Terms of Reference (ToR) for hiring “Consultancy Firm” for Mid-term Evaluation of ‘COASTS’ Project


Cordaid, an International Development Organization, with its roots in the Netherlands, working in and on fragility, leads development efforts across 5 regional and multiple country offices in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Cordaid stands for those who are hit hardest by poverty and conflict. We support them in their struggle to move beyond survival and to fully participate in equitable and resilient societies.

Throughout our 52 years of track record, CORDAID has had remarkable experiences in working together with local partners for community welfare and development. We believe that long-term success can be achieved through programs and investments carried out by enterprising people and organizations. We have put our non-profit and commercial entities under one umbrella to bring stakeholders together, benefiting from the particular strengths of each. In public-private partnerships, Cordaid can take up the role of co-financer, co-entrepreneur, co-implementer and lobbyist. The thematic areas of Cordaid are Health Care, Humanitarian aid, Security and justice, Private Sector development, Agriculture and Education.

COASTS (Coastal Opportunities for Agriculture Solutions to Tackle Salinity in Bangladesh) project is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project, funded by Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Cordaid Bangladesh is awarded with this project as a lead partner with Soil Resource and Development Institute (SRDI) as Government partner, Lal Teer Seed Limited based in Bangladesh as a Private Sector Partner (Seed Company) and Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) as a knowledge Partner. This 04 year’ project started in July 2020 and planned to exit by June 2024. The direct targeted beneficiaries are 10,000 small to medium holder coastal salinity affected farmers (Direct farmers) and 20,000 indirect farmers who will be benefited throughout the project duration of this 04 years. The project is working in 08 Upazilas/sub-districts under 4 districts which are Khulna, Bagerhat, Barguna and Patuakhali. The objectives of this project are to increase vegetables production and income, commercializing salt-tolerant seeds, strengthening output channels as well as creating an enabling environment for promoting saline agriculture practices through engaging multi-sectoral stakeholders (Public, Private and Academic/ knowledge institutions).

Currently the project is passing its 3rd year out of 4 years, so Cordaid is aiming to hire a consultancy firm for Mid-term evaluation of COASTS project. We invite proposals from interested consultancy firms to undertake this study.

Objectives of the Mid-term Evaluation of COASTS project:

  • To measure status of the key performance indicators (KPIs) under the impact pathway with comparison to Baseline value.
  • To measure the status or changes, happened of the cross-cutting themes of the project in comparison with the baseline value- Gender Equality, Climate Adaptation, Transition to a circular economy.
  • To explore/ document at least 04 case stories on the farmers’ successes and projects’ best practices, knowledge & major intervention impacts such as PPP model, FBA model, Extension Model, Collection Points / outputs markets in terms of cost-effectiveness, profitability & pro-environment lens.
  • To figure out/ sketch project working area wise and farmer’s category wise comparative analysis of the indicators.
  • To find out the gaps or deviations in the intervention with definite recommendation to overcome those deviations.
  • To identify unintended benefits that project gained and obstacles to performance, provide justification for extension of 2nd phase.

Proposal submission instruction

Interested consultant(s)/consulting firms must submit the EOI, including the following documents:

  • Cover letter (maximum one page)
  • Technical Proposal (max 5 pages, see the annex part as guidance)
  • Financial Proposal (maximum one-page)

The Consultancy firm must submit the following supporting documents while submitting EOI:

  • Maximum 2 pages of organization profile highlighting related assignments completed with client name, contract person and mobile number.
  • Lead Consultant’s (who will lead the assignment) Maximum 2 pages CV highlighting related assignment completed, role in the completed assignment.
  • Other Team members’ (who will involve in the assignment): one paragraph, short CV highlighting related assignment completed and role in one page.
  • Organization’s/Firm’s Certificate, TIN and VAT registration.
  • Documents in favor of the previous relevant experiences-(But document size should not exceed the size of 2 mb)

The financial proposal should include 15% VAT only for the consulting firm. CORDAID will deduct Income Tax and or VAT as per government legal laws at source from the agreed consultancy amount.

Prospective consultants should submit a written proposal (Technical and Financial) through email with subject line “Mid-term Evaluation for COASTS Project” to Bishnu Pada Roy, Procurement & Admin Coordinator, Cordaid, Bangladesh Country Office, House 7, Road 33, Gulshan-1 Dhaka, with duly signed by the authority to: procurement.bd@icco-cooperation.org

Any queries about the consultancy should be addressed to Razibul Kader at razibul.kader@Cordaid.org or to Arun Kumar Ganguly at arun.ganguly@Cordaid.org

Deadline of Submission: February 18, 2023

Click here to view deatils ToR