BID REQUEST. External Quality Assessment Services against the Fair Trade Tourism Standard and Certification System March 2018

Transcription

1 BID REQUEST External Quality Assessment Services against the Fair Trade Tourism Standard and Certification System March 2018 Contact: Ana Lemmer. E: T: Bid Overview 1.1. Rationale 1.2. Fair Trade Tourism Standard & Certification System 2. Service Requirements 2.1. Scope of Work 2.2. Key Deliverables 2.3. Duration of Contract 3. Submission Requirements 4. Evaluation, Scoring Criteria and Selection Process 5. Deadline for Submissions 1

2 1. Bid Overview: This Bid Request ( BR ) is issued by Fair Trade Tourism (hereinafter referred to as FTT ). Entities with demonstrated experience in the delivery of similar assignments interested in making their services available to FTT are invited to respond to this BR. Entities that will respond to the BR will be referred to as Respondents. The Respondent shall be financially solvent as will each of its members in the case of a joint venture. Sub Consultants/ Contractors directly involved in the delivery of this required service must be deemed competent and professional. FTT encourages the participation of Respondents whom are BBBEEE compliant. No part of this BR shall be construed as any legal obligation on the part of FTT or any Respondents. FTT in its sole discretion, reserves the right to amend, suspend, terminate or re-issue this BR in whole or in part. In no event shall FTT be liable to Respondents for any cost or damages incurred in the context of this BR process, including but not limited to any and all costs of preparing a response to this BR or any other costs incurred in reliance of this BR. No respondent shall be entitled to any repayment from FTT for any costs, expenses or fees related to this BR. All supporting documentation submitted in response to this BP will become the property of FTT. Respondents may withdraw their interest in the BR, in writing at any point during this process. Bid resources are available in the form of the following documents: Fair Trade Tourism Standards & Criteria 2

3 1.1. Rationale FTT is a non-profit organisation promoting best-practice responsible tourism in Africa through our membership and certification programmes. Operating since 2003, it also became the first tourism certification programme in Africa to be recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) in December FTT certifies tourism businesses in South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and has formal recognition agreements with equivalently benchmarked certification programmes in Namibia, Seychelles, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania. FTT endorses a third party-audit process, enabling the organization to assume an explicit, conflict-free and unbiased role as a market and business development organization. However it remains critically important that the target tourism businesses/ products for certification are able to absorb both the administrative and third-party audit costs in compliance of the FTT Standard and Certification Process. To this end FTT is seeking the appointment of an experienced, qualified, reputable and costeffective audit firm to provide external quality assessment services against its Standard and Certification Process Fair Trade Tourism Standard & Certification System/ Programme The FTT Standard and Certification Audit Process comply with international best practice as set out by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). It is available for the following categories of tourism businesses/ products: Accommodation, Tourism Facilities (such as spas and conferencing), Food Services (such as restaurants), Activities (such as day trips and tours); Attractions (such as museums or botanical gardens) and Volunteer Programmes. The compliance criteria for targeted tourism products fall under the following categories: Tourism businesses/ products in pursuit of FTT certification apply for an on-site audit by a professional audit firm appointed by FTT to audit against its Standard. During an on-site audit the auditor will verify compliance with a number of criteria relating to a) Business Practice and Human Resource; b) Community Resource; c) Cultural Heritage and d) Environmental Practice. Essentially the following must be illustrated: Demonstration of effective business practices and human resource management. Maximization of social and economic benefits to the relevant local community with minimization of any negative effects that may impact said local community. Maximization of relevant cultural heritage with the minimization of negative effects. Minimization of relevant environmental impact along with potential maximization thereof. Two types of compliance criteria exist: Mandatory, referring to standards that must be complied with before certification, approval or registration can be awarded. 3

4 General, referring to these standards in which the business/ product must reach a 75% compliance level, aspiring to grow and achieve a higher level of compliance with each audit cycle. Once all mandatory areas of compliance have been met within the required timeframe, FTT certification may be awarded. FTT certified businesses are required to report online annually, including the submission and uploading of a number of supporting documents through FTT s Quality Management System (QMS). An on-site audit occurs every three years. The relevant audit areas and criteria are presented as follows: Code Compliance Criteria Checkpoint Description I OLPA OS OLA Initial Online Prior to Audit Onsite Online Annually The tourism business initially submits its completed application form accompanied by evidence of compliance through uploading it onto the FTT QMS. This submission is evaluated internally by FTT. Refers to standards that are checked by the auditor through the FTT QMS prior to an onsite audit. The tourism business/ product has the responsibility to upload the required documents onto the FTT QMS prior to the actual audit. The confirmation of an audit date will be dependent on required documents uploaded. During the onsite audit, the auditor will refer to documents that have been uploaded during the initial application and audit preparation process verifying the information contained therein, in addition to gathering other information that may only be obtained on site. Once the tourism business/ product has successfully completed its first audit, certain documents are required to be submitted on an annual basis through the FTT QMS for FTT to verify internally. Tourism businesses/ products are responsible for uploading these documents onto the FTT QMS annually within specified timeframes 2. Service Requirements This BR is for the provision of External Quality Assessment Services against the FTT Standards and Certification System. 4

5 2.1. Scope of Work The majority of on-site audits will take place in South Africa but occasional services will also need to be delivered in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Madagascar The Respondent should have to capacity to conduct in excess of 30 on-site audits per year travelling to the target tourism business/ product. The Respondent should have the capacity to respond to audit requests and conduct physical on-site audits timeously within 10 days of a tourism business/ product demonstrating its eligibility and readiness for an the audit. The following needs to be delivered in process: Evaluation of a completed application that is uploaded on the FTT QMS by the applicant prior to an onsite audit Conducting the on-site audit to evaluate whether the target business/ product has successfully exhibited/ adopted the responsible and sustainable tourism practices against the FTT Standard and Certification Criteria Compilation of a full audit report, indicating areas of non-compliance with any criteria and also identifying the corrective measures or actions that need to be undertaken to achieve certification Evaluation of the corrective actions undertaken by the applicant to address noncompliance to relevant criteria Recommending the applicant for certification or the alternative not recommending the applicant for certification The successful service provider will be expected to work with FTT s online Quality Management System (QMS) and will be provided with the necessary training and tools including in particular the FTT Standard and Certification Criteria, Auditor s Checklist, Product Certification Manual and Audit Report Templates Key Deliverables: The Respondent needs to submit the following in delivery of required services: Develop a comprehensive, specific assessment process aligned to the existing FTT Certification protocol and related process. This in turn could include but is not limited to the following activities: o Design, create and establish an audit assessment control checklist. o Study and review all processing, specification sheets and data-sets to ensure audit assessment controls. o Develop, monitor and track audit assessment data and process improvements in all relevant products and services. o Assist and support in conducting and assessing audit and audit findings. o Research, study, evaluate and advise on all audit assessment controls and procedures for further improvements. o Ensure compliance of audit assessment controls with FTT s Standard and Certification criteria Duration of Contract: The duration of the contract will be for two years. The Respondent must indicate in its Bid Proposal Submission the possible date for the commencement of services going forward. 5

6 3. Submission Requirements: Respondents are requested to submit the following: Cover Letter/ Expression of Interest signed by the authorized representative of the Respondent. It needs to contain the following information: principal place of business and other location of offices/ services, company profile, main contact person with relevant contact details. Summary of qualifications of the Respondent and its relevant team members that will be responsible/ accountable for the delivery of the service. Details of the proposed team structure including an organogram. Brief Curriculum Vitae (maximum 2 pages) for the key auditors/ team leaders assigned to this account. Brief motivation of the reasons and suitability of the Respondent to deliver this service that also points to the Respondent s understanding of the terms of reference and relevant methodology and process at play. Proposed costing and fee structure in relation to audit fees per day/ hour per size of business in turn calculated by the number of employees; as well as the fee per hour of travel time excluding relevant disbursements. Three contactable references for similar assignments undertaken by the Respondent. FTT reserves the right to seek additional information or clarification from the Respondents in determining suitability in delivering this service. 4. Evaluation & Scoring Criteria Respondents will be evaluated on the following: Experience and proven track-record for delivery of similar service. Knowledge or familiarity within the tourism industry and tourism field. Innovative methodology for conducting onsite assessment and pre-/ post assessment activities. Accreditation, recognition or affiliation of the Respondent to external accreditation and quality assurance bodies nationally and globally. Competitive and professional time management and costing structures. Bid Proposals that are submitted timely and comply with the mandatory requirements of the BR will be evaluated in accordance with the terms as set out in the BR. A summary of recommended bid proposals will be submitted for review to a Review Panel. The tender/ bid will subsequently be awarded by no later than 14 May Deadline for Submissions Questions regarding the BR should be submitted in writing via to Ana Lemmer: ana@fairtrade.travel. Bid proposals need to be submitted via to ana@fairtrade.travel on or before Monday 23 April