Call for EOI: Preliminary Environmental and Social Assessment (PESA) for Climate Resilient Rice Seed in the Mekong Delta

CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)

 PRELIMINARY ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ASSESSMENT (PESA) FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT
RICE SEED IN THE MEKONG DELTA

VINASEED and DFCD origination project

Established in 1968 as a state enterprise under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vinaseed was privatized in November 2003. It becomes one of the leading groups in the scale of management capability, Crop Industry in financial management and market share development in Viet Nam and growing in the region. It’s also noticed as an innovative climate business in researching, developing climate-smart agricultural products with a high yield, outstanding quality, and smart resilient rice seed to climate impacts in the country.

The Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) is managed by a pioneering consortium of Climate Fund Managers (CFM), Worldwide Fund for Nature the Netherlands (WWF-NL) and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. DFCD provides finance and Technical Assistance (TA) to enable, mobilize and scale private sector funding for climate-smart development in two stages, origination, and investment.

VINASEED and DFCD agreed to implement an origination project to support the development of more climate-resilient rice seeds in the Mekong Delta, which is being undertaken by Vinaseed (Vietnam National Seeds Group JSC).    

Objectives of the assignment

Objectives: the PESA aims to support Vinaseed’s development of its initiated R&D of resilient rice seed (RRS) into production adapt to climate scenarios projected in the MKD and to build on the company’s positive intentions and early stage Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) actions.

The overall intention of the Assessment:

• Assess and support the strengthening of VNS’s Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) and company capacity to implement it.
• Assess the specific environmental and social benefits and risks associated with the business model and develop appropriate management/mitigation measures.
• Provision of recommendations for climate resilient rice varieties to best benefit for promoting adaptation under climate stresses in the MKD

Tasks

The following tasks are to be performed under the guidance and supervision of VINASEED’s designated staff and SNV’s DFCD Vietnam country project manager and environmental social specialist.

The following tasks should also be undertaken in consideration of and coordination with other relevant studies (Landscape assessment (LA), Policy assessment (PA) and related stakeholders during December 2021 – September 2022 (estimated total of 60-90 days of the team members).

• Desk based review of related legislation (land use, public services, governance...), social-economic (costs, profits, markets, labours, gender equality, social inclusion of the most vulnerable people etc); environmental stresses affected crop growth, productivity; and barriers and driving factors of climate rice varieties under current climate in the MKD and SEA region
• Desk-based analysis of VNS’s business model, approach, systems, and available data, as well as other relevant secondary environmental and social data
• Development PESA approach and methodologies for climate smart rice seed varieties considering economic benefits, habitat suitability for rice cultivation under current and predicted future climate (RCP4.5 and RCP6.0 and RCP 8.0 scenarios). In accordance to the Mekong Delta Integrated Planning, resolution 120;
• Eco-physiological and bioclimatic data will be utilised to model habitat suitability that’ll enhance/improve the performance of climate smart rice varieties without deteriorating the natural resource base.
• Integrating of Preliminary Environmental Social Assessment (PESA) for climate smart rice seed varieties (farmers’ willingness; practices; policies...)
• Site visits/field surveys, multi-levels consultations, project landscape analysis data and other sources (farmers’ willingness; practices; policies...) to conduct Impact Assessment for RRS development and dissemination, in accordance with other DFCD’s studies (landscape assessment, policy assessment) in the MKD
• Provision of recommendations for:
• Viable justifications of climate resilient rice varieties to best benefit for promoting adaptation under climate stresses in the MKD
• Prioritizing habitat suitability of rice varieties for disseminating/ implementing in main identified sub-zones from 1-4 scales (1. Most vulnerable areas; 4. the least necessary).
• Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) for the improvement of current practices (ecosystem restoration, social benefits, jobs, ethnic minorities inclusion, gender equality….).
• Presenting, training (workshop) about the assessment and recommendations to multiple stakeholders

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

Selection Process

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

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

Step 2: VINASEED 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 VINASEED, please note the proprietary nature of such information. Costing information will be kept confidential and will not be shared beyond VINASEED.

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

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

The applicant needs to complete the Advanced Due Diligence Framework in the Annex attached to application.

CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST [2]