TEMPLATE:
(Please use this template for your submission)
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
To host BIOPAMA Observatory for Biodiversity and Protected Areas in the Pacific
1. Basic informationA. Name of the organisation
B. If applying as a consortium, identify the lead institution (should be an inter-governmental organization, academic institution, research organisation, or other not-for-profit organisation) and provide the names and locations of all associated organisations
C. Sub-region(s) in which organisation is active (e.g., Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, all)
D. Country/-ies in which organisation is active
E. Website address
F. Postal address (include name of city/town)
G. Details of person submitting the EoI on behalf of the organisation or consortium
a. Name and title
b. Email contact address
c. Telephone number
d. Skype address
e. Fax number
2. Statement of interest (Suggested length: ½ page)
What is your organisational motivation to host the Observatory?
· Having reviewed the ToR for the Observatory, how do you envision the Observatory could benefit your organisation and the services it aspires to deliver in terms of your current mandate and strategic outlook?
· How does the Observatory align with your organization’s customer-service orientation and commitment to enabling other parties in the region?
3. Existing regional network (Suggested length: ½ page)
What are your organisation’s regional and national interactions and affiliations?
· What programs, projects, and fora provide potential synergies to the operation of the Observatory?
· How can the Observatory best build upon your organisation’s existing partners and stakeholders?
· If your organisation has key partners (or focal points) at the national and protected area levels, through which the Observatory could conduct policy support and capacity building activities, briefly describe some specific examples.
References: Please provide contact information (contact name, institution, email address, telephone) for institutions with whom your organisation frequently partners or interacts and who may be contacted to provide independent perspective on the partnerships or interactions they have had with your organisation and an assessment of your organisational project management performance).
4. Core strengths and competencies (per data & information functional area described in ToR) (Suggested length: 1 page)
a. What are your organisation’s core strengths and competencies with respect to geospatial data & information management?
· Describe your organisation’s experience with developing and managing spatial databases, as well as establishing services and applications for online data discovery and use.
· Describe how your organisation is placed within the geospatial community and provide examples of the base of users and partners with whom your organization has already established trust.
b. What is your organisation’s view of issues regarding regional data and information availability, quality, and access, and how does your organisation endeavour to address these issues?
· Describe your organisation’s track record and culture of sharing information, promoting data standards, encouraging data sharing protocols, harmonization and interoperability?
· Provide a specific example of how your organisation was able to ‘free up’ data and/or bring about a change in attitude with respect to data access from a particular national government or organisation in the region.
5. Core strengths and competencies (per other areas described in ToR) (Suggested length: 1/2 page)
a. What are your organization’s core strengths and competencies with respect to capacity development?
· How does your organisation approach capacity development at individual, technical, professional, or organisational levels?
· Provide a specific example of how your organisation strengthened and institutionalised the technical capacity of government decision makers and/or protected area managers
b. What are your organization’s core strengths and competencies with respect to policy support?
· What is your organisation’s role in regional policy & governance structures and processes?
· What is the type and frequency of policy support your organisation provides to national and regional decision-makers, especially for the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) (e.g. Convention on Biological Diversity Program of Work on Protected Areas - CBD PoWPA)?
· What is a specific case which best demonstrates your organisation’s success in providing policy support (e.g., a research output of your organisation such as trend data, map, or a report was used by a key government minister to inform an on-going policy debate, development planning, or management decision)?
c. What are your organization’s core strengths and competencies with respect to networking & communications?
· What types of networking and communications tools does your organization use for outreach?
· How has your network grown over time and to what do you attribute this development?
· Provide a specific example of how your organisation was successful in catalysing or strengthening a community around a particular policy or management issue or concern?
6. Bridging the science – policy gap (Suggested length: ½ page)
In what ways does your organization bridge the science-policy gap as it relates to biodiversity conservation and protected area management?
· What mechanisms or activities does your organisation pursue to ensure the uptake and use of its research and information products by decision-makers?
· What methods does your organization use to identify and assess user issues and needs, including forecasting new and emerging issues and needs, and how do you respond to, and prioritise, effective action to address them?
· What is a specific case which best demonstrates your organisation’s ability to bridge the science-policy gap?
7. Financial or in-kind contributions (Suggested length: ½ page)
Could your organisation make financial or in-kind contribution(s) to the Observatory?
· What sources of financial support can be leveraged, including in-kind contributions that your organisation would be able to offer at no cost to the Observatory (e.g., technical and administrative staff time, office/training facilities, IT support, datasets and information, website hosting, etc.)?
8. Hosting experience (Suggested length: ½ page)
Provide examples of your organisation’s experience in hosting other international, regional and national and programs.
· What was the relationship between your organization and the program?
· What lessons were learned that are important for improving hosting of future programs?
9. Physical / logistical details of the hosting organization (Suggested length: ½ page)
What office facilities (including IT and telecommunication infrastructure) could be made available to the Observatory?
a. Describe your organisation’s physical infrastructure (i.e., hardware and software used to store data, interconnected storage and servers, monitoring & management of storage)?
b. Does your organisation have 24/7 broadband internet access & bandwidth sufficient for transferring GIS&RS data (not less than 10 Mbps)?
c. Would your organisation support flexible arrangements with its IT services concerning domain names, ports, server locations and technical support?
d. Describe the office space (personal workspace, meeting room(s), training areas) and working conditions (coffee, lunch facilities, site access, parking, security) that your organisation would make available for Observatory staff for Phase 1.
10. Sustainability (Suggested length: ½ page)
a. Are there governance arrangements or political factors that could influence (favourably or unfavourably) the management of the Observatory?
b. What is your organisation’s annual operating budget, and how consistent are the funding streams year to year?
c. How feasible would it be for your organisation to mobilise complementary financing sources for maintaining the Observatory?
SUBMITTING THE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST AND FURTHER INFORMATION
1. Submissions must be received no later than COB Friday 31st January 2014. Please send your EoI electronically, by email, to [attention: Tony O’Keeffe] and cc [Fipe Tuitubau].
2. This template can be viewed and downloaded at: http://www.biopama.org/partners_and_actions/iucn/oro.cfm
3. All EoIs must be submitted in English, using this form and maintaining its settings (font, margins, page size, and so on). Submissions should be in Word (except for optional supplementary documents, e.g., annual report, strategic plan, matrix summarizing expertise of relevant technical staff, summary of training/capacity building activities, user needs assessment reports, catalogue of services the organization provides, and institutional data policy). The files should be labelled as nameinstitution_EoI.doc, nameinstitution_EoI-Supplemental.doc, nameinstitution_EoI-Supplemental.pdf.
4. Each submission will receive an electronic notification of receipt.
5. Additional information on the BIOPAMA program can be found in the EoI instructions (Appendix 2, Observatory Terms of Reference - ToR) and by visiting http://www.biopama.org/.
6. For questions or further information please contact: Tony O’Keeffe, IUCN Oceania Regional Office, Suva, Fiji.