2026.09.02_PR16136740_ SOW.docx

-STATEMENT OF WORK

Hydrocarbon Crime Assessment and Project Design Framework - Ecuador

1. Introduction.

Ecuador faces increasing security challenges related to hydrocarbon theft, diversion, and trafficking. This illicit activity functions as an enabling market for transnational organized crime, including maritime drug trafficking, logistics networks, corruption, and related financial structures. The problem requires a law enforcement centered assessment that moves beyond seizures and low-level arrests toward the identification and disruption of criminal networks, facilitators, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and financial enablers.

INL seeks to procure professional assessment and project design services to diagnose the incidence of hydrocarbon-related crime in Ecuador and identify actionable interventions to strengthen the response of Ecuadorian law enforcement and justice sector counterparts. The resulting products will support a future project design suitable for competitive procurement and implementation.

2. Purpose and Objectives

2.1. Purpose: Conduct a law enforcement centered diagnostic assessment and produce an implementation-ready project design framework to strengthen Ecuadorian capacity to detect, interdict, investigate, judicialize, and disrupt hydrocarbon theft, diversion, and trafficking networks.

2.2. Objective 1: Identify operational, investigative, intelligence, coordination, evidence handling, and financial investigation gaps that limit effective disruption of hydrocarbon-related criminal networks.

2.3. Objective 2: Evaluate workflows from detection to interdiction, case building, prosecutorial referral, judicialization, and final case disposition, identifying bottlenecks and priority remediation actions.

2.4. Objective 3: Map the illicit hydrocarbon value chain and identify priority intervention points, including theft or diversion, storage, transport, commercialization, laundering, and reinvestment.

2.5. Objective 4: Produce a practical action plan and project design framework with recommended lines of effort, pilot approach, performance indicators, sustainability considerations, and risk mitigation measures.

3. Tasks/Scope

The Vendor shall perform the following tasks:

3.1. Desk Review, Baseline Development, and Work Plan

Review existing materials, including prior assessments, relevant Government of Ecuador policies, open-source reporting, operational information made available by counterparts, and INL-provided background documents. The Vendor shall distinguish what is already known from information that requires validation through fieldwork.

Deliverable Output: Baseline Summary Memo and detailed work plan, including updated problem statement, preliminary hypotheses, proposed methodology, and consultation schedule.

3.2. Stakeholder Mapping and Consultation Plan

Develop a stakeholder map identifying primary, secondary, and enabling actors involved in prevention, detection, interdiction, investigation, prosecution support, regulatory oversight, infrastructure protection, and fuel supply-chain management. The map shall include relevant law enforcement, military, customs, regulatory, financial intelligence, prosecution, and judicial actors.

The Vendor shall assess the roles of energy regulatory and supply-chain institutions, including how licensing, compliance, inspection findings, dispatch records, terminal release procedures, storage records, and fuel movement data may support targeting, evidence development, and prosecutable cases.

Deliverable Output: Stakeholder Matrix and Consultation Plan, including proposed interview targets, thematic lines of inquiry, and validation approach.

3.3. Operational Fieldwork, Interviews, and Site Visits

Conduct structured interviews, focus groups, and field visits with law enforcement leaders, operational personnel, prosecutors, and enabling institutions. Fieldwork shall validate operational realities and document enforcement, investigative, and judicial barriers.

Topics shall include detection triggers, intelligence sources, operational workflows, case building beyond flagrancy, evidence standards, chain of custody, prosecution coordination, corruption vulnerabilities, integrity risk mitigation, maritime and terrestrial interdiction models, financial investigation referrals, and barriers to targeting organizers, financiers, logisticians, and facilitators.

Site visits may include high-risk nodes such as fuel terminals, depots, distribution points, transport corridors, port environments, border areas, maritime coordination units, command centers, and other locations approved by INL.

Deliverable Output: Fieldwork Report summarizing consultations, site visit observations, operational findings, and primary data collected.

3.4. Operational Process Mapping

Map the end-to-end operational pipeline from detection, interdiction, detention, evidence collection, reporting, prosecutorial intake, case building, judicialization, sentencing, forfeiture or asset recovery referral, and final case disposition. The process map shall identify failure points, bottlenecks, coordination dependencies, and recommended interventions.

Deliverable Output: Operational Process Map with bottlenecks and targeted interventions.

3.5. Value Chain Targeting Model

Develop a value chain model for hydrocarbon-related crime in Ecuador, including theft or diversion, storage, transport, repackaging, commercialization, laundering, and reinvestment. The model shall identify high-value nodes, high-yield disruption points, trafficking typologies, indicators, warning signs, and targeting criteria for law enforcement action.

Deliverable Output: Value Chain Targeting Model, including a diagram and narrative explanation.

3.6. Law Enforcement Capability Gap Assessment

Assess capability gaps, root causes, operational impacts, and priority remedies across the following areas:

Organization and governance, including role clarity, lead agency designation, and interagency coordination.

Operations and interdiction, including tactics, planning, standard operating procedures, and maritime or border operations as applicable.

Investigations, including case building, surveillance support, informant handling, digital evidence, and network-focused investigative techniques.

Intelligence and targeting, including intelligence cycle, information sharing, joint targeting, and use of regulatory and fuel movement indicators.

Evidence handling and chain of custody, including documentation and prosecutorial intake requirements.

Financial and asset disruption support, including referral pathways for financial intelligence, asset tracing, and forfeiture coordination.

Integrity risk mitigation, including corruption vulnerabilities, internal controls, and vetted or trusted processes as applicable.

Deliverable Output: Capability Gap Matrix with prioritized recommendations.

3.7. Validation Workshop and Final Project Design Framework

Conduct a validation workshop with INL and selected Ecuadorian counterparts to review findings, reconcile feedback, refine pilot location recommendations, and validate priority interventions. The workshop shall be predominantly law enforcement focused while including justice sector and enabling institutions as appropriate.

Deliverable Output: Validation Workshop Report and Final Project Design Framework, including proposed project goal, objectives, components, activities, roles and responsibilities, pilot approach, timeline, performance indicators, sustainability plan, and risk mitigation matrix.

4. Deliverables schedule

5. Requirements

5.1. Technical requirements: Vendors shall submit a technical proposal that includes the following elements:

· Proposed Technical approach and methodology.

· Proposed Staffing plan and resumes of key personnel.

· Proposed work plan and timeline.

· Proposed Stakeholder engagement and fieldwork approach.

· Proposed Data protection and sensitivity management approach.

· Proposed Risk management and mitigation approach.

· Proposed Deliverable quality control process.

· Proposed Budget and cost breakdown.

5.2. General Experience:

The Vendor must demonstrate prior experience in Ecuador developing technical diagnostic assessments for law enforcement (border security, energy security, and criminal justice) and organized crime institutional capacity, presenting at least three (3) contracts, purchase orders, or similar documents for comparable projects. Or, the vendor could present experience of high-level police officers, civil personnel working in these areas as team members of the project, and/or subcontractors.

5.3. Technical Personnel: The Vendor shall assign a qualified project lead and technical team with experience in law enforcement operations, investigations, intelligence analysis, criminal justice coordination, institutional assessment, project design, and report writing.

5.3.1. Project Lead: shall demonstrate proven experience in law enforcement operations, investigations, intelligence analysis, criminal justice coordination, institutional assessment, project design, and report writing, presenting curriculum vitae and professional certifications in the areas of knowledge indicated above.

5.3.2. Technical Team: each proposed team member shall demonstrate proven experience in diagnostic assessments for law enforcement (border security, energy security, and criminal justice) and organized crime institutional capacity, project design, and report writing, presenting a curriculum vitae and professional certifications in the areas of knowledge indicated above.

5.3. Language: Deliverables shall be provided in English.

Spanish versions or Spanish working documents may be requested by INL when required for counterpart coordination.

5.4. Data Protection and Sensitivity: The Vendor shall protect sensitive information from the Ecuadorian Government, anonymize sources where required, and avoid including operational details that could compromise investigations, sources, methods, or law enforcement operations.

5.5. Deliverable Format: All deliverables shall be provided in editable Microsoft Word format and PDF format, unless otherwise directed by INL.

5.6. Coordination: The Vendor shall coordinate all stakeholder engagement, interviews, travel, and fieldwork sequencing with INL prior to execution.

6. Place of Performance

6.1. Work shall be performed in Ecuador, with activities in Quito and other locations approved by INL. Fieldwork may include fuel terminals, depots, port environments, border areas, maritime coordination units, command centers, and operational locations relevant to the assessment. Remote work may be used for desk review, drafting, and coordination when appropriate.

7. Period of Performance

7.1. The period of performance is anticipated to be sixteen (16) weeks from contract award, according to the deliverables schedule specified in Section 4.

8. Special Terms and Conditions

8.1. The Vendor shall not use INL, U.S. Embassy, or Government of Ecuador logos, names, or engagement for commercial promotion.

8.2. The Vendor shall not disclose sensitive findings, interview content, operational vulnerabilities, or draft recommendations without INL authorization.

8.3. The Vendor shall ensure that all products are original, free from plagiarism, and developed specifically for this requirement.

8.4. The Vendor shall identify any potential conflicts of interest in advance, including prior work with institutions or individuals that may affect objectivity.

8.5. INL will review and approve deliverables. The Vendor shall address comments and submit revised versions within the timeframe requested by INL.

9. Evaluation Criteria Proposals may be evaluated using a best value or lowest price technically acceptable approach, as determined by the contracting office. To be technically acceptable, proposals should include, at minimum:

9.1. Technical acceptance

9.1.1. Technical narrative

The vendor shall present a narrative confirming a complete understanding of the SOW. The narrative shall include but not be limited to the following information:

Demonstrated understanding of hydrocarbon theft, diversion, and trafficking as a law enforcement and transnational organized crime issue.

Proposed methodology for desk review, fieldwork, stakeholder consultations, process mapping, value chain targeting, and capability gap analysis.

Relevant experience of the proposed project lead and technical team.

Clear work plan and ability to complete all deliverables within 16 weeks.

Quality assurance approach for deliverables and validation workshop.

Data protection and information sensitivity plan.

Acceptance of INL review, revision, and final acceptance process.

9.1.2. Proposed tasks/scope requirements as indicated in section 3.

9.1.3. Proposed deliverables schedule requirements as indicated in section 4.

9.1.4. Technical requirements as indicated in section 5.

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