Summary
The Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) initiative is funded by both the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. It assists ASEAN Member States (AMS) in meeting their commitments and realising the advantages offered by the Agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, or AANZFTA, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP.
Through the AANZFTA Implementation Support Program (AISP) and the RCEP Implementation Support Program (RISP), RT4D provides tailored support to enhance the capabilities of ASEAN Member States by strengthening skills, building networks, facilitating policy options and ensuring that trade benefits everyone, including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), women and people with disabilities.
The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have committed up to AUD 53.3 million to fund RT4D from 2020-21 to 2027-28.
RT4D is seeking a consulting firm/consortium (hereinafter referred to as “the Consultant”) to manage and delivery the end-to-end Project Design approved RISP Projects, in close collaboration with the RT4D Facility and the Project Proponent. The final Project Design will be subject to comments, amendments, and the approval from the RT4D Facility Team, the Project Proponent and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Description
The project is designed with clear and strategic objectives as outlined below:
- To provide targeted technical assistance to ASEAN LDCs including Cambodia to transpose RCEP commitments from positive-listing to negative-listing approach
- To address Cambodia’s emerging trade in services challenges by analysing the current regulatory framework and identifying gaps to ensure forward-looking compliance during the transition to negative listing
- To strengthen the technical capacity of Cambodian policymakers, regulators, and financial services stakeholders to safeguard regulatory integrity and implement RCEP agreement effectively
- To ensure private sector stakeholders, particularly MSMEs and fintech enterprises to fully leverage the liberalized financial services environment by engaging in the consultative and dissemination workshops that help foster their innovation, competitiveness and sustainability.
The general competencies and qualifications that the Consultant should demonstrate include (but are not limited to):
- Skilled and experienced expert/team of experts with technical expertise, bandwidth, and capabilities to support the RT4D Facility to deliver all outputs in alignment with the remit and timelines set within this Scope of Services.
- Availability of qualified Khmer-speaking personnel and capacity to conduct stakeholder consultations and engagement activities in Cambodia.
- Strong familiarity with ASEAN and multilateral frameworks, including ATISA, AANZFTA, RCEP, and WTO GATS scheduling methodologies, as well as international best practices in services liberalisation.
- Demonstrated technical expertise and working experience in the sector of trade in services, financial service regulations, and the development of Schedules of Non-Conforming Measures (NCMs) following the negative list approach.
- Demonstrable experience developing programme and project plans and designs that consider and incorporate the needs, priorities, and concerns of diverse stakeholders, including government institutions, women’s groups, MSMEs, consumer groups, and civil society organisations.
- Strong understanding of and ability to operationalise the Monitoring & Evaluation, GEDSI, Communications, and Program Management considerations outlined in the above sections of this ToR.
- Experience working with ASEAN Member States and engagement with relevant Cambodian government institutions (especially, MEF, MOC, NBC) or regional/ODA-funded initiatives is highly desirable.
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Timeline:
Invitation Issue Date: Tuesday 2 June 2026
Last Queries Date: Wednesday 10 June 2026
Closing Date and Time: 11:59pm AEST Thursday 25 June 2026
Please check RT4D’s website for complete ToR.
RFP - Project Design - Developing NCM Schedules for Financial Services under RCEP
