Safety and Quality Investment in Livestock (USDA SQIL)
Tbilisi, Georgia
Background
Land O’Lakes’ Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm-to-fork, helping businesses grow, and linking farmers to markets. Since our start in 1981, we have been leveraging nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights from our close affiliate, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned agribusiness committed to fulfilling its purpose of feeding human progress.
Our team is made up of nearly 350 employees who are committed to market-led approaches, and passionate about collaborating locally to create lasting inclusive economic growth. By unlocking the potential of agriculture for the last 36 years, the lives of more than 3 million people have been transformed through nearly 300 programs in more than 80 countries.
Project Description
The Safety and Quality Investment in Livestock (USDA SQIL) project is an eight-year demand-driven project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will improve food safety and quality along Georgia’s dairy and beef value chains. From farm-to-fork, USDA SQIL aims to reduce losses, improve food safety and quality, boost competitiveness, productivity and trade within the Georgian dairy and beef market systems. The project achieves these goals through an integrated approach of expanding market access, improving sanitary standards, strengthening postharvest handling and storage, increasing productivity, improving access to finance, and promoting regulatory reforms.
Purpose and Objectives of the Assignment
To support the sustainable development of Georgia’s livestock sector, Georgia needs increased accessibility to high quality veterinary medicinal products (VMPs). Georgia’s current regulation on VMPs is outdated and gives no substantial preference (e.g., simplified registration) for VMPs that are produced in line with international best practices. The current cumbersome process to register VMPs does not create an incentive for businesses to register new, higher quality VMPs, which limits Georgian farmers’ access to these products.
As part of Georgia’s efforts to align with EU legislation, Georgia needs to update their existing legislation to comply with EU Directive 2019/6/EC which regulates VMPs in Europe. A key tenet of this EU directive is the implementation of the EU-Japan-USA established International Cooperation on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary Medicinal Products (VICH) that harmonizes the technical requirements for veterinary product registration. As such, the Government of Georgia will need to update their own VMP registration process to align with VICH practices no later than 2028.
The Georgian competent authority, the National Food Agency (NFA) has expressed their readiness to provide preference to registering high quality VMPs in line with the internationally harmonized procedures under VICH. To do this, they are seeking technical assistance to conduct a gap analysis of their existing veterinary medicine regulations and create a national action and training plan to support their preparedness for implementing veterinary registration in line with VICH.
Eligibility
Both individuals and firms are eligible to apply for this consultancy.
Consultant Tasks
To complete this scope of work, the consultant(s)/firm(s) is (are) expected to complete the following task:
- Review Georgia’s existing VMP registration processes including but not limited to their current working practices, priorities, and structure of the VMP registration process through document reviews and discussions with key personnel.
- Draft a series of recommendations for the NFA and a step-by-step action plan to modernize Georgia’s VMP registration process in line with VICH.
- Identify capacity building needs and priorities and prepare a list of trainings and a proposed timeline for delivery to prepare NFA staff for implementing a modernized VMP registration process.
- Prepare and present the final report to NFA leadership including recommendations, action plan, and training program to support their preparation to implement a modern VMP registration process.
Deliverables
Under this scope of work, the consultant(s)/firm(s) is (are) expected to complete the following deliverables:
- Conduct a one-week in-country gap analysis of the NFA’s existing VMP registration process and develop a national action plan and accompanying training plan to prepare the NFA to implement a modern VMP registration process in line with VICH.
- Present findings, recommendations, and proposed plan to NFA’s leadership.
- Submit a final report which contains results of gap analysis, scoped national action and training plan, and detailed recommendations to support the NFA’s modernization of VMP registration practices.
Requested Skills and Qualifications
The ideal applicant will present the following skills and qualifications:
- Demonstrated experience implementing and advising on national registration of VMPs.
- Demonstrated understanding of VICH guidelines for harmonizing technical requirements for veterinary product registration and authorization.
- Demonstrated knowledge of EU Directive 2019/6/EC.
- Similar experience in conducting assessments and / or gap analyses on VMP registration practices.
- Strong communication and presentation skills.
Travel
Applicants should budget for one-week in-country to complete the assignment. The remaining effort is expected to be remote.
Expected Completion Date
The technical assistance is expected to be completed by March 31, 2024.
Evaluation Criteria
Applicants will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- Professional experience in relation to the scope of services requested by the Scope of Work and the Requested Skills and Qualifications (65%)
- Cost competitiveness and reasonableness of proposed daily rate, budget justification, cost realism, and value (35%)
Application Instructions
Interested and qualified applicants should submit their CV(s), organizational profile (if applying as a company), availability, and proposed budget for completing the scope of work by December 29, 2023. Applicant’s budget should detail out their costs and should be inclusive of all costs (professional fees, international travel, etc.). Proposed per diem rates may not exceed the United States Government maximum allowable rate for Tbilisi (provided at the following link: https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem_action.asp?MenuHide=1&CountryCode=1088). All international airfare must comply with the Fly America Act and be economy class.