Ruby on Rails Development and Support for the IUCN Red List and new Species Information Service

The IUCN UK Office is procuring a Ruby on Rails development and support partner for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the new Species Information Service (SIS). The IUCN Red List is the world authoritative source on the conservation status of plants, animals and fungi, used by governments, scientists and conservation practitioners globally. SIS is the underlying species data platform that backs the Red List website. The successful firm will provide ongoing Rails development, feature delivery, bug fixing, performance optimisation, security maintenance and second-line support over an 11-month period. The contract value is between CHF 100,000 and CHF 200,000.

Ruby on Rails feature development against the IUCN product backlog for Red List and SIS. Bug fixing and second-line technical support. Database optimisation (PostgreSQL or similar). API development and maintenance. Security patching and dependency management. Code review and mentoring of junior developers. Coordination with IUCN Red List Unit and SIS technical team. Documentation of changes and architectural decisions.

Development firm or experienced consultancy with strong Ruby on Rails track record (minimum 5+ years). Experience with large-scale Rails applications, complex data models and APIs. Familiarity with PostgreSQL, Redis, background job processing, modern frontend integration. Ability to work in English with the IUCN Red List Unit. Demonstrated experience supporting scientific or conservation data platforms is a strong advantage. IUCN Declaration of Undertaking.

IUCN standard RFP evaluation: mandatory compliance, technical evaluation against the Specification of Requirements (Attachment 1), team CVs, references, proposed methodology. Financial evaluation. Award to highest combined score within budget.