Regional Trade for Development - API Standards, Roles and Benefits to Facilitate Cross-Border E-commerce in AANZFTA

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. 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:

develop a study on the roles and benefits of API standards in facilitating cross-border e-commerce;

review policy, legal and regulatory frameworks, technical readiness and implementation gaps across AANZFTA Parties;

examine relevant regional and international standards, good practices, guidelines, adoption opportunities and constraints relating to API interoperability;

conduct structured desk research, requests for information to AANZFTA Parties, targeted interviews and consultations with public- and private-sector stakeholders;

develop practical recommendations and ways forward to support policymakers in strengthening relevant legal and regulatory frameworks;

deliver a two-day regional workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, to discuss the study’s findings and recommendations, strengthen stakeholder knowledge and facilitate practical knowledge exchange; and

finalise the study and develop a short public summary for dissemination through AANZFTA and ASEAN working groups.

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).

Timeline:

Invitation Issue Date: Tuesday, 20 October 2026

Last Queries Date: 11:59 PM (ICT) Saturday, 31 October 2026

Closing Date and Time: 11:59 PM (ICT) Monday, 9 November 2026

Please check RT4D’s website for complete ToR.

RFP – API Standards, Roles and Benefits to Facilitate Cross-Border E-commerce in AANZFTA | Regional Trade for Development