Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition (GAIN)- Request For Proposal For Basic And Advanced Food Safety To Meet Regulatory Standards In Nigeria

DEADLINE: 28TH FEBRUARY, 2023
GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION (GAIN)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR BASIC AND ADVANCED FOOD SAFETY TO MEET REGULATORY STANDARDS IN NIGERIA

(1) ABOUT GAIN
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with both governments and businesses, we aim to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious food for all people.

At GAIN, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to nutritious and safe food. We work to understand and deliver specific solutions to the daily challenge of food insecurity faced by poor people. By understanding that there is no “one-size-fits-all” model, we develop alliances and build tailored programmes, using a variety of flexible models and approaches.

We build alliances between governments, local and global businesses, and civil society to deliver sustainable improvements at scale. We are part of a global network of partners working together to create sustainable solutions to malnutrition. Through alliances, we provide technical, financial and policy support to key participants in the food system. We use specific learning, evidence of impact, and results of projects and programmes to shape and influence the actions of others.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, GAIN has representative offices in Denmark, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition, we have country offices in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tanzania. Programmes and projects are carried out in a variety of other countries, particularly in Africa and Asia.

GAIN’s Workforce Nutrition programme aims to improve the nutrition of workers and farmers in low and middle-income countries or communities. The programme focuses on improving the access and demand for healthier diets using existing business structures as an entry point (workplaces or supply chains). GAIN began its workforce nutrition programme in 2013 and has reached over 230,000 estate workers, smallholder farmers and their families in the tea, cocoa and garment supply chain across Africa and Asia. We currently work with partners in the tea sector (India, Kenya, and Malawi), cocoa sector (Ghana), garment sector (Bangladesh), and we are running pilots in a variety of industry sectors in Mozambique.

Our work on biofortified crops aims to scale access to and demand for nutrient-dense varieties of commonly consumed staples such as maize, sweet potato and cassava through targeted support to address challenges and constraints to increased production and consumption of these foods.

A key part of our approach is improving the enabling environment for biofortified seeds, crops and food products through advocacy, catalytic financing, and the licensing of technology and related services. GAIN supports businesses, especially micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), through most of our programmatic offerings. This support is coordinated through the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network (SBN), which is convened by GAIN in Nigeria and was launched in 2016 to improve and strengthen the private sector’s contribution to nutrition. The Network has supported businesses with brokering business-to-business linkages, facilitating connections to government and other sectors, including development partners, and capacity building for MSMEs to address critical barriers to start, grow and scale their business. Specific support areas include access to finance, access to markets, quality control and assurance in their production processes, and food safety and nutrition education.

(2) BACKGROUND

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) and will be the administrative lead organisation for this RFP.

The purpose of this RFP is to engage two (2) Service Providers on an annually renewable contract (from March 2023 to March 2025) to conduct training on basic and advanced food safety, hygiene best practices and regulatory standards targeted at value chain actors with a specific focus on women/youth led businesses (40% women and 50% youth) functioning in four (4) selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) in each of the four selected states of Kaduna, Benue, Nasarawa and Oyo in the Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize, Rice and Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato value chains. This activity is part of the business support workstream to be implemented in the focal states for the next three years.

The Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples project is currently being implemented by The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition in partnership with GIZ and the Green Innovation Centre for the Agricultural and Food Sector in Nigeria (GIC), with support from the German Government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Strengthening nutrition project will strengthen the GIC priority value chains and improve food security and safety through improved diets for farmers, farm workers, other workers in businesses in these value chains, and among the wider population in Nigeria.

The business support component will support businesses with special focus on women and youth (40% women and 50% youth) and unleash the creativity and energy of the business owners to support their families, succeed in agri-business and attempt to tackle malnutrition and prevent food-borne illnesses as well as food and social insecurity. This workstream will increase women and youth involvement in value-added agriculture and entrepreneurship that directly addresses the specific challenges that women and rural youth face in the four focal states for this project.

It will respond to opportunities to harness the political will at local, state, and national levels in Nigeria to invest in creating economic opportunities for women and youth in the production, processing, and sale of nutritious and safe foods. This will be achieved by significantly increasing the knowledge and information available to the participants about nutrition, and food safety, increasing their participation in decision-making and targeting business support and investments so they can bring forward innovations, increase livelihood opportunities and build nutrition sensitivity into the GIC value chains.

This will be carried out using three interlinked approaches:

• Improving the nutritional quality of staple foods produced by SMEs and farmers involved in GIC activities.
• Improving the capacity of food safety and value chain actors to adhere to standards and regulations on best practices.
• Supporting technical innovations for supply chains through innovation challenges and innovation clinics.

(3) OBJECTIVES

The main objective is to engage two service providers to conduct the training of food processors, aggregators and distributors on basic and advanced food safety, hygiene centred best practices and regulatory standards targeted at value chain actors operating in the Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize, Rice and Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato value chains in the four select states of Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue and Oyo.

The specific objectives are:

(a) To train MSMEs (food processors, aggregators, and distributors) especially women and youth led MSMEs on basic and advanced food safety, hygiene centred best practices and regulatory standards.

(b) To develop the capacity of SMEs to adhere to food safety and quality specifications for biofortified food products from Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize, and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP).

(3.1) PROJECT STATES, LGAs AND VALUE CHAINS

Under the guidance of, and in consultation with, the GAIN team responsible for the SNiPS project, the Consultant(s) shall carry out the objectives outlined above. One consultant shall be responsible for project states in the Northern region, covering, Kaduna, Benue, and Nasarawa states and while another would be responsible for Oyo state, which is in the Southwestern region.

The consultants would carry tasks in Kaduna, Benue, Nasarawa and Oyo states across four LGAs and value chains as detailed below:

Any proposal that covers the two regions will be disqualified. Each proposal must cover one region, either the northern region and the states herein or the southwestern region and the states herein.

Any proposal that covers the two regions will be disqualified. Each proposal must cover one region, either the northern region and the states herein or the southwestern region and the states herein.

(4) SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES

(4.1) SCOPE OF WORK

The successful applicant shall present the following services:

• Review and adopt the manual for training of MSMEs on basic and advanced food safety, hygiene centred best practices and regulatory standards in the four states of implementation.
• Facilitate the training of 160 MSMEs (especially women/youth-led businesses) with nutrition-sensitive food products on basic and advanced food safety, hygiene best practices and regulatory standards across the four states of implementation.
• Submit training deliverables covering each state of intervention including but not limited to training reports and attendance.

(4.2) DELIVERABLES

The timeline for completion of all aspects of the Scope of Work and submission of deliverables is outlined in the table below:

(5) QUALIFICATIONS
The service provider shall be an individual or organization legally registered in Nigeria with proven experience in Food Safety Management Systems and Quality Management Systems. The service provider should be culturally sensitive with work-related experience in the Northern and Southwestern region of Nigeria in the four value chains of Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize, Rice, and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, specifically on food safety adherence to regulatory standards.

Prior experience in food safety, quality assurance, and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) implementation for nutrition-focused Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) and food products developed from biofortified staples (Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize, and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato etc.) is an added advantage.

(II) INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING

This section addresses the process for responding to this solicitation. Applicants are encouraged to review this prior to completing their responses.

(1) CONTACT
Key programme and technical staff from gain are part of the selection team of the organization and will review the proposals. They will be available via email to respond to clarifications on this solicitation. Please direct all inquiries and other communications to nquotation@gainhealth.org and rfp@gainhealth.org with jpilaku@gainhealth.org in copy. Responses will not be confidential except in cases where proprietary information is involved.

(2) BUDGET
Applicants are required to provide GAIN with a detailed budget in Nigerian Naira, fees/travel/accommodation, and any other direct costs to be incurred in the delivery of the scope of work. Include a detailed narrative justification for the line items included. The budget must be inclusive of all taxes (Withholding tax). The final budget amount will have to be approved by GAIN before the training starts.

(3) FORMAT FOR PROPOSAL

The proposal needs to be formatted as follows:

(1) Technical proposal:

(a) Description of previous relevant work (maximum 1 page)

(b) Composition of the team with names and brief biographies of all key staff (maximum 3 pages)

(c) Detailed proposal explaining how the areas of work mentioned in objectives and Scope of Work will be addressed, including risk and mitigation strategy, sustainability, and timeline (maximum 10 pages)

(d) References

(2) Financial proposal:

(a) Budget

(b) Detailed budget justification

(3) Offer of services

(4) SUBMISSION

The Original proposals should be submitted in electronic copy on or before the 28 February 2023 and addressed to nquotation@gainhealth.org and rfp@gainhealth.org, copying jpilaku@gainhealth.org Please include Basic and advanced food safety for regulatory standards in Nigeria as the subject for your submission. Requests for additional information can be directed to the same e-mail addresses.

(5) DEADLINE

Completed proposals should be submitted to GAIN before 5:00 pm WAT on 28 February 2023.

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