Blue Economy, Blue Carbon and Blue Business Current State and Future Opportunities in Inhambane: CORE RESTOR Full Time

Request for Proposals (RfP)

Blue Economy, Blue Carbon and Blue Business Current State and Future Opportunities in Inhambane: CORE RESTOR

IUCN Mozambique Country Office, COR Programme, Project reference: P04216

RfP Reference: IUCN-24-05-P04216-1- Thematic Area 2

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. REǪUIREMENTS

   1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.

2. CONTACT DETAILS

   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.

3. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE

   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

12 February 2025

Publication of the Request for Proposals

14 February 2025

Deadline for Expression of interest

14 February 2025

Deadline for submission of questions

18 February 2025

Planned publication of responses to questions

28 February 2025

Deadline for submission of Proposals to IUCN (“Submission

Deadline”)

03 March 2025

Clarification of Proposals

05 March 2025

Planned date for contract award

10 March 2025

Expected contract start date

1. 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.

2. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL

   1. Your Proposal must consist of the following four separate documents:
      • Pre-Ǫualification 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.
   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.

1. Pre-Ǫualification Criteria

IUCN will use the following Pre-Ǫualification 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-Ǫualification Criteria

1

3 relevant references of clients similar to IUCN/ similar work

2

Confirmthat you have all the necessary legalregistrations toperform the work

3

State yourannual turnover for each of the past3 years

4

Howmany employees doesyour organisation havewho arequalified for thiswork?

1. 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:

Description

Information to provide

Relative weight

1

Concept and methodology

65

1.1

Clarity andcompleteness of thetender

• Technical understanding of what a Capacity Needs Assessment entails, and detailed descriptionof consultant’s understanding of the assignment

20

1.2

Proposed approach and methods, including

workplan

40

• Detailed description on methodology to be used,target population and broader understanding of the seascape (30)
• Detailed activity plan(10)

2

Ǫualifications and Experience of proposed

consultants [If applicable add separate sub-criteria of specialisms required]

20

2.1

Team leader/portfolio manager

• Advanced degree in economics, development studies, environmental sciences, social sciences or related discipline (10)
• 10 years of work experience (5)

15

2.2

Ǫualification and experience by other key staff (if

applicable) tobe involved inthe assignment

5

3

Track record

15

3.1

Ǫualityand relevance ofreferences provided(Provide

atleast 3 references)

10

3.2

Provenhistory ofmeeting deadlines

5

TOTAL

100

1. Financial Proposal
   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.
      1. Prices include all costs
      2. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes
      3. Currency of proposed rates and prices
      4. Breakdown of rates and prices

      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.

      Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.

      All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in [USD] currency.

      For information only, the price needs to be broken down as follows:

Description

Ǫuantity

Unit Price

TotalPrice

1

Detailed breakdown of

professional fee

2

Logistical costs

TOTAL

1. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be considered in the evaluation.
   1. Your Proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.
   2. 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.

2. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

   1. Completeness

IUCN will firstly check your Proposal for completeness. Incomplete Proposals will not be considered further.

1. Pre-Ǫualification Criteria

Only Proposals that meet all of the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.

1. Technical Evaluation
   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.

      1. Minimum Ǫuality Thresholds

Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.

1. 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.

2. 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%

1. 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.

1. EXPLANATION OF PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE

   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.
   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.
2. 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.
   1. 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.

3. CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROCUREMENT

   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.
      1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant Proposal.
      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.
      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.
   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.
   3. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2).
   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.
   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.
4. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:
   • 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.

5. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION

   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.
   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.

6. 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 [email protected]. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).

7. 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.

8. 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 communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

www.iucn.org https://twitter.com/IUCN/

1. ATTACHMENTS

Attachment 1: Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference

Terms of reference: CORE-RESTOR

Title: Blue Economy, Blue Carbon and Blue Business Current State and Future Opportunities in Inhambane: CORE RESTOR

Objectives of the consultancy

This consultancy has the following objectives:

Overall objective: To develop key the baselines required for the overall CORE-RESTOR project implementation.

Objective:

To raise awareness of the Blue Economy concept, to develop a comprehensive overview of the Blue Economy landscape in Inhambane, and to assess the feasibility of blue carbon and blue economy projects in the province (Project reference Output 4 activity 4.1 and 4.2)

Background

Project reference: P04216

About the project.

The Inhambane province coastline is known as one of the most important seascapes in Mozambique and a global outstanding marine area for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

This seascape hosts the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park10 comanaged by the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) and African Parks (AP) since 2017 and its adjacent to the Cabo de São Sebastião Total Protection Zone. This area includes sandy beaches, coastal dunes and coastal lakes, various ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrass beds, coral and biogenic reefs, deep sea and offshore pelagic (including deep-sea canyons), and islands. The Bazaruto archipelago and São Sebastião peninsula were recently recognized as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) of global importance due to their iconic biodiversity with emphasis to the last viable population of dugongs (Dugong dung, VU) within the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue Foundation has also declared the Inhambane Seascape in Mozambique a ‘Hope Spot’ in recognition of work being undertaken to develop a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the surrounding waters.

The richness of marine biodiversity makes Inhambane as one of the most important tourist attractions in the country, providing significant economic contributions from tourism and hotel industry to the GDP. Despite the economic growth mainly from tourism, aquaculture, around 2 million people are still facing scarcity of access to public services, business opportunities, and exposure to extreme climate events.

Despite the high biodiversity value, coastal and marine conservation in Inhambane is threatened by the coastal development, erosion, overfishing, destructive fisheries practices, extreme climate events including cyclones, high temperatures and sea level rise (SLR) and oil and gas and mining – this last one often overlapping with high biodiversity sites, thus suggesting that economic development and biodiversity conservation should be harmonized to benefit around 2 million people living in this province.

With funding from the Irish Government, IUCN Mozambique Country Office is implementing CORE RESTOR to build on existing opportunities, supporting local governance of the coastal and marine resources (especially the mangrove ecosystem), knowledge and learning and blue value chains that support climate resilience for people and nature.

The project is being implemented in the province of Inhambane specifically targeting and covering the districts of Inhambane, Murrumbene and Jangamo. The initiatives will focus on these areas ensuring that the efforts and resources are effectively directed to achieve the desired outcomes.

Overall project Goal

The overall project goal is to Strength Coastal Governance and Ecosystem Restoration for a Resilient Blue Economy in Inhambane Seascape in Mozambique, with direct support to Inhambane Provincial Government through Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries (DPAP).

Description of the assignment

Don’t reinvent the wheel: If desk-based reviews reveal that studies of a very similar nature have already been undertaken, then the consultant should highlight this with IUCN and the focus of the work will be redirected to an area where there is an identified gap.

Direct stakeholder engagements. The foundation of the exercises is desk-based. This should be complemented by virtual engagements with key stakeholders (including provincial governments) as appropriate. If face to face and field visits are considered a necessary requirement, please explain and justify this and cost trips separately in your proposal

Workshops: Where workshops have been specified, IUCN will organise workshop logistics. It is expected that the contractor will organise workshop content in consultation with IUCN.

Contract governance: The contractor will be expected to have biweekly meetings with IUCN to provide regular updates. A one-page update report of progress against deliverables should be presented at these meetings.

Duration of the assignment

1st March 2025 – 30th May 2025.

Deliverables and activities

The table below summarises output delivery dates. Note within each output there are finer level deliverables with associated dates.

Output

Date

Blue Economy and Blue carbon market analysis report and validation workshop report

30th May 2025

Thematic area 2: Blue Economy and Blue Business

Objective: To raise awareness of the Blue Economy concept, to develop a comprehensive overview of the Blue Economy landscape in Inhambane, and to assess the feasibility of blue carbon and blue economy projects in the province.

Tasks/activities

1. Develop a high-level summary of the Blue Carbon concept, articulating what it is and what it means in the Inhambane context, using provincial examples and case studies. This is targeted to high-level stakeholders who are being introduced to the concept, and need to make informed decisions around its effectiveness, relevance and applicability.
2. Undertake a market analysis (Blue carbon and regenerative blue economy) and blue economy readiness study: undertakea market analysis, and any other relevant assessment, to evaluate the feasibility of blue carbon projects and blue economy projects. The study should
   1. examine readiness, governance frameworks, opportunities, benefit-sharing mechanisms, and market access for blue carbon projects in Inhambane Province.
   2. result in key recommendations for priority areas where future support could be focussed to build meaningful and sustainable blue economy initiatives.
   3. be evidence-based.
   4. contain recommendations that are specific rather than generic, so that future support can be meaningfully targeted.

To note: This work should build upon (and not duplicate) the IUCN report entitled “Scoping Study on Blue Economy Opportunities in Mozambique”

1. Undertake a Blue Business sector overview: An overview of the blue business sector, providing a summary of blue business activities in the province, and highlighting the current strengths and weaknesses of each of the activities. It should also include a gap analysis where key gaps are identified. Opportunities for Blue Economy Incubator projects should be identified, and the communities where these projects can be undertaken should be identified
2. Deliver a Validation workshop and associated report: Prepare the content for a validation workshop (including programme and participant feedback forms) and provide a short workshop report (no more than 2 pages of text with supporting documentation in the annex) that includes:

• key points raised in discussion
• all of the relevant participant information including registration list by gender and age
• Participant feedback form summary results.

Output:

1. Blue Carbon concept high level summary: Short report and PowerPoint presentation
2. Market analysis report:
   1. Table of contents – TOCs headings should form part of the response to the request for proposals.
3. Blue Business sector overview report:
   1. Table of contents – TOCs headings should form part of the response to the request for proposals.
4. Validation workshop report

Timeline

• Blue Carbon concept summary: Delivered by mid-April 2025
• Blue economy market analysis: Delivered by mid-April 2025.
• Blue Business sector overview report: Delivered by mid-April 2025
• Validation workshop: Completed by end of April 2025.
• Final draft Blue Carbon and Blue Economy report and workshop report: Mid-May 2025.

The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant/s

Deliverable

Milestone payment

Inception report with clear description of the methodology (20th February 2024)

20%

Validation workshop report – Mid May 2025

20%

Blue Economy and Blue carbon market analysis (15th May 2025)

60%

Skills and Experience

The consultant/s must have the following skills, education and experience as a minimum:

• Advanced degree in economics, development studies, environmental sciences, ecology, social sciences, or related discipline
• A minimum of ten (10) years’ experience in conducting baseline assessments, market analysis or similar assignments.

Supervision and coordination

The consultant will report to and work under the supervision of Programme Manager of Coastal and Resilience (COR), IUCN Mozambique Country Office.

Attachment 2: Declaration of Undertaking

Declaration of Undertaking

Concerning

P04216

I, the undersigned, hereby confirm that I am an authorized representative of the following organization:

Registered Name of Organization (the “Organization”): _______________________

Registered Address (incl. country): _______________________________________

Year of Registration: __________________________________________________

I hereby authorize IUCN to store and use the information included in the attached Proposal for the purpose of evaluating Proposals and selecting the Proposal IUCN deems the most favourable. I acknowledge that IUCN is required to retain the 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 reasonably requested.

Where the Proposal includes Personal Data as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I confirm that the Organization has been authorized by each Data Subject to share this data with IUCN for the purposes stated above.

I further confirm that the following statements are correct:

1. The Organization is duly registered under all applicable laws.
2. The Organization is fully compliant with all its tax and social security obligations.
3. The Organization and its staff and representatives are free of any real or perceived conflicts of interest with regard to IUCN and its Mission.
4. The Organization agrees to declare to IUCN any real or perceived emerging conflicts of interest it or any of its staff and representatives may have concerning IUCN. The Organization acknowledges that IUCN may terminate any contracts with the Organization that would, in IUCN’s sole discretion, be negatively affected by such conflicts of interest.
5. None of the Organization’s staff has ever been convicted of grave professional misconduct or any other offense concerning their professional conduct.
6. Neither the Organization nor any of its staff and representatives have ever been convicted of fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism, or involvement in a criminal organization.
7. The Organization acknowledges that engagement by itself or any of its staff in fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism, or involvement in a criminal organization will entitle IUCN to terminate any and all contracts with the Organization with immediate effect.
8. The Organization is a going concern and is not bankrupt or being wound up, is not having its affairs administered by the courts, has not suspended business activities, is not the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations.
9. The Organization complies with all applicable environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection.
10. The Organization is not included in the UN Security Council Sanctions List, EU Sanctions Map, US Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List, or the World Bank listing of ineligible firms and individuals. The Organization agrees that it will not provide direct or indirect support to firms and individuals included in these lists.
11. The Organization has not been, is not, and will not be involved or implicated in any violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, or injustice or abuse of human rights related to other groups or individuals, including forced evictions, violation of fundamental rights of workers as defined by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, child labour, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.

Name and position of an authorized representative of the Proposer:

Date and Signature of the authorized representative of the Proposer:

Tagged as: International Union for Conservation of Nature, Mozambique