Situation Analysis for vulture conservation in SADC countries
IUCN: Request for Proposals Page 1 of 10
Request for Proposals (RfP) for situational analysis on vulture conservation in SADC countries
South Africa Office, BIOPAMA Project
RfP Reference: IUCN-24-06- P02204-05
Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit a Proposal. Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your Proposal from this Procurement.
1. REQUIREMENTS
1.1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.
2. CONTACT DETAILS
2.1. During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your Proposal. IUCN Contact: tenders.sa@iucn.org
3. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE
3.1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will publish this on our website and contact you directly if you have indicated your interest in this procurement (see Section 3.2). DATE ACTIVITY
07 June 2024
Publication of the Request for Proposals
12 June 2024
Deadline for submission of questions
14 June 2024
Planned publication of responses to questions 24 June 2024 Deadline for submission of Proposals to IUCN (“Submission Deadline”)
26 June 2024
Clarification of Proposals
28 June 2024
Planned date for contract award
1 July 2024
Expected contract start date
4. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
4.1. Your Proposal must consist of the following four separate documents:
• Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)
• Pre-Qualification Information (see Section 4.3 below)
• Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)
• Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)
Proposals must be prepared in English.
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4.2. Your Proposal must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be [RfP Reference – bidder name]. The bidder name is the name of the company/organisation on whose behalf you are submitting the Proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your Proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g. Email 1 of 3, if attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a file-sharing tool.
IMPORTANT: Submitted documents must be password-protected so that they cannot be opened and read before the submission deadline. Please use the same password for all submitted documents. After the deadline has passed and within 12 hours, please send the password to the IUCN Contact. This will ensure a secure bid submission and opening process. Please DO NOT email the password before the deadline for Proposal submission.
4.3. Pre-Qualification Criteria
IUCN will use the following Pre-Qualification Criteria to determine whether you have the capacity to provide the required goods and/or services to IUCN. Please provide the necessary information in a single, separate document.
Pre-Qualification Criteria
1
3 relevant references of clients similar to IUCN / similar work
2
Confirm that you have all the necessary legal registrations to perform the work
3
State your annual turnover for each of the past 3 years
4
How many employees does your organisation have who are qualified for this work?
5
Confirm that your organisation has the qualified personnel (s) to undertake this task
6
Contractors from non-EU OECD Member State are not eligible to receive this contract: Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, United States of America.
4.4. Technical Proposal
The Technical Proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column).
Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion.
Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will actually carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval.
IUCN will evaluate Technical Proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:
1.
Concept and methodology
25
1.1
Clarity and completeness of the tender
5
1.2
Proposed approach and methods, including workplan
20
2.
Qualifications and Experience of proposed consultants
50
2.1
Relevant experience in and knowledge of vulture conservation and broader conservation issues in Southern Africa
20
2.2
Knowledge of international instruments for conservation of vultures and other broad biodiversity and wildlife strategies, especially as they relate to the SADC region
10
2.3
Experience consulting member states on multilateral conservation projects and strategies
10
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2.4
Relevant experience in synthesis of information into a situation analysis and clear presentation of findings
10
3.
Track record
25
3.1
Quality and relevance of references provided
–
Evidence of previous vulture conservation work
–
Evidence of knowledge of conservation plans/strategies relevant to SADC
–
Evidence of stakeholder engagement processes including any consultations with SADC member states
–
Evidence of report writing skills
20
3.2
Proven history of meeting deadlines
5
TOTAL
100
4.5. Financial Proposal
4.5.1. The Financial Proposal must be a fixed and firm price for the provision of the goods/services stated in the RfP in their entirety.
4.5.2. Prices include all costs
Submitted rates and prices are deemed to include all costs, insurances, taxes (except VAT, see below), fees, expenses, liabilities, obligations, risk and other things necessary for the performance of the Terms of Reference or Specification of Requirements. IUCN will not accept charges beyond those clearly stated in the Financial Proposal. This includes applicable withholding taxes and similar. It is your responsibility to determine whether such taxes apply to your organisation and to include them in your Financial Proposal.
4.5.3. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes
Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.
4.5.4. Currency of proposed rates and prices
All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in EUR.
4.5.5. Breakdown of rates and prices
All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be broken down into days needed per work segment and then a daily rate noted.
The financial proposal must also include travel costs to a central location in SADC to present the situation analysis to SADC Member States. This estimate of travel costs is to be identified as a separate line item in the financial proposal.
4.6. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be considered in the evaluation.
4.7. Your Proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.
4.8. Withdrawals and Changes
You may freely withdraw or change your Proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline by written notice to the IUCN Contact. However, in order to reduce the risk of fraud, no changes or withdrawals will be accepted after the submission deadline.
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5. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
5.1. Completeness
IUCN will firstly check your Proposal for completeness. Incomplete Proposals will not be considered further.
5.2. Pre-Qualification Criteria
Only Proposals that meet all of the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.
5.3. Technical Evaluation
5.3.1. Scoring Method
Your Proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.
5.3.2. Minimum Quality Thresholds
Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.
5.3.3. Technical Score
Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your Proposal’s overall technical score.
5.4. Financial Evaluation and Financial Scores
The financial evaluation will be based upon the full total price you submit. Your Financial Proposal will receive a score calculated by dividing the lowest Financial Proposal that has passed the minimum quality thresholds (see Section 5.3.2) by the total price of your Financial Proposal.
Thus, for example, if your Financial Proposal is for a total of CHF 100 and the lowest Financial Proposal is CHF 80, you will receive a financial score of 80/100 = 80%
5.5. Total Score
Your Proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.
The relative weights will be:
Technical: 70%
Financial: 30%
Thus, for example, if your technical score is 83% and your financial score is 77%, you will receive a total score of 83 * 70% + 77 * 30% = 58.1% + 23.1% = 81.2%.
Subject to the requirements in Sections 4 and 7, IUCN will award the contract to the bidder whose Proposal achieves the highest total score.
6. EXPLANATION OF PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE
6.1. IUCN is using the Open Procedure for this procurement. This means that the contracting opportunity is published on IUCN’s website and open to all interested parties to take part, subject to the conditions in Section 7 below.
6.2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.
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6.3. All Proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.1 above. Late Proposals will not be considered. All Proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of three or more evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate Proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose Proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.
6.4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring Proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of Proposals takes.
7. CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROCUREMENT
7.1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a Proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.
7.1.1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant Proposal.
7.1.2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed Proposal submission may be deemed non-compliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.
7.1.3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your Proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.
7.2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:
•
Free of conflicts of interest
•
Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)
•
In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes
•
Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection
•
Not bankrupt or being wound up
•
Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct
•
Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.
7.3. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2).
7.4. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using sub-contractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your Proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.
7.5. Each bidder shall submit only one Proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a Proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one Proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the Proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.
7.6. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:
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•
It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.
•
Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.
•
Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.
8. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION
8.1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your Proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.
8.2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your Proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your Proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your Proposal.
9. COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact procurement@iucn.org. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).
10. CONTRACT
The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect particular requirements from the donor funding this particular procurement.
11. ABOUT IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries.
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local
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communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN/
12. ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference
Title: Situational analysis on vulture conservation in SADC
Objective of the Consultancy
This consultancy has the following objective(s):
1.
Conduct a situational analysis on vulture conservation across the SADC region to inform the development of a SADC Vulture Conservation Strategy
2.
Present Situational Analysis to SADC Member States
Background
Project Reference: P02204
About IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN/
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About the Project
Six of Africa’s vultures are on the edge of extinction, categorised as globally Endangered or Critically Endangered by BirdLife, the authority for birds on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Three more are listed as Vulnerable or Near Threatened. Six of these species only occur in Africa. Over the last 50 years, populations of African vultures have declined by 80-97% (over 92% for five species). Stopping and reversing these declines remains one of the biggest challenges in conservation in Africa. This is a complex issue because the threats to vultures vary from sub-region to sub-region and are part of the bigger picture of the continuing challenge of poaching, unsustainable resource use, cultural attitudes and beliefs, and the absence of safeguards for biodiversity in many development plans.
In recent years, vultures in southern Africa have died in large numbers because of secondary poisoning, intentional poisoning and belief-based use. They also continue to suffer losses from other threats such as electrocutions and collisions and habitat loss. Efforts have been made to eliminate these threats through law enforcement activities, community engagement and an improved understanding of their habitat use through tagging and monitoring.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) committee of Ministers responsible for Environment, Natural Resources and Tourism have noted the work being done on vulture conservation in the region. The Ministers directed the SADC Secretariat to work with Member States and relevant partners to develop a study on the conservation status of vultures that can inform a SADC Vulture Conservation Strategy for consideration by the Technical Committee on Wildlife.
Description of the Assignment
The Consultant shall verify the scope of services indicated and may extend, amend those services wherever such is deemed necessary according to his/her own professional judgement and knowledge. Any suggested amendments to the ToR should be clearly documented within the Consultant’s submission, including accompanying justification for the proposed amendments, and must be approved by the contracting party at IUCN/SADC.
Duration of the Assignment
From 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2024
Deliverables and Activities
The consultant will provide the following deliverables and carry out the following activities: Deliverable/Activity Description Deadline
0. Briefing on scope of work
Briefing meeting with IUCN, BirdLife International and SADC Secretariat on the scope of work and expected outputs
7 July 2024
0.a Activity 0A
Discuss and finalise all timelines for the consultancy
0.b Activity 0B
IUCN/BirdLife International/ CMS team to provide all relevant documentation already available, including the Multispecies Action Plan for Vultures, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to CMS and the outcomes of its Mid-Term Implementation Review
1. Situational Analysis report
Situational Analysis report including:
–
Stakeholder analysis
–
List of vulture projects conducted in the last decade
–
Map showing where all key actions on vulture are taking place.
–
Brief write-up of innovation case studies from across the region
31 August 2024
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–
Gap analysis based on the CMS Multi-Species Action Plan Mid-Term Implementation Review (MTIR)
–
Annotated list of legislation important for vulture conservation across all SADC Member States
1.a Activity 1A
Carry out a stakeholder analysis of all relevant institutions relevant to vulture conservation in SADC Members States and potential involvement in the development of the SADC Vulture Strategy
1.b Activity 1B
Compile relevant information on all the vulture projects conducted within the SADC region in the last decade, including key project outcomes and level of investment in the different actions
1.c Activity 1C
Based on task 2, produce a map of where all the key vulture conservation actions are taking place in SADC Members States
1.d Activity 1D
Collate case studies of innovative work that can be scaled up
1.e Activity 1E
Complete information gaps from the recent Mid-Term Implementation Review of the CMS Vulture Multi-species Action plan
1.f Activity 1F
Review policies/ legislation available at country and regional level that improve/support conservation of vultures within the SADC region
1.g Activity 1G
Collate above into a cohesive situational analysis that provides an overview of gaps and recommendations that a SADC Vulture Conservation Strategy should address
2. Presentation of Situation Analysis
30 September 2024
2.a Activity 2A
Present the Situational Analysis to the SADC Member states to inform the drafting of a framework for the SADC Vulture Conservation Strategy (This event is planned for early September 2024)
2.b Activity 2B
Finalise Situation Analysis with any last feedback received during the meeting.
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Payment Schedule
The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant. Deliverable Milestone payment
Final workplan
20%
Situational Analysis report in English
–
Presentation of Situational Analysis at SADC Member State consultation
80%
Skills and Experience
The consultant must have the following skills, education and experience as a minimum:
•
Extensive experience in vulture conservation and broader conservation activities, preferably in the southern African region
•
Knowledge of international instruments for conservation of vultures and other broad biodiversity and wildlife conservation strategies, especially for the SADC region
•
Experience in organising and collating inputs from diverse sources into a coherent and clear report
•
Excellent report writing skills
•
Excellent stakeholder engagement skills
•
Excellent organisational and time management skills
Supervision and coordination
The consultant will report to and work under the supervision of the Regional Programme Development Manager for IUCN ESARO.