Consultant(s) to Conduct a Survey on the Awareness and Capacity of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Commercial Banks and Financial Service Providers on Illegal Wildlife Trade-related Money Laundering Risks in Viet Nam

Activity name (as stated in the original proposal):

Support to local law enforcement agencies, FIU and financial institutions in intelligence products and wildlife related investigations (INL VN Focus; Act 2.2)

Service (to be performed):

Conducting a survey on the awareness and capacity of the financial intelligence unit (FIU), commercial banks and financial service providers on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) -related money laundering risks in Viet Nam

Location of Service provided: Remote and/or on-site working

Duration of Service’s performance: July - September 2022

I.              Background:  

Wildlife crime is a complex, global problem that needs to be addressed through various strategies. To move, hide and launder illicit money generated from illegal wildlife trade (IWT), transnational organized crimes exploit weaknesses in the financial and non-financial sectors, enabling further wildlife crimes and damaging financial integrity (FATF, 2020)[1]. Financial investigation is an important step/part of identifying revenues, property sources, money flows and uses. FIUs, banks and financial service providers, and Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) take important roles in financial investigation activities.

International organizations/units working on financial investigation such as Financial Action Task Force (FAFT), Egmont Center of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) Excellence & Leadership (ECOFEL) have recently conducted a series of research and analysis to assess money laundering aspects of wildlife crime and provided suitable methodology and tools that jurisdictions can apply to combat IWT in the aspects of linked illicit financial transactions. 

However, to date, it has not been applied in investigating illegal wildlife trade flows and jurisdictions rarely investigate the financial trail left by this crime (UNODC & APG, 2017)[2]. The limited focus on the financial side of IWT has largely prevented jurisdiction from being able to identify and sanction IWT networks.

Training evaluations previously conducted by WCS revealed that police lack understanding of money laundering and financial information and have insufficient intelligence products provided by FIU, while prosecutors and judges do not have sufficient information to prepare for the development of money laundering crime cases. Those with weak inter-agency coordination lead to hesitation in undertaking financial investigations or pursuing money laundering cases, especially at the district levels, where most (wildlife) investigations occur.

Therefore, WCS believes that by increasing awareness, capacity and inter-agency coordination of FIUs, banks and financial service providers, LEAs, prosecutors and judges, they can pay greater attention to IWT cases and effectively utilize financial investigative tools.

To do that, at this stage, we aim to assess the awareness and capacity of FIU, banks and financial service providers on IWT-related money laundering risks. The assessment result helps to design awareness raising and capacity building activities for those agencies.

So, we are seeking a consultant/ a group of consultants to support us in realizing the mentioned goal.

II.             Objectives:

The consultant(s) will provide service to (i) assess the current awareness/perception of FIU, banks and financial service providers in Viet Nam on money laundering risks related to IWT, (ii) assess their needs for capacity building and intelligence support; (iii) and share the result of this assessment. 

III.           Description of work:

The consultant will closely work with WCS Viet Nam’s PIC to execute the following, but not limited to, activities, deliverables and timelines:

Total allotted time (total working days): To be determined according to the proposal of the consultant(s) and agreed by WCS.

IV.           Requirements:

Consultant/ a group of consultants must meet the following criteria:

• Master degree in economics, commerce, finance, banking or relevant fields.
• At least 5-10 proven years of experience in research related to financial issues, especially in anti-money laundering, that includes but not limited to development of survey/assessment protocol, data gathering, development of survey/assessment report, and the ability to co-host workshop events for data gathering or report dissemination.
• Must be a member/members of a research institute/centre in the banking system.
• Able to reach out to FIU (State Bank of Viet Nam), commercial banks, and financial service providers around the country and engage them in the survey process.
• Experienced in conducting research on IWT-related money laundering risk would be an advantage.

I.              Selection criteria

Evaluation criteria

Evaluation Sub-criteria

Maximum points

Technical proposal/ Methodology and detailed Work plan

Technical proposal – Does the proposal clearly explain, understand and respond to the activity objectives as stated in the Terms of Reference (TOR)?

10 points

Methodology – Does the proposed program approach and detailed activities and timeline fulfill the requirements of executing the TOR effectively and efficiently?

20 points

Sector Knowledge – Does the proposal demonstrate the offeror’s knowledge related to technical sectors required by the TOR?

10 points

Management, Key Personnel, and Staffing Plan

Does the proposed team member have experience and capabilities related to studying the banking sector and money laundering issues to carry out the TOR?

15 points

Does the proposed team member have experience and capabilities related to designing and conducting surveys to carry out the TOR?

15 points

Does the proposed team member have experience and capabilities in organizing workshops/briefs to carry out the TOR?

10 points

Team composition and staffing plan

10 points

Corporate Capabilities, Experience, and Past Performance

Does the company have similar experience relevant to the TOR?

10 points

TOTAL:

100 points

Offerors who achieve 70 points on the technical proposal will be selected for financial proposal review.

II.             Application procedure:

Interested candidate(s) are invited to send to [email protected]  before 17:00 of 28 July 2022

      (i) Technical Proposal

Part 1: Technical approach/Methodology and Detailed work plan

Offerors shall explain your understanding of the objectives of the assignment, the technical approach and the methodology you would adopt for implementing the assessment to deliver the expected outputs and outcomes. Please also outline the detailed plan for implementing the main activities/tasks of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones, and tentative delivery dates of the reports.

Part 2: Management, Key Personnel, and Staffing Plan.

Offerors shall describe the structure and composition of the team and key personnel positions necessary for implementing the scope of work with clear role and responsibility. CVs of all team members are included in this part.

Part 3: Corporate Capabilities, Experience and Past Performance (applicable to Corporate only)

i) Copies/links to 02 similar pieces of research/products.

ii) Financial proposal (attached template): including consultant fee (total of working days and daily rate/person in VND including Personal Income tax) and estimate of other expenses (if any).

Note: Only shortlisted candidate(s) will be contacted