Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) – Deforestation risk assessment to support Phuc Sinh in up scaling of climate-smart coffee in the highland, Viet Nam

Background

Phuc Sinh Corporation (https://phucsinh.com) ranks among Vietnam’s top 10 exporters in both markets. Renowned for their leadership in Rainforest Alliance (RA) standard farming in Vietnam in the industry. For over two decades, Phuc Sinh has successfully built responsible supply chain by sustainable cultivating, distributing which safe to consumers, related communities, forests and natural resources.

The Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (www.thedfcd.com) provides finance and Technical Assistance (TA) to enable, mobilize and scale private sector funding for climate-smart development in two stages, origination, and investment.

Phuc Sinh and DFCD agreed to implement an origination project to support the development of “Scaling climate-smart coffee practices among vulnerable communities in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, by Phuc Sinh”.

Objectives of the assignment

The overall intention of the deforestation risk assessment is to support Phuc Sinh successful expansion and scaling up of the RA standard farming in the central Highlands, and compliance with the new law to fight global deforestation and forest degradation driven by EU production and consumption enters into force. Detailed objectives:

Review current deforestation risks and drivers (policies, social-economic, physical climate risks…) that related to coffee in the project areas (Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Son La… province).
Assess deforestation risks and drivers, and potential drivers for Phuc Sinh coffee in expansion areas in supporting Phuc Sinh complying with Viet Nam law, the Rainforest Alliance standards, EUDR Deforestation Risk, IFC PS Regulation.
Provision of recommendations for Phuc Sinh deforestation-free for their supply chain to achieve above standards (IFC PS, RA, EUDR) and its commitment to sustainability.

Activities/Tasks

The following tasks are to be performed under the guidance and supervision of Phuc Sinh’s designated staff and SNV’s DFCD Vietnam.

Desk-based review of related deforestation risk information, drivers and Phuc Sinh’s business, supply chains in the project areas
Historic period spatial mapping/analysing for the project areas with respect to forest cover changes, deforestation drivers for 2014 (as baseline), until 2024; and suggest vulnerable areas/maps related to geographic, social, and economic conditions.
Deforestation assessment to be conducted in coordinating with Viet Nam law, RA standard/EUDR, IFC PS requirements and expectations in the project areas.
Involve local stakeholders and include vulnerable groups (ethnic minorities and women) in the assessments/recommendations. Incorporate stakeholder engagement to validate findings.
Incorporating/discussing with the other TA teams that are working with Phuc Sinh on GIS, traceability, RA standards etc during the implementation for the tasks.
Presenting findings/recommendations for Phuc Sinh on deforestation-free coffee, which involves related stakeholders, such as, local smallholders, local authorities, management teams.

Deliverables

Spatial mapping of the project areas with respect to historic deforestation for 2014 (as baseline), and 2024; and vulnerable area/map for development period (all digital maps, and report format)
Validated final deforestation assessment (full report).
Summary report, presentation of findings to PS.

For more details on the Expression of Interest process, submission requirements, and evaluation details, please see corresponding sections below:

Submission Requirements

Interested consultants should submit the EOIs with following information/ documents via the link https://smrtr.io/p4jvb

Letter of Interest
The applicant’s professional qualifications and CVs which requires:

The applicant’s experience & knowledge on GIS RS, agriculture/environmental/ecological, anthropology, Viet Nam’s Forest law/regulation and international standard/regulation as RA, EUDR…, have qualification/competency and means to gain the valid forest/geo data or other relevant fields (at least master’s degree for key members);
At least 5 years of proven experience in performance of similar assignments; and relation with deforestation/landscape assessment in integrated planning (Proved by example of deliverables)
Strong network relationship with policy makers, national/ sub-national stakeholders, scientific institutes supporting/ working in the highland (central highland and Son La).

Due Diligence Declaration Form via https://smrtr.io/p4jvb
Business license of the company

Deadline for EOISubmissions

EOIs are due 17:00 on December 1^st, 2024

Selection Process

SNV will review all Expressions of Interest received in accordance with the guidelines and criteria in this solicitation. SNV reserves the right to exclude any EOIs that do not meet the guidelines. Please note that SNV is unable to provide detailed feedback to those EOIs that are not selected.

Step 1: SNV will shortlist selected EOIs, and unsuccessful respondents will be notified. Successful applicants will be contacted by SNV.

Step 2: SNV will release Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for the specific activities and contract with the selected organizations/ consultants.

Protection of Information

We request that Expressions of Interest responses be free of any intellectual property that the applicant wishes to protect. Should offerors wish to include proprietary intellectual property that they believe would be helpful for SNV, please note the proprietary nature of such information. Costing information will be kept confidential and will not be shared beyond SNV.

Issuance of this EOI does not constitute a commitment, award, or engagement on the part of SNV nor does it commit SNV to any future commitment or engagement.

Note: SNV reserves the right to change or cancel this requirement in the EOI/or solicitation process at any time.