ToR: Development of RPLC Playbook

Ask me Anything: ToR on RPLC Playbook | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

Date: November 14, 2025

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Stichting IDH (“IDH”) accelerates and up-scales sustainable trade by building impact-oriented coalitions of front running companies, civil society, governments, knowledge institutions and other stakeholders in several commodity sectors. We convene the interests, strengths and knowledge of public and private partners in sustainability commodity programs that aim to mainstream international and domestic commodity markets. We jointly formulate strategic intervention plans with public and private partners, and we co-invest with partners in activities that generate public goods.  

 On the basis of these Terms of Reference (“ToR”), IDH aims to select a service provider/consultant to develop the RPLC Playbook, a comprehensive step-by-step methodology document that captures the process, structures, and tools required to conceptiualise, design, implement and replicate the Regenerative Production Landscape Collaborative (RPLC) model across other geographies and regions. 

The Playbook will serve as a guiding document for state governments, government departments and implementing agencies, enabling the adoption and scale-up of regenerative production landscapes aligned with national and state priorities. 

The Regenerative Production Landscape Collaborative (RPLC) is a multi-stakeholder platform designed to restore ecosystems, enhance farmer livelihoods, and build resilient supply chains through a Public-Private-People Partnership model. Operating across ten districts in Madhya Pradesh, RPLC integrates regenerative agriculture, biodiversity restoration, and community-led governance. 

The programme demonstrates how shared responsibility across government departments, private sector brands, and local communities can lead to measurable ecological and social impact. With successful field project in Chhindwara and Western Madhya Pradesh, RPLC now seeks to codify its learnings into a replicable blueprint for state-wide and district-level adoption. 

The Playbook will thus function as a methodology document, capturing the key steps, institutional design, monitoring systems, convergence pathways and systems change thinking that can enable effective implementation of regenerative landscape approaches.   Key Tasks: 

The consultant will undertake the following activities to design, develop, and finalize the RPLC Playbook: 

Phase 1: Inception and Framework Design 

• Review existing RPLC documentation (programme reports, Memorandum of Understanding, MRV framework, compact design, baseline studies, governance charters). 
• Conduct inception meetings with the IDH–RPLC core team, state government partners, Implementing Partners, Brands and Companies. 
• Develop a detailed Playbook structure a.k.a. Table of Contents: identifying chapters, annexures, and knowledge formats (case studies, flowcharts, templates). 

Phase 2: Documentation and Analysis 

• Map the complete RPLC design process, covering: 

• - Landscape selection (legacy work, socio-ecological and land use conditions) 

• - Team design,  roles & responsibilities, attributions and skill sets, and selection rubric 

• - Research and diagnostic studies (Baselines) 

• - Stakeholder mapping, selection, and  trust-building mechanisms 

• - Government engagement strategy and trust building mechanisms 

• - Strategy and models for engagement with private sector, brands, and supply chain actors  

• - Design, adoption, and operationalisation of Governance structures, State Council, Compacts, and Landscape Management Unit functions 

• - Developing Action Plans, Fundraising, Communications, Partnership strategies and plans 

• - Developing plans and strategies for capturing Environmental Impact and Social Risk in the Landscape 

• Document specific case examples and studies from Chhindwara and Western MP to illustrate each of the stage. 
• Identify enablers, challenges, and lessons for replication across districts and States. 

Phase 3: Toolkit and Annexure Development 

• Develop a Playbook that can be serve as guide, this includes: 

• - Governance Charter and Compact templates. 

• - TORs for implementing partners and Compact Secretariats. 

• - MRV indicators and reporting formats (monthly, quarterly, annual). 

• - Convergence mapping templates linking to key government schemes (NRLM, RKVY, PMKSY, NMSA). 

Phase 4: Design a visually appealing RPLC playbook: 

• Create visually appealing flow diagrams, checklists, and institutional mapping tools with impactful visuals following a standard colour palette, typography, and style elements. Optimize design for readability (approx. 60% visual, 40% text ratio). 
• Ensure compatibility for both email (HTML/PDF) and print dissemination.  
• Provide editable templates for future updates. 
• Deliver both print-ready and digital versions 

Phase 5: Validation and Finalization 

• Conduct review, feedback, and validation workshops with government officials (district, state), RPLC partners, implementing partners and brand representatives. 
• Incorporate feedback and finalize the Playbook in a format, ensuring accessibility and usability. 
• Prepare both English and Hindi executive summaries alongside the playbook. 

Deliverables: 

1. Workplan and methodology 
2. Draft Playbook toolkit (Annexure-ready tools and templates) 
3. Stakeholders Feedback Summary 
4. Final Print-Ready RPLC Playbook 
5. Executive Pitch deck for the playbook (10-15 slides) 

Objectives 

The primary objective of this assignment is to develop a comprehensive Playbook that: 

• Documents the methodology and institutional design of RPLC in a structured, step-by-step format. 
• Serves as a replication manual for state and district governments to operationalize regenerative landscape programs. 
• Integrates Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) and Social Risks Assessment processes  
• Captures best practices, case studies, and governance innovations from Chhindwara and Western Madhya Pradesh. 
• Provides tools, templates, and visual decision aids for practitioners, enabling easy adaptation. 

Deliverables 

The deliverables of this assignment will be:  1. Workplan and methodology 

2. Draft Documentation 

3. Toolkit and Annexures 

4. Validation Workshop Report 

5. Final Playbook and Executive Pitch Deck 

The procedure will be as follows: 

1. Publishing the tender and/or inviting services providers to submit a proposal based on this ToR. 
2. IDH will host a Ask me Anything session to resolve any queries applicants may have. 
3. Evaluation of the proposals by internal IDH committee. The evaluation committee will evaluate the proposals based on the selection criteria as published in this ToR. 
4. Decision on selection of the service provider. 
5. Inception meeting with the selected service provider. 

The schedule below indicates the timelines for the selection of the service provider:  

• ToR published: 10.11.2025 
• Ask me Anything (AMA) session: 14.11.2025 
• Deadline for submitted proposals*: 28.11.2025 
• Selection of service provider: 03.12.2025 
• Start of assignment: 12.12.2025 
• Closure of assignment: 23.02.26 

* Questions received by IDH after this date will not be answered. 

** Proposals submitted after the deadline will be returned and will not be considered in the tender procedure. 

IDH is requesting the service providers to hand in a proposal of maximum 5 [number] pages (excluding company biographies, CVs, sample work and references). The proposal must be handed in a MS Word or PowerPoint version next to a PDF submission to facilitate any copy-and-pasting of content that we may need during evaluation.    Service providers must submit a proposal (max. 5 pages, excluding annexures) including: 

• Detailed technical approach and methodology 
• Summary of previous relevant assignments 
• Proposed team composition with roles and time allocation 
• Timeline and deliverable schedule 
• Financial proposal (as per Annex 2 template) 
• Sample of previous government-oriented documentation work 

We are looking for partners with the below mentioned criteria: 

IDH is seeking a service provider with the following qualifications: 

• Proven expertise and familiarity in knowledge documentation, systems design, or program institutionalization in climate, governance and agriculture preferred 
• Demonstrated experience of developing and designing  knowledge products such as playbooks, operational manuals, or toolkits for audience in the government and Indian bureaucracy. 
• Strong understanding of public policy frameworks, convergence models, and PPP mechanisms 
• Experience in working with government departments and district administrations will valuable 
• Ability to communicate complex systems in clear, lucid, visual, and actionable formats 

• The proposal must at least include: 

Content: 

• A succinct, well-documented approach addressing the requirements set out this ToR. We request that the proposal structure match the selection criteria as closely as possible 
• Maximum of three client references and a sample of previous work relevant to the deliverables in this ToR, 
• An overview of the project team, including the CVs of the project team members, 
• Budget (as per template in Annex 2, 
• Description of safeguarding approach1 (does the service provider have a safeguarding policy in place, and if not, are they able and committed to comply to and implement IDH’s safeguarding policy (to be found here); steps (to be) taken to identify risks in relation to safeguarding in the project at hand and description of approach to mitigate these safeguarding risks (if any), 
• Statement on Ground for exclusion (see Section 6 below). 

Administrative: 

• Completed detail request form (Annex 3), 
• Copy of most recent (audited) financial accounts, if available, 
• Statement of acceptance draft contract (Annex 4). 

The proposal must be submitted to Subhadra Kaul or Vikramjeet Sharma at kaul@idhtrade.org or vikramjeetsharma@idhtrade.org before 28.11.2025 at 2300 Hrs.  

1. - Applicants shall be excluded from participation in this tender procedure if:  

• they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;  
• they or persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control over them have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata;  
• they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the IDH can justify;  
• they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established, or with those of the Netherlands or those of the country where the contract is to be performed;  
• they or persons having powers of representation, decision making of control over them have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering or any other illegal activity. 
• Optionally: conflict of interest (see below). 

Applicants must confirm in writing that they are not in one of the situations as listed above. 

1. - Applicants shall not make use of child labor or forced labor and/or practice discrimination and they shall respect the right to freedom of association and the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining, in accordance with the core conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

Conflict of interest 

Applicants shall not have a conflict of interest in submitting a tender application to IDH. Conflict of interest refers to any situation where an Applicant’s application may be compromised or not impartial and objective for reasons involving family, personal life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other connection or shared interest with another person. Should the Applicant suspect any potential conflicts of interest on its part, it shall submit a written statement setting forth all conditions and circumstances of such potential conflict(s) of interest to IDH together with its application. A conflict of interest that cannot be solved effectively by less restrictive means constitutes an optional exclusion ground to an applicant, pursuant to article 2.87(1)(e) of the Dutch Procurement Act. 

The assignment will be awarded to the Applicant with the most economically advantageous tender. The most economically advantageous tender is determined on the basis of the evaluation criteria of Price and Quality.  

The evaluation criteria are compared and weighed according to the procedure below. This concerns a general outline of the scoring methodology and an explanation how the service provider can demonstrate compliance with the requirements. 

Step 1 - Criterion Quality 

Evaluation scores will be awarded for each of the components. The evaluation committee will score each component unanimously.  

[IDH values quality highly, therefore a minimum grade of 3 must be scored by the Applicant on each component. If the Applicant scores a grade of 3 or less on one of the components he will be excluded from the tender procedure and awarding the contract.] 

The proposal will be assessed based on the following selection criteria: 

1. Proposal overall: The extent to which the proposal meets the requirements set out in Section 3 above and throughout this document. Can the Applicant deliver the requirement deliverables? Will the Applicant be able to deliver a comprehensive solution?: 5 
2. Design and Development process: The extent to which the Applicant demonstrates that a clear design and development process will be followed and IDH is adequately consulted for input during the design and development. The extent to which it is clear what is required of IDH in terms of human resources, digital assets and other input to deliver the project without being too onerous on our staff—5 
3. Track record: The extent to which the Applicant presents the required level of expertise and knowledge to fulfil the requirements both at team member and company level. To extent to which the Applicant gives a clear description of the project team, relevant (delivering similar projects) experience of team members and time allocation per team member.[Relevant experience in non-profit sector is advantageous.]5 

The evaluation committee will unanimously score each component by assigning scores from 1 to the maximum grading, with the maximum grading representing optimal performance on the component and 1 representing extremely poor performance on the respective component. 

Step 2 -  Criterion price 

The Applicant shall follow the Budget template (attached as Annex 2 to these Terms of Reference). 

Please note that a combined price in Euros (excluding VAT) is to be presented. This is to be broken down by team member rate and hours.  

Given the non-for-profit nature of IDH, we encourage Applicant to clearly mention if the budget might be positively impacted by partial pro-bono work or reduced rate as a contribution to the successful delivery of the assignment. 

The criterion of assessment is “the best price for the proposed level of quality” with a maximum grading of 5.  

Step 3 - Weighting 

The final score will be weighted 75% on Quality and 25% on Price.  

If scores of service providers are equal, priority will be based on the total scores that were given for the Criterion Quality. The assignment will be awarded to the service provider that has received the highest score for the Criterion Quality. If the evaluation of the Criterion Quality does not lead to a distinction, the score for the component “Proposal overall” will be decisive. If this does not lead to a distinction, the ranking will be determined by the drawing of lots. 

Award 

Once IDH has decided to which Applicant it intends to award the assignment, a written notification thereof is sent to all Applicants participating in the tender procedure. 

The Applicant is contracted via a letter of assignment, following IDH’s template (Annex 4).  

Please note: the payment schedule set out in the letter of assignment template may be amended, subject to unilateral decision of IDH. 

All participants will ensure that all its contacts with IDH, with regards to the tender, during the tender procedure take place exclusively in writing by e-mail  Subhadra Kaul or Vikramjeet Sharma] at kaul@idhtrade.org or vikramjeetsharma@idhtrade.org The participants is thus explicitly prohibited, to prevent discrimination of the other participants and to ensure the diligence of the procedure, to have any contact whatsoever regarding the tender with any other persons of IDH than the person stated in the first sentence of this paragraph. 

The documents provided by or on behalf of IDH will be handled confidentiality. The Applicants will also impose a duty of confidentiality on any parties that it engages. Any breach of the duty of confidentiality by the Applicant or its engaged third parties will give IDH grounds for exclusion of the Applicant, without requiring any prior written or verbal warning.  

All information, documents and other requested or provided data submitted by the Applicant will be handled with due care and confidentiality by IDH. The provided information will after evaluation by IDH be filed as confidential. The provided information will not be returned to the Applicant. 

IDH respects the effort and time that participants are expected to put into this tender procedure. However, IDH has to use its financial means as economically as possible. Therefore, IDH will not remunerate participants for their interest and/or participation in the tender procedure.  

IDH reserves the right to update, change, extend, postpone, withdraw, or suspend the ToR, this tender procedure, or any decision regarding the selection or contract award. IDH is not obliged in this tender procedure to make a contract award decision or to conclude a contract with a participant.  

Participants in the tender procedure cannot claim compensation from IDH, any affiliated persons or entities, in any way, in case any of the afore-mentioned situations occur. 

By handing in a proposal, participants accept all terms and reservations made in this ToR, and subsequent information and documentation in this tender procedure. 

Annex 1: Budget Template

Annex 2: Detail Request Form

Annex 3: Letter of Assignment

Annex 4: IDH General Terms and Conditions for Services

Annex 5: Statement of acceptance