be: 

• 20% at the signing of the contract 
• 30% at the presentation of the first draft 
• 50% upon delivery of the final recommendations. 

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. 

Proposals should be submitted to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org and aidan@gpsnr.org for consideration.

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.