Freelance Auditor – Assurance Provider Oversight – APO- at Rainforest Alliance

Overview

The Rainforest Alliance Assurance Systems, specifically Assurance Provider Oversight, as responsible for managing the evaluation and quality system of the Certification Bodies (CBs) for the Certification Program, must carry out shadow, review, office and desk audits to monitor the performance of the auditors and CBs as well as compliance with the Rules and Protocols for authorization and maintenance of CBs. Through these audits, it will allow the Certification Program to carry out continuous improvement follow-ups with the CBs and auditors, as well as with the audited farms and groups

Consultancy Scope of Work

Main Objectives

The Freelance Assurance Provider Oversight (APO) Auditor assesses the performance of certification bodies working with Rainforest Alliance Certification Program to guarantee consistency, credibility, higher standards and compliance to assurance procedures and protocols to safeguard integrity of the organization’s standards.

The Freelance Auditor will be attending the requirements of the RA Assurance system, including shadow, review, office and desk audits and/or the conduction of spot-checks at field level to verify concrete examples of compliance of certificate holders; also the Freelance Auditor will participate in investigation audits; the reviewing of audit reports produced by other auditors as assigned by RA; the reviewing of corrective action plans or other documents produced by the certification body as assigned by RA; the training of other APO Freelance Auditor as assigned by RA. The Freelance Auditor may be requested to perform other tasks directly related to the improvement of the RA Certification Body Monitoring program, including but not limited to reviewing documents to give inputs, developing templates, developing guidance, instruction documents as agreed with their contact person at RA.

Activities

Contractor Services, at a minimum, must include:

• Audits to the CBs working with the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program, RA 2020.
• Follow-up activities resulting from the Assurance Provider Oversight audits.
• When required, to participate in the process to train other Assurance Provider Oversight Freelance Auditors on the applicable auditing procedures.
• Assessment of the CBs’ execution of and compliance to assurance policies.
• Provide effective feedback to the Rainforest Alliance to develop and implement the monitoring program on CBs’ activities.
• Provide complete and accurate data as requested by the Rainforest Alliance Assurance Team supporting its system of risk assessments and consistent scoring of CBs performance

The Consultant shall commit to the following:

• To book RA activities per month during the time of the agreement, according to the previous plan agreed between the consultant and APO.
• When delivering the report of an activity, the Freelance Auditors shall submit an invoice with the agreed amount of money per activity plus the expenses which he/her incurred in that period, considering the local laws of the country where the consultant is based

Deliverables

After the audit, the Consultant will submit the following documents as “audit package” to the RA office in order to have a proper record of all activities performed:  

• Audit plan, if applicable
• Checklist of the audit
• Final report
• Meeting opening and closing log, if applicable
• Feedback meeting with lead auditor, if applicable
• Evidence of NCs
• Other related documents (such as maps of location, list of farmers in case of group certification, relevant evidence as documents/pictures/labels collected during the audit).  

All the information must be received by RA representative according to the established timelines for each process. It is possible (in case of large producer’s groups) not to shadow the whole audit, and some information (certification body auditor checklist or final report) can be submitted later upon RA Representative’s approval.

General Terms and Conditions for Request for Proposal

• Applicants must provide all requisite information under this RFP and clearly and concisely respond to all points set out in this RFP. Any proposal, which does not fully and comprehensively address this RFP, may be rejected.
• Proposals and/or any additional information received after the submission time and date are subject to rejection by RA.
• Incomplete proposals may be rejected by RA at its discretion.
• RA reserves the right to request additional information at any time during the procurement process.
• RA is at liberty to make multiple or no selections as part of the proposal process. RA also reserves the right to cancel the procurement.
• All proposal costs shall be borne by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by RA.
• It is the responsibility of every bidder to identify any information of a confidential or proprietary nature contained in its proposal so that it may be handled accordingly. However, RA cannot guarantee confidentiality.

Selection Criteria and qualifications

The consultant or consultant firm should comply with the following minimum qualifications:

• Proven extensive experience (at minimum 10 years) planning, leading, and reporting on audits in certification, experience with certification systems related to applicable commodity category GAP and/or environmental standards such as (but not limited to) GLOBAL GAP, national standards (relevant scopes), Organic, UTZ, Rainforest Alliance, RSPO, Fairtrade, ISO 14001.
• Proven knowledge on topics such as agronomic engineering, agronomy, environmental science, social science, international development or related.
• In-depth knowledge of applicable national and local laws and regulations as well as how to interpret their application during the audit.
• Certification of completion of social auditor such as (but not limited to) GRASP, ETI, SMETA, SA8000, APSCA.
• Certification of completion, and extensive knowledge of and experience with ISO 9001, ISO 17065, ISO 22000 or ISO 14001.
• Fluency in verbal and written communication skills in Local and other languages are a plus.
• Strong organizational skills to manage multiple priorities, excellent interpersonal skills with ability to interact across cultures, linguistically, and diplomatically with diversified audiences at all levels of organizations.
• Initiative, strong attention to detail.
• Availability to travel a minimum internationally.