Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we collaborate to put bold solutions into action, helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future. In Nigeria, Mercy Corps has worked since 2012 by focusing its programming on adolescent girls’ empowerment, economic development, community asset construction and rehabilitation, agricultural development, conflict mitigation and humanitarian response.
Applications are invited for:
Title: Consultancy for Assessment of Emzor’s RUTF Facility for Compliance with HACCP Standards & UNICEF Standards
Location: Lagos
Background
- Mercy Corps is a thought leader on resilience, systems thinking, and food security in fragile and conflict-affected markets. Mercy Corps and its consortium partners, International Fertilizer Development Centre and Save the Children, are implementing the Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity (RRA), a USAID-funded project in Northeast Nigeria. This 5-year project directly benefits more than 600,000 individuals.
- The project contributes to the economic recovery in the Northeast by stimulating inclusive, resilient market systems that consider the challenges and constraints of the Northeast; moving individuals and households out of chronic vulnerability can transform the Northeast’s economy.
- The project leverages a strategy of reducing hunger and improving nutrition, especially among mothers and children. It acknowledges that lasting change requires progress driven by private sector investment and robust market systems to achieve this. RRA works closely with the private sector to foster economic growth and establish well-functioning, connected markets.
Scope of Work
- In partnership with RRA, Emzor seeks a consultant to conduct a gap assessment of Emzor’s RUTF facility for compliance with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards and UNICEF standards for an RUTF facility.
- Emzor is a private indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturing group and a market leader in manufacturing pharmaceuticals, Ready-to-Use Foods (RUF), and other nutrition-enhanced foods.
- The company specializes in manufacturing nutritional foods to tackle malnutrition in vulnerable populations. Emzor, founded in 1984, has been dedicated to the fight against malnutrition.
- Currently, the firm is in the final stages of being certified to supply institutional customers with RUTF. The facility can also produce ready-to-use supplementary foods and commercial products for the mass market in Nigeria. About a 1.7million of Nigerian children suffer from severe acute malnutrition, and close to a third of the 10 million under-5-age children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
Consultant Objectives
The study is expected to consist of three parts, which will include the following tasks:
- Develop a Quality management system for the RUTF facility to ensure compliance with UNICEF standards.
- Develop Standard Operating procedures (SOP) for various testing and processing activities at the plant.
- Develop test procedures and specifications for raw peanuts, peanut paste and other ingredients.
- Recommend the analytical equipment needed for complete quality control of RUTF.
- Conduct training of local staff in production and testing of the quality of RUTF
- Identify RUTF raw material suppliers globally.
- Prepare the plant for the UNICEF audit.
- Prepare dossiers for submission to a regulatory authority or UNICEF for market authorization
Consultant’s Deliverables:
The Consultant will conduct the following tasks:
| S/No | Activity | Expected outputs |
| 1 | Kick-off planning meeting with the Management of Emzor and RRA team members and preparation for the field visit; review of proposal, work plan, and milestone deliverables. | Conduct an inception report with Emzor and RRA team. Develop work plan and fieldwork itinerary. |
| 2 | Conduct assessment on quality management system for the RUTF facility to ensure compliance with UNICEF standards | Submission of quality management analysis report with recommendations. |
| 3 | Develop Standard Operating procedures (SOP) for various testing and processing activities at the plant, and specification for raw peanuts, peanut paste and other ingredients. | Submit report on recommended SOPs and peanuts specification. |
| 4 | Conduct assessment of analytical equipment needed for complete quality control of RUTF, and training of local staff in production and testing of the quality of RUTF. | Recommendation of required analytical report and staff training report. |
| 5 | Prepare the plant for UNICEF audit, and dossiers for submission to regulatory authority or UNICEF for market authorization | Submission of approved audit report and dossiers for market authorizations. |
| 6 | Support Emzor to develop Corrective Action Preventive Action (CAPA) plan in response to UNICEF audit report | CAPA plan developed and accepted by UNICEF lading to Prequalification |
Timeframe / Schedule:
- The assignment timeframe will begin upon signing the contract for four (4) calendar months.Applicants shall adhere to this timeline while developing the work plan in the technical proposal.
The Consultant will report to:
- The consultant will report to Emzor Management and the Rural Resilience Activity on all aspects of processes and deliverables.
Qualifications, Skills, and Experience
- Master’s Degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Industrial Engineering, or similar
- 10-15 years of experience in a relevant technical field (required)
- Experience in shaping a resilient supply chain aims to minimize the negative impacts of inevitable disruptions on customers, costs, and profits.
- Experience, first and foremost, all aspects of supply chain management.
- Management capability to identify the vital decisions and execute the resulting actions.
- Excellent communication skills are a prerequisite.
- Supply chains have people at their centers. Sorting out issues means being fully understood and listening to and comprehending the position of other parties.
- Skills are critical for quickly grasping the core issues of a situation. That covers business scenarios, knowing what numbers to look for, and extrapolating the correct inferences from a data set.
- Negotiating capability underpins much of a consultant’s work. The idea is to achieve outcomes that represent a win for all parties.
- IT expertise to assess how technology is being used to map processes and the capability to use existing client systems as a user.
Thus, financial proposals should focus more on the overall daily rates and other related cost.
| Evaluation Criteria | Score |
| Professional experience in quality assurance and production in food industry and more specifically, RUTF or RUSF facilities. | 50% |
| In-depth knowledge in supply chain management, experience in peanut paste production and quality control and experience in training staff onfood manufacturing | 30% |
| CV and Cover Letter detailing Technical Expertise in conducting similar assignments and any outstanding case studies and success stories. | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
In addition to the technical and financial proposal, expressions of interest should include the following:
- For consulting firms, company profiles demonstrating relevant qualifications, skills, and experience of similar assignments conducted by the firm, or CVs of individuals representing the consulting firm on this assignment. Please note that firms are allowed to collaborate with other firms to deliver this assignment, however, payments for any services will be to one firm and not multiple firms.
- For consulting teams and individual consultants, CVs of Consultant or members of the Consulting team demonstrating relevant qualifications, skills, and experience.
- Samples of evidence of previous experience in conducting similar assignments
- A work plan showing an indicative timeline for each part of the assignment.
- Daily rate/fees.
Payment Terms
Consultants(s) or firms will be engaged based on previous relevant experience and will be remunerated on a daily rate as approved in Mercy Corps procurement policy.
| Schedule | Professional Fee Proportion for Consultancy | Remarks |
| 1st Payment | 15% | After planning meetings and submission of the inception reports, detailed work plan and deliverables; and approved tools for assessment. |
| 2nd Payment | 25% | Submission of approved quality management system report. |
| 3rd Payment | 20% | Submission of recommended analytical equipment and staff training reports. |
| 4th and Final Payment | 40% | Submission of final report, approved audit report and dossiers for market authorizations. |
Application Closing Date
17th July, 2023.
Method of Application
Interested and qualified Consultants, Consulting Teams, or Consulting Firms should send in their Expression of Interest (EOI) containing their Technical and Financial Proposal to: ng-yolquotation@mercycorps.org using the Title as the subject of the mail.