RFP - API Standards, Roles and Benefits to Facilitate Cross-Border E-commerce in AANZFTA

About RT4D

The Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) initiative is funded by 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 disability.

The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have committed up to AUD 53.3 million to fund RT4D from 2020–21 to 2027–28.

Project Summary

The AANZFTA Implementation Support Program (AISP), implemented through the Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) Facility, supports ASEAN Member States to realise the benefits of AANZFTA through capacity-building support and access to technical expertise.

The project ‘API Standards, Roles and Benefits to Facilitate Cross-Border E-commerce in AANZFTA’ is approved under the AISP. The project aims to strengthen understanding of Application Programming Interface (API) standards and their potential role in facilitating cross-border e-commerce across AANZFTA Parties. It will:

The Opportunity

RT4D is seeking a consulting firm/organisation or consortium (hereinafter referred to as “the Consultant”) to manage and deliver both technical and event organisation services for the project, in close collaboration with the RT4D Facility, the Viet Nam E-commerce Agency (iDEA), the ASEAN Secretariat Digital Economy Division and the AANZFTA Committee on E-commerce. Final Project outputs will be subject to comments, amendments, and approval from the RT4D Facility Team, the Project Proponent, the ASEAN Secretariat Digital Economy Division, the AANZFTA Committee on E-commerce and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The services will be delivered in accordance with the requirements set out in the Request for Proposal (RFP) and Terms of Reference (ToR).

Closing Date for Queries: 31 October 2026

Queries

Request for Proposal (RFP)

Terms of Reference

Financial Proposal Template

Services Agreement Template

     

To ensure the above can be effectively managed and completed in alignment with the ToR, it is recommended that interested organisations have:

• Qualified and experienced team: A suitably qualified and experienced expert or team of experts with sufficient technical expertise, organisational capacity and availability to deliver all technical and event-related outputs within the scope, quality standards and timelines set out in the ToR.
• International trade, e-commerce and API standards expertise: Demonstrable expertise in international trade, cross-border e-commerce and digital trade, particularly in relation to AANZFTA, regional economic integration and the role of API standards in facilitating business-to-business cross-border e-commerce. A strong understanding of relevant legal, regulatory and policy frameworks and emerging digital trade issues is required. Technical knowledge of API interoperability, electronic transactions, data exchange and connectivity between businesses, e-commerce platforms and government systems would be highly desirable.
• Policy research and regulatory analysis: Strong experience in policy research, comparative regulatory analysis and benchmarking, including assessment of policy, legal and regulatory frameworks, differences in regulatory and technical readiness across AANZFTA Parties, analysis of regional and international good practices and development of practical, evidence-based policy recommendations.
• Stakeholder engagement and regional experience: Proven experience in stakeholder consultation and engagement, particularly with government ministries and agencies, e-commerce platform operators, business users, regional business councils, business associations and private-sector stakeholders. Experience working with iDEA/MOIT or relevant Vietnamese digital-economy and e-commerce stakeholders is highly desirable. Experience working with ASEAN Member States, the ASEAN Secretariat, Australia and/or New Zealand is a distinct advantage.
• Regional and local presence: A preference for regional presence with locally based expertise in Viet Nam to undertake in-country consultations, coordination and event delivery.
• Report writing and analytical capacity: Excellent analytical and report-drafting capabilities, including demonstrated experience preparing high-quality policy reports, comparative case studies and recommendations for government and/or international development programs.
• Workshop and event delivery: Demonstrable capacity and experience in professional event organisation, including end-to-end planning and delivery of high-quality national or regional events involving government officials, international participants and private-sector stakeholders. The Consultant must have the capacity to provide both technical and event organisation services for the two-day regional workshop on API standards and cross-border e-commerce in Ho Chi Minh City.
• Policy dialogue and facilitation: Demonstrated experience designing and facilitating regional policy dialogues and capacity-building workshops, including developing agendas and technical materials, identifying and coordinating speakers and facilitators, facilitating technical discussions and effectively engaging diverse stakeholder groups.
• GEDSI integration: Demonstrated ability and expertise within the proposed team to integrate GEDSI considerations into research, stakeholder consultations and event delivery, including consideration of MSMEs, women-led enterprises, people with disability and other disadvantaged or underrepresented groups where relevant and supported by evidence.
• RT4D programme requirements: Strong understanding of, and ability to operationalise, RT4D requirements relating to Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), GEDSI, communications, event management and programme management throughout project implementation.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Apply before 09 November 2026

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