GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA

CONSULTING SERVICES FOR BASIC NEEDS TRUST FUND NINETH and TENTH (BNTF 9 AND 10) PROJECTS – DOMINICA

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

PREPARATION OF PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL AUDITS REPORT (2022-2025)

FOR BASIC NEEDS TRUST FUND, DOMINICA

The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica (GOCD) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the cost of financing the BNTF 9 and 10 Projects and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to eligible payments under a contract for which this invitation is issued.  Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GOCD and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject in all respects to the terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement.  The Financing Agreement prohibits withdrawal from the financing account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.  No party other than GOCD shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.

The Implementing Agency (IA), now wishes to procure services of an accounting firm to carry out the preparation of  Performance and Financial Audit Reports for years 2022-2025, on behalf of the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica, in keeping with the reporting requirement of the Grant Agreement.

The Performance Audit

            The performance audit should be carried out in accordance with national and international auditing standards/guidelines and must include adequate planning, the evaluation and testing of the internal control structure and systems, and sufficient objective evidence to allow the auditors to reach reasonable conclusions on which to base their findings.  The specific objectives of the audit are to:

(a)         audit of the economy of administrative activities in accordance with sound administrative principles and practices, and management policies;

(b)         audit of the efficiency of utilisation of human, financial and other resources, including examination of information systems, performance measures and monitoring arrangements, and procedures followed by audited entities for remedying identified deficiencies; and

(c)         audit of the effectiveness of performance in relation to achievement of the objectives of the audited entity, and audit of the actual impact of activities compared with the intended impact.

The Financial Audit:

            The objectives of these audits are to enable the Auditor(s) to prepare the project financial statements to reflect the financial transactions in respect of the projects, as maintained by IA and CDB as well as to express an opinion on whether:

the Financial Report of IAs presents fairly, in all material respects, the actual expenditure incurred and the revenue received for BNTF 9 and 10 Projects for the accounting period 2022-2025; and,

the funds provided by CDB for BNTF 9 and 10 Projects have, in all material respects, been used in conformity with the applicable contractual conditions under the Grant Agreements for BNTF 9 & 10 cycles.

These standards/guidelines are expected are to be applied when carrying out the various audits of the BNTF Project.

(The Terms of Reference can be obtained from the first address below between the hours of  8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. The Terms of Reference can assist accounting firms in preparing of their Expression of Interest.)

The duration of the assignment is expected to be over a maximum of 30 working days.

The IA now invites interested eligible individual accounting firms to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of these consultancy services. Accounting firms shall be eligible to provide the services if:

the persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country (member countries of CDB); and

in all cases, the accounting firm has no arrangement and undertakes not to make any arrangements, whereby any substantial part of the net profits or other tangible benefits of the contract will accrue or be paid to a person not a citizen or bona fide resident of an eligible country.

In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to qualifications and experience on similar assignments. All information must be submitted in English. 

One original hard copy and an electronic version of the Expression of Interest clearly marked “Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for the Preparation of Performance and Financial Audits Report (2022-2025) for Basic Needs Trust Fund, Dominica” must be prepared in English and delivered in a sealed envelope containing the name and address of the applicant to the postal and E-mail addresses below, no later than 3:00 p.m. on Monday, 19^th December, 2022.

Following the assessment of submissions, the most technically capable and appropriately experienced applicant will be invited to negotiate a contract to provide the consultancy services. GOCD reserves the right to accept or reject late applications or to cancel the present invitation partially or in its entirety.  It will not be bound to assign any reason for not engaging the services of any applicant and will not defray any costs incurred by any applicant in the preparation and submission of Expressions of Interest.