Name of Signature Program:	Naija Unlock
Agresso Work order:	NG1001
Country:	Nigeria
RFP No.	20261009

                                                                        Funded by:

                                                                   Heifer International

RFP Release Date:	20th  August 2026
Question/ Inquiry Submission Deadline:	31st August, 2026
Proposal Submission Deadline:	8th September 2026
Performance Period:	12 months
Electronic submission to the attention of:	Procurement-ng@heifer.org
Contact information for inquiries about this RFP:	Procurement-ng@heifer.org

Terms of Reference

1. General Information

This document is being issued to solicit applications from agripreneur service providers with key technical staff who have substantial hands-on experience in delivering high-quality technical horticulture(tomato) extension services, guaranteeing sustainable off-taking and market linkages to provide trainings, extension and Off-taking/Marketing Linkages) for farmers in Kaduna and Ogun state. The service provider is expected to build smallholder farmers capacity to improve on-farm productivity and absorb the increased production and establishment of smallholder farmers Management Information System (MIS) to track implementation for evidence-based reporting.

The bidder is free to seek any clarification on the methodology or expected deliverables prior to preparation and submission of the proposal. While Heifer understands that completing this assignment will require the experience of a firm with all the requisite expertise, the successful firm can sub-contract components of the assignment to appropriate qualified firms. However, Heifer Nigeria should be duly informed of the plan from the onset, and this should be clearly stated in the bid as appropriate. It should also be noted that Heifer Nigeria will make payments to the contractor based on submission and Heifer’s approval of deliverables. The award agreement will include a payment schedule with specific deliverables; all payments require 15 business days for processing after approval of deliverables.

1. Background

About Heifer International

Heifer International is a global non-profit organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Since 1944, Heifer International through its work in 19 countries (in Africa, Asia, and the Americas) has supported more than 46 million people around the world to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way, and 10 million more now on a pathway to sustainable living incomes. Working with rural communities across Africa for 50 years, Heifer International supports farmers and local food producers to strengthen local economies and build secure livelihoods that provide a living income. Heifer’s foundation was built on the belief that ending hunger begins with giving people the means to feed themselves, generate income and achieve sustainable livelihoods for their households. Heifer’s global vision for 2020 – 2030 is to close the living income gap for additional 10 million families. This vision is a focused approach for the African continent to support at least 6 million smallholder farmers in Africa reach sustainable living income. As a part of this commitment, Heifer has expanded its presence in Africa to include Nigeria, with a goal of supporting at least two million households to achieve sustainable living income, through (a) strategic private and public sector partnerships, (b) unlocking demand and market opportunities, (c) investing in priority value chains, and (d) leveraging innovation and emerging agricultural technologies to reach transformational scale. More information about Heifer is available at: www.heifer.org

Heifer Nigeria Country Program

Heifer International established its Nigeria Country Program in 2021, and its Signature Program for Nigeria, named “Naija Unlock”, was designed, and launched. Naija Unlock program’s aim is to support the unlocking of the potentials in Nigeria’s agricultural sector to achieve food self-sufficiency by working with smallholder farmers and local value chain actors to increase their productivity to meet local demand for food and raw material, while closing the living income gap for families in the rice, tomato, and poultry value chains, with plans to add cattle, and small ruminant value chains. Naija Unlock is an evidence-based Signature Program designed to close the living income gap of smallholder farmers on a scale with a permanence of impact. The goal is to assist more than one million households achieve sustainable living income by 2025, and scale to two million households by 2030, through strategic private and public sector partnerships to (a) build social capital of smallholder farmers, (b) unlock farmers access to innovative financing, (c) unlock demand and market opportunities, (d) increase farmers access to mechanization and emerging agricultural innovations, and (e) increase farmers knowledge and adoption of climate smart agricultural practices. Naija Unlock program activities are being implemented currently in five (5) states in Nigeria (Ogun, Edo, Nasarawa, Benue, and Lagos States) with plans to scale to other states with potentials to make impact at transformational scale.

Strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers in tomato value chain

Heifer Nigeria is building resilience and income of smallholder farmers in tomato value chain across Ogun, Lagos and Kaduna states. One of the key components of this initiative is delivering high-quality technical horticulture(tomato) extension services, guaranteeing sustainable off-taking and market linkages, financial literacy and social capital development of these groups. The objective of this initiative is to support smallholder farmers sustainably improve their livelihoods by enhancing their productivity, market access, and resilience

1. Description of Expected Professional Services

1. Purpose

The purpose of this request is to support the delivery of high-quality technical extension services to improve on-farm productivity, guaranteeing sustainable off-taking and market linkages to absorb the increased production across communities each in Ogun, Kaduna, Lagos States (Name of Communities to be provided), thereby enhancing their productivity, market access, and resilience

• Objectives:

The key objective of this task is to strengthen farmer organizations, delivering tailored extension services on climate-smart and good agronomic practices, and—critically—establishing reliable, structured off-taking arrangements that guarantee a market for the farmers’ produce. Specifically, the consultant will equip the farmers with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience needed to engage in improved on-farm production and marketing.  In practice, the service provider will deliver the following activities:

1. Formation, Strengthening, and Market Readiness of Farmer Producer Groups (FPOs)
   1. Activity: Identify, map, and facilitate the formation and strengthening of 200 tomato farmer producer groups, each comprising approximately 25 members, across Ogun State.
   1. Provide training and support on Heifer’s Values-Based Holistic Community Development (VBHCD) model to build social capital, trust, and collective action.
   1. Mainstream Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) within the groups to improve financial inclusion and group savings culture.
   1. Support the formalization of existing and new groups by guiding them through the process of cooperative registration with relevant state authorities.
2. Provision of Tailored Extension Services on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) And Good Agronomic Practices (GAP)
   1. Activity: Serve as the primary extension service provider, delivering intensive, hands-on capacity building to FPOs on climate-smart and good agronomic practices for hybrid tomato production. The goal is to significantly enhance farmers’ technical knowledge and achieve measurable yield increases.
3. Strengthening Market Linkages, Aggregation, and Guaranteed Off-Taking
   1. Activity: Facilitate sustainable and guaranteed market access for the FPOs by directly linking them to reliable off takers, with the Vendor playing an active role in aggregation and offtake coordination. This include identify, map, and formally execute Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with reliable buyers/off takers (processors, wholesalers, retailers, or aggregators) for a defined volume of tomatoes.
4. Facilitate access to Seed Grant and Establishment of a seedling revolving grant Scheme
   1. Activity: Support established FPOs to expand group lending to include quality inputs for members.
5. Support to Access Finance for Farm Operations
   1. Activity: Build the capacity of farmers and FPOs to access finance from formal financial institutions for their farm operations.

IV. Scope of the assignment:

A. Purpose

• Strengthen the capacity of 200 tomato farmer producer groups, each comprising approximately 25 members, across Ogun and Kaduna States.
• Improve Market Linkages, Aggregation, and Guaranteed Off-Taking and access to quality agro inputs.

• DELIVERABLES AND REPORTING

The Vendor shall submit the following deliverables to Heifer International according to an agreed-upon timeline:

1. Inception Report: Detailed work plan, methodology, team composition, and timeline for all activities within 14 days of contract signing.
2. Baseline Report: Summary of the current status of the target communities, FPOs, and farmers (to be submitted within the first quarter).
3. Monthly Extension Reports: Summaries of all extension visits, topics covered, number of farmers trained, and field observations.
4. Off-Take Verification Reports: Detailed reports, submitted monthly, showing the volume, value, and buyers for all tomatoes aggregated and sold from the FPOs.
5. Quarterly Progress Reports: Detailed narrative and financial reports on activities, achievements, challenges, and lessons learned.
6. Final Report: Comprehensive final report detailing all activities, outcomes, achievements, challenges, and recommendations for sustainability.

•  ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

 Interested partners must meet the following minimum requirements:

1. Legal Status: Be a legally registered entity (NGO, CBO, Cooperative, Company, or Firm) in Nigeria with a valid Certificate of Incorporation and other relevant regulatory permits (e.g., Tax Identification Number, PENCOM compliance).
2. Experience: Demonstrate a minimum of 5 years of proven experience in implementing agricultural development programs, specifically in:
   • Farmer group formation and strengthening.
   • Training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA).
   • Value chain development and market linkage facilitation.
3. Geographic Presence: Have a proven track record of working in Ogun State or similar agro-ecological zones in South-West Nigeria.
4. Technical Capacity: Possess a team of qualified experts in agronomy, agricultural economics, cooperative development, and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E).
5. Financial Management: Demonstrate sound financial management and reporting systems.
6. Integrity: Have no history of fraud, corruption, or other unethical practices.
7. MANDATORY – CAPACITY FOR EXTENSION AND OFF-TAKING: The Vendor must demonstrate verifiable, practical capacity in both (a) the direct delivery of agricultural extension/training services to smallholder farmers, AND (b) the physical off-taking, aggregation, or bulk purchase of perishable agricultural produce (specifically tomatoes or similar vegetables) from smallholder farmers. This must be evidenced by past contracts, purchase records, or partnership agreements with off-takers. Proposals that do not clearly demonstrate capacity in both pillars will be disqualified.

• SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

         Interested applicants must submit a single PDF document containing the following:

1. Technical Proposal: Detailing:
   • Understanding of the ToR and the context.
   • Proposed methodology and approach for each activity (A-E), with a dedicated, detailed section on your Extension Services delivery model (Activity B) and your Off-Taking/Market Linkage model (Activity C) .
   • Detailed costed work plan and timeline.
   • Team composition and CVs of key personnel.
   • Evidence of capacity for extension and off-taking (as per Section 5.7). This must include references, copies of past off-take agreements, sales records, or aggregation reports.

2. Financial Proposal: A detailed budget breakdown in Naira, including all costs (personnel, activities, materials, logistics, overheads, etc.) for the entire project period. The budget must be clearly linked to the activities described in the scope of work
3. Annexes
   1. Documents in favor of previous relevant projects.
   1. Organization’s/Firm’s Certificate, PIN and VAT registration.
   1. A summary of similar previous assignments undertaken within the last 3 years.

Interested firms legally eligible to implement this assignment in Nigeria are requested to submit a proposal. Please include the name of the person in your organization who will be involved in negotiating the contract as well as your telephone and email contact information. Submissions must be in English and typed single-spaced using Times New Roman font size 12, with a complete set of appendices/attachments as applicable. All pages must be numbered and include the SOW reference number on the cover page and the name of the organization at the bottom of each page.

The successful consulting firm will be required to produce the following documents before entering into an Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) with Heifer:

• Certificate of Incorporation or Business Registration Certificate.
• A Partnership Deed if you are running a partnership business.
• Tax Compliance Certificate.
• Physical location including town, building, room number and postal address.
• Trade reference and clientele list including their respective contacts.

Heifer International reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal and to annul the selection process at any time without thereby incurring any liability to the affected applicant(s).

The technical and financial proposals must be submitted by email to procurement-ng@heifer.org.  with clear subject line Tomato Value Chain Intervention and include the State(s) of interest (Ogun, Kaduna, and Lagos States). and submitted by Thursday, September 8^th, 2026, at 5:00pm WAT. All questions regarding this RFP must be sent via email to (procurement-ng@heifer.org ) with the subject line “Clarification: Tomato Value Chain Intervention.”

Heifer retains the right to terminate this RFP or modify the requirements upon notification to the Offerors.

IX.         Selection Criteria

Submitted proposals must clearly demonstrate alignment with the SoW outlined above and with the appropriate level of details. Heifer’s goal is to ultimately sign on with the Offeror whose proposal best follows the instructions in this RFP, includes the strong evaluation team, and is most cost effective. Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Proposal evaluation focus	Percentage
Accuracy and relevance of the proposed technical approach and methodology, Quality, Feasibility, and Depth of the Proposed Extension Services Model (Activity B)	20%
Completeness of proposal according to the RFP (general information, activity plan, risk assessment and mitigation plan, Quality, Feasibility, and Depth of the Proposed Off-Taking & Market Linkage Model	20%
budget, team expertise, etc.)
Proposed team: expertise and competencies to address project components, Organizational Capacity and Past Performance, with specific weight given to demonstrated success in both training and off-taking	20%
Relevance and capability/skill to implement/manage the assignment,	20%
Budget justification and costs realism	20%

The selection committee will evaluate the technical proposal based upon the criteria listed above and they will evaluate the financial proposal based on cost reasonableness and cost-effectiveness in the budget.

X. Validity of Proposals

Proposals submitted shall remain open for acceptance for 30 days business from the last date specified for receipt of the proposal. This includes, but is not limited to, pricing, terms and conditions, service levels, and all other information. If your organization is selected, all information in this document and the negotiation process are contractually binding.

No.	Activity	Due date
1.	Proposal reception	September 8th 2026
2.	Processing and selection	September 16th 2026
3.	Notification of award	October 2nd 2026
4.	Award agreement negotiation	October 5th 2026
5.	Signing award	October 7th 2026

XI.      Award Process and Contract Mechanism

Heifer will issue a fixed award agreement based on the submission and Heifer’s acceptance of deliverables.

Once an award is issued, it will include the payment schedule with the deliverables specified above.

XII. Limitations

This Request for Proposal does not represent a commitment to award a contract, to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a response to this RFP, or to procure or contract for services or supplies. Heifer reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted and reserves the right to accept or reject in its entirety and absolute discretion any proposal received in response to the RFP.

XIII.     Intellectual Property

1. Ownership Generally.

Any intellectual property (including but not limited to copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and patents), intellectual property rights, deliverables, manuals, works, ideas, discoveries, inventions, products, writings, photographs, videos, drawings, lists, data, strategies, materials, processes, procedures, systems, programs, devices, operations, or information developed in whole or in part by or on behalf of Contractor or its employees or agents in connection with the Services and/or Goods (collectively, the “Work Product”) shall be the exclusive property of Heifer International. Upon request, the Contractor shall sign all documents and take all actions necessary to confirm or perfect Heifer’s exclusive ownership of the Work Product.

• Prior-Owned Intellectual Property.

Any intellectual property owned by a Party prior to the Effective Date (“Prior-Owned IP”) shall remain that Party’s sole and exclusive property. Regarding any of Contractor’s Prior-Owned IP included in the Work Product, the Contractor shall retain ownership, and hereby grants Heifer a permanent, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to use, copy, reproduce, publicly display, edit, revise, perform, and distribute said intellectual property, in any format or any medium, as part of the Work Product.