Call for EOI: Satellite-based Deforestation Monitoring linked to Company Monitoring & Traceability Systems - CAFE-REDD

CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)

COFFEE AGRO-FORESTRY AND FOREST ENHANCEMENT FOR REDD+ (CAFÉ-REDD) PROJECT IN LAM DONG

SATELLITE-BASED DEFORESTATION MONITORING FULLY LINKED TO COMPANY MONITORING
AND TRACEABILITY SYSTEMS

Agricultural expansion is a major driver of deforestation and associated GHG emissions in the land use change and forest sector across SE Asia. Meanwhile many countries in the region recognize the key climate mitigation role of forests in their NDCs. National REDD+ strategies outline policies and measures to arrest commodity-linked deforestation and promote forest landscape restoration but there is limited experience and guidance on addressing complex challenges on the ground.

Vietnam is a leading producer of many key agricultural commodity crops. The production of many of these commodities for global export markets is a major driver of deforestation and forest degradation. The National REDD+ Action Plan (NRAP) promotes deforestation-free agriculture as a key policy response. The Central Highlands is a priority region for REDD+ due to the area’s remaining natural forests, high forest carbon stocks and important biodiversity but is threatened by coffee expansion.

The project aims to support the implementation of Vietnam’s NDC and NRAP by developing and applying approaches to address agriculture-linked deforestation and promote forest landscape restoration in the Lang Biang Man and Biosphere Reserve in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. It does this by:

1. Strengthening institutional capacity for climate smart landscape governance through a district PPP approach focused on protecting and restoring forests, sustainable production and inclusive economic development
2. Engaging companies to establish monitoring and traceability systems that track deforestation in their supply chains
3. Improving livelihoods of ethnic minority farmers by promoting sustainable coffee agroforestry models connected to higher-value markets
4. Leveraging public and private investment for a deforestation-free and sustainable landscape
5. Knowledge generated by the project is shared to inform the development of model approaches to tackling commodity-linked deforestation in Vietnam.

Establishing a digital monitoring and traceability system is a key activity in the establishment of a supply chain of, and market for, verifiably deforestation-free coffee from Lac Duong and Lang Biang. Such a system will first allow actors at each stage of the supply chain to accurately, and effectively, track where supply is being sourced from, and cross-compare with information and characteristics about the producers and processors upstream – such as farming practices, certifications, and whether they are in deforestation-risk areas. Secondly these systems can allow end-customers to see the story and origins behind their coffee and support the coffee industry in development of a trusted Lac Duong coffee brand.

Such systems can help coffee companies prove the provenance of their goods and, collectively, grow the brand and status of coffee grown in the area. In addition, regulatory developments in key export markets will increasingly require such information, in particular the regulation proposed by the European Commission to curb EU-driven deforestation. This would guarantee that the products that EU citizens buy, use and consume on the EU market do not contribute to global deforestation and forest degradation. To ensure this, the Regulation sets mandatory due diligence rules for companies which want to place these commodities on the EU market with the aim to ensure that only deforestation-free and legal products are allowed on the EU market.

In 2020 and 2021, five coffee companies tested a pilot traceability system, using QR codes to trace the coffee products from 2020 with different traceability systems to demonstrate sustainable coffee products to consumers. To combined with Terra – I (The Almost Real-Time Monitoring Solution system) to provide the infographic of Arabica coffee industry from the farming, support to monitor the forest protection and reduce encroachment pressure on forests in adjacent land areas in Lat commune – the pilot area.

Following these activities, a qualified firm/organisation is required by the project to conduct some activities critical to the completion of the system, in collaboration with coffee companies and farmer groups who will ultimately be the end-users.

The overall objective of the assignment is to complete the digital supply chain traceability system linked with satellite-based deforestation monitoring, in collaboration with coffee companies and farmer organisation, who will be the end users of the system. This will allow coffee companies and other value-chain actors to trace supply and demonstrate compliance with certification/standards, and deforestation free requirements.

About the supply chain:

• The project is directly targeting about 3,000 farmers in five communes (Lat, Da Sar, Da Nhim, Da Chais, Dung K’No) and Lac Duong Town organised primarily in 15 villages.
• The total area of coffee in Lac Duong is estimated at around 3,000 ha.
• 15 farmer groups and/or cooperatives to organise farmers for multiple purposes (training, buying, providing services etc.) and established the linkages with 5 coffee companies tested the pilot traceability system, using QR code to trace the coffee products from 2020.
• The chosen firm/organisation will be able to utilize village heads/farmer leaders to conduct data collection, training of farmers, and ongoing monitoring of the system’s implementation
• In 2022 Lac Duong DPC launched an “Intelligent Operation Centre” as a tool to collect information, develop the agricultural business orientation, and call for investment from the private sectors.[1] [1]
• Arabica coffee is selected as one of the crucial agricultural industries for investment, alongside horticulture in 2022-2025 period to 2030 in Lac Duong.

The system must:

• Be user friendly and simple visual, and in Vietnamese, allowing farmers and extension workers, companies to update information simply, and manage the QR systems.
• Be available application in remote areas with unstable internet connection.
• Should have mobile applications for smallholder and companies and compatible with popular operating systems including Android and IOS.
• Integrate easily with other data sources, for example on deforestation monitoring, and mapping of coffee farms, Lac Duong Big Data/IOC as a multi-input platform for sharing information and tracing deforestation-free agricultural industries and used by different sectors in Lac Duong.
• Provide a farm-cup traceability function and have an alternative solution to collect information in remote areas.
• Be hosted in a digital platform allowing data analysis and reporting including creation of private profiles for different users.
• Allow additional data, for example characteristics of production and processing methods, to be added to profiles at subsequent stages of product development. It is expected that to some extent the system is based on a principle of estimating production capacity for each farm to ensure no side-selling occurs, and this must be factored into the system’s design.
• Adhere to the principles that will be established in the upcoming national regulation on traceability system, as outlined in Decision 100/QD-TTg of January 19^th, 2019. The system will need to be able to switch to connect to the provincial traceability system and the National Traceability portal.
• It is a key indicator in the contract between SNV and the project donor that coffee companies continue to use the system beyond the end of the project – at least three coffee companies should adopt the traceability system after the end of the project. The selected firm will be expected to support SNV to advocate for and ‘sell’ the benefits of adopting and utilising the system to all project partners. This creates an opportunity for the selected firm to generate ongoing revenue from implementation of the system, and as such a high degree of cooperation and investment by the selected firm is expected.

The firm/organisation is requested to propose a task list and activity plan in their submission for this contract, based on the context provided above.

Broadly, the expected tasks are as follows:

1. Review and evaluate the traceability system piloted among 5 coffee enterprises, identify the gaps in implementation in coffee farms and processing factories, comparing with relevant regulations affecting the coffee sector (including Decision 100/Q?-TTg of January 19th 2019, National Sustainability Curriculum and other policies affecting traceability tools), and other project documents, including Café REDD baseline study, farm mapping and household’s information.
2. Prepare the detailed inception report and delivery plan on commencement of the assignment. Develop and make the consensus on detailed implementation plan with SNV and project partners. The three primary activities are expected to include:
1. Integrate the platform with other digital platforms as Terra-I, Lac Duong IOC, Global Forest Watch and farm mapping to support and demonstrate the deforestation-free coffee value chains in Lac Duong.
2. Make some user experience adjustments to the system design and ensure the system operates fully basic functions in remote areas with unstable internet connection, and
3. On-board new data collected as part of the project’s expansion into 5 new villages, including conducting training for different stakeholders who will be conducting the data collection, and monitoring remaining data collection.
3. Prepare final report and recommendations.

For more details on the Expression of Interest process, submission requirements, and evaluation details, please see corresponding sections below:

Selection Process

SNV will review all Expressions of Interest received in accordance with the guidelines and criteria in this solicitation. SNV reserves the right to exclude any EOIs that do not meet the guidelines. Please note that SNV is unable to provide detailed feedback to those EOIs that are not selected.

Step 1: SNV will shortlist selected EOIs, and unsuccessful respondents will be notified. Successful applicants will be contacted by SNV.

Step 2: SNV will release Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for the specific activities and contract with the selected organizations/ consultants.

Protection of Information

We request that Expressions of Interest responses be free of any intellectual property that the applicant wishes to protect. Should offerors wish to include proprietary intellectual property that they believe would be helpful for SNV, please note the proprietary nature of such information. Costing information will be kept confidential and will not be shared beyond SNV.

Issuance of this EOI does not constitute a commitment, award, or engagement on the part of SNV nor does it commit SNV to any future commitment or engagement.

Note: SNV reserves the right to change or cancel this requirement in the EOI/or solicitation process at any time.

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[1] [3] http://baolamdong.vn/xahoi/202205/khai-truong-trung-tam-giam-sat-va-dieu-hanh-thong-minh-huyen-lac-duong-3116972/ [4]