REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(Consulting Firms)

National Committee for Sub National Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS)

Climate Adaptive Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture for Resilience (CAISAR) Project

Project Implementation Unit (PIU)

Assignment Title : Consulting service for the detailed engineering design for rural farm road improvement

Reference No. CAISAR-PIU-054

The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has received a financing from the IFAD Loan No. 2000005670 & IFAD No. 2000005671 And GCF Loan No. 2000005672 & GCF Grant No. 2000005673 funds toward the cost of Climate Adaptive Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture for Resilience Project (CAISAR) and intends to apply part of the proceeds for the recruitment of consulting services.

The CAISAR project objective is to increase climate adaptation, mitigate the negative impact of extreme climate events, and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and vulnerable rural communities. It focuses on climate adaptation and water use management practices at the farm level with climate-proofed irrigation and flood control infrastructure. The project is being implemented through three components: farm and agricultural system improvements (Component 1), irrigation, drainage and flood control works (Component 2), and institutional strengthening of MoWRAM and NCDD) Component 3).

The consulting services (“the services”) includes:  

    I. initial investigations and surveys such as desk studies,

    II. topographic surveys, geotechnical investigations, hydrological and meteorological studies,

   III. road inventory and construction materials surveys, and environmental and social safeguard assessments.

  IV.  the consultant will then prepare:

a. tailed engineering designs covering road alignment, longitudinal and cross sections, pavement design, embankment design, drainage systems, culverts, bridges, and slope protection.

b. working drawings and cost estimates will be produced, followed by the preparation of bidding documents for construction contracts.

c. during the construction phase, the consultant will supervise contractor performance, ensuring compliance with design standards, safeguards, and climate resilience measures, while reporting progress and recommending corrective actions.

This request for expressions of interest (REOI) follows the general procurement notice that appeared on the AIIB General Procurement Notice – Main CAISAR Project on 22 September 2025, and on NCDDS website on 31 July 2025.

The National Committee for Sub National Democratic Development Secretariat (“the client”) now invites eligible consulting firms (“consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services. Interested firms should fill the template for expressions of interest and submit found at the following link https://ncdd.gov.kh/opportunity/detail/1910 and send it to the address indicated below.

The attention of interested consultants is drawn to IFAD’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Policy1 and the Revised IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption its Activities and Operations.2 The latter sets forth IFAD’s provisions on prohibited practices. IFAD further strives to ensure a safe working environment free of harassment, including sexual harassment, and free of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in its activities and operations as detailed in its IFAD Policy to Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.3 By entering in this document, you certify to have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Privacy Policy of IFAD.4

The consultant shall not have any actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest. A consultant with an actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest shall be disqualified unless otherwise explicitly approved by the Fund. A consultant including their respective personnel and affiliates are considered to have a conflict of interest if they a) have a relationship that provides them with undue or undisclosed information about or influence over the selection process and the execution of the contract, b) participate in more than one EOI under this procurement action, c) have a business or family relationship with a member of the Purchaser’s board of directors or its personnel, the Fund or its personnel, or any other individual that was, has been or might reasonably be directly or indirectly involved in any part of (i) the preparation of this REOI, (ii) the shortlisting or selection process for this procurement, or (iii) execution of the contract. The consultant has an ongoing obligation to disclose any situation of actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest during preparation of the EOI, the selection process or the contract execution. Failure to properly disclose any of said situations may lead to appropriate actions, including the disqualification of the consultant, the termination of the contract and any other as appropriate under the IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption in its Projects and Operations.

The following conflict of interest rules shall apply with respect to recruitment of government/client staff within the consultant’s proposed team:

(a) No member of the client’s board of directors or current employees of the client (whether part time, or full time, paid or unpaid, in leave status, etc.) shall be proposed or work as, or on behalf of, any consultant.

(b) Except as provided in sub-clause 8.6(d), no current employees of the government shall work as consultants or as personnel under their own ministries, departments or agencies.

(c) Recruiting former client or government employees to perform services for their former ministries, departments or agencies is acceptable provided no conflict of interest exists.

(d) If a consultant proposes any government employee as personnel in their technical proposal, such personnel must have written certification from the government confirming that: (i)     they will be on leave without pay from the time of their official proposal submission and will remain on leave without pay until the end of their assignment with the consultant and they are allowed to work full-time outside of their previous official position; or (ii) they will resign or retire from government employment on or prior to the contract award date. Under no circumstances shall any individuals described in (i) and (ii) be responsible for approving the implementation of this contract. Such certification shall be provided to the client by the consultant as part of its technical proposal.

(e) In the case where a consultant seeks to engage the services of any person falling under ITC sub-clauses 8.6(a) – 8.6(d), who may have left the client within a period of less than twelve (12) months of the date of this RFP, it must obtain a written “no-objection” from the client for the inclusion of such a person, prior to the consultant’s submission of its proposal.

A consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) method set out in IFAD’ project procurement handbook that can be accessed via the IFAD website at www.ifad.org/project-procurement.

The shortlisting consulting firm must demonstrate at least:

o   Fifteen (15) years of experience in civil engineering and infrastructure projects, preferably in Cambodia or Southeast Asia.

o   It must have a proven track record in the design and supervision of rural roads and climate‑resilient infrastructure,

o   Be familiar with Cambodian national standards and IFAD/NCDDS requirements.

o   The firm should possess expertise in environmental and social safeguards, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk management, as well as

o   Strong capacity in project management, reporting, and stakeholder coordination.

o    Proficiency in both English and Khmer among core team members is essential.

Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub-consultancy to enhance their qualifications.

Submission Procedure: please submit your expression of interest using the forms provided for this purpose. Your EOI should comprise one (1) original copy of each EOI form annexed to this document. EOIs shall be submitted to the address below no later than Thursday, 10th December 2026 at 10.00 A.M Cambodia Local Time. EOIs may be submitted in electronically by e-mail address below. Electronic submissions shall consist of a single, searchable and password-free PDF file not exceeding twenty (20) megabytes, with the e-mail subject line quoting the procurement reference number and the title of the assignment. Where the file exceeds twenty (20) megabytes, the EOI may be transmitted in clearly labelled parts (for example, “Part 1 of 2”). The date and time of receipt recorded by the client’s e-mail server shall be conclusive for electronic submissions. The client accepts no responsibility for EOIs that are not received by the deadline for any reason, including failure, delay or corruption of electronic transmission. EOIs received after the deadline shall be rejected.

Climate Adaptive Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture

for Resilience Project (CAISAR)

National Committee for Sub-National Democratic

Development Secretariat (NCDDS)

Address #275, Norodom BVLD, Sangkat Tonle Bassac,

Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

Email: ssspheak@ncdd.gov.kh  cc to: socheat.chum@ncdd.gov.kh