Consulting Services for the Development of an Institutional Strengthening Strategy, Roadmap, and Action Plan for Sustainable Agricultural Land Management in Georgia — Georgia Resilient Agriculture, Irrigation, and Land Project

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION) GEORGIA Georgia Resilient Agriculture, Irrigation and Land Project (GRAIL) – P175629 Loan No. 9504-GE Assignment title: Consulting Services for the Development of an Institutional Strengthening Strategy, Roadmap, and Action Plan for Sustainable Agricultural Land Management in Georgia Reference No . GR/CS/CQS/15 Georgia has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of Georgia Resilient Agriculture, Irrigation and Land (GRAIL) project and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services. The project cost is USD 150.00 million comprising of an equal share of USD 75.00 million by each co-financer. The project development objectives are to: (a) improve irrigation, and drainage services, and agricultural production in project areas; and (b) strengthen national irrigation and land management institutional capacity for climate resilient planning. The primary project beneficiaries comprise farmers and agricultural enterprises across the project targeted regions. Overall, the rural population will benefit from enhanced services provided by land management, irrigation services, and agricultural support. In the public sector, the project will support institutional strengthening of Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA), including Georgian Amelioration (GA), Rural Development Agency (RDA) and Land Management Agency (LMA). The Project consists of the following two main components: Component 1. Resilient Irrigated Agriculture and Component 2: Improved Land Management Capacity. To ensure the long-term sustainability of agricultural resources, the Government seeks to strengthen the institutional framework and develop a clear roadmap supporting sustainable land management (SLM). Therefore, this assignment is designed to provide the technical assistance necessary to assess existing capacities and establish a robust Institutional Strategy and Action Plan for the LMA and relevant MEPA departments, specifically the Hydro-melioration and Land Management Department (MLMD) of MEPA. The overarching goal of the assignment is to guide the strategic, technical, and institutional empowerment of the LMA and the MLMD of MEPA, ensuring they can effectively execute their statutory responsibilities through modern, data-driven frameworks. The primary objective of the Institutional Strengthening Strategy and the accompanying 5-year strategic roadmap is to provide MEPA and the LMA with a comprehensive, evidence-based blueprint for institutional modernization. Rather than dictating immediate technical execution, these strategic deliverables will be designed to logically sequence necessary administrative reforms, optimize business processes and align with statutory land management mandates, establish the conceptual prerequisites for future digital transformation, and define a clear, costed path for long-term operational and financial sustainability. Rather than redefining mandates already set by their statutes, the Strategy and Action Plan will structure and phase interventions across four core components: Institutional Strategy: Defining what the entities do, how they are optimally structured, and how they are financially sustained; Business Processes: Mapping and reengineering how they operate internally and exchange data with external registries and agencies; Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Strategy & Enterprise Architecture: Defining the specific technology architecture, readiness parameters, and priority use cases that enable those business processes; Data Architecture: Modeling conceptual target data environments, metadata rules or instructions, and operational data flows; Key objectives include: land management to identify specific gaps and opportunities for technical and administrative reform, and to translate existing legal mandates into clear, efficient technical workflows and administrative business processes for both entities; Develop targeted recommendations and proposals to support the harmonization of land-related legislation with broader environmental and agricultural policies, aimed at fostering a coherent legal framework for sustainable land use; Conduct a comprehensive capacity assessment and develop a Strategy for the Institutional Development of the LMA and relevant MEPA structures (specifically the MLMD), focused on strengthening their ability to fulfill statutory responsibilities that will include the proposed optimized organizational setups, human resource strategies, and staffing models tailored to support modernized workflows of the entities; Formulate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and explicit operational plans for specialized land management mandates. This includes: (i) the planning, restoration, rehabilitation, and landscape-level cultivation of windbreaks; (ii) the national pasture inventory program and sustainable management practices; and (iii) monitoring, supervision, and regulatory compliance workflows for topsoil preservation and management - all in accordance with existing legislation and the forthcoming Law on Sustainable Pasture Management; Explore Advanced Land Monitoring and Remote Sensing Feasibility: Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the practical operational requirements, data readiness, technical infrastructure constraints, and user needs to conceptually integrate modernized LCLU monitoring and automated crop identification use cases leveraging satellite data (e.g., Sentinel) and relevant geoprocessing tasks into daily workflows, and detail integration into the strategic roadmap. This shall include a rigorous evaluation of international standards (such as FAO, EU INSPIRE, or IPCC) and relevant country best practices to define, justify, and adapt the technical and methodological frameworks required to institutionalize continuous, evidence-based land monitoring tailored to Georgian operational requirements; Develop a comprehensive 5-year public finance model to support recurring expenses for IT infrastructure, system asset maintenance, data procurement pipelines, and technical staff development across both entities; Provide a comprehensive capacity building framework, including a detailed training-of-trainers (ToT) curriculum and technical user guides, ensuring that staff within the LMA and MLMD possess the internal capacity required to manage the strategy and roadmap independently. Indicative assignment duration: The duration of the assignment is estimated at twelve (12) months from the date of contract signature. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA) 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. Expression of interest should cover, but not limited to: corporate profile, years in business, experience relevant to the project activities, overall key staff resources, and core business. The selection criteria are: The Consultant shall be a firm/consortium with demonstrated experience in: Institutional Expertise: A minimum of 10 years of experience in institutional reform, land management policy, and public sector governance, including the development of national-level land management strategies and action plans; Specialized SLM Expertise: Proven track record and a multidisciplinary pool of specialists with documented expertise across the key thematic areas of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) as relevant to the scope and objectives of this assignment; Business Process & Conceptual Systems Architecture Capability: Documented corporate experience in large-scale Business Process Reengineering (BPR), conceptual data modeling, and systems integration planning within public administration or land sectors; Digital and Technical Proficiency: Advanced expertise in the conceptual design of Remote Sensing (RS) solutions and LCLU monitoring frameworks, including verified experience in system requirements gathering, technical feasibility assessments, and conceptual design of targeted machine learning use cases; Proven experience in assessing and designing integrated geospatial systems, database management architectures, and business intelligence solutions at institutional or national scale. (Note: MEPA/LMA use ArcGIS, Microsoft SQL for LCLU inventory and database administration and Microsoft BI for reporting); Capacity Building and Training: A successful track record in designing and executing large-scale public sector capacity development programs, specialized training-of-trainers (ToT) modules, and technical knowledge transfer; Global and Local Context: Previous experience with World Bank, EU, or UN-funded projects is highly desirable. Familiarity with the land management and administration context in Georgia or the South Caucasus region is considered a significant advantage. Note: the MEPA reserves it’s right to verify submitted references and use obtained information for evaluation purposes. The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016, revised September 2025 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications, but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected. The experience of sub-consultants will not be taken into account while evaluating the corporate experience of the consultant. Experience in the projects relevant to the assignment should be submitted in the Form N1 uploaded at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NaYoSd_zCVJUr3AXewqbaM_a9eLff2FU/view?usp=drive_link ToR for the assignment can be found at the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GRW_sVmgJTniUGzGtxgI8KP1Nr9dNmAR/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111094613369888933218&rtpof=true&sd=true A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Consultants Qualifications-based Selection (CQS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations: Approved Selection Methods: Consulting Services under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers - July 2016, September 2025 Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours from 10:00 a.m. to 17:00 p.m. at MEPA, Mr. Ioseb Tchonkadze, Procurement Consultant. Expressions of interest must be submitted in English in a written form to the email addresses below by September 01, 2026, at 17:00 (Georgian local time). Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia 34, Marshal Gelovani Ave, Tbilisi, Georgia Tel.: +99532 2378038 E-mail To: Rusudan.manjgaladze@mepa.gov.ge; Mariam.bakhtadze@mepa.gov.ge; iosebtchonkadze@gmail.com;