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.

The Risk Subgroup of GPSNR is seeking a consultant/field team to identify, test, evaluate and report on what effort may be required for a rubber processor to map their supply shed (i.e., all the farms that they are sourcing from) in complex supply chains such as in Indonesia and Thailand. 

Objectives

The goal of the pilot is to investigate what effort (i.e., time, effort, cost, labour) may be required for a rubber processor to map their supply chain in complex supply chains such as Indonesia and Thailand.

The goal of this pilot is to map at least 300 small holder farmers supplying one processing mill each in Thailand. The subgroup is open to negotiation on the total number of small holder farms mapped based on the service provider’s experience and estimation.

The service provider should work with the GPSNR Risk Subgroup and the participating processors from Thailand and their dealers to:

1. Keep track of time and costs of all mapping related activities throughout the study, calculate time and cost of mapping each farm, and provide them to their GPSNR Point of Contact at the end of the survey.
2. Register and map farmers using field-based mapping or in combination with remote sensing that is crossed checked with field-based mapping samples. The service provider is welcomed to use their own method.
   1. Collect and provide the shapefiles from the mapping at the end of the project to the point of contact and the participating processor.
3. Ask farmers to answer the RubberWay questionnaire.
4. Ask farmers to answer the HCVRN Nature Positive Farming questionnaire.
5. Unless automatically uploaded, submit farmers’ responses to the respective databases and the GPSNR point of contact at the end of each day for compilation.
6. Record the effort required to convince 300 farmers per processing mill to complete all 3 tools.
   1. Number of dealers and farmers contacted to identify 300 farmers willing to participate in study.
   2. Total person hours required to identify 300 willing suppliers.
   3. Details of incidental (not staff time) expenses required to identify 300 willing farmers.
7. Record the effort required/difficulty to convince the super dealers/suppliers to participate in the study, based on the supplier tiers & on the pilot sample goal.
   1. Skip Tier 1 farms
   2. Not more than 100 responses from Tier 2
   3. 200 responses from Tier 3 and 4 suppliers

Scope of Work

• Field data collection has to be completed by the second month from the starting date of the project.
  • Ideally, field teams are experienced in 2 or more of the above tools (RubberWay questionnaire, HCVRN Nature Positive Farming questionnaire and field-based or remote sensing-based mapping), else training will be provided. Please indicate which tools your team is experienced in using we will provide the necessary training.
    • If remote-sensing based is preferred by the service provider, please respond with the process and note that the data has to be cross-checked with field-based samples.
  • Field teams have to be able to speak the local language at each survey location(i.e., Thai).
• GPSNR estimates the necessary activities per farm and the time required to conduct them to be as follows:

1. Explain purpose of visit (~15 mins)
2. Get permission for personal data collection to ensure data protection (~5mins)
3. Map farm via mapping based on the mapping method chosen by the service provider (e.g., field-based mapping or remote sensing cross-checked with field samples) (~90mins).
   1. Mapping for farms <4 hectares:
      1. Polygon mapping or GPS mapping is up to the discretion of the service provider.
   2. Polygon mapping for farms above 4 hectares:
      1. This is based on the EU regulation (see Annex A) that a polygon would be required for farmers over 4 hectares.
      2. At least 10% (~30 of the 300 farms must be polygon mapped)
   3. Fill in RubberWay questionnaire (~30mins)
   4. Fill in HCVRN Nature Positive Farming questionnaire (~30mins – 1 hour)
   5. Verify data before departure (~10mins)

• GPSNR assumes:
  • Total time required: ~approximately 180 mins/3 hours per farm per field assistant.
  • Farms likely to be covered per day: 2 farms.
  • Total number of field assistant days required assuming 2 farms per day: 450 days
  • Total weeks required for 1 field assistant assuming 5 work days per week: 90 weeks
  • Total weeks required for two processors assuming 10 field assistants working simultaneously in one country: 9 weeks
  • This is an estimation of the time taken, we look forward to a comparison with the final recorded timings.
• If you have other ideas on how to achieve the above objectives, please provide details about how you would design the study

Expected Deliverables

Specifically, GPSNR expects the consultant to:

 1. Map at least 300 farmers supplying to the participating processor in Thailand and provide the shapefiles to the processor and the GPSNR point of contact.

a.      There should at least be 10% (~30 farms out of 300 farms) that are polygon mapped, based on the requirements mentioned above and in Annex A.

 2. We would like a detailed account of the time and resources spent on 1. travelling to the farm, 2. On the farm and 3. Data analysis

a.      We would like to see a breakdown of the total time spent in each component. E.g., Total reported time spent on 1 farm + 1 analysis = 8hours, within that 2 hour (time taken to travel to farm), 0.5 hours (convincing the farmer), 0.5 hours (communicating to farmer about the tool), 20 mins (Mapping the farms), 30 mins (HCVN questionnaire), 30 mins (Rubberway questionnaire)

 3. An evaluation of the merits and limitations of each tool

a.      E.g., 3/11 farmers surveyed were more apprehensive about the mapping tool due to fear of exposing their location.

 4. A recommendation of the scalability of this pilot

a.      Can the same estimated cost/time/labour be replicated in other regions/jurisdictions within the same country?

b.     E.g., $X/farm is calculated but is not scalable due to what reason(s).

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.
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 10 March 2023 to be considered. Proposals should be submitted to stefano.savi@gpsnr.org and cheryl@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

Budget

The Platform is anticipating that a total budget of no more than €25,000 be allocated to this engagement.

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.

Annex

Annex A: EU Deforestation Regulation

‘geolocation’ means the geographical location of a plot of land described by means of latitude and longitude coordinates corresponding to at least one latitude and longitude point and using at least six decimal digits. For relevant commodities other than cattle, for plots of land of more than 4 hectares, the geographical location shall be provided using polygons, meaning sufficient latitude and longitude points to describe the perimeter of each plot of land.

Text obtained from Article 2: Definitions, point (29) of the Deforestation Regulation consolidated text dated 20/12/22Deforestation Regulation consolidated text 20-12-22

View RFP Document here