Terms of Reference: Training on Responsible Business Conduct to RPLC Supply Chain Partners

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 basis of these Terms of Reference (“ToR”), IDH aims to select a service provider to train and build capacity in Responsible Business Conduct Action Planning for key RPLC supply chain partners, specifically Farmer Producer Organisations and private spinner companies. The consultant will build their capacity to operationalise international RBC standards, ensuring that supply chain actors not only comply with laws but also actively uphold human dignity, labour rights, and environmental sustainability.

The apparel sector operates under acute scrutiny from consumers, investors, and regulators. This makes human rights and environmental integrity not only a moral imperative but also a strategic necessity. To deliver lasting impact, businesses must safeguard the rights, wellbeing, and economic security of supply chain actors, from cotton farmers to workers downstream. The Regenerative Production Landscape Collaborative (RPLC) enables such a transformation by strengthening supply chain resilience and securing equitable socio-economic benefits to smallholder farmers. Because systemic challenges like human rights risk and climate stressors transcend the capacity of any single actor, collective action is essential.Apparel supply chains are geographically dispersed and operate within complex and diverse cultural and regulatory environments. Responsible Business Conduct (RBC), as defined in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, places community interests at the heart of sustainable development. International frameworks such as the UN Global Compact, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the ILO for decent work agenda serve as benchmarks for RBC. Together, these frameworks create the governance foundation to regenerative production landscapes to thrive by securing fair income, labour rights and community trust for those most affected by landscape interventions. and secures social equity and decent work for supply chain actors.

Value chain actors are central to ensuring that business operations are conducted in a manner that respects human rights, promotes decent work, and mitigates, and prevents adverse impacts on people, communities, and the environment. Guided by these benchmarks, we aim to co-create Responsible Business Action plans with value chain actors to go beyond legal compliance by developing their systems and processes that are in accordance with international norms on human rights and labour rights. Action Plans would include processes for corrective action, transparent reporting, and meaningful stakeholder engagement with investors, regulators, workers, and consumers. A plan that allows workers and vulnerable communities to raise concerns foster accountability and long-term resilience across supply chains.

RBC implementation requires due diligence processes, participatory risk assessments, ongoing action planning, and transparency across all partnerships. In this context, the Consultant will design and deliver capacity-building training for key RPLC supply chain partners. The 2025 priority is to enable four partners (two Farmer Producer Organisations and two private spinners companies) to adopt Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) principles. This includes guiding them through the development, co-creation and implementation of Responsible Business Action Plans along with systems to monitor and sustain alignment with international frameworks.

Key Tasks:

Training Preparation

• Review Danida Green Business Partnership (DGBP) RBC guidelines, especially Annex 2 “Kick-starting RBC during fieldwork” and relevant case studies (Box 3, Case Study 2 and 3), and Annex 3 that includes UNGP, OECD Guideline and ILO decent work guidelines for the training workshop
• Consultant shall customise, if necessary, its existing training materials, including presentations, workshop guides, and tools to facilitate dialogue and expectation setting with partners.

Conduct Training Workshop 

• Build capacity of partners on conceptual understanding of RBC and developing RBC Action Plan by conducting in-person technical trainings/workshops.
• To support partners in creating RBC Action Plans, including intervention tools, impact targets, and mitigation measures, along with indicators.

Monitoring and Follow-up 

• Conduct one follow-up session with all partners to review lessons and incorporate iterative improvements in the RBC action plan.
• Assist partners with developing tools for monitoring and reporting on RBC parameters.

Deliverables:

• Training curriculum and modules drawing from international RBC frameworks and preparing materials (presentations, guides, handouts) tailored to the cotton supply chain context in Madhya Pradesh.
• Conduct training workshops for each business partner (4 partners) and submit participant feedback summary report after each workshop.
• Develop draft RBC Action Plans in consultation with business partners (one for each business partner).
• Guidance notes and checklists for business partners to support continued RBC integration.
• Final report summarizing activities, outcomes, and recommendations for ongoing RBC capacity strengthening.

This scope ensures partners are equipped with knowledge, tools, and practical strategies to embed Responsible Business Conduct comprehensively, fostering sustainable, ethical, and inclusive project outcomes aligned with Danida’s standards and international best practices which focus on the four pillars—human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption.

Objectives

The primary objective of this assignment is:

• Build awareness of Responsible Business Conduct principles and frameworks tailored to the business partners in the cotton supply chain.
• Support business partners with the development of Business Action Plans and delivery and monitoring of those plans

Deliverables

The deliverables of this assignment will be:

• Training curriculum and modules drawing
• Training rollout of least 4 trainings
• RBC Action Plans for all 4 business partners
• Guidance notes and checklists
• Training report

The procedure will be as follows:

• Publishing the tender and/or inviting services providers to submit a proposal based on this ToR.
• Evaluation of the proposals by the evaluation committee. The evaluation committee will evaluate the proposals based on the selection criteria as published in this ToR.
• Decision on selection of the service provider.
• Inception meeting with the selected service provider.

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

• ToR published: 16.09.2025
• Deadline for submitted proposals*: 30.09.2025
• Selection of service provider: 06.10.2025
• Start of assignment: 20.10.2025

We expect this assignment to be completed by January 31st 2026.

* 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 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.  

We are seeking consultants with the below mentioned criteria:

• Familiarity with OECD and UN Guidelines on Business and Human rights and have relevant training materials is strongly preferred.
• Strong facilitation and training design skills, with fluency English and Hindi especially with rural audiences
• Expertise in labour rights, gender-inclusive approaches, compliance for sustainability in supply chains and prior experience working with textile sector entities.

The proposal must at least include:

Content:

• A succinct, well-documented approach addressing the requirements set out in 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 approach (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@idhtrafe.org or vikramjeetsharma@idhtrade.org before September 30, 2025, at 2300 hours.

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).

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

• 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:

Proposal overall

• Max Grading: 5
• Criteria: The extent to which the proposal demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the assignment and meets the requirements outlined in Section 3 of this ToR. This includes:
• Clear articulation of objectives and outcomes.
• Evidence that the proposed approach can deliver all required deliverables within the timeframe.
• A coherent and feasible solution that addresses both technical and practical dimensions of the assignment.

Design and Development process

• Max Grading: 5
• Criteria: The extent to which the Applicant presents a clear, structured, and feasible methodology for delivering the assignment. This includes:
• A well-defined process for design, consultation, and development of outputs.
• Demonstration of how IDH will be engaged and consulted at key stages.
• Clarity on the inputs required from IDH (human resources, digital assets, other support) and assurance that these are proportionate and not overly demanding.

Track record

• Max Grading: 5
• Criteria: The extent to which the Applicant demonstrates relevant expertise and proven experience to deliver the assignment. This includes:
• Evidence of delivering similar assignments in sustainability, ESG, agriculture, or commodities (preferably palm oil).
• Qualifications, relevant experience, and time allocation of the proposed project team.
• Clear description of team roles and responsibilities.
• Relevant experience in the non-profit or development sector will be considered an advantage.

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 to Subhadra Kaul or Vikramjeet Sharma at kaul@idhtrafe.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 aforementioned 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: DGBP Guidance Note

Annex 2: Budget Template

Annex 3: Detail Request Form

Annex 4: Letter of Assignment

Annex 5: IDH General Terms and Conditions for Services

Annex 6: Statement of acceptance