Request for Proposal (RFP) - Development of the National Standards for Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Vietnam

New clarification added: Dear UNOPS support team,Our company is in the process of preparing the bid for RFP No. RFP/2023/48247 - "Development of the National Standards for Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Vietnam." We have reviewed the RFP documents and would appreciate if you could provide clarification on the following points:1.    Are there any requirements for the proposed experts/specialists to be independent from the bidding company? Or can they be employees/associates of the bidding company? Can proposed experts/specialists working for BESS manufacturers be accepted?2.    What are the payment procedures for any independent experts/specialists proposed? Will UNOPS make payments directly to the experts/specialists or all payments will be made to the contracted company?3.    Are there any specific procedures required for agreements between the bidding company and the proposed independent experts/specialists?We would appreciate if you could clarify these questions to help us prepare a compliant bid. Please let us know if you need any additional information from our side. We look forward to your response.Dear Valued bidder, Please see the below replies. Thank you.1. UNOPS does not require independent experts aside from the consultant specified in the terms of reference. Having said this, UNOPS would like to emphasize the requirements for no conflict of interest as indicated in the RFP Section I - Instruction to Offerors on Supplier Conflict of Interest*An offeror shall not have a conflict of interest. An offeror shall be considered to have a conflict of interest if:(i) An offeror (including its personnel) has a close business or family relationship with UNOPS personnel or with personnel of the UNOPS’s partner who engaged UNOPS and who:● Are directly or indirectly involved in the preparation of the proposal documents or the scope of the Services, and/or the proposal evaluation process of such Contract; or● Would be involved in the implementation or supervision of such Contract;(ii) An offeror is associated, or has been associated in the past, directly or indirectly, with an entity or any of its Affiliates that have been engaged by UNOPS to provide consulting services for the preparation of the design, specifications, scope of the Services, and other documents to be used for the procurement of the Services required in the present procurement process;(iii) An offeror has an interest in other offerors for the same procurement activity, including when they have common ownership and/or management. Offerors shall not submit more than one proposal, except for alternative proposals, if permitted. This will result in the disqualification of all proposals in which the offeror is involved. This includes situations where an entity is an offeror in one proposal and a sub-consultant in another; however, this does not limit the inclusion of an entity as a sub-consultant in more than one proposal. In thecase of procurement processes with lots, this provision shall apply on a lot by lot basis; or(iv) An offeror does not comply with any other conflict of interest situation relevant to the specific procurement process as specified in the solicitation document.Offerors must disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest in the Offeror Information Form questionnaire and they shall be deemed ineligible for this procurement process unless such conflict of interest is resolved in a manner acceptable to UNOPS. Failure to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest may lead to the offeror being sanctioned further to the UNOPS policy on vendor sanctions.2. Please see above. UNOPS does not engage any "independent experts" and will not make payments to any parties besides the consultant selected through this tender.3. Please see above. UNOPS does not engage any "independent experts" and will not make payments to any parties besides the consultant selected through this tender.