TOR- Standard Procurement Regulations for LGsps

USAID Public Financial Management (PFM)

Terms of Reference for Short-Term Technical Consultant

1. Background

Deloitte Consulting and WSP, together with Georgia State University and the Niti Foundation are implementing a five-year USAID funded Public Financial Management Program (USAID PFM) whose purpose is to provide technical assistance and strengthen Public Financial Management (PFM) functions, performance, and accountability of targeted agencies at the federal, provincial, and local levels of government, and to provide targeted assistance to the Government of Nepal (GON) aimed at strengthening national PFM institutions and systems to sustainably advance PFM.

The project commenced in October 2022 and will run for a five-year period to October 2027. The major stakeholders of the project are selected Federal Agencies including Ministry of Finance (MOF), Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MOFAGA), Financial Comptroller General’s Office (FCGO), PEFA Secretariat, National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission (NNRFC), National Planning Commission (NPC), Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Minsters (OPMCM), Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO), Provincial Governments of Madhesh and Lumbini Province, and Local Governments located in these two provinces.

The objectives of the Project are to provide technical assistance and strengthen PFM functions, performance, and transparency and accountability of targeted agencies at the federal, provincial, and local levels of government, and to provide targeted assistance to the GON aimed at strengthening national PFM institutions and systems to sustainably advance PFM. The Project’s two objectives and key activities are:

In general, the expected outcomes of the Project are to enhance transparency and accountability by accomplishing: 

• Selected PFM related laws or policies or regulations or standards or norms or guidelines or tools or manuals developed.
• Selected local governments have increased their own resource revenue.
• Elected and Government officials trained on public financial management system.
• Selected PFM institutions, governments and agencies adopted improved public financial management system.
• Selected local governments have improved gender-responsive budgeting. 
• Coordination mechanisms for coordination are established.
• Standardized training modules in the PFM disciplines are developed. 

2. Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to engage a short-term consultant to work with the concerned Government of Nepal (GON) Counterparts and the USAID PFM Activity to develop a standard Public Procurement Regulations for the Local Governments (LGs). This is in order to make public procurement related procedures, processes, and functions of the LGs more open and fair, transparent, competitive, integrity, and reliable by proposing a methodical and procedural legal arrangements based on federal Public Procurement Act and other procurement related documents, and obtainable best practices of public procurement systems and functions.

(Please note that the ToR is subject to change slightly per the Government Counterpart’s requirements which will be informed to the applicants prior to selection)

3. Rationale

Public procurement constitutes a significant proportion of gross national product and overall public expenditure in all countries. It is central to the efficient delivery of public services as well as public infrastructure and is a prerequisite for good governance. Public procurement is one of the key ingredients of budget expenditure phase of PFM cycle. Hence, public procurement plays a leading role in executing budget and programs of any government for achieving their social and economic development objectives. In order to regulate and manage procurement related functions, a set of legal frameworks should be formulated and followed by any government to attain the public procurement principles: Transparency and Accountability, Integrity, Economy and Value for Money, Openness and Fairness, and Competition. In Nepal, federal government have already enacted public procurement act and regulations for federal entities for a long time. For the LGs, Clause 74 of Local Government Operation Act, 2017 articulates that the LGs should follow federal Public Procurement Act and can formulate public procurement regulations based on federal Public Procurement Act. In this context, very few LGs have enacted their own procurement regulations, and most of LGs are using federal Public Procurement Regulations. Since the organization structure and nature, procurement size and complexities, and know-how and expertise on procurement of the LGs are different from federal government, the federal regulations are not fit enough to meet the LGs procurement needs. The LGs need more explanatory, sequentially stated  procurement functions, and clearly expressed legal frameworks focusing more on their own needs, priorities, and context based on the federal laws and best practices. Therefore, in order to establish the functional and efficient procurement system, and manage its functions and processes for LGs effectively, and to address the issues therein, there is an urgent need to formulate the Procurement Regulations so that the procurement management of the LGs could be open and fair, accountable, transparent, competitive, and result-oriented.

4. Methodology

The methodology to be undertaken for this assignment shall be as follows:

• Consultation meetings with concerned officials of Office of the Auditor General (OAG), MOFAGA, FCGO, PPMO, selected District Treasury Comptroller Offices (DTCOs), Provincial Ministry of Finance, Provincial Treasury Comptroller Offices (PTCOs), selected LGs, Inter-Local Government PFM Coordination Committees (ILGPFMCCs) and others.
• Collection of relevant data, information, and views from concerned agencies through primary sources such as questionnaires, interviews, and secondary sources i.e., published documents through appropriate sources. The consultant should prepare the minutes of meeting / interview and include the photographs of consultation meetings.
• Triangulate the collected data, information, views, feedback with the consultation meetings and published materials collected from the concerned sources as well as validation workshops with concerned officials or representatives of federal, provincial, and local governments, professional institutions, and development partners.

5. Tasks

This work assignment is to develop standard Public Procurement Regulations for the LGs. The assignment has the following scope of works and tasks that must be carried out in order to achieve the said objective: 

• Review and understand the executive and financial rights and duties and organizational and execution structure of the LGs related to budget formulation and execution, procurement related functions etc.;
• Thorough review of the Constitution of Nepal, Federal Public Procurement Acts and Regulations, Federal Financial Procedure and Fiscal Responsibility Act and Rules, other procurement related documents issued by the PPMO, and brief review of other related Act and Rules such as Local Government Operation Act 2074, Intergovernmental Financial Management Act 2074;
• Conduct study on international best practices with regard to procurement legal frameworks of sub-national governments;
• Identify and analyze the scope of activities required to establish a competent procurement system and carry out the public procurement functions and processes in a logical sequence; 
• Conduct consultative meetings and discussions with the officials of LGs and other relevant government entities, and professional entities;
• Consult concerned federal government’s official to know the firsthand experiences of the implementation of the Public Procurement Act and Regulations;
• Prepare a draft report for comments and suggestions from the concerned Government Counterpart and USAID PFM Activity; 
• Manage and conduct workshops in order to validate, qualify, and finalize the developed Regulations; and 
• Develop and submit the concluding Public Procurement Regulations of the LGs in the form of Final Report incorporating the comments from the concerned Government Counterparts and USAID PFM Project and/or as stated in the deliverables.

6. Deliverables

• Submit an Inception Report with detailed work plan in English language within 10 days of the agreement.
• Submit the First Draft Report in Nepali within 50 days of the agreement.
• Conduct Validation workshops / meetings within 10 days after the submission of the First Draft Report, utilizing presentations and/or other methods to facilitate discussion. Nepali materials shall be used to facilitate clear discussions.
• Submit the Final Report in Nepali within 75 days of the agreement incorporating the comments / suggestions received from the workshops/meetings.
• Summary Consultant's Work Completion Report describing actions taken to fulfill the above deliverables and provide observations/recommendations for any additional next steps in the process of rolling out of the Guidelines/manuals in English.

All deliverables shall be submitted in editable Microsoft documents, in electronic format. The final report shall also be provided in at least two hard copies and PDF format.

7. Period of Performance: 

The duration of this assignment will be up to 75 days. The anticipated start date will be on or about second week of June 2023 and the completion date will be September 15, 2023. 

8. Technical Directions/Supervision:

• The Consultant will work under the direction and supervision of the Objective 1 Lead (Lead PFM Expert).
• The Project COP and DCOP will also monitor the Consultant’s work as and when required.
• The Consultant shall carry out her/his tasks in close collaboration and coordination with the concerned Government Counterparts and the Project team.
• All deliverables required hereunder will be reviewed and approved by the COP/DCOP and Objective 1 Lead (Lead PFM Expert)

9. Required Qualifications and Experience of the Consultant:

The Consultant should at a minimum have the following qualifications:

• Master’ Degree in Business Administration or Management or Engineering or Law 
• A minimum of 15 years’ professional experience in the public procurement management preferably in government sector procurement;
• Good communication skills (oral and written) in Nepali and English languages;
• Good report writing skills;
• Have completed at-least two project study/assessment experience in PFM/Procurement field;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.); and
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and exhibit good inter-personal skills.

10. Facilities/Utilities and Logistics to be provided: 

The Consultant shall be expected to spend time at the selected government entities, Project Office and from home.  As deemed necessary, the Project will provide working space, internet connection, printing and photocopy facilities as required to complete the assignment. The consultant must provide her/his own computer, including Microsoft Office software to produce compatible documents for review.

All the required field visits, consultative meetings and workshops shall be arranged in coordination with the concerned Government, whereas logistics and allowances shall be managed by the Project.

11. Contractual Amount and Payment Terms:

This will be a fixed price assignment awarded in Nepali Rupees. Payments shall be made in Nepali Rupees in the following manner.

• 25 percent payment upon submission and acceptance of the inception report, including a detailed work plan for the assignment; (Deliverable 1)
• 40 percent payment upon submission of first draft Guidelines/Manuals which is ready to be presented at validation workshop; (Deliverable 2), and
• 35 percent payment after completion of the validation workshop, submission and acceptance of final report (Guidelines/Manuals for Audit Irregularities Settlement for Local Governments) and the Consultants’ Work Completion Report (Deliverables 3, 4 and 5).

Travel costs, including the number of trips and length of trips should be estimated. Travel will be arranged and approved in advance by the Project, and actual costs will be reimbursed based on the Project’s standard practices and rates for hotel, per diem, and other billable costs (e.g. meeting costs). 

Workshop costs shall be borne directly by the Project. Necessary arrangements for workshop costs (To Be Decided/Determined) if necessary, will be arranged by the project.

12. Application Instructions:

Only individual consultants will be considered for this opportunity.

Interested and qualified individuals should email the following documents to recruitment@pfm-nepal.com with subject line “TOR-OBJ1-2023-01 Development of Guidelines/Manuals for the Local Governments for Settlement of Audit Irregularities.”

(a) Cover letter

(b) Recent CV 

(c) Dates of availability 

(d) Contact information of three professional reference

(e) Daily rate.  A biodata form may be asked of the successful candidate in order to verify the daily rate, and 

(f) VAT registration certificate

Application deadline: May 31, 2023

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. The organization reserves the right to reject any/all applications without assigning any reason.