Coffee Traceability Sytem Development Consultancy

Terms of Reference

Stichting IDH

Coffee Traceability Sytem Development Consultancy

1. Introduction

Stichting IDH (IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative), through its Vietnam Landscape & Coffee Program, is supporting the agriculture sector in preparing for the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). A core component of IDH’s intervention is the development of a digital Traceability System to ensure coffee product traceability from farm to middlemen and companies. This Terms of Reference (ToR) outlines the scope of services for a consultant or Service Provider to support the design and implementation of that system.

2. Background

The European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), adopted in 2023, requires that commodities such as coffee entering the EU market be fully traceable to deforestation-free production plots, dated no later than 31 December 2020. This regulation places new due diligence responsibilities on producers, traders, and importers – which significantly impacts Vietnam’s coffee sector.

Vietnam’s coffee value chain is characterized by its complexity: millions of smallholders, a high number of intermediaries (middlemen), and a lack of centralized data. In response to these challenges, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (formerly MARD), in collaboration with IDH and partners, has initiated a nationwide strategy to establish an integrated traceability and production data infrastructure.

The Traceability System is one of three foundational components of the EUDR-compliant Coffee Farm Database System, alongside:

Production area database
Forest monitoring database

The Traceability System is designed to ensure transparency and compliance across the coffee supply chain. It will include the following components:

A foundational database for individual farms
A tool for locating smallholder plantations
A tool for recording transactions between smallholders and traders, as well as between traders and export companies
A tool for verifying and assessing product information based on specific plantations

3. Assignment structure and team responsibilities

Objectives

To design and implement a functional, digital traceability system for coffee products, enabling public-private stakeholders to trace procurement activities from farmers through middlemen to companies, and comply with EUDR requirements.

Scope and phase of work

The consultant is responsible for:

Designing the database system and procurement tool from farmers to middlemen
Developing user interfaces and forms for data input, query, and reporting.
Installing the system on a centralized IDH-managed server.
Deploying the system on provincial servers in five Central Highlands provinces: Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Lam Dong, and Dak Nong.
Integrating land-use mapping data from district and commune-level sources.
Creating APIs to connect with the existing Production Area Database and the Forest Database.
Supporting the operationalization of the system through training and maintenance support.
Developing technical documentation and a user manual.
Handover of full system and source code to IDH.

Deliverables and timeline

Key system functions:

Digitized input of procurement data, linked to production and forest databases.
Product tracking tools: by farm, farmer ID, plot, and procurement route.
Risk categorization by source (e.g., low/high-risk deforestation zones).
Administrative dashboard for system access control, reporting, and export functions.

System integration:

Land-use codes and farmer IDs integrated with district/commune-level administrative structures.
Compatibility with future changes to commune/district boundaries.
Real-time reporting of procurement transactions and source identification.

System deployment:

1 system deployed on IDH server (national coordination).
5 systems deployed on provincial servers (Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Dak Nong).

Training and Support:

Completed training manual (admin, user access, data management).
Training sessions conducted for government staff and supply chain actors.
Technical support during operational rollout and erro fixing.

Timeline:

The assignment is expected to last 7 months, from May 2025 to 31 December 2025, with an average of 22 working days per month.

Phase	Description	Timeline
Phase 1	System Design and Installation on IDH server	May – June 2025
Phase 2	Installation at provincial server	June 2025
Phase 3	Testing and Training
Phase 4	Full deployment and handover	By December 2025

4. Proposal requirements

Proposals must include:

Company/Consultancy capacity
Technical approach
CVs for each consultant, with indicated technical responsibilities;
Sample of previous similar work and two client references;
Budget
Compliance with IDH safeguarding policies.

5. Evaluation and award

Criteria:

Technical quality: 75%
Price competitiveness: 25%

Technical proposals will be evaluated on methodology, relevance, feasibility, and team experience.

Once IDH has decided to which Service Provider it intends to award the assignment, a written notification thereof is sent to all Service Providers participating in the tender procedure.

The Service Provider is contracted via a letter of assignment (LoA), following IDH’s template .

6. Communication and confidentiality

The proposal must be submitted within 10 days of the announcement to the following contacts before 23 May 2025:

Ms. Mac Tuyet Nga, Program Manager, Landscape & Coffee Program – [email protected]
Mr. Bui Duc Hao, Technical Lead, Landscape & Coffee Program – [email protected]
Ms. Nguyen Ha Minh Ngoc, Program Assistant, Landscape & Coffee Program – [email protected].

The Service Provider is thus explicitly prohibited, to prevent discrimination of the other Service Providers and to ensure the diligence of the procedure, to have any contact whatsoever regarding the tender with any other persons of IDH than the person stated in the first sentence of this paragraph.

The documents provided by or on behalf of IDH will be handled confidentiality. The Service Provider will also impose a duty of confidentiality on any parties that it engages. Any breach of the duty of confidentiality by the Service Provider or its engaged third parties will give IDH grounds for exclusion of the Service Provider, without requiring any prior written or verbal warning.

All information, documents and other requested or provided data submitted by the Service Providers will be handled with due care and confidentiality by IDH. The provided information will after evaluation by IDH be filed as confidential. The provided information will not be returned to the Service Provider.

7. Disclaimer

IDH reserves the right to update, change, extend, postpone, withdraw, or suspend the ToR, this tender procedure, or any decision regarding the selection or contract award. IDH is not obliged in this tender procedure to make a contract award decision or to conclude a contract with a participant.

Participants in the tender procedure cannot claim compensation from IDH, any affiliated persons or entities, in any way, in case any of the afore-mentioned situations occur.

By handing in a proposal, participants accept all terms and reservations made in this ToR, and subsequent information and documentation in this tender procedure.