Seeking Qualified Consultants: Request for Quote – Stakeholder Consultation Work with the Northern Hub
Introduction:
Welcome to Charles Darwin University (CDU) and the Northern Hub, an initiative of the Future Drought Fund aimed at building resilience and sustainable prosperity in rural industries and communities. CDU, located in Darwin, Australia’s northernmost capital city, focuses on Southeast Asia and Northern Australia, driving innovation, applicable research, and data-driven decision-making. We are inviting suitably qualified individuals or firms to submit a request for quote (RFQ) to conduct stakeholder consultation work for the Northern Hub’s upcoming phase. In this blog post, we provide an overview of the project, timelines, and deliverables. We encourage interested parties with the requisite expertise to submit their proposals.
Background:
The Northern Hub is currently funded by the Future Drought Fund until 30th June 2024. To shape our activities for the 2024-2028 funding period, we aim to conduct a comprehensive stakeholder consultation process. This process will identify and prioritise activities and review our organisational structures. The Future Drought Fund, with a widened scope to include resilience to climate change, supports regionally relevant programmes and projects, focusing on production, natural resource preservation, and business management skills.
Scope of Work:
The selected consultant will collaborate with Hub staff to develop guiding questions for stakeholder interviews. They will conduct a minimum of 40 interviews, ensuring representation from core partner organisations, operational groups, and project managers. Additionally, attending Hub-funded events in the Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia (WA) will be required. The consultant will collate responses into an anonymised report, providing insights on successful and unsuccessful activities to date, future focus areas, and potential revisions to the arrangement of node managers and adoption officers.
Project Outcomes:
The completion of this project will enable the Northern Hub to capture stakeholders’ prevailing views on delivering resilience outcomes to climate variation and change. The report produced will serve as the initial step in co-designing activities for the 2024-2028 funding period, ensuring alignment with stakeholders’ needs and priorities.
Contract and Time Frame:
The contract will be based on CDU’s standard services contract, which can be provided upon request. Parties submitting a quote should accept the terms and conditions of this contract unless specified otherwise in their response. The University reserves the right to approve or reject any proposed amendments. Quotes should adhere to the provided time frame, noting the relevant dates for milestones such as the quote release, clarification questions, closing date, evaluations, and contract execution.
How to Submit a Quote:
Interested parties are invited to submit their proposals by the closing date of Wednesday, 26th July 2023. For detailed information on the RFQ requirements and submission process, please download the Request for Quote or contact Nadia Rimmer – nadia@northernhub.au for further assistance.
Conclusion:
CDU and the Northern Hub are seeking suitably qualified consultants to conduct stakeholder consultation work for the next phase of our initiatives. We invite experts in agricultural industries, stakeholder engagement, communication, and report writing to submit their quotes by the deadline. This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the resilience and sustainable growth of rural industries and communities. We look forward to receiving your proposals and embarking on this important journey together.
