Engagement of National Service Provider- South

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (REoI)

(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION)

Country: Kingdom of Lesotho

Project: Small Holder Agricultural Development Project (SADP II) P164486

Loan No./Credit No./ Grant No.: IDA-63580-LS

Assignment Title: Engagement of National Service Providers for SADPII Project in the Southern Region

Activity Reference No. LS-MAFS-434754-CS-QCBS SOUTH REGION

I. BACKGROUND:

The Government of Lesotho is currently implementing the Smallholder Agriculture Development Project II (SADP II) with financial support from the World Bank, the Government of Japan (JICA), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the government of Lesotho. The project aims to enhance agricultural commercialization and nutrition in Lesotho. The project has four components as listed below.

Component 1: Promoting Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices and Advisory Services

This component aims at strengthening the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to adjust and modify their production systems to minimize the potential future impacts from climate variability. The overall goal is to enhance climate resilience through solutions that improve soil health, increase water use efficiency, and increase farm productivity and crop diversification.

Component 2: Improving Agricultural Commercialization and Nutrition

This component builds on component 1 and addresses the financial constraints in the agricultural sector so that the training and advisory services provided under Component 1 is complemented with much-needed financing to help the farming community undertake productive and profitable investments. The component focuses on the development of selected high potential value chains (VCs) by strengthening backward and forward linkages within the VCs that would result in the integration of a greater number of smallholder producers that dominate Lesotho’s rural landscape in these potentially remunerative VCs, incentivize contract farming, strengthen vertical alliances by building trusted commercial partnerships between farmers and private agri-businesses and drive enterprise operations towards more lucrative domestic and export markets.

A further 8.5M USD in funding from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) – IFAD will be used to scale-up activities under the component and introduce some relevant innovations. These include cluster development support, the additional grant funds to foster productive alliances, and investment in pilots of e-voucher and agri-insurance. The development objective of the GAFSP grant is to enhance resilience of small-scale agriculture and food systems through increased commercialization and system change. The additional financing objective aligns with and complements SADP II. It supports financing in two components: (i) Component 2: Improving Agricultural Commercialization and Nutrition; and (ii) Component 3: Project Management, Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation

Component 3: Project Management, Coordination and Monitoring and Evaluation

The component supports implementation and coordination, financial management and procurement, communication, visibility and awareness programs, environmental management and safeguards, and monitoring and evaluation. It also supports the design, implementation, analysis and reporting of the baseline and project completion surveys.

Component 4: Contingency Emergency Response

A Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) with zero allocation to partially cover emergency response via implementation of key activities by the appropriate agencies to respond to the emergency. The Consultant will be required to complete the assignment in in Nineteen (19) months and the consultant should ensure full consistency with terms of reference. The Commencement date will be 1st November 2024.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be found at the following website: https://www.sadpii.org.ls/procurement/

The Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Nutrition now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are:

• Relevance and suitability of core business area of the applicant firm with the subject assignment.

• At least ten (10) years relevant experience in dealing with farmers and agricultural producers with successful delivery of at least three (3) similar assignments and preferably two (2) of them in Lesotho. (Relevant completion certificates and/or letters of recommendation from clients to be provided)

• Registration with a relevant professional consulting body, if applicable, and with an updated certificate is an added advantage.

• The applicant firm’s overall institutional, managerial, and technical competence in terms of financial strength, institutional quality management system, Size of experts within its command and goodwill in the industry are also considered during short listing qualifying firms for the assignment.

Key-experts’ CV will not be evaluated at this stage.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” Fifth edition, September 2023 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with Quality and Cost Based Selection as set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours from 0900 to 1600 hours via email: [email protected]

Expressions of interest must be hand delivered in a written form to the address below , ) by 5th September 2024 at 12:00Noon . The EoIs may be deposited in the Tender Box located at the reception area of SADPII Offices Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Nutrition , Livestock offices Moshoeshoe II Maseru Lesotho, on or before 5th September 2024. The EoIs will be opened on 5th September 2024 at 14:30hrs .00 CAT immediately thereafter, in the presence of applicants who wish to attend.

Attn: Mrs. Mabafokeng Mangope, Project Director

Address: P.O. Box24, Maseru 100, Lesotho

SADPII Offices Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Nutrition, Livestock offices Moshoeshoe II

Maseru, Lesotho

Tel: +266 22312578

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (REoI)

(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION)

Country: Kingdom of Lesotho

Project: Small Holder Agricultural Development Project (SADP II) P164486

Loan No./Credit No./ Grant No.: IDA-63580-LS

Assignment Title: Engagement of National Service Providers for SADPII Project in the Southern Region

Activity Reference No. LS-MAFS-434754-CS-QCBS SOUTH REGION

I. BACKGROUND:

The Government of Lesotho is currently implementing the Smallholder Agriculture Development Project II (SADP II) with financial support from the World Bank, the Government of Japan (JICA), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the government of Lesotho. The project aims to enhance agricultural commercialization and nutrition in Lesotho. The project has four components as listed below.

Component 1: Promoting Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices and Advisory Services

This component aims at strengthening the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to adjust and modify their production systems to minimize the potential future impacts from climate variability. The overall goal is to enhance climate resilience through solutions that improve soil health, increase water use efficiency, and increase farm productivity and crop diversification.

Component 2: Improving Agricultural Commercialization and Nutrition

This component builds on component 1 and addresses the financial constraints in the agricultural sector so that the training and advisory services provided under Component 1 is complemented with much-needed financing to help the farming community undertake productive and profitable investments. The component focuses on the development of selected high potential value chains (VCs) by strengthening backward and forward linkages within the VCs that would result in the integration of a greater number of smallholder producers that dominate Lesotho’s rural landscape in these potentially remunerative VCs, incentivize contract farming, strengthen vertical alliances by building trusted commercial partnerships between farmers and private agri-businesses and drive enterprise operations towards more lucrative domestic and export markets.

A further 8.5M USD in funding from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) – IFAD will be used to scale-up activities under the component and introduce some relevant innovations. These include cluster development support, the additional grant funds to foster productive alliances, and investment in pilots of e-voucher and agri-insurance. The development objective of the GAFSP grant is to enhance resilience of small-scale agriculture and food systems through increased commercialization and system change. The additional financing objective aligns with and complements SADP II. It supports financing in two components: (i) Component 2: Improving Agricultural Commercialization and Nutrition; and (ii) Component 3: Project Management, Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation

Component 3: Project Management, Coordination and Monitoring and Evaluation

The component supports implementat