High-Quality Food Standard System Construction and Promotion Project (Development of High-Quality Food Standards, Enhancement of High-Quality Food, and Model Demonstration Sub-Project)

**Project:** China Food Safety Improvement Project

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Development of High-Quality Food Standards, Enhancement of High-Quality Food, and Model Demonstration Sub-Project

For

High-Quality Food Standard System Construction and Promotion Project

Country: People's Republic of China

Name of Project: China Food Safety Improvement Project

Loan No.: IBRD-92130

Assignment Title: High-Quality Food Standard System Construction and Promotion Project (Development of High-Quality Food Standards, Enhancement of High-Quality Food, and Model Demonstration Sub-Project)

Reference No.:  GD-FSS-GAMR-CS09

The Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the China Food Safety Improvement Project Guangdong Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Improvement (Demonstration) Project, and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The consulting services aims to strengthen the research and development of high-quality food standards, carry out publicity and promotion activities, and create demonstration and model enterprises. For detailed scope, deliverables, duration, and other specific requirements, please refer to the attached Terms of Reference (TOR).

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment are attached to this request for expressions of interest.

The Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation now invites eligible 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.

The shortlisting criteria are:

1. Consultant's competence and strength;
2. Management and quality control expertise;
3. Technical capabilities;
4. Historical experience and performaces.

Note: 

1. The submitted EOI shall be stamped with the official seal of the consultant.
2. Key Experts will be not evaluated at the shortlisting stage.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.13, 3.15, and 3.16 of the World Bank's  "Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers" (September 2025 version), 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.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the QCBS method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours. Office hours are from 09:00 to 17:00 on working days from September 23 to October 14, 2026

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to Tender Agency (in person, or by mail, or by e-mail) by 09:00 on October 15, 2026.

 

Tender Agency: China International Tendering Co., Ltd.

Attn: Zhang Zhi, Guo Hujun

Title: Project Managers

Tel.: +86 10-81168424; 010-81168460

E-mail: zhangzhi5@cgci.gt.cn; guohujun@gt.cn

Address: Rm. 2003B, South Tower, Bld. Jinbintengyue, Huaxia Rd. 49-1,, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

Postal Code: 51000

 

Employer: Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation

Attn: Wang Yifei, Chen Lin

Title: First-level Principal Staff Member; Special Cadre, World Bank Loan Project Office

Tel.: 020-38835493; 020-38835248

 

Annex: detailed Terms of Reference (ToR)

Terms of Reference

Project on the Construction, Publicity and Promotion of the High-Quality Food Standard System Implemented by Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation

Package  I: Development of High-Quality Food Standards, High-Quality Food Improvement and Model Demonstration Initiative

In order to ensure the effective implementation of Package I (Development of High-Quality Food Standards, High-Quality Food Improvement and Model Demonstration Initiative) under the abovementioned project, and to achieve the targeted objectives of project information technology development, the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation intends to select and engage qualified service institutions through public procurement to carry out the implementation of this project.

1. Project Background and Overview

The World Bank-financed China Food Safety Demonstration Project took effect on March 21, 2024, with an implementation period ending on March 31, 2029. It aims to comprehensively enhance national and local modern food safety governance capacity. As a key implementing entity of this project in Guangdong Province, the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation is responsible for project management, procurement management, contract administration, project acceptance, fund reimbursement and payment, as well as reviewing standard development plans and publicity-promotion activity plans, organizing standard reviews, and strictly ensuring project quality.

A total of USD 10 million of World Bank loan is planned for application. Of this amount, Package I (Development of HighQuality Food Standards, HighQuality Food Improvement and Model Demonstration Initiative) under the abovementioned project plans to apply for a World Bank loan of USD 1 million (equivalent to RMB 6.9 million). The engagement of a thirdparty institution serves the following purposes: first, accelerate the development of high-quality food standards, with no fewer than 30 standards completed within two years; second, carry out the highquality food improvement and model demonstration initiatives, including organizing large-scale high-quality food publicity-promotion events (no fewer than six events within two years) and developing model demonstration enterprises for high-quality food (no fewer than six enterprises within two years), and conducting fund management in compliance with relevant requirements.

Expected outcomes of this project include further advancing the development of high-quality food standards in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), and improving the GBA high-quality food standard system. Through advertising, publicity- promotion activities, and the development of model demonstration enterprises for highquality food, stories of highquality food will be well communicated to continuously raise brand recognition and influence, so that highquality food gains wide public acceptance.

The project addresses existing challenges including difficulties in aligning foodrelated rules across the GBA, insufficient coverage in the development of highquality food standards, and inadequate publicitypromotion measures which undermine effective implementation of those standard. Through this project, the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation will further enhance the core value of high-quality food brands, develop model demonstration enterprises, organize brand-promotion events, advance highquality development of the GBA, facilitate the popularization and application of highquality food standards (namely the GBA Food Standards), expand brand influence, and support the building of a highquality living circle in the Greater Bay Area.

2. Project Objectives

Centered on the core objective of advancing development of high-quality food standards and high-quality food improvement and model demonstration initiative, this project integrates the full-chain traceability platform with "ShangMa Su", the intelligent supervision system of "Internet-based Visualization Kitchen", the real-time emergency dispatching command system, and capacity improvement for food-related personnel under market regulation. It aims to establish a closed-loop full-chain management mechanism covering risk identification, early-warning response and disposal, so as to provide data foundation and institutional guarantee for scientifically calculating outcome indicators such as “proportion of earlywarnings for which mitigation measures have been activated". The core objectives are specified as follows: 

First, expand coverage of high-quality food standards. Building on the 87 high-quality food standards issued up to 2025, further efforts will be intensified to develop highquality food standards,expand coverage of standards, continuously enrich and improve the high-quality food standard system, and meet the demand for highquality and safe food among residents in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Second, promote the implementation and application of high-quality food standards. Through highquality food advertising and publicitypromotion activities, as well as highpriority food improvement and model demonstration initiative, enterprises shall be encouraged to formally adopt and apply highquality food standards The project facilitates the extensive circulation of highquality food across online and offline sales channels, and continuously raises the visibility and influence of highquality food..

3. Scope of Services

Total investment for this project amounts to  RMB 6.9 million.

3.1 Scope of Service Recipients

Service recipients cover the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation, as well as provincial, municipal and district/countylevel market regulation authorities. Target users include the general public and six highquality food manufacturing enterprises, among others.

3.2 Service Content

3.2.1 Engage a thirdparty institution to accelerate the development of high-quality food standards, with no fewer than 30 standards completed within two years. The development of highquality food standards shall comply with relevant documents including the Measures for the Administration of HighQuality Food Standards in the GuangdongHong KongMacao Greater Bay Area, the Specification for the Development of HighQuality Food Standards in the GuangdongHong KongMacao Greater Bay Area (Trial), and the Specification for the Development of GBA Standards for Precooked Dishes. 

Annual plans for the development  of high-quality food standard shall be formulated with the following requirements. Firstly, conduct a comprehensive review on the coverage of issued highquality food standards, identify uncovered areas or weak standardsetting links, and give priority to filling standard gaps for key products and critical links. Secondly, conduct in-depth research on the latest laws, regulations and food standards requirements of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and give priority to developing the standards for products with distinctive GBA dietary characteristics and large consumption volume. Thirdly, adopt multi-stakeholder participation. Opinions and suggestions from authorities including market regulation, health, and customs shall be fully taken into account.

The standard-development workflow consists of project initiation application, field research, experimental verification, public consultation, review and issuance, Relevant institutions, universities, industry associations and enterprises from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao shall participate throughout the process.

3.2.2 .Implement highquality food improvement and model demonstration initiative, including organizing largescale publicity and promotion events for highquality food (no less than six events within two years, with a total attendance of no fewer than 2,000 participants), and developing model demonstration enterprises for highquality food (no less than six enterprises within two years; each enterprise shall have at least two products meeting highquality food standard requirements and prominently display the “GBA Standards” logo on product outer packaging).Model demonstration enterprises shall be large-scale food manufacturers within the GBA that voluntarily adopt the "GBA Standards”, with at least two compliant products. The project contractor shall submit a proposed list of demonstration enterprises for review. The development of demonstration enterprises may only proceed after the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation confirms compliance with basic eligibility criteria  See Appendix 1 for further details.

3.3 Service Period

The service period shall commence on the date of contract signing and end on the project closure date (March 31, 2029).

4 Deliverables, Review and Acceptance

4.1 Deliverables

The deliverables required under this project are set out below:

Service Content	Deliverables	Submission Timing / Stage
Development of High-Quality Food Standards (cumulative ≥30 standards in two years)	1.Annual standard development plan 2.Lead organization information and standard  introduction 3.Chinese version of standard text 4.English version of standard text 5.Standard Compilation Explanatory Notes 6. Supporting documents for the standard development process 7.Statement on the application of High-quality food standard 8.Standard issuance announcement	Annual development plan shall be submitted within 1 month after contract signing; further submissions shall be made by December 31, 2027 and December 31, 2028 respectively
High-Quality Food Publicity and Promotion	1.Annual publicity and promotion  plan 2.One promotional video for highquality food standards (duration: 510 minutes) 3.Batch of promotional materials (≥1,500 brochures, ≥70 roll-up banners, ≥70 leaflet designs) 4.Supporting documents for targeted distribution of promotional materials 5.Supporting documents verifying ≥6 promotion events with total attendance ≥2,000	Annual publicity and promotion plan shall be submitted within 1 month after contract signing; further submissions shall be made by December 31, 2027 and December 31, 2028 respectively
Development of High-Quality Food Model Demonstration Enterprises (cumulative ≥6 enterprises in two years)	1.Annual work plan for the development of model demonstration enterprises 2.Work report including but not limited to major practices, challenges, key outcomes, sales performance analysis of high-quality food products, etc. 3.Supporting documents for connection to the high-quality food traceability platform, prominent display of the "GBA   Standard" logo on outer packaging and market circulation of relevant products	Annual work plan for the development of model demonstration enterprises shall be submitted within 1 month after contract signing; further submissions shall be made by December 31, 2027 and December 31, 2028 respectively

4.2 Deliverable Review and Acceptance

The project contractor shall submit standard texts, standard compilation explanatory notes,  supporting documents for publicity-promotion activities and development of model demonstration enterprises and other deliverables to the Project Office. Upon review and approval of the submitted reports by the Project Office, deliverable acceptance shall be carried out in accordance with the contract provisions. For those deliverables that are required to be submitted to the World Bank for review per relevant requirements, the project contractor shall cooperate with the Project Office to complete the submission. All deliverables shall fully comply with the service requirements specified in this TOR, with standardized formats, complete content and authentic, accurate data.

5.Institutional and Personnel Qualification Requirements

5.1 Institutional Qualifications

Between January 1, 2020 and the submission deadline, the institution shall completed at least two national food standard formulation/revision projects with total contract value ≥ RMB 500,000, completed at least two food industry standard development/revision projects, undertaken at least two provincial or higher-level policy research projects on food safety or standards,organized at least 5 large-scale publicity-promotion events, and possess the equipment and professional technical capabilities required for contract performance. Alternatively, the institution may possess equivalent relevant project experience comparable to this Project in nature, complexity and scale. 

Relevant performance experience supporting documents (or documents of equivalent effect), including key contract pages (clearly indicating entity name, service content, contract value and signing date) or  project implementation documents.

5.2 Personnel Qualifications

A dedicated service team shall be assigned for the project, with social insurance records, labor contracts, completed project certificates or equivalent supporting documents provided for all team members. Specific requirements are set out as follows:

No.	Team Role	Number of Staff	Job Responsibilities	Qualification Requirements
Key Experts
1	Project Director	1	Overall project life-cycle coordination, resource allocation, cross-department communication, client demand alignment and schedule control	1. Academic background in food science or public health 2. Over 15 years of working experience in food safety and food standard development 3. Proven experience in  food safety risk assessment, standard formulation/revision and key standard policy research projects
2	Standards Development	3	Draft texts and compilation explanatory notes for high-quality food standards	1. Academic background in food science or public health 2. Over 10 years of working experience in food standard research 3. Proven experience in the development of  national, local or industrial standards
3	Risk Assessment	2	Conduct food safety risk assessment during standard formulation/revision	1. Academic background in food science or public health 2. Over 10 years of working experience in food safety risk assessment 3. Proven experience in standard formulation/revision
4	Nutrition and Health Research	1	Conduct research and establish nutritional indicators for highquality food standards	1.Academic background in food science or public health 2.Over 10 years of working experience in food nutrition and health research 3.Proven experience in nutrition policy research and standard formulationrevision projects
Supporting Staff
1	Inspection and Testing	2	Conduct experimental verification for high-quality food standards	1. Academic background in food science or public health 2.Proven experience in standard formulation/revision
2	Data StatisticalAnalysis	1	Conduct statistical analysis of standard comparison and experimental verification results	1. Academic background in statistics, computer science or related fields 2. Competencies in data mining and technical modeling 3. Proven participation in major research projects
3	Publicity & Promotion	2	Coordinate all publicity, promotion and exchange activities for high-quality food standards	1. Academic background in food science or public health 2. Proven experience in organizing health-themed publicity and communication activities
4	Project Assistants	2	Support the Project Director in daily project delivery	Proven experience in food safety risk assessment, standard development or publicitypromotion activities

6 Facilities and Personnel Provided by the Client

The Client shall provide the following necessary support for smooth project implementation: relevant project documents, reports, annual work plans and other materials; dedicated staff assigned to liaise with the service provider for the implementation of relevant work.

 

Appendix 1: Performance Indicators for Package I

Table 1.1 Summary of Performance Indicators

No.	Task Category	Task Content	Requirements
1	Standard Formulation and Revision	Develop high-quality food standards as required by the Client, with a cumulative minimum of 30 standards within two years (≥26 product standards, ≥4 safety standards). Total quantity shall not be less than 30.	Standard development shall comply with the Regulations on Administration of Group Standards and Specifications for Development of High-Quality Food Standards. Institutions, universities, industry associations and enterprises from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao shall participate throughout the development process. Development workflow  consists of  project initiation application, field research, experimental verification, public consultation, group standard review and issuance, and application for the "GBA Standard" . Submitted standard deliverables shall cover: 1. Lead organization information and standard introduction; 2. Chinese version standard text; 3. English version standard text; 4. Standard Compilation Explanatory Notes; 5.Supporting documents for the standard development process 6.Statement on the application of High-quality food standard
2	Promotion and Application Implementation	Conduct publicitypromotion for highquality food in accordance with the Client’s requirements, organize  no fewer than 6 events within two years, with a total attendance of no fewer than 2,000 participants.	Produce one promotional video for high-quality food standards
3			Design and produce a batch of promotional materials for high-quality food
4			Organize largescale publicitypromotion events for highquality food. Event forms include but are not limited to setting up special exhibition zones in large supermarkets or provinciallevel and above largescale fairs and exhibitions.
5		Develop highquality food model demonstration enterprises. At least 3 enterprises per year, and no fewer than 6 enterprises in total within twoyear period.	Model demonstration enterprises shall cover manufacturing enterprises and trading enterprises: 1. Manufacturing enterprises: At least 2 products shall meet the requirements of highquality food standards; labels shall comply with highquality food standards; the “GBA Standard” logo shall be prominently displayed on product outer packaging in accordance with the logo usage rules of “GBA Standard” issued by Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation; relevant products shall circulate in the market including selfoperated stores or large supermarkets. Shall connect to the highquality food traceability platform, timely upload and update enterprise profile, product stories, product promotional videos, product specifications & shelflife, origin of key raw materials, production licensing information, product inspection reports and other information to realize traceability function for highquality food. Shall cooperate in highquality food publicitypromotion activities 2. Trading enterprises: shall set up special sales zones for highquality food on online platforms and offline stores to carry out centralized publicitypromotion for highquality food