Request for Expressions of Interest - Consultancy Services for design and management of The Nature-based Solutions Accelerator Programme (NbSA)

Background

About SNV

SNV is a global development partner rooted in the African and Asian countries where we operate. With 60 years of experience and a team of approximately 1,600 people, it is our mission to strengthen capacities and catalyse partnerships that transform the agri-food, energy, and water systems to enable sustainable and more equitable lives for all.

SNV has been working in Viet Nam since 1995 and currently has over 50 national and international staff. SNV Viet Nam’s team works hand-in-hand with communities, government agencies, and businesses in about 20 provinces, including the most remote and poorest areas of the country. We operate from a country head office in Hanoi and regional offices Dak Lak and Vinh Long.

SNV Viet Nam’s Agrifood programme today is strongly focused around promoting socially inclusive climate resilient agriculture. In recent years, SNV Viet Nam has implemented a wide range of projects promoting climate smart approaches and inclusive value-chain development throughout the country in numerous sub-sectors, including rice, shrimp, coffee, fruits, vegetables, and spices. Many of our interventions support vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities in rural uplands access markets and opportunities and women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in agricultural value chains.

For more information on SNV, please refer to our website: www.snv.org.

About the VN-ADAPT project

Viet Nam Nature-based Solutions for Adaptation in Agriculture through Private Sector Transformation (VN-ADAPT) is a €15m national programme in Viet Nam to be implemented until 2028. The programme is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). SNV Viet Nam is the lead of the programme in consortium with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Centre for Environmental Management (ICEM). The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) is the national partner for this undertaking. The VN-ADAPT programme design has been approved by the IKI. The Programme has recently approved by MAE to secure support by relevant ministries and provinces.

VN-ADAPT focusses on two key climate-vulnerable landscapes in Viet Nam – the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta. The project aims to improve institutional capacity and strengthen partnerships to channel private innovation and investment towards accelerated adoption of nature-based solutions in the agriculture sector with a focus on these two regions of Vietnam.

This will be realised through four inter-related work packages, namely:

1. Building multi-stakeholder consensus for Nature-based Solutions for adaptation in Agriculture (NbSA);
2. Strengthening the enabling legal and policy framework for NbSA and the conservation of biodiversity in production landscapes (including the development of legal guidance for the establishment and implementation of Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs);
3. Mobilising public and private innovation and investment in NbSA;
4. Communications, knowledge management and monitoring and evaluation.

The consortium is implementing the programme with coordination and support from Agriculture Project Management Board (APMB)/MAE).

Background of the assignment

VN-ADAPT includes several elements to support sustainable and inclusive growth of different types of private sector actors who engage with application and roll-out NbSA business initiatives, and delivery of a business accelerator is one these. The project is looking to appoint an implementer (or a Delivery Partner – DP), which may be a firm, a single organisation or a consortium of organisations to design and manage the delivery of a business accelerator programme in Vietnam (under Activity 3.2. of VN-ADAPT project). The accelerator fund would be delivered under the collective banner of the Nature-based Solutions Accelerator (NbSA). This implementer will report to the project management (Team leader/Deputy Team leader) and work closely with the Senior Landscape and Business Partnership Specialist (LBPS), the primary focal point of SNV for this activity, as well as technical team members of the project, including Value Chain specialists, GESI specialists and other team members involved. This Accelerator aims to scale up the adoption and implementation of solutions and technologies that increase resilience and climate adaptation of agriculture or forestry practices in Vietnam. The Accelerator will target enterprises in two regions of Vietnam: the Central Highlands (CH) and the Mekong River Delta (MD). The overall target is to support over 50 enterprises through 02 cohorts with each one will be delivered over an 18-month period although the shortlisted bidder(s) will be asked to suggest the most effective approach. These enterprises are primarily expected to be domestic SMEs that, with the help of The Accelerator, are almost ready to access commercial finance to scale their business model. The Accelerator will be first run for the MD and thus, the delivery partner (DP) will be recruited for the MD region to support over 25 Micro, Small Medium and enterprises (MSME). The overall objective of the assignment is to design and manage delivery of the VIRAA, under the direction of SNV, MAE and DAE of project provinces.

Objective 1: Design of the Accelerator Programme (AP)

Objective 2: Enhancing capacity of the companies participating in the AP on NbSA

Objective 3: Managing the implementation of the grant awards

Scope of work

The selected DP will be responsible for the design, delivery, and management of the Accelerator Programme (AP) and the grant implementation period in close coordination with SNV, in accordance with Objectives 1 – 3.

The selected implementor will be required to provide a detailed design in collaboration with SNV during the initial weeks of the assignment. The initial design of the AP consists of five pillars: mentoring, access to finance, capacity building, networking and fund management (post AP).

This design will be refined during the inception phase once contracted. Initial expectations from SNV on the design of The Accelerator are that:

1. Inception phase

2. Implementation of the Accelerator Program

3 Monitoring and Evaluation and Quality Assurance

Tender Process and Evaluation criteria

This tender process will take place in two stages. Stage one is an Expression of Interest. Those selected from the Expression of Interest stage will move forward to the Full Proposal Stage and receive a second assignment description ahead of being asked to prepare a more detailed proposal submission for the assignment.

Expression of Interest (EOI) Evaluation Criteria:

Criteria

Due Diligence: Pass/Fail

Qualifications of the organisation: max. 40 scores

Relevant experience related to the assignment: max. 40 scores

Demonstrated experience providing consultancy services for international NGOs (INGOs) and private companies in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta of Vietnam: max. 20 scores

Total: 100 scores

Only Expressions of Interest (EOIs) with a minimum score of 70 will move forward for Full Proposals.

Due diligence instructions

Due Diligence (DD) checks apply to both individual consultants and consulting firms engaged by SNV for the provision of consultancy services. Conducting these checks supports SNV in managing donor funds responsibly, ethically, and in full compliance with relevant regulations.

To download the form for completion, click https://c.smartrecruiters.com/sr-company-attachments-prod-aws-dc5/58919688e4b0672cc03331a9/71868d48-f40d-4651-b2ee-b5359320f4c5?r=s3-eu-central-1

Eligibility and Qualifications

Applicants are encouraged to propose their own approach for the delivery of the assignment and division of activities amongst experts and different organisations. Applications are welcome from single organisations or consortiums, but for consortiums there must be a clear lead organisation with responsibility for proposal development and assignment delivery.

In order to perform the above tasks, the successful applicant is expected to have the following:

1. Eligible working license in Vietnam. The delivery partner can have a mixed team of both foreigners and Vietnamese, but the language of communication with accelerator companies or government should be Vietnamese.
2. At least more than 3 years of experience in delivering AP or at least 2 AP
3. Proven experience delivering similar accelerator / incubator programmes and delivering business development services and/or financial brokering services, using a variety of tools and activities, directly to the Vietnam domestic private sector.
4. Clear understanding of the agriculture sector in Vietnam and its opportunities/challenges, including with respect to climate change adaptation.
5. The ability to deliver the course in a mix of Vietnamese and English (participating enterprises are expected to be more confident in Vietnamese, and have a range of English ability), and the ability to travel to the regions to deliver some content close to where the enterprises are operating.
6. Proven experience linking enterprises to a variety of suitable potential investors, and building a network of like-minded investors, including both domestic retail / rural banks (the primary funder of SMEs in Vietnam) as well as possibly other sources of investment and finance.
7. The capacity to support the required number of businesses adequately within the timeframe outlined.

Submission requirements

Interested Consulting Firms are invited to submit the following documents via the instructions in this site.

• A Letter for Expression of Interest with CVs of the key experts and relevant experience related to the assignment (at least 2 past performance references of similar or relevant assignments).
• The organisation’s business licence or appropriate registration (for associations and non-profit organisations)
• A completed Due Diligence document, along with all required supporting documents, click the link to download and complete https://c.smartrecruiters.com/sr-company-attachments-prod-aws-dc5/58919688e4b0672cc03331a9/900c0d90-227a-42e7-807f-b4624183e1dd?r=s3-eu-central-1

Deadline: EOIs are accepted until May 11th, 2026.

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.

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.