Consultancy Services to develop the First Comprehensive Mapping of Seagrass Meadows in the Union of the Comoros Pilot Case Study: Mohéli Seascape

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together. Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries. Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its

broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards. IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs,

scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development. Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

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Project Reference: P04216 and P03679

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

[www.iucn.org](https://www.iucn.org)

[https://twitter.com/IUCN/](https://twitter.com/IUCN/)

The Regenerative Seascapes for People, Nature, and Climate (ReSea) Programme is a regional initiative advancing marine and coastal conservation and climate resilience in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region, implemented in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Comoros. As part of the African-led Great Blue Wall (GBW) initiative, ReSea promotes an integrated seascape approach that connects ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, and sustainable livelihoods. In Comoros, the programme is implemented by Mission Inclusion (Mi) and IUCN, with a focus on strengthening the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems, particularly within the Mohéli seascape. ReSea supports the development of sustainable, resilient, and inclusive coastal landscapes through improved ecosystem management, nature-based solutions, and participatory governance. It contributes to the GBW’s three key pillars: Blue Planet, by supporting effective management of protected and conserved coastal and marine areas; Blue Nature, by restoring degraded ecosystems and enhancing ecosystem services; and Blue People, by promoting a regenerative blue economy that creates sustainable benefits for coastal communities.

The Western Indian Ocean Coastal and Ocean Resilience (WIOCOR) Project, also implemented under the framework of the Great Blue Wall (GBW) initiative, aims to strengthen coastal and ocean resilience across the Western Indian Ocean region through improved knowledge systems, regional collaboration, capacity building, and the development of scalable solutions for marine and coastal ecosystem conservation. WIOCOR recognises the importance of locally led actions, scientific knowledge, and inclusive governance in addressing the challenges facing coastal ecosystems. The project supports the protection and restoration of critical habitats, including seagrass meadows, while enhancing opportunities for sustainable blue economy development and strengthening the capacity of institutions and communities to manage marine resources effectively.

2.1. During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your Proposal.

3.1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will publish this on our website and contact you directly if you have indicated your interest in this procurement (see Section 3.2).

4.1. Your Proposal must consist of the following four separate documents:

 Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)

 Pre-Qualification Information (see Section 4.3 below)

 Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)

 Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)

Proposals must be prepared in English.

4.2. Your Proposal must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be \[RfP Reference – bidder name\]. The bidder name is the name of the company/organisation on whose behalf you are submitting the Proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your Proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g. Email 1 of 3, if attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a filesharing

tool.

IUCN will use the following Pre-Qualification Criteria to determine whether you have the capacity

to provide the required goods and/or services to IUCN. Please provide the necessary information

in a single, separate document.

1\. 3 relevant references of clients similar to IUCN / similar work

2\. Confirm that you have all the necessary legal registrations to perform the work

3\. How many employees does your organisation have who are qualified for this work?

4\. Operational and presence in the Union of Comoros

The Technical Proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column). Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion. Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will actually carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval. IUCN will evaluate Technical Proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:

5.1. Completeness

IUCN will firstly check your Proposal for completeness. Incomplete Proposals will not be considered further.

5.2. Pre-Qualification Criteria

Only Proposals that meet all of the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.

5.3. Technical Evaluation

5.3.1. Scoring Method

Your Proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation

criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.

5.3.2. Minimum Quality Thresholds

Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.

5.3.3. Technical Score

Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective

relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your

Proposal’s overall technical score.

The financial evaluation will be based upon the full total price you submit. Your Financial Proposal will receive a score calculated by dividing the lowest Financial Proposal that has passed the minimum quality thresholds (see Section 5.3.2) by the total price of your Financial Proposal.

Thus, for example, if your Financial Proposal is for a total of CHF 100 and the lowest Financial Proposal is CHF 80, you will receive a financial score of 80/100 = 80%

Your Proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.

6.1. IUCN is using the Open Procedure for this procurement. This means that the contracting opportunity is published on IUCN’s website and open to all interested parties to take part, subject to the conditions in Section 7 below.

6.2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.

6.3. All Proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.1 above. Late Proposals will not be considered. All Proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate Proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose Proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.

6.4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring Proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of Proposals takes.

8.1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your Proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.

8.2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your Proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your Proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your Proposal.

If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact procurement@iucn.org. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).

The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect particular requirements from the donor funding this particular procurement.

Attachment 1 Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference

Attachment 2 Declaration of Undertaking (select 2a for companies or 2b for self-employed as applicable to you)

Attachment 3 Contract Template

1.1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.

Qualifications, roles, and experience of key experts in marine science, GIS, remote sensing, field data collection, and stakeholder engagement.

The consultant must have the following skills, education and experience as a minimum:

Academic qualifications: Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in marine science, marine ecology, environmental science, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), coastal management, oceanography, or a related discipline.

Technical expertise in seagrass ecosystems: Strong knowledge and practical experience in seagrass ecology, habitat assessment, marine habitat mapping, and conservation planning, particularly within tropical coastal and island ecosystems.

7.1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a Proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.

7.1.1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant Proposal.

7.1.2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed Proposal submission may be deemed noncompliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.

7.1.3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your Proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.

7.2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:

 Free of conflicts of interest

 Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)

 In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes

 Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection

 Not bankrupt or being wound up

 Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct

 Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.

7.3. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2).

7.4. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using subcontractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your Proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.

7.5. Each bidder shall submit only one Proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a Proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one Proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the Proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.

7.6. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:

 It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.

 Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.

 Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.

Process and analyse satellite imagery, integrate field data, conduct spatial analysis, and produce validated GIS layers of seagrass ecosystems and associated marine management areas.

The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant.

Deliverable - Milestone Payment

Inception report, including detailed methodology, work plan, remote sensing approach, field survey design, data requirements, and coordination arrangements. (20%)

Preliminary seagrass habitat maps based on remote sensing analysis, identification of priority survey sites, and preparation for field validation activities. Completion of field surveys and ground-truthing in Mohéli National Park, including ecological data collection, GPS validation, stakeholder consultations, and review of preliminary results.