Technical assistance services

Tender description

DFID intends to carry out a supplier engagement event to provide information and seek feedback on the programme requirement below. The programme is in final stages of Terms of Reference (ToR) formulation and the aim of this event is to inform the market of the upcoming opportunity and to solicit feedback ahead of the finalisation of documents. It is envisaged that this will be an interactive session with both a draft ToR and questions for consideration and feedback supplied in advance. DFID is keen to understand the key commercial factors which will further the Partnership’s delivery. The event will include a presentation and Q&A session regarding the Partnership and services expectations. The aim is to engage with providers to assess market capacity, capability and appetite and seek comments to inform the TOR and additional documentation. DFID seeks to establish a new Food Systems for Nutrition Partnership (FSNP) and is procuring services to set up, manage and implement this Partnership. The initiative is part of the recently approved Sustaining Action on Nutrition (SAN) Programme, worth £12.5 million over four years (May 2018 – April 2022), which focuses on supporting key building blocks for sustainable government and business action on nutrition. This includes: (i) strengthening the SUN Civil Society Network’s ability to hold governments and business to account; (ii) funding the Access to Nutrition Index; (iii) influencing policymakers to improve food systems for nutrition through the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition; and (iv) enabling businesses to innovate and invest in products, services and technologies that increase poor people’s access to safe, nutritious diets. Component (iv) will be covered by the new FSNP and is the focus of the upcoming procurement. The FSNP is intended to be of a strategic and transformative nature in putting businesses and entities working with business (investors, DFID and other donors, policymakers etc.) in a better position to invest in “nutrition-smart” food systems in developing countries. Such investments in “nutrition-smart” food systems must at the same time be sustainable and hence be firmly embedded within the climate change agenda, as well as deliver on economic growth and job creation objectives. FSNP complements DFID’s technical and financial assistance instruments that support individual business investments and aims to enable the latter to do better in making these investments work for nutrition. The objective to help increase private sector innovation and investment in agriculture and food markets in a way that safe, nutritious foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, animal source foods, pulses, nuts, fortified and biofortified staples, nutrient-rich processed foods) become more available and affordable to poor people, in particular women, adolescent girls and children under five, is reflected in both the UK’s Nutrition Position Paper and its Economic Development Strategy.