Tender Advertisement #1043992

Hort Innovation is a not-for-profit, grower-owned Research and Development Corporation (RDC) for Australia's $9 billion horticulture industry. Hort Innovation invests around $100 million in research and development (R&D) and marketing programs annually to provide benefit to industry and the wider community.
Hort Innovation is seeking a suitably qualified, experienced and capable delivery partner for the project: VegNET (VG18003).
VegNET will be contributing to Outcome 5 of the Vegetable Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) 2017-2021 - Improved industry capabilities for innovation and adoption and will have a significant responsibility for achievement of Strategy 5.1 - Communication and extension. Outcome 5 is critical for the achievement of all other Outcomes. The SIP is available at:
https://bit.ly/2Le21pq
The objectives of the services are to help Hort Innovation:
• Maintain and strengthen the VegNET brand through a more coordinated national approach
• Implement a framework for the delivery of Industry Development services to the Australian Vegetable Industry
• Develop a national Industry Development Strategy and supporting plans utilising extension theory and best practice to deliver Industry Development services at a regional level in a strategic and coordinated manner with a team of appropriately skilled and respected individuals
• Deliver Industry Development services that
o improve extension and communication of the Vegetable R&D program to address a geographically and culturally diverse vegetable industry
o identify and address industry training needs
o create improved industry capabilities for adoption and innovation
o drive and monitor the adoption of R&D by Australian vegetable businesses
o have measurable impact
• Facilitate the feedback loop between growers and researchers to ensure that R&D outputs are relevant and accessible to end users, and that industry R&D gaps/needs are reported to Hort Innovation.
Hort Innovation has prepared a Request for Proposal (RFP) document that provides background information, outlines the scope of services, the procurement process and the information required from interested parties. The RFP may be downloaded from www.tenders.net (you will need to be a member of tenders.net to access this information).
Hort Innovation will convene a briefing teleconference with interested respondents at 3:00pm (AEDT) on Thursday 20 December 2018 to assist interested respondents identify potential collaborators. To register for the teleconference and receive the dial-in details please email tenders@horticulture.com.au
The closing date for responses is 5.00pm (AEDT), 14 February 2019