Consultancy for Consulting, Implementing Landscape units for the Scaling Sustainable Production and Trade of Vietnamese Pepper Project

Terms of Reference (“ToR”)

Consulting, implementing Landscape units for the Scaling Sustainable production

and Trade of Vietnamese pepper Project (the “Project”)

1.    Background

European Union (EU) - the Member States of the European Union have decided to link together their know-how, resources and destinies. Together, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms. The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders'

IDH Sustainable Trade Initiatives (“IDH”) accelerates and scales sustainable trade by building impact-oriented coalitions of front running companies, civil society, governments, knowledge institutions and other stakeholders in several commodity sectors and landscapes. IDH convenes the interests, strengths and knowledge of public and private partners in sustainability commodity programs that aim to mainstream international and domestic commodity markets. We jointly formulate strategic intervention with public and private partners and we co-invest with partners in activities that generate public goods.

In response to European Union (EU)’s call for proposals relating to implementing the action “Promoting high quality exports from Vietnam” with the reference number EuropeAid/168350/DD/ACT/VN, EU awarded IDH as lead applicant, Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) and European Spices Association (ESA) as co-applicants to implement the Project on Scaling sustainable production and trade of Vietnamese pepper as defined in the EU Contract starting 1^st January 2021 and ending 31 December 2023 which has been recorded by the EU under number ACA/2020/421963. The Project focuses on the enhancement of sustainable value chain in black pepper, connection between small and medium local enterprises, smallholder farmers with European exporters through improved services and technologies, diversified income sources and climate change adaption. In addition, the Project also improves sustainable farming practices and responsible management in environment and community.

Thereby, a grant of EUR 800,000 (the “Grant”) was awarded to IDH with its co-funding of EUR 262,882 to deliver the Project

With this Grant, IDH and consortium partners jointly deliver the Project on Scaling sustainable production and trade of Vietnamese pepper.

This ToR is designed to seek consultancy to support to develop and design the pepper sourcing landscapes and provide technical service packages of landscape approach to pepper sourcing companies and farmers in the Central Highland.

2.      Financing

The Project is co-financed by the European Union, in accordance with the rules of the EU Action “Promoting high quality exports from Vietnam”.

This Project has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this ToR are the sole responsibility of IDH and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

3.    Objectives of the Assignment 

The consultant is expected to:

• Develop and complete technical proposal and budget estimation to tackle key issues relevant to five (5) pepper companies (Pearl Corporation, Haprosimex JSC, VietSpice, Simexcodl and Vinh Hiep, together referred to as the “Pepper Companies”). Such technical proposal and budget estimation shall be consulted and agreed by IDH and the Pepper Companies.
• Design pepper sourcing landscape units on field which clearly identify hotspots and levels of hotspots, also provide solutions and recommendations for each hotspot. Promote, monitor and evaluate the implementation of landscape units to pepper sourcing areas of the Pepper Companies.
• Facilitate the collaboration among public and private stakeholders to establish Production Protection Inclusion (PPI) compact with pepper included for sustainable development
• Collaborate with the Pepper Companies and provide technical service packages to deliver the activities as specified in the work plans as agreed and approvedto achieve KPIs as specified in the Letter of Intent signed between IDH and each individual Pepper Companies separately.
• Coordinate and work closely with Steering Committee at project areas (if any) to align with other project activities and mobilize resources to contribute to common sustainable targets.
• Update and give feedbacks on field-level project activities to IDH via a reporting mechanism, meetings and/or workshops (if any).

4.    Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver:

• Work plans and competitive budget estimation to implement field-level activities in collaboration with five companiesunder their agreement and approved by IDH
• Detailed designs of pepper sourcing landscape units as required by IDH and in accordance with practical situation, also clearly identify hotspots and levels of hotspots and provide solutions, recommendations and interventions for improvement.
• KPIs as specified in the Letter of Intent which was signed between IDH and the individual Pepper Companies separately are monitored and evaluated
• Periodical reports on the progress of the work plan and update of the budget as approved by IDH and agreed by the four companies.
• PPI compact plan including pepper commodity

5.    Timelines for the assignment

The consultant is expected to share the deliverables before 31/12/2023.

6.       Selection Criteria

The Consultant will be selected upon the following knowledge/expertise and experiences required profile:

• The team leader must have at least Master’s degree with at least 10-year experiences in working with the relevant topics, preferably a foreign expert with strong methodology and strategic thinking.
• Expertise with strong knowledge and experience (but not limited to) in the field of sustainability project implementation in the Central Highland, including preferably deep understanding of facilitation and monitoring and evaluation of landscape-based projects.
• Expertise with strong knowledge and proven experiences of (but not limited to) agriculture, especially of sustainable pepper farming practices.  
• Proven experience in capacity building and technical advice for farmers and local stakeholders.
• Experience in developing and implementing the PPI compact for sustainable agriculture development
• Close relationship with local authorities and expertise in pepper sourcing areas.
• Member of Steering Committee of Landscape and PPI compact is preferred.
• Complete profile and all reference documents as required.

7.    Minimum criteria

Proposals not fulfilling the minimum criteria will be excluded from further assessment.

• Minimum of three client references.
• It must have completed at least 03 projects of previous work relevant to the deliverables in this TOR.  IDH reserves the right to ask for copies of certificates of final acceptance signed by the supervisors/contracting authority of the projects concerned.
• All its key staff must have at least 10 years appropriate experience and proven qualifications relevant to deliverables of a similar nature of this project.
• The tender and all correspondence and documents related to the tender exchanged by the tenderer and IDH must be written in the language of the procedure, which is English.
• A succinct, well-documented approach and methodology demonstrating how the consultant(s) intends to conduct the assignment, along with likely sources of data. This part of the proposal shall not be longer than 5 pages in Word or 10 slides in Power Point.
• The work plan that outlines detailed activities and deliverables with clear timelines.
• Inclusion of a budget with a break-down of man days/rate per consultant with list of consultants who will jointly work on the assignment.
• Statement of experience (only experience from the suggested team members is relevant). The consultant is requested to list the most relevant references, to maximum of 10 in total (for all team members together). The reference text shall not be longer than 0.5 page in Word or 1 slide in Power Point.
• Clear description of the project team relevant experience of team members and time allocation, day rate, home base and person working days for each team member.
• Copy of most recent (audited) financial accounts.

8.    Scoring and weighing

Step 1 of 3: Criterion Quality

The proposal will be assessed based on the following selection criteria:

Scoring for each component

The evaluation committee will unanimously score each component by assigning scores from 1 to the maximum grading of 5, whereas the maximum grading represents optimal performance on the component and 1 represents extremely poor performance on the respective component.

Step 2 of 3:  Criteria

The criterion of assessment is “the best price for the proposed level of quality” with a maximum grading of 5.

Step 3: Weighting

The final score will be weighted 50% on quality and 50% on price.

9.    Grounds for exclusion

Consultants shall be excluded from participation in a procurement procedure if they fall into any of the situations mentioned in Annex 1. Consultants must confirm in writing that they are not in one of the situations as listed in Annex 1.

10.  Participation

Consultants may not tender for a given contract both individually and as a member of a joint venture/consortium. Participation by a Consultant in more than one tender for a contract will result in the disqualification of all those tenders for that contract in which the party is involved. The same Consultant may only participate as subcontractor in different tenders if that is justified by the specific nature of the market and cleared by IDH.

The call for proposals is open on equal terms to natural and legal persons established in one of the Member States of the European Union, ACP States or in a country or territory authorised by the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement under which the contract is financed. Participation is also open to international organisations. All supplies and materials shall originate from one or more of those eligible countries. However, they may originate from any country when the amount value of the supplies and materials to be purchased is below EUR 100 000.

11. Confidentiality

The Consultant will ensure that all its contacts with IDH, with regards to the tender, during the tender procedure take place exclusively in writing by e-mail to Mac Tuyet Nga via [email protected]. The Consultant is thus explicitly prohibited, to prevent discrimination of the other Consultants 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 with confidentiality. The Consultant will also impose a duty of confidentiality on any parties that it engages. Any breach of the duty of confidentiality by the Consultant or its engaged third parties will give IDH grounds for exclusion of the Consultant, without requiring any prior written or verbal warning.

All information, documents and other requested or provided data submitted by the Consultants 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 Consultant.

12.  Disclaimer

IDH reserves the right to update, change, extend, postpone, withdraw or suspend the Terms of Reference, this tender, or any decision with regard to 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. IDH reserves the right to suspend or annul the Tender Procedure at any moment in time.

Participants 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 these Terms of Reference, and subsequent information and documentation in this tender procedure.

13.  Contact

The contact person for this assignment is Mac Tuyet Nga, Project Manager via email: [email protected] or Nguyen Tran Quyen, Field Coordinator via email: [email protected]

14.  Annexes

Annex 1: Grounds for exclusion

Annex 2: Statement

Annex 3: Draft Contract

Annex 1 – Grounds for exclusion

Consultants shall be excluded from participation in a procurement procedure if they fall into any of the situations mentioned below:

• they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations.
• they or persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control over them have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata.
• they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the IDH can justify.
• they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established, or with those of the Netherlands or those of the country where the contract is to be performed.
• they or persons having powers of representation, decision making of control over them have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering or any other illegal activity, where such illegal activity is detrimental to the MFA’s financial interests.
• They fall into a situation set out in Section 2.4. (EU restrictive measures), 2.6.10.1. (exclusion criteria) or 2.6.10.1.2. (rejection from a procedure) of the PRAG.

Consultants must confirm in writing that they are not in one of the situations as listed above.

1. Consultants shall not make use of child labor or forced labor and/or practice discrimination and they shall respect the right to freedom of association and the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining, in accordance with the core conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Annex 2 – Statement of acceptance draft Contract

Tender: Consulting, implementing Landscape units for the Scaling Sustainable production and Trade of Vietnamese pepper Project

By signing this statement of acceptance, the Participant accepts the draft letter of assignment, which is attached to the Terms of Reference d.d. [insert date ToR] as Annex 3.