Request For Proposals Freelance Auditor – Assurance Provider Oversight – APO

RA Department: Assurance

Location(s): Latin America Brazil (1 Vacancy)

Commitment: 6 months

Desired start date and duration: June 2026

Under direction of: Manager APO

The Rainforest Alliance (RA) is an international nonprofit organization working at the intersection of business agriculture and forests to make responsible business the new normal. We are building an alliance to protect forests improve the livelihoods of farmers and forest communities promote their human rights and help them mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. We envision a world where people and nature thrive in harmony.

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities.

For more information please visit

The Rainforest Alliance Assurance Systems specifically Assurance Provider Oversight as responsible for managing the evaluation and quality system of the Certification Bodies (CBs) for the Certification Program must carry out shadow review office and desk audits to monitor the performance of the auditors and CBs as well as compliance with the Rules and Protocols for authorization and maintenance of CBs. Through these audits it will allow the Certification Program to carry out continuous improvement follow-ups with the CBs and auditors as well as with the audited farms and groups

The Freelance Assurance Provider Oversight (APO) Auditor assesses the performance of certification bodies working with Rainforest Alliance Certification Program to guarantee consistency credibility higher standards and compliance with assurance procedures and protocols to safeguard integrity of the organizations standards.

TheFreelance Auditor will be attending the requirements of the RAAssurance system including shadow review office and desk audits and/or the conduction of spot-checks at field level to verify concrete examples of compliance ofcertificate holders; also the Freelance Auditor will participate in investigation audits; the reviewing of audit reports produced by other auditors as assigned byRA; the reviewing ofcorrective action plans or other documents produced by the certification body as assigned by RA; the training of other APOFreelance Auditor as assigned by RA. TheFreelance Auditor may be requested to perform other tasks directly related to the improvement of theRACertification BodyMonitoring program including but not limited to reviewing documents to give inputs developingtemplates developingguidance instruction documents as agreed with their contact person at RA.

Contractor services at minimum must include:

• Audits to the CBs working with the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program RA 2020.
• Follow-up activities resulting from the Assurance Provider Oversight audits.
• When required to participate in the process to train other Assurance Provider Oversight Freelance Auditors on the applicable auditing procedures.
• Assessment of the CBs execution of and compliance to assurance policies.
• Provide effective feedback to the Rainforest Alliance to develop and implement the monitoring program on CBs activities.
• Provide complete and accurate data as requested by the Rainforest Alliance Assurance Team supporting its system of risk assessments and consistent scoring of CBs performance

The Consultant shall commit to the following:

• To book RA activities per month during the time of the agreement according to the previous plan agreed between the consultant and APO.
• When delivering the report of an activity the Freelance Auditors shall submit an invoice with the agreed amount of money per activity plus the expenses which he/her incurred in that period considering the local laws of the country where the consultant is based.

After the audit theConsultantwill submit the following documents as audit package to theRAoffice in order to have a proper record of all activities performed:

• Audit plan if applicable
• Checklist of the audit
• Final report
• Meeting opening and closing log if applicable
• Feedback meeting with lead auditor if applicable
• Evidence of NCs
• Other related documents (such asmaps of location list of farmers in case of group certification relevant evidence as documents/pictures/labels collected during the audit).

All the information must be receivedby RA representative according to the established timelines for each process. It is possible (in case of large producers groups) not to shadow the whole audit and some information (certification bodyauditor checklist or final report) can be submitted later upon RA Representatives approval.

• Applicants must provide all requisite information under this RFP and clearly and concisely respond to all points set out in this RFP. Any proposal which does not fully and comprehensively address this RFP may be rejected.
• Proposals and/or any additional information received after the submission time and date are subject to rejection by RA.
• Incomplete proposals may be rejected by RA at its discretion.
• RA reserves the right to request additional information at any time during the procurement process.
• RA is at liberty to make multiple or no selections as part of the proposal process. RA also reserves the right to cancel the procurement.
• All proposal costs shall be borne by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by RA.
• It is the responsibility of every bidder to identify any information of a confidential or proprietary nature contained in its proposal so that it may be handled accordingly. However RA cannot guarantee confidentiality.

The consultant or consultant firm should comply with the following minimum qualifications:

• Minimum 10 years of experience as lead auditor in certification systems related to applicable commodity category GAP and/or environmental standards such as (but not limited to) GLOBAL GAP national standards (relevant scopes) Organic UTZ Rainforest Alliance RSPO Fairtrade ISO 14001.
• Have a bachelors or masters degree in agronomic engineering agronomy environmental science social science international development or related.
• In-depth knowledge of applicable national and local laws and regulations as well as how to interpret their application during the audit.
• Certification of completion of social auditor such as (but not limited to) GRASP ETI SMETA SA8000 APSCA.
• Certification of completion and extensive knowledge of and experience with ISO 9001 ISO 17065 ISO 22000 or ISO 14001.
• Fluency in verbal and written communication skills in Local and other languages are a plus.
• Strong organizational skills to manage multiple priorities excellent interpersonal skills with ability to interact across cultures linguistically and diplomatically with diversified audiences at all levels of organizations.
• Initiative strong attention to detail.
• Availability to travel a minimum internationally.

Selection of the consultant or consultant firm is based on the following criteria:

Interested consultants or consultant firms should submit their proposal including the following:

1. Statutory Requirements: Upon request the consultant should supply all required legal documents as may be required by RA and/or local law e.g. work permit bank details registration details tax documents etc. When opportunity is restricted to a specific location only candidates authorized to work in the location will be considered.

2. Technical Requirements:

• Updated CV
• List of audits performed (audit log)
• Cover letter

3. Financial proposal requirements:

• Expected daily rate in USD
• Financial proposals must include a basis for costing (ex: Include previous rates)

All proposals must be submitted through Work at the Rainforest Alliance Rainforest Alliance or LinkekIn as an integrated PDF document (only one file). If you experience problems loading information on the platform try opening it with different browsers. Proposals received after the deadline stated above will not be evaluated.

Required Experience:

IC