Overview
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
The Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the cost of Strengthening the Framework for Intra-regional Trade in Agricultural Products Project and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds from this financing to eligible payments under a contract for which this invitation is issued. Payments by the CDB will be made only at the request of CAHFSA and upon approval by the CDB and will be subject to all terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement. The Financing Agreement prohibits withdrawal from the financing account for any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of the CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. No party other than CAHFSA shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing Agreement.
CAHFSA, the Executing Agency, now wishes to procure consultancy services for auditing national Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Systems and Training and Capacity-Building of Value Chain Actors/ CDB Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs). The primary objective of the consultancy is to audit national SPS systems and provide recommendations for enhancing the SPS regime, alongside providing capacity building for value chain actors and stakeholders from both the public and private sectors involved in the intra-regional trade of agricultural commodities. This activity will be piloted in countries covered under the CDB/FAO study, 'Establishment of a Maritime Cargo Service linking the southern Caribbean (Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago) and other selected BMCs (particularly the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States - OECS), based on requests for market access.' The duration of the assignment is expected to be twenty months. Further details are available in the attached Terms of Reference.
CAHFSA now invites interested, eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of these consultancy services.
Eligibility
Consultants shall be eligible to participate if:
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In the case of a body corporate, it is legally incorporated or otherwise organised in an eligible country, has its principal place of business in an eligible country and is more than 50 per cent beneficially owned by citizen(s) and/or bona fide resident(s) of eligible country(ies) or by a body(ies) corporate meeting these requirments;
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in the case of unincorporated firms, the persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country; and
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in all cases, the consultant has no arrangement and undertakes not to make any arrangements, whereby any substantial part of the net profits or other tangible benefits of the contract will accrue or be paid to a person, not a citizen or bona fide resident of an eligible country.
Eligible countries are members of the CDB.[1]. The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to section 4 and section 5 (paragraphs 5.15 and 5.17) of the Procurement Procedures for Projects Financed by CDB (January 2021) (available here), setting forth CDB’s eligibility criteria and policy on conflict of interest for the selection of consultants.
In assessing submissions, consideration will be given to technical competence, qualifications and experience, local and regional experience on similar assignments, financial capability, and existing commitments. Key Experts will not be evaluated at the short-listing stage.
1 (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Dominica, Germany, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Italy, Mexico, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom and Venezuela).
Instructions
All information must be submitted in English. Further information may be obtained from the first address below between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm (GMT-3), Mondays to Fridays.
One electronic copy of the Expressions of Interest must be received at the first address below no later than 5:00 pm GMT-3, 07 November 2025. One electronic copy must be sent simultaneously to CDB at the second address below. The email containing each submission should include the name and address of the applicant and shall be clearly marked “Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for Auditing of National SPS Systems and Training and Capacity-Building of Value Chain Actors/ Stakeholders in Borrowing Member Countries- CAHFSA.
Following the assessment of submissions, a short-list of not less than three and not more than six applicants will be provided with full terms of reference and invited to submit technical and financial proposals to undertake the assignment. CAHFSA reserves the right to accept or reject late applications or to cancel the present invitation partially or in its entirety. It may not be bound to assign any reason for not shortlisting any applicant and will not defray any costs incurred by any applicant in the preparation and submission of the Expressions of Interest.
Contacts
Address1
Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency
Letitia Vriesdelaan 10
Paramaribo
Suriname, S.A.
Address 2
Caribbean Development Bank
P.O. Box 408, Wildey, St. Michael
Barbados, BB11000