Consultant for Baseline Survey

Terms of Reference (ToR) - Consultant for Baseline Survey

Consultant for Baseline Survey

Empowering Communities for Livelihood and Biodiversity (ECOLAB) Project

Summary

1. Background 

With the financial partnership with Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA), Empowering Communities for Livelihoods and Biodiversity (ECOLAB) is a four-year project (August 2024– July 2028) which is being implemented covering the ecologically sensitive Chure Hills region of Nepal’s far-western Kailali District, benefitting communities and ecosystem in the municipalities of Chure, Godawari, Tikapur, Bhajani and Dhangadi. The ECOLAB is a consortium project with a partnership agreement among IFRC BRC, NRCS, and NTNC which brings years of enrich working experience in the area nature conservation and humanitarian services in the country.

The ECOLAB project expects to directly reach 14,495 people residing in above mentioned five municipalities through project activities in 48 months period with the following overarching outcomes. 

• Outcome 1: Community–led Nature-based Solutions improve the conservation of endangered species, protect the environment, and build resilience of communities to climate vulnerabilities. 
• Outcome 2: Vulnerable communities have access to climate-smart livelihood opportunities that diversify their source of income and support in sustainably managing natural resources. 
• Outcome 3: The use of evidence-based research, knowledge and learning is strengthened for conservation policy, action planning, and decision making.

The project area is also a habitat for many endangered species such as tigers, common leopard, golden monitor lizards, pythons, and birds. The project’s conservation actions, while focused on Pangolins and Dolphins, also contribute to the conservation of these species directly through anti-poaching activities, habitat restorations, and wetland management. Locally led information management system for monitoring endangered species and awareness-raising campaigns through BCC helps to create a common living shared space for human lives while protecting these endangered species. To establish the baseline for project indicators, the project invites an expression of interest from a contracted party (individual or firm registered in Nepal)

2. Methodology

At the start of the contract, the contracted party will consult with the project team - IFRC BRC NRCS, NTNC, and Regional DRR & Climate Change Adviser, to understand the expected outcome of the project at different levels. This will help the to understand the project and develop a detailed methodology and different tools to be considered while conducting the assignment adhering to the project proposal, logical framework, and theory of change.

The Evaluation Management Team (EMT) which comprises of Country Manager, Sr. Technical Manager, Sr. Finance Manager, Sr. PMEAL Officer, & Regional DRR & Climate Change Adviser from IFRC BRC, Programme Manager from NRCS, Senior Conservation Officer from NTNC will review the reports at different stages and its finding at after the submission of draft and provide the feedback for finalization.

For the day-to-day work the contracted party will closely work with Senior PMEAL Officer of IFRC BRC Country Office whereas for the logistic arrangements, it will be provided by the IFRC BRC Senior Logistics, Procurement, and Infrastructure Support Officer.

3. Deliverables/expected outputs

• An inception report within 5 days of signing the contract inclusive of baseline design, tools, instruments, and survey questionnaire together with work plan.
• Baseline and survey reports within 45 days after the submission of the inception report.

4. Timeline

4.1 50 days starting from 19th December 2024 after signing the contract.

• Submission of EOI: 5 Dec 2024.
• Announcement of consultancy award: 17 Dec 2024 tentative.
• Signing of contract 19 Dec 2024 tentative.
• Submission of the inception report together methodology, and applicable data collection tools:  23 Dec 2024.
• Submission of the final products: 07 Feb 2025

4.2 Payment schedule

• 30% after signing the contract.
• 70% after submitting the final report incorporating EMT feedback.

5. Consultancy firm/consultant’s profile

Essential criteria

• At least 10 years of demonstrated experience in conducting assessments and surveys.
• Experience of having commissioned similar studies in climate-smart livelihoods, climate change, biodiversity, and conservation.
• Knowledge about the geographical location of the project and major river streams.  
• Consultant/ Key team member/s of consultancy firm should hold at least master’s degree in the relevant academic field.
• Excellent written/verbal communication and written skills in English 

6. Expression of Interest

Nepal based organisations or individual are encouraged to apply. 

The interested firm or individual consultant should submit an expression of interest including both a Financial Offer and a Technical Offer. These include the following:

1. Financial Offer - This consists of a detailed financial proposal for the delivery of the services outlined above, with costing broken down significantly for each component and sub-component.
2. Technical Offer - A method statement / proposal outlining the proposed approach to ensure quality is maintained throughout the duration of the contract and how they propose to meet the Terms of Reference. 

a) Curriculum Vitae 

• CV(s) of the consultant(s) or firm proposed for the task, with a focus on similar assignments. If multiple people are involved, an outline of roles/ responsibilities of team members also needs to be included.

b) Evidence of previous work

• Examples of similar studies, assessments, and research. Soft copy of recent work should be provided as a reference.
• At least 3 references from the organization(s) for whom those pieces of work were contracted.

c) Timeframe: Tentative start and end date for completion of all deliverables.

d) Female led consultant team/consultant is highly encouraged to apply for this piece of work.

7. Date of application submission

Individual/consultant firm can apply within 14 days of notice published in newspaper or online portal.

8. Award Procedure

This section outlines and describes the procedure that Red Cross will follow in selecting a consultant to enter into this Contract.

The purpose of the Award Procedure is to enable the Red Cross to assess the relative advantages of each submission meeting the Award Criteria. The assessment of bids in accordance with the Award Procedure will be based on the following criteria:

• Financial offer 20%
• Technical offer 50%
• Technical interview/presentation 30%

The financial offer will be assessed on the basis of the total quote submitted for the requirements detailed, rather than the component parts individually.

Following the submission of quotes, the bidder with the lowest total shall receive 100% of the weighting attributed to the Financial Offer (i.e. 20%) award criteria. All subsequent bids will be weighted by calculating a percentage of the lowest price.

The Technical Offer will represent 50% of the overall tender score attainable by Bidders. 

Bidders must note that there must be no changes to the key personnel proposed as part of any tender submission, without the approval and authorisation of the Red Cross. In such circumstances, replacement personnel proposed must be at least equally qualified and skilled as the personnel they are replacing.  Red Cross may veto the proposed replacement personnel with a full explanation as to why the proposed individual is not considered to be suitable.

The Technical Offer shall assess the Bidders response in relation to the criteria as detailed below:

Following the assessment of the Technical offer, the score attained by each Bidder will then be added to their Financial Offer score to give a total tender score out of 70%.

The highest scoring Bidders will then be invited for a technical interview/presentation which will make up the remaining 30% of the score.

9. Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Rights

“Intellectual Property Rights” refers to any patent, copyright, design right, community design right, registered design, rights in know-how, or any similar right in any part of the world and shall include any applications for the registration of any patents or registered designs or similar rights capable of registration in any part of the world.

Intellectual Property Rights

• All Intellectual Property Rights whatsoever in any work produced by the Contractor and/or the Individuals for British Red Cross shall belong to British Red Cross absolutely and the Contractor hereby waives and shall procure that the Individuals (or any individuals it uses in any capacity to provide or assist in providing the Services) waives any moral rights or any other rights whatsoever which it may have in such work and will, at the expense of British Red Cross, take or join in taking such steps to vest such rights in British Red Cross or enforce the same on behalf of British Red Cross as British Red Cross shall require.
• The Contractor shall indemnify the British Red Cross (as appropriate) against any costs claims demands expenses or liabilities arising from a claim brought against British Red Cross by a third party alleging infringement of its intellectual property rights arising from use of British Red Cross of the Services provided by the Contractor.

The Red Cross emblem is a protective symbol, the use of which is restricted by international and national law. It may not be reproduced without prior authorisation. For more information, about the emblem, please go to www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/The-international-Movement/The-emblem.

10. Confidentiality

All information collected for this assignment will remain the property of IFRC BRC and require explicit permission by both parties for any use not stated here.

11. Application Procedures

Interested candidates should submit their application material by 05th December 2024 to the following e-mail: aliza.baidya@ifrc.org

Please put Application for “Consultancy for ECOLAB Baseline Survey” in the subject heading. Application materials are non-returnable and only short-listed candidates will be contacted for the next step in the application process.

Application materials should include:

a) Curriculum Vitae

• CV(s) of the consultant(s) proposed for the task, with a focus on similar assignments. If multiple people are involved, an outline of roles/ responsibilities also needs to be included.

b) Evidence of previous work

• Examples of similar assessment reports, publications, or research papers.
• Three professional references from the organization(s) for whom those pieces of work were contracted.

c) Timeframe

d) Approach paper, including work plan, budget and availability (maximum 2 pages).

12. Documents: (made available to the consultancy firm/individual prior to the start of the assignment) 

• Project proposal
• Theory of Change (ToC) and
• Logical Framework