Calling for expression of interest
Tender code: 7000006299
Provision of product testing to comply with food safety and international requirements
1.Background
As a federally owned enterprise, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. On behalf of the German Government, GIZ provides advisory services to the Vietnamese Government in four priority areas: (1) Vocational training, (2) Environmental, (3) Energy, and (4) Sustainable Economic Development. For further information, please visit www.giz.de/viet-nam.
The European Union-German Global Access and Trade Expertise (EU-German GATE) is co-financed by the European Union and the BMZ and implemented by GIZ as a contribution to the Multi-Donor Initiative “Global Gateway” led by the European Union. The project works to improve regulations, measures and practices in Cambodia in support of inclusive and sustainable exports to the EU and regional markets. The main direct beneficiaries are the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), especially the General Directorate of Customs and Excise (GDCE) and selected other public and private entities.
The EU-German GATE seeks to engage an experienced and qualified consulting firm (CF) to provide the certified laboratories to support the cashew and pepper product testing. The objective is to undertake comprehensive nutritional, chemical, and microbiological (bacterial) analysis of cashew nut and peppercorn products to ensure their safety, quality, and full compliance with applicable national and international food safety standards, including relevant requirements of the EU, ASEAN regulations, Codex Alimentarius, and ISO standards. This assignment seeks to confirm that the products are safe for human consumption, comply with applicable regulatory standards, and are appropriate for both domestic and international markets. The testing results will provide credible evidence of quality and compliance, strengthening buyer confidence, supporting certification requirements, and facilitating market expansion.
The GIZ Office Hanoi as the contracting party, on behalf of the EU-German GATE project, is conducting an open tender to look for qualified Consulting Firm (CF) to implement the assignment.
Tentative duration: from June 2026 until December 2027
Place of assignment: Vietnam and Cambodia
Type of assignment: Contract for works
2. Eligibility requirements
a. Commercial eligibility assessment:
- Commercial register entry
- Average annual turnover for the last three financial years of at least 45,000 EUR (provisional exchange rate of April 2026)
- Average number of employees and managers for the past three calendar years of at least 05 full-time persons
b. Technical eligibility assessment is based on reference projects or contracts that were conducted by CF with a minimum value of 5,000 EUR (provisional exchange rate of April 2026) to satisfy the folowing:
- Having operated 03 years in Vietnam
- Having experienced providing testing service for agricultural products exported to the EU market for at least 2 projects in the agriculture sector in Vietnam in last 2 years (December 2024 – December 2025)
- Being accredited ISO/IEC 17025:2017, which shall remain valid until 31 December 2027, or provide a clear plan for its extension if the validation is shorter than aforementioned period
Remark:
- Consortium: Not applicable for this tender
- Besides the minimum requirements mentioned above, the details are specified in the complete Tender Dossier. GIZ will send the complete dossier to the interested bidder as per the deadlines mentioned in Section 4 below.
3. Interested CFs are requested to prepare Letter of interest (with Director’s or authorised person’s signature and company stamp) with the following documents in English:
a. Eligibility dossier including (i) CF profile with Business license (for firm) or Decision of establishment (for association); Tax code registration; organisational chart; Audited financial reports of the last 03 years with Important/key information in the audited financial reports or in annual tax reports must be translated into English if documents are not in English; and (ii) Copy of reference projects or other documents to prove that CF can meet all technical eligibility requirements mentioned in Section 2.
b. Technical offer: based on requirements in the TOR and clearly demonstrate how such requirements are fulfilled.
c.Financial offer: as instructed in the Costing requirements specified in the TOR.
No remuneration will be granted for preparation of the submitted eligibility documents.
4. Deadline and method of submitting bids
- Interested CFs send request for tender dossier to [email protected] before 06.05.2026.
- Interested CFs send questions related to the tender to [email protected] before 15.05.2026.
- CFs send bid to [email protected] before 5 PM (Hanoi time) on 25.05.2026.
The bid must be submitted in 01 (one) email including 03 (three) zip folders named as follows:
“7000006299-Eligibility Documents – Company name”
“7000006299-Technical Offer – Company name”
“7000006299-Financial offer – Company name”
5. Important notes
a. For data protection and information security reason: In case the total volume of your bids is below 10 MB, you can attach them directly in the email sent to us. In case the total volume of your bids is above 10 MB, the files must be sent via GIZ filetransfer system. We will provide guidance for using our filetransfer. Links stated in documents and files sent via other applications/systems are not accepted.
b. For the exchange rate at the corresponding time, please go to https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/procedures-guidelines-tenders/information-contractors-and-beneficiaries/exchange-rate-inforeuro_en
c. Bids sent after the submission deadline and bids sent to wrong email address will be disqualified.
d. The assessment process goes through 03 steps: a. Eligibility evaluation (selection of eligible bidders) to b. Evaluation of technical proposal (selection of qualified technical proposals) and to c. Evaluation of financial proposal.
GIZ is obliged to ensure the confidentiality of all submitted documents by bidders.