Request for Proposals (RfP) Technical appraisal and advisory services for the project preparation grant (PPG) phase of the GEF-GBFF project

Request for Proposals (RfP) Technical appraisal and advisory services for the project preparation grant (PPG) phase of the GEF-GBFF project “Advancing Biodiversity Conservation in Terrestrial and Marine Areas through Strengthened Governance and Sustainable Financing in Seychelles"IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Seychelles - Multilateral Finance Unit RfP Reference: IUCN-26-02-P05288 - 2Welcome 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. REQUIREMENTS1.1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.2. CONTACT DETAILS2.1. Please address your proposal and all correspondence and questions to the IUCN Contact:IUCN Contact: [email protected]. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE3.1. 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 - ACTIVITY11-Feb-26 - Publication of the Request for Proposals18-Feb-26 - Deadline for expressions of interest20 Feb-26 - Deadline for submission of questions22-Feb-26 - Planned publication of responses to questions25-Feb-26 - Deadline for submission of Proposals to IUCN (“Submission Deadline”)04-March-26 - Clarification of Proposals06-March-26 - Planned date for contract award09-March-26 - Expected contract start date3.2. Please email the IUCN contact to express your interest in submitting a Proposal by the deadline stated above. This will help IUCN to keep you updated regarding the procurement.4. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL4.1. 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.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 CriteriaIUCN 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 Criteria1 3 relevant references of clients similar to IUCN / similar work, including 2 in the Seychelles context2 Confirm that you have all the necessary legal registrations to perform the work based in Seychelles3 State your annual turnover for the past three years4.4. Technical ProposalThe 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:Criteria description - Information requested from the consultant - Relative weight 1. Individual qualifications and experience relevant to the PPG Technical Adviser & Coordinator role. Experience supporting GEF (or equivalent) / other donor project preparation/design and GEF CEO Endorsement / other, similar processesEvidence of direct involvement in GEF / other donor project preparation and design phases, including familiarity with CEO Endorsement requirements, Agency project documents (ProDoc), annexes, results frameworks, budgets, co-financing documentation, and review processes. (20 points) Experience in technical review, appraisal, and quality assurance of complex project documentation.Demonstrated ability to review, synthesise, and quality-assure technical inputs from multiple consultants and stakeholders, ensuring internal coherence, completeness, and compliance with donor and agency requirements (including alignment between narrative, results framework, budget, ESMS, gender and other required annexes). (20 points) 2. Seychelles and other SIDSspecific coordination and stakeholder engagement experience. Demonstrated experience coordinating or supporting multi-stakeholder environmental projects in Seychelles (strongly preferred). Such experiences in comparable Small Island Developing States (SIDS) or Western Indian Ocean contexts may be included but experience in Seychelles is mandatory.2.1 Familiarity with Seychelles’ environmental governance architecture and institutions (e.g. MECENR, PA authorities, IUCN Members, conservation and finance entities); (10 points):2.2 Experience facilitating or supporting national and site-level consultations, workshops, and validation processes; (10 points):2.3 Ability and demonstrated experience (and expertise) to operate credibly as an in-country coordination focal point. ( 10 points) 3. Understanding of the assignment and feasibility of the proposed approach Clarity, coherence, and feasibility of the proposed approach in demonstrating a sound understanding of the Terms of Reference and the role of the PPG Technical Adviser and Coordinator. Clear understanding of the assignment, including explicit recognition of the consultant’s role in coordination, technical appraisal, and quality assurance, and not in drafting the GEF CEO Endorsement Request (5 points); Quality and appropriateness of the proposed methodological approach for coordinating inputs, supporting consultations, synthesising stakeholder feedback, and ensuring technical consistency and compliance across project components and annexes in line with GEF, GBFF, and IUCN requirements (15 points); Feasibility and realism of the proposed workplan and delivery approach in relation to the ToR deliverables, key milestones, the stated level of effort, and the March–August 2026 peak PPG period, including arrangements for coordination, communication, quality control, and risk management (10 points). TOTAL - 100%4.5. Financial Proposal4.5.1. 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 costsSubmitted 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 taxation at national level. 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 TaxesProposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.4.5.4. Currency of proposed rates and pricesAll rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in United States Dollars (USD).4.5.5. Breakdown of rates and pricesFor information only, the price needs to be broken down as follows (use, if applicable):Unit - Quantity - Unit Price - Total Price A1 – FeesInternational expert(s) - Person-dayNational expert(s) Person-day B1 – Per diemPer diem for international expert(s) - Day B2 – Local transport (hire) - Day B4 – International transport- Visit x Seychelles - Round trip TOTALThe heading "B4 - International transport" is intended to cover all access fees for international transport: taxi fares, visa fees, entry or exit taxes, etc.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 ChangesYou 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.5. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS 5.1. CompletenessIUCN will firstly check your Proposal for completeness. Incomplete Proposals will not be considered further.5.2. Pre-Qualification CriteriaOnly Proposals that meet all of the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.5.3. Technical Evaluation 5.3.1. Scoring MethodYour 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 ThresholdsProposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.5.3.3. Technical ScoreYour 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 ScoresThe 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 ScoreYour 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 PROCEDURE6.1. 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 he deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.6.3. 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 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 PROCUREMENT7.1. 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 subcontractor.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 cau…