The Government of Maldives has received financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) towards the cost of Maldives Agribusiness Programme and intends to apply part of the proceeds for the recruitment of consulting services.

The use of any IFAD financing shall be subject to IFAD’s approval, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the financing agreement, as well as IFAD’s rules, policies and procedures. IFAD and its officials, agents and employees shall be held harmless from and against all suits, proceedings, claims, demands, losses and liability of any kind or nature brought by any party in connection with Maldives Agribusiness Programme.

The consulting services (“the services”) Strategic Direction and Policy Assessment of Agriculture Sector a per the attached Terms of Reference.

The Project Implementation Unit of Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Welfare (“the client”) now invites eligible Individual Consultants (“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 in the form of a curriculum vitae (CV). A consultant will be selected in accordance with the individual consultant selection (ICS) method set out in IFAD’ Project Procurement Handbook that can be accessed via the IFAD website at www.ifad.org/project-procurement. Interviews willbe conducted as part of the selection process.

The attention of interested consultants is drawn to IFAD’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Policy[1] and the Revised IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption its Activities and Operations[2]. The latter sets forth IFAD’s provisions on prohibited practices. IFAD further strives to ensure a safe working environment free of harassment, including sexual harassment, and free of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in its activities and operations as detailed in its IFAD Policy to Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.[3] By entering in this document, you certify to have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Privacy Policy of IFAD.[4]

Interested consultants shall not have any actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest. Consultants with an actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest shall be disqualified unless otherwise explicitly approved by the Fund. Consultants are considered to have a conflict of interest if they a) have a relationship that provides them with undue or undisclosed information about or influence over the selection process and the execution of the contract, or b) have a business or family relationship with a member of the client’s board of directors or its personnel, the Fund or its personnel, or any other individual that was, has been or might reasonably be directly or indirectly involved in any part of (i) the preparation of the REOI, (ii) the selection process for this procurement, or (iii) execution of the contract. Consultants have an ongoing obligation to disclose any situation of actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest during preparation of the EOI, the selection process or the contract execution. Failure to properly disclose any of said situations may lead to appropriate actions, including the disqualification of the consultant, the termination of the contract and any other as appropriate under the IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption in its Projects and Operations.

The following conflict of interest rules shall apply with respect to recruitment of government/client staff within the consultant’s proposed team:

(a)          No member of the client’s board of directors or current employees of the client (whether part time, or full time, paid or unpaid, in leave status, etc.) shall be proposed or work as, or on behalf of, any consultant.

(b)         Except as provided in sub-clause 8.6(d), no current employees of the government shall work as consultants or as personnel under their own ministries, departments or agencies.

(c)          Recruiting former client or government employees to perform services for their former ministries, departments or agencies is acceptable provided no conflict of interest exists.

(d)         If a consultant proposes any government employee as personnel in their technical proposal, such personnel must have written certification from the government confirming that: (i) they will be on leave without pay from the time of their official proposal submission and will remain on leave without pay until the end of their assignment with the consultant and they are allowed to work full-time outside of their previous official position; or (ii) they will resign or retire from government employment on or prior to the contract award date. Under no circumstances shall any individuals described in (i) and (ii) be responsible for approving the implementation of this contract. Such certification shall be provided to the client by the consultant as part of its technical proposal.

(e)          In the case where a consultant seeks to engage the services of any person falling under ITC sub-clauses 8.6(a) – 8.6(d), who may have left the client within a period of less than twelve (12) months of the date of this RFP, it must obtain a written “no-objection” from the client for the inclusion of such a person, prior to the consultant’s submission of its proposal.

The shortlisting criteria are:

Any request for clarification on this REOI should be sent via e-mail to the address below no later than 24th  May 2025, 10:00hrs (GMT+5). The client will provide responses to all clarification requests by 27^th May 2025, 15:00hrs (GMT+5).

Expressions of interest must be submitted in a written form to the address below (in person, or by e-mail) no later than 16^th June 2025, 14:00hrs, with the following documents.

-          Cover Letter – Expression of Interest

-          Detailed Curriculum Vitae(s)

-          Accredited Academic Certificates (with Transcript)

-          Reference Letter(s)

Late submissions will not be accepted.

Maldives Agribusiness Programme

Project Implementation Unit

Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Welfare

Attn: Shazin Mukhthar Rushdhy / Procurement Specialist

5^th Floor, M. Hazaarumaage, Fareedhee Magu,

Male’, Republic of Maldives

Tel: +960 3033410

Fax: +960 3326558

E-mail: [email protected]