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RFP – Evaluating the Commercial Viability of Propcom+ Pilot Interventions

A. Programme Background

Propcom+ is an eight-year, International Climate Finance (ICF), rural and agricultural market development programme. The programme supports climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture that benefits people, climate, and nature. It works with Nigeria’s vibrant private sector to (i) increase productivity, improve nutrition and food security (ii) enhance climate resilience, pursue lower emissions, and protect and restore nature, and (iii) help tackle some of Nigeria’s underlying drivers of conflict and insecurity.

The programme does this by stimulating sustainable pro-poor climate-resilient growth in selected rural markets.  It works as a ‘market facilitator’, identifying constraints in market systems and facilitating changes to enable rural markets to work better for the benefit of poor and climate-vulnerable smallholder farmers and rural small-scale entrepreneurs. Propcom+ aims to increase the incomes and climate resilience of 3.79 million poor and vulnerable men and women in Nigeria, 50% of whom will be women, through a “3Ps” approach of interlinked components:

P1: Scaling up a focused basket of Proven climate-smart interventions around agricultural and primary processing/storage practices and models to get these adopted by millions of poor and vulnerable smallholder farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs.

P2: Building markets by developing and Piloting new business models that improve productivity, enhance resilience to climate change, reduce emissions, and improve nutrition outcomes.

P3: Enabling Policies that support a strengthened enabling environment for sustainable food and land-use systems.

The programme adopts a four-tier approach to regional and state-level implementation. Tier 1 comprises the northern states of Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, and Jigawa with appreciable reform readiness and market-led actions in the northern region. Tier 2 States are Bauchi, Benue, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, and Plateau, with opportunistic private sector-led activities currently ongoing and may be transiting to Tier 1. The forest-rich southern states of Cross River, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo States constitute Tier 3, while Lagos and Oyo States constitute Tier 4 and are for specific private-sector intervention opportunities that align with the core programme objectives.

B. Purpose

Propcom+ aims to appoint multiple consultants (firms or individuals) to evaluate the commercial viability of selected pilot interventions. This assessment has three aspects:

• Commercial viability of the technology piloted.
• Commercial viability of the technology delivery models.
• Business case (ROI and break-even analysis using multiple scenarios) that supports technology acquisition (via bank loans or other asset financing methods) by the smallholder farmers or entrepreneurs, for applicable pilots

This assessment is expected to help the programme determine if the pilots should be scaled, tested further or closed. The active pilot interventions of interest are listed and explained briefly in the table below:

C. Scope
The consultant is expected to do the following:

1. Review the intervention documents (decks and intervention guides) to understand the pilot intervention(s) assigned to the consultant.
2. Review available literature and secondary data around the innovation or technology.
3. Review existing data received from the partners/grantees.
4. Hold regular meetings with Propcom+ MERL and the intervention team.
5. Visit and hold regular meetings with the private sector partner implementers to further understand the context and progress made with the intervention.
6. Propose a robust framework and methodology for establishing commercial viability, including its related components. The programme must agree to this before data collection tools are developed.
7. Develop relevant data collection tools to collect further information and data required to determine (as applicable) the commercial viability of the technology piloted; commercial viability of the technology delivery models and business case (ROI and break-even analysis using multiple scenarios) that supports smallholder farmers or entrepreneurs’ acquisition of the technology via bank loans or other asset financing methods.
8. Analyse the data collected and share preliminary findings with the programme. This should provide information on the three aspects listed above. Analysis should provide recommendations and justifications for the following scenarios: Should the pilot be scaled? If yes, why, how and what aspects (the delivery model, the technology, or both)? Should it be scaled as it is or adapted further before scaling? Should the pilot be continued? Why? What further information is needed? Should the pilot be closed? Why?
9. Collect additional information where necessary based on feedback from the programme team.
10. Submit a draft report explaining the findings and updating it based on the team’s comments. The report should contain all aspects mentioned in points 7 and 8 above.
11. Submit the final study report in both MS Word document and MS PowerPoint summary presentation.

D. Timelines and Deliverables

The consultant is required to address issues flagged by the MERL team or donor. Reports are subject to approval by the Team Leader. Deliverables are only paid for when the programme approves their quality and content.

E. Location, Timing and Duration of Assignment
The consultant will collect primary data from our partners across the various states. The states covered for each pilot intervention are listed in the table in Section B. Overall, the assignment is expected to commence in August and conclude in December 2025. The specific start and end dates will differ between each pilot due to varying levels of implementation and maturity. However, depending on the agreed methodology, each pilot study is expected to be completed within one month. Again, the details will be discussed and agreed upon during the co-creating meetings with the selected consultant prior to contract signing.

F. Management Arrangements
The consultant will report to the MERL Director. He or she is also expected to collaborate closely with the technical team (Pillar Leads, Intervention Managers, MERL Managers) and implementation partners.

G. Expected Qualifications, Competencies and Experience
The successful candidate or lead consultant is expected to have the following qualifications, experience and tools. The listed points below should be evidenced in the capacity statement submitted.

1. Advanced degree in any agricultural discipline, social sciences and related fields.

2. Proven experience in evaluating agricultural business models and interventions:

• Evidence of evaluating business models (e.g., outgrower schemes, agent networks, franchise models).
• Evidence of assessing the scalability, sustainability, and profitability of delivery mechanisms.
• Evidence of assessing technology adoption and commercial viability in rural or low-income markets.
  

3. Proven experience in business and financial analysis

• Evidence of conducting ROI, break-even, and cost-benefit analyses.
• Evidence of building and interpreting financial models under multiple scenarios.
• Evidence of familiarity with asset financing mechanisms (e.g., bank loans, leasing, input credit schemes).
  

4. Demonstrated strong research and technical writing skills:

• Samples of previous work completed – This could be redacted if not already publicly available.

5. Contextual Understanding

• Evidence of working in Nigeria or similar contexts, especially with smallholder farmers and agribusinesses.
• Understanding of agricultural technologies (e.g., mechanisation, irrigation, seed systems).

H. Submission Requirements
Interested candidates (firms or individuals) should submit items 1, 2 and 3 below to procurement.propcomplus@thepalladiumgroup.com by 12 September 2025 by 5 pm with the subject “Commercial Viability Measurement Consultant”.

1. Study Methodology (max of 7 pages. Don’t include introductory pages)

• Methodology for measuring the commercial viability of the organic fertiliser and biopesticides pilot (described in the table in section B).
• The methodology should show relevant components of commercial viability and the various interest areas described in the study’s purpose and scope.
  

2. Consultant’s capacity statement.

• Please put the points listed in section G in a table, comment on how you met the requirement with examples and provide evidence for each.
• Attach relevant documents to further buttress each point above, such as the firm profile, CVs of the lead consultant and team members, and evidence and references of related previous studies and assessments.

3. Consultant’s daily rate (in Nigerian Naira)

I. Evaluation Criteria
The overall rating of each submission will be based on the available score of 1-100 marks, using the assessment criteria below. Specifically, each criterion is to be rated against the weight assigned to it. The overall rating shall be as follows: 0 – 40 (unsatisfactory); 41 – 50 (satisfactory); 51 – 60 (average); 61 – 80 (above average) and 81 – 100 (exceptional)

1. Quality of the methodology proposed (including coverage of relevant items presented in the study purpose and scope) = 40%
2. Consultant’s capacity statement (including evidence and references of previous studies) = 30%
3. Financial proposal – daily rate proposed =  30%

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