Consultant to provide training for VNF’s staff with regards to USDA and FDA requirements

Scope of Work

Technical Assistance for Vietnam Food JSC.

Trainer on USDA & FDA requirements

Background

Improving Private Sector Competitiveness (IPSC) is a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) technical assistance project, and the Agency for Enterprise Development (AED) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) is the project owner. The project is implemented by Deloitte Consulting LLP (“Deloitte”) and runs from 2020 to 2025.

The purpose of the USAID IPSC Activity is to remove constraints and build the competitiveness of small and growing businesses (SGBs) in Vietnam, including those led by vulnerable populations. With this activity, USAID/Vietnam is supporting Vietnam’s competitiveness: vertically at the policy, market and firm level; and horizontally by working along the entire spectrum of enterprise growth models, from household businesses transforming into registered firms to small firms on the cusp of scaling up.

IPSC is made up of four interrelated Objectives:

• Objective 1. Building business management capacity of SGBs, including those led by vulnerable populations, particularly women and ethnic minorities.
• Objective 2.  Improving efficiency and productivity by promoting innovation, technology adoption, and sustainable business models.
• Objective 3.  Enhancing business enabling environment for a broad-based inclusive economy.
• Objective 4. Strengthening business-to-business (B2B) and cross-sectoral linkages

Summary of Activities

The adoption of Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) practices is rapidly increasing worldwide, fueled both by customer demand, investors’ expectation, and sustainability regulations. The Government of Vietnam has approved the National Green Growth Strategy and Action Plan, followed by the National Program on Support for Private Enterprises in Sustainable Business (Decision 167/QD-TTg 2022). Accelerating corporate sustainability and ESG practices can help companies in Vietnam improve competitiveness, build long-term growth, rise to international operating standards, and facilitate joining and moving up in global value chains.

Within this context, IPSC aims to support the private sector to become more competitive and ready to enter the global market through integrating sustainable business practices and adopting ESG. In 2023, IPSC launched the Vietnam ESG Initiative, a prize competition to support SGBs with circular economy and/or inclusive business approach to receive in-depth technical support for piloting, implementing, or scaling up their sustainable business practices and ESG adoption. The Top 10 finalist SGBs were selected based on their potential to drive impactful ESG practices that can be used as examples for other SGBs to replicate and scale up.

Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (“VNF”) was founded in Viet Nam in 2013 and is a pioneer enterprise in Vietnam in manufacturing value-added products (e.g. peptide, chitosan, astaxanthin, ...) from shrimp by-products. VNF has applied a biotechnological approach with a zero-waste production mindset to upcycle agricultural by-products into value-added products and applications to meet crucial social & environmental needs.

The goals VNF want to achieve include:

• Reduce waste burden for Vietnam’s shrimp industry towards the circular economy.
• Revolutionize & build up the pioneering high-tech & high value shrimp by-product processing industry.
• Develop green solutions from shrimp by-products to support other agricultural & industrial sectors towards sustainable development.

VNF plans to increase the dissemination of sustainable biological materials and solutions in the agricultural industry not only in Vietnam but also overseas, especially in great markets such as the United States. As part of the technical assistance delivery awarded for VNF, IPSC is seeking 01 individual consultant to provide training for VNF’s staff with regards to USDA and FDA requirements.

Specific Tasks

The consultant is required to support VNF and IPSC to perform the below tasks and responsibilities.

- Work closely with IPSC to develop a training agenda and training materials for VNF staff with regards to USDA and FDA requirements.

• Tentative topics include:

1. USDA regulations for relevant VNF’s product categories
2. FDA regulations for relevant VNF’s product categories; FDA procedures and compliance
3. Declaring shipment information and guidance on how to search for food safety warning indicators

• The training course will include a four-day hybrid class for 40-50 participants from various VNF departments. The tentative location is VNF’s office in HCMC, with virtual connections to VNF locations in other provinces such as Hau Giang and Ca Mau.

- Deliver the training class according to plan.

- Prepare a joint Training report of the training class based on IPSC template, including the following sections in English: 1) Executive summary; 2) Context; 3) Objectives; 4) Activities/Services delivered; 5) Results achieved; 6) Keys challenges/Lesson learnt; 7) Recommendations 8) Appendix, which includes a list of participants and links to relevant documents.

Deliverables and timeline

The consultant must complete and submit the following deliverables for IPSC review and acceptance:

Qualifications

• Vietnamese national.
• Minimum of a master's degree in economics, business, marketing, market research, or a related field, with at least 20 years of working experience.
• Proven experience in market research, understanding of international markets, knowledge of market trends, regulations, and certification requirements for exports in the United States.
• Prior experience in providing support related to USDA and FDA for at least 40 Vietnamese companies.
• Fluency in spoken and written English and Vietnamese and proficiency in presenting and training/consulting.

Place, Period of Performance and Level of Effort

Estimated level of effort: 08 days during the period of October – November 2024

Location:   Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In the event that travel is required, all related travel expenses will be arranged and self-covered by the consultant.

Mode of application submission

The Offeror is expected to submit a professional CV with financial proposals. The financial proposal must be submitted in USD with PIT inclusive in a separate email to the technical proposal and no PRICE information is mentioned in the technical proposal.

Proposals are requested to be submitted to email: [email protected] [1] before the deadline of Sep 20, 2024, with a specific title:

Name of applicant - Application to TA for Vietnam Food JSC- Trainer on USDA & FDA requirements

USAID Improving Private Sector Competitiveness Key Concepts and Definitions

• Small and Growing Business (SGB): An organization/economic unit of Vietnam, including enterprises, under the provisions of the Law on Enterprises, cooperatives operating under the provisions of the Law on Cooperatives, and business households registered in accordance with Vietnamese law, which employs no more than 500 full-time employees, has growth potential but lacks the resources of knowledge, finance, human resources, and technology to realize its goals and growth potential. 
• Pioneering SGBs or Pioneering Enterprises (PEs): A growing Vietnamese enterprise with Vietnamese-branded products, good competitiveness, the ability to lead and expand in the industry, sector, and locality, good management capacity and willingness to innovate and produce products with high added value, with the vision/objective to build a Vietnamese brand in the international market.
• Business Development Service Provider (BDSP): Agencies, organizations, and enterprises in both the public and private sector with functions, duties/business lines providing non-financial services to support enterprises to improve operational efficiency and business development.
• Business Support Organization (BSO): An organization with the function and mission to connect and support business development, often including business associations/clubs, industries, etc.