Purchase Consulting Services, Legal Advisory Services for 2025-2028, responsible for legal consultation on project contract management.

Request for Expressions of Interest (Re-tender) Country: People's Republic of China Project Name: IBRD Guangdong Agricultural Product Quality Safety Improvement (Demonstration) Project Loan Number: 9213-CN Assignment Name: Legal Advisory Services Contract Number: GDCS-015 The Government of the People's Republic of China has received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) towards the cost of improving food safety management at the national and sub-national levels and reducing food safety risks in certain value chains.

The project is implemented by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), Guangdong Province, and Shandong Province (Yantai City).

IBRD Guangdong Agricultural Product Quality Safety Improvement (Demonstration) Project comprises four components: 1) Construction of an agricultural product quality and safety regulatory mechanism; 2) Capacity building for agricultural product quality and safety regulation; 3) Construction of whole-value-chain enhancement projects for agricultural products; and 4) Project implementation management and performance evaluation mechanism building.

In the initial phase, the project will be piloted in five cities: Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou, and Zhaoqing, and will be extended to the whole province upon maturity. Key products include vegetables, lychees, live pigs, aquatic products, and pre-made dishes. The project implementation period is from March 2024 to March 2029.

Given the project's wide scope and numerous activities, the required legal advisory services are an essential component.

This contract utilizes World Bank loan funds to procure legal advisory services, aiming to mitigate risks throughout the entire project cycle (including contract review, document preparation, legal opinions, dispute prevention and handling, etc.), provide comprehensive and high-quality legal services, enhance business compliance, raise the legal risk prevention awareness of the project management team, and ensure that procurement activities under this project comply with World Bank procurement policies, Chinese laws and regulations, and project risk control requirements.

The implementation period for this contract is 36 months, with an estimated total input of approximately 48 person-months. The expected assignment commencement date is December 2025. Please refer to the attachment for the detailed Terms of Reference.

The Guangdong Provincial Center for Agricultural Product Quality Safety (Guangdong Green Food Development Center) now invites eligible and interested consultant to indicate their interest in providing these legal advisory services. The main tasks include the following aspects: 1. Contract Review and Drafting.

Review relevant contracts and provide review comments; participate in drafting key contract clauses when necessary; review disputed clauses in executed contracts and issue legal opinion letters. Completion required within 5 working days of receiving documents. 2. Regulatory Document Review.

Review documents involved in this project such as management measures, standards, and specifications (e.g., rules for the smart supervision platform, risk pool operation system, mechanism standard development documents, etc.), and issue written compliance assessment reports. Completion required within 5 working days of receiving documents. 3. Legal Opinions and Attestation.

Issue legal opinion letters on project land use, insurance innovation, brand ownership, etc.; attest to major signing acts and issue stamped legal opinion letters/attestation certificates. Response time depends on urgency. 4. Legal Consultation and Case Analysis.

Provide answers to legal queries regarding bidding challenges, complaints, contract signing, legal compliance, etc.; provide analysis of potential cases such as financial insurance disputes; issue consultation memoranda and case risk rating reports. Routine consultations require a response within 24 hours. 5. Pre-dispute Case Guidance Services.

Provide evidence organization and strategic advice for mediation/arbitration cases; participate in negotiations; issue dispute resolution plans and negotiation key points reports. Within 5 working days after case initiation. Shortlist Selection Requirements: 1.

Basic Conditions (1) A law firm legally established in the People's Republic of China, with a permanent establishment in Guangdong Province (provide ① Branch filing certificate and ② Firm overview or brochure), holding a valid practice license (provide ③ Valid practice license); the institution must have no record of judicial administrative penalties in the past 3 years (provide ④ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined).

(2) Legally registered institution, capable of independently bearing civil liability, operating standardly (provide ⑤ Business license copy); possessing good commercial reputation and sound financial accounting system (provide ⑥ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined); possessing the necessary equipment and professional technical capability to perform the contract (provide ⑦ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined); having a good record of paying taxes and social security funds according to law (provide ⑧ Proof of tax payment and social security fund contribution in the last 3 months); should have no record of major violations, no record of misconduct, no negative social impact, and no serious complaints from project owners in similar assignments (provide ⑨ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined); 2.

Professional Experience From January 1, 2022, to the present (based on contract signing date), have signed and performed at least 3 legal advisory service contracts, each with a contract value of no less than RMB 50,000, and the total value of all performed performance contracts provided from January 1, 2022, to the present (based on contract signing date) must be no less than RMB 600,000 (excluding performance of subsidiaries or branches).

Provide corresponding copies of supporting materials, including ⑩ Key contract pages (showing contract name, signing date, service content, service period/contract duration, contract value, and signing/sealing pages of both parties; if the contract does not specify service period/duration, provide client certification to prove contract performance). 3.

Basic Personnel Input Requirements and Service Requirements Consultant should respond to the following requirements, but detailed individual resumes are not required at this stage.

Personnel Type Number of Persons Person-Months Key Experts Legal Partner (Project Lead) 1 person / Senior Lawyer (Domain Expert) 1 person / Non-Key Experts Lawyer 1 person / Total 3 persons 48 person-months Detailed evaluation of input personnel will not be conducted at the shortlist stage, but compliance with the basic personnel input requirements and service requirements will be reviewed.

Interested consultant must provide information and documents specified in sections "1. Basic Conditions", "2. Professional Experience", and "3.

Basic Personnel Input Requirements and Service Requirements" of the "Shortlist Selection Requirements" above to demonstrate their qualifications and capability to perform this consulting assignment, and provide contact person details (e.g., address, phone number, E-mail address, etc.).

The following is not a mandatory qualification requirement, but consultant with the following experience will be given preference: Experience since January 1, 2022 (based on contract signing time), in signing and performing legal advisory service contracts for projects financed by International Financial Institutions or foreign government loans/grants, and having completed performance involving related contract compliance review services during the contract period.

Provide corresponding supporting materials, including key contract pages (showing contract name, signing date, service content, service period/contract duration, contract value, and signing/sealing pages of both parties; if the contract does not specify service period/duration, provide client certification to prove contract performance) and materials proving completion of related contract compliance review services.

Interested consultant should pay attention to the provisions concerning conflict of interest in the Procurement Regulations for Investment Project Financing (IPF) Borrowers (November 2020) (see: www.worldbank.org). A joint venture will not be accepted for the legal advisory services institution for this procurement.

This project will be selected based on the Selection Based on the Consultant's Qualifications (CQS) method specified in the Procurement Regulations for Investment Project Financing (IPF) Borrowers (November 2020).

This Request for Expressions of Interest for consulting services is published on the China Tendering and Bidding Public Service Platform World Bank Section (https://bulletin.cebpubservice.com/bank/index.html) and China Procurement and Bidding Network (https://www.chinabidding.cn/).

Further information may be obtained from the Tendering Agent between November 17, 2025, and December 1, 2025, from 9:00-11:30 and 13:00-17:00 (Beijing time, excluding holidays).

Expressions of Interest and related supporting documents (such as company profile, performance materials, brief service proposal, relevant personnel qualifications, etc.) must be delivered in written form (by hand delivery, mail, fax, or email, one original and four copies; the original and copies should be identical; in case of discrepancy, the original shall prevail) and must be received by 9:30 AM on December 2, 2025, at the address: Room 2, 6th Floor, Guangren Building, No.

1 Guangren Road, Guangzhou, China , Attn: Ms. Guo; Tel: 010-87945198-503/504; E-mail: guoying@ck.citic.com; zhangfan@ck.citic.com. Consultants intending to submit via mail, fax, or email are requested to contact the Tendering Agent for confirmation first.

Any queries or complaints regarding the procurement process or contract award should be sent in writing to the Owner and the Tendering Agent at the following email addresses: nynct_ncpzx_zhangsh@gd.gov.cn and guoying@ck.citic.com, respectively. Client: Guangdong Provincial Center for Agricultural Product Quality Safety (Guangdong Green Food Development Center) Contact: Mr. Liu Address: No.

135 Xianlie East Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province Postcode: 510230 Tel: 020-87590235 E-mail: nynct_ncpzx_zhangsh@gd.gov.cn Tendering Agent: CITIC International Tendering Co., Ltd. Contact: Ms. Guo, Mr.

Zhang Address: Room 1811, 18/F, Building 59, Dong San Huan Zhong Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing Postcode: 100022 Tel: 010-87945198-503/504 E-mail: guoying@ck.citic.com; zhangfan@ck.citic.com Attachment: Terms of Reference for Legal Advisory Services for the IBRD Guangdong Agricultural Product Quality Safety Improvement (Demonstration) Project.

Terms of Reference for Legal Advisory Services for the IBRD Guangdong Agricultural Product Quality Safety Improvement (Demonstration) Project I. Project Background The IBRD Guangdong Agricultural Product Quality Safety Improvement (Demonstration) Project has a total investment of approximately USD 330 million, aiming to enhance agricultural product quality and safety through whole-value-chain management.

The project involves 5 pilot cities (to be extended province-wide after mid-term review) and 4 sub-projects, as follows: Sub-project 1: Construction of Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Regulatory Mechanism 1) Formulate plans for enhancing agricultural product quality and safety, conduct research on high-quality development strategies for agricultural product safety, establish and improve agricultural product quality and safety regulatory mechanisms; 2) Develop and improve cross-departmental collaboration mechanisms, coordinate multi-departmental efforts, and strengthen coordinated supervision of agricultural product quality and safety; 3) Construction and demonstration of agricultural product quality and safety risk regulatory mechanisms, innovate and improve risk regulatory mechanisms, strengthen risk assessment, and build demonstration bases; 4) Research and compile comprehensive whole-industry-chain standard systems for dominant agricultural products, promote and demonstrate them; 5) Conduct training on regulatory technology and production capacity to enhance quality and safety control capabilities at the production end.

Sub-project 2: Capacity Building for Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Regulation 1) Enhance monitoring and testing capacity for agricultural product quality and safety.

Improve the quality and safety testing system, focusing on upgrading provincial-level animal-source bacterial drug resistance monitoring laboratories, agricultural product quality and safety testing laboratories, animal disease prevention and control laboratories, and plant protection laboratories, as well as capacity building for training bases and service stations; 2) Upgrade and transform the smart regulatory platform for agricultural product quality and safety.

Focus on improving data analysis and early warning systems, upgrading the provincial agricultural product quality and safety inspection and supervision information system, the provincial agricultural product quality and safety traceability system, the grid-based supervision system for agricultural product quality and safety, improving the animal disease remote diagnosis system, 'Assured Fish Pond' and other agricultural product safety pilot demonstration bases, conducting third-party quality and safety testing evaluations, applying IT technologies like big data, blockchain, IoT sensing, and AI to build and improve a smart regulatory system for agricultural product quality and safety; 3) Risk communication activities with consumers, involving the public in enhancing agricultural product quality and safety, innovating and improving regulatory models involving joint governance by regulators and consumers; 4) Build a comprehensive risk analysis platform for food production and operation segments to promote high-quality development of food safety in key areas; 5) Agricultural product brand building and enhancement, including regional public brand construction and protection enhancement; 6) Strengthen agricultural product brand promotion according to the positioning of building a strong agricultural brand province with Guangdong characteristics.

Sub-project 3: Construction of Whole-Value-Chain Enhancement Projects for Agricultural Products 1) Innovate whole-value-chain agricultural product financial risk-sharing financing models.

Innovate risk-sharing mechanisms, build a project library for agricultural product quality and safety enhancement, establish an agricultural product quality and safety risk fund pool as credit enhancement or risk compensation for commercial bank loans, providing green loan channels for enterprises and farmers in the project library, used for quality and safety enhancement construction and demonstration across the vegetable, lychee, live pig, and aquatic product value chains; 2) Innovate whole-value-chain agricultural product quality and safety liability insurance models.

Through government promotion and market-oriented operation involving insurance companies and third-party institutions, create an integrated service model combining standardized technical services and insurance services for pre-event risk warning, in-process risk control, and post-event risk transfer, improving the closed-loop management operation mechanism for whole-value-chain agricultural product quality and safety; 3) Aquatic product value chain enhancement project, mainly involving aquaculture and tailwater treatment projects; 4) Healthy market upgrade and renovation project, mainly involving agricultural product market infrastructure improvement, market operation environment and trading venue renovation, market laboratory upgrades, smart management platform construction, storage cold chain logistics facility upgrades, and health service and safety education training.

Sub-project 4: Project Implementation Management and Performance Evaluation Mechanism Building 1) Project implementation management, establishing a project management office and expert team, organizing consulting institutions for various service activities; 2) Use the Project Management Information System (MIS) to improve project management efficiency; 3) Project summarization and promotion, summarizing project experience and outcomes, developing promotion plans, and disseminating project results.

The four sub-projects cover various legal matters including contract management, regulatory documents, financial innovation, and engineering construction.

To ensure project compliance and prevent legal risks, the Guangdong Provincial Center for Agricultural Product Quality Safety (Guangdong Green Food Development Center) intends to hire a legal advisory services institution to provide high-quality, efficient, and comprehensive legal services for this project. II.

Project Objectives To mitigate risks throughout the entire project cycle (including contract review, document preparation, legal opinions, dispute prevention and handling, etc.), provide comprehensive and high-quality legal services, enhance business compliance, raise the legal risk prevention awareness of the project management team, and ensure that procurement activities under this project comply with World Bank procurement policies, Chinese laws and regulations, and project risk control requirements.

III. Scope of Work and Requirements (A) Contract Review and Drafting. Review relevant contracts and provide review comments; participate in drafting key contract clauses when necessary; review disputed clauses in executed contracts and issue legal opinion letters. Completion required within 5 working days of receiving documents. (B) Regulatory Document Review.

Review documents involved in this project such as management measures, standards, and specifications (e.g., rules for the smart supervision platform, risk pool operation system, mechanism standard development documents, etc.), and issue written compliance assessment reports. Completion required within 5 working days of receiving documents. (C) Legal Opinions and Attestation.

Issue legal opinion letters on project land use, insurance innovation, brand ownership, etc.; attest to major signing acts and issue stamped legal opinion letters/attestation certificates. Response time depends on urgency. (D) Legal Consultation and Case Analysis.

Provide answers to legal queries regarding bidding challenges, complaints, contract signing, legal compliance, etc.; provide analysis of potential cases such as financial insurance disputes; issue consultation memoranda and case risk rating reports. Routine consultations require a response within 24 hours. (E) Pre-dispute Case Guidance Services.

Provide evidence organization and strategic advice for mediation/arbitration cases; participate in negotiations; issue dispute resolution plans and negotiation key points reports. Within 5 working days after case initiation. IV. Service Period 36 months, providing comprehensive legal advisory services to the Client. V.

Response Time The third-party consulting services institution's response time shall not exceed 24 hours. VI.

Qualification Requirements for Consultants (A) Basic Conditions (1) A law firm legally established in the People's Republic of China, with a permanent establishment in Guangdong Province (provide ① Branch filing certificate and ② Firm overview or brochure), holding a valid practice license (provide ③ Valid practice license); the institution must have no record of judicial administrative penalties in the past 3 years (provide ④ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined).

(2) Legally registered institution, capable of independently bearing civil liability, operating standardly (provide ⑤ Business license copy); possessing good commercial reputation and sound financial accounting system (provide ⑥ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined); possessing the necessary equipment and professional technical capability to perform the contract (provide ⑦ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined); having a good record of paying taxes and social security funds according to law (provide ⑧ Proof of tax payment and social security fund contribution in the last 3 months); should have no record of major violations, no record of misconduct, no negative social impact, and no serious complaints from project owners in similar assignments (provide ⑨ Letter of Commitment, format self-determined); (B) Professional Experience From January 1, 2022, to the present (based on contract signing date), have signed and performed at least 3 legal advisory service contracts, each with a contract value of no less than RMB 50,000, and the total value of all performed performance contracts provided from January 1, 2022, to the present (based on contract signing date) must be no less than RMB 600,000 (excluding performance of subsidiaries or branches).

Provide corresponding copies of supporting materials, including ⑩ Key contract pages (showing contract name, signing date, service content, service period/contract duration, contract value, and signing/sealing pages of both parties; if the contract does not specify service period/duration, provide client certification to prove contract performance).

The following is not a mandatory qualification requirement, but third-party consulting services institutions with the following experience will be given preference: Experience since January 1, 2022 (based on contract signing time), in signing and performing legal advisory service contracts for projects financed by International Financial Institutions or foreign government loans/grants, and having completed performance involving related contract compliance review services during the contract period.

Provide corresponding supporting materials, including key contract pages (showing contract name, signing date, service content, service period/contract duration, contract value, and signing/sealing pages of both parties; if the contract does not specify service period/duration, provide client certification to prove contract performance) and materials proving completion of related contract compliance review services.

VII. Basic Personnel Input Requirements and Service Requirements Personnel Type Number of Persons Person-Months Key Experts Legal Partner (Project Lead) 1 person / Senior Lawyer (Domain Expert) 1 person / Non-Key Experts Lawyer 1 person / Total 3 persons 48 person-months (A) Legal Partner (Project Lead): 1.

Hold a bachelor's degree or higher in law, possess a valid Chinese practicing lawyer qualification certificate; have over 10 years of practical experience in a law firm, having led at least 2 legal advisory service projects related to the agriculture or finance sectors. 2.

Responsible for overall coordination of all service delivery quality and timeliness control, signing key legal documents (opinion letters/attestation certificates).

Responsible for providing legal consultation answers, legal knowledge training related to the project, responsible for World Bank contract compliance review and issuing contract review opinions, financial insurance innovation clause design, presiding over major dispute legal matters, formulating resolution strategies, etc. (B) Senior Lawyer (Domain Expert): 1.

Hold a bachelor's degree or higher in law, possess a valid Chinese practicing lawyer qualification certificate. Have over 5 years of practical experience in a law firm, having led at least 1 legal advisory service project related to the agriculture or finance sectors. 2.

Responsible for contract drafting and revision, responsible for regulatory compliance review, preparing case analysis reports and legal risk lists, assisting the senior/partner lawyer in carrying out related legal services, etc. (C) Lawyer: 1.

Bachelor's degree or higher in law, possess a valid Chinese practicing lawyer qualification certificate; have over 2 years of practical experience in a law firm, proficient in using Peking University Magic Weapon/China Judgments Online/Wolters Kluwer/Alpha legal databases. 2.

Assist the partner lawyer in preliminary review of basic documents, recording and archiving legal consultations, document translation, etc., during project activities. VIII. Deliverables and Time Requirements (A) Deliverables The Consultant shall deliver corresponding outputs as required, based on the legal advisory tasks assigned by the Client or the needs of the Provincial Project Office, including: 1.

Contract Review and Revised Drafts. Mark risk points clause-by-clause, provide revision suggestions and compliance basis; finally, provide a contract version with revision marks and a clean version. 2. Compliance Assessment Report for Management Measures. 3. Recommendation Letter for Standard/Specification Revisions. 4. Legal Opinion Letters.

All legal opinion letters must satisfy: citation of World Bank rules, annotation of Chinese legal basis, original handwritten signature by the Legal Partner, screenshots of legal research database searches. 5. Lawyer Attestation Certificates. 6. Legal Consultation Memoranda. Record consultation questions, legal analysis, and operational suggestions. 7. Case Risk Rating Reports. 8. Dispute Resolution Plans. 9.

Negotiation Key Points Summary. 10. Final Service Assessment Report (Self-inspection Report). After contract expiration, compile a list of service activities, statistics on outputs and service quality evaluation, list of unresolved risks for handover, warnings on remaining issues, follow-up suggestions, etc.

(B) Time Requirements The above deliverables must be completed within 5 working days of receiving the documents, unless otherwise specified for specific tasks. IX. Client's Cooperation To facilitate the smooth implementation of this consulting service, the Client will provide the following necessary assistance and services: (A) Provide necessary information and facilities for the legal advisory work.

(B) Coordinate and resolve issues arising during service delivery. Agency: Guangdong Farm Products Quality Safety Center Procurement method: Consultant Qualification Selection Notice type: Request for Expression of Interest Status: Published Value: 102040.82 USD