tender · onsite

Consulting Services for development of national forest database and National Forest Information System (NFIS)

Government of Nepal Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation REDD Forestry and Climate Change Cell Grant No: TF094724: Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) ReadinessFund REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTANT SERVICES) First Publication Date : August 21, 2014 1. The Government of Nepal has received the FCPF grant from the World Bank toward the cost of Nepal REDD Readiness Preparation Program and intends to apply part of the proceeds for the following consulting service. 2. The objectives of the proposed study are: To design and develop a comprehensive and integrated National Forest Database(NFD) and the required user interface for data entry, management and access; develop a Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for data entry andquality control; build capacity of district and national level stakeholders to manage the database and develop and test the spatially integrated NFD for a pilot region. Also, develop an integrated NFIS that incorporates analysis, synthesis and decision support tools for uploading and accessing forest resource inventory, forest carbon, management plan and program, users and beneficiaries, REDD+ activities and safeguard indicators; establish an operational NFIS with required hardware and software support at NITC; document the process and products related to NFIS; and train stakeholders at district, regional and national levels to use NFIS. 3. The REDD Forestry and Climate Change Cell now inviteseligible consulting firms to indicate their interest in providing consulting services for the development of national database for all forest management regimes and alsodevelop national REDD+ information system or registry . Interested consulting firms must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services [company profile, brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc. with s upporting documents to substantiate the information provided in the EOI]. Consultants may associate to enhance their qualifications. The association/consortium shall be in the form of joint venture (JV) or intended JV or sub-contracting, whereall the JV members shall be jointly and severely liable for the entire assignment. 4. A consulting firm will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank's Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants underIBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers , January 2011 (Consultant Guidelines) adopting selectionmethod of " Quality- AndCost- Based Selection (QCBS)". The consulting firms will be evaluatedand short-listed based on the approved evaluation criteria that are broadly based on the following categories. A. Eligibility Criteria i) Valid registration certificate; ii) Tax clearanceor renewal of tax certificate; iii) VAT/PAN registration certificate (For international consultants to be submitted at the time of contractsigning); iv) consulting firm must be registered since last THREE years; v) legally binding joint venture agreement in case of applying in joint venture and vi) Fulfilment of the Bank's Conflict of Interest criteria. Failure to meet theeligibility criteria means automatic disqualification. B. Ranking Criteria for Ranking criteria are broadly based on the following three categories . i) General Experiences : Number of Projects Completed Successfully ii) Specific/Similar/Relevant Experiences (each completed project not less than value of USD 0.03 million): i) Number of completed projects related to design and development of national database and information system; ii) Number of completed projects related to design and development of national database andinformation system for natural resource sector; iii) Number of completed projects related to design and development of database and information system for forestry sector and iv) Number of completed projects related to design and development of database for climate chan