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Page 1 / 1This contract is to hire consulting services (“the Services”) for a Firm to carr…
TERMS OF REFERENCE Context. As part of the Digital Eswatini project, funds are expected to flow to EPTC towards aiding in business expansion and also financial stabilization. The necessary legal, financial, and commercial due diligence is expected to inform the financial support required and is key to understanding EPTC's readiness for possible restructuring, commercialization, or privatization efforts. I. Scope of Work A. Financial Due Diligence ▪ Conduct a detailed review of the last five years of audited financial statements, including: Income statements, Balance sheets, Cash flow statements, highlight any discrepancies, risks and risk mitigation measures in accounting procedures and practices. ▪ Perform a detailed liabilities assessment, with a deep dive on pension fund management. Outstanding debt and repayment terms, Contingent liabilities and offbalance-sheet obligations to be reviewed, and recommendations of addressing due liabilities to be provided. ▪ Evaluate financial controls, revenue collection processes, and expenditure management. ▪ Assess creditworthiness, including debt servicing capacity and access to future financing – debt, equity. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, KINGDOM OF ESWATINI COMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY 2 B. Legal Due Diligence ▪ Review the legal structure and governance arrangements of EPTC, including its founding act, board composition, and management oversight. ▪ Assess compliance with applicable national laws and regulations, including those governing state-owned enterprises, telecoms, postal services, and labor. ▪ Review any ongoing or pending legal disputes or cases that may affect the financial stability or reputation of EPTC. ▪ Examine key contracts and agreements (e.g., with suppliers, vendors, unions, and government) including through engagement with clients ▪ Assess the organization’s legal rights, licenses, and obligations for all operating segments. ▪ Identify legal risks or impediments to potential restructuring, commercialization, or private investment. C. Commercial Due Diligence ▪ Review and evaluate EPTC’s existing business plan, including strategic goals, revenue drivers, operational assumptions, and market positioning. Review to also cover evaluation of market trends, customer segmentation, competitive landscape, and pricing strategies proposed to confirm feasibility. In specific, o Analyze historical and projected revenue streams across core business segments (telecoms, internet services, postal, courier, etc.). o Assess the viability and commercial potential of proposed initiatives, particularly the assessment of the scalability of current telecom operations, especially in underserved or rural areas and the commercialization of postal services and any other diversification or modernization strategies. ▪ Benchmark EPTC’s performance and strategy against comparable regional or international players. ▪ Identify risks and opportunities in current and planned commercial operations. D. Develop a Financial Business Model. Including ▪ Key historical and projected financial metrics with scenario analysis under optimistic, neutral, and pessimistic cases, based on revenue growth, cost assumptions, capital investments, and policy changes. Outputs including forecasted income statements, balance sheets, cash flows, and key financial ratios under each scenario to be provided ▪ Analyze financial sustainability and implications for government policy under each scenario. (Government policy options to include options of partnerships such as via partial privatization, local IPO, others). ▪ Integrate risk mitigation strategies into each scenario. II. Deliverables | Deliverable | Description | Timeline | Inception Report | Outlining methodology, information needs, and work plan | Week 1 | Interim Progress Report | Preliminary findings (legal, commercial, financial) due diligence Interim Business Model | Week 4 | Draft Due Diligence Report and Model | Comprehensive analysis (commercial, financial, legal) and business model with key findings, risks, and recommendations | Week 8 | Presentation to Stakeholders | Summary of findings presented to the Government and stakeholders | Week 10 | Final Due Diligence Report | Revised and finalized report incorporating stakeholder feedback, with actionable recommendations on improving governance, efficiency, and sustainability of EPTC | Week 11 III. Firm Qualifications Technical Expertise ▪ Proven experience (at least five years of experience) in conducting due diligence assignments for telecom operators, preferably including state-owned enterprises or public utilities. ▪ Strong capability in financial analysis, including pensions and long-term liabilities. ▪ Demonstrated legal expertise in telecom sector regulations, corporate law, and public-sector governance. ▪ Experience in stakeholder engagement and presentation and ability to communicate complex findings to diverse government stakeholders Team Composition • Team Leader (1) with at least 10 years of experience in investment advisory, due diligence, or transaction support in the telecom or infrastructure sector. • Commercial Analyst (1-2) with expertise in telecom market analysis and business planning. • Financial Analyst with background in accounting, liabilities management, and credit assessment. • Legal Advisor (1) licensed to practice and with demonstrated knowledge of regulatory and SOE governance frameworks. 4 Additional Criteria Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa or in the Southern Africa region specifically is preferred. Ability to work with confidential and sensitive government data with discretion and professionalism.
Contract is to hire consulting services (“the Services”) for a Firm to develop a…
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRM) The Kingdom of Eswatini Digital Eswatini Project Assignment Title: Development of an Implementation Plan and Budget for Government of Eswatini Digital Transformation The World Bank group is supporting the Government of Eswatini on the implementation of ‘Digital Eswatini’ project (2025-2029). The Project aims to ‘increase access to high quality broadband internet services for government, businesses and citizens, and to improve the government's capacity to deliver digital public services’. Activities financed fall under two pillars: (i) Digital Connectivity, which aims to improve access and affordability to telecommunications across the country, particularly for underserved and rural communities, and (ii) Digital Services, which focuses on improving the digitization of public service delivery across government, ensuring that citizens and businesses can access public services more efficiently and effectively via digital platforms. The key implementing agency of the project will be the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (MICT). As part of the second project component, Digital Services, MICT is looking to hire consulting services (“the Services”) for a Firm to develop a comprehensive implementation plan and associated budget for the full digitization of approximately 200 priority services across Government, including the development of the foundational platforms required (such as Digital ID and data interoperability). The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment are attached to this request for expressions of interest. Terms of Reference Context The Government of Eswatini (GoE), under the leadership of the Ministry of ICT (MICT), has developed an ambitious digital strategy to transform service delivery through the digitization of key public services across Government. This strategy is called Government in Your Hand (GIYH). MICT will be delivering the first phases of this program under the Digital Eswatini Project, financed through the World Bank. This multi-year program will look to undertake the following: • Development and implementation of the key digital public infrastructure (DPI) required to support the digitization of core services across the Government. This includes, but is not limited to: Digital ID, data interoperability/exchange, social registries, single Government portal, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and payment platform. • Development of the standards and operational capabilities for the security and protection of public data and systems, including comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity capabilities. • Digitization of approximately 200 services across multiple Government ministries and departments, including MICT, Commerce, Education, Health, Finance and Home Affairs, amongst others. The project is scheduled to last 5 years and will finance the majority of activities for objectives 1 and 2, with the delivery of a prioritized set of services under objective 3. GoE wishes to hire a suitable Firm to develop the full implementation plan and budget for the program, for the entire scope of services (not just the scope under the World Bank-financed project). This will include a comprehensive current state assessment and development of a detailed costed, phased implementation plan that will underpin the activities required to deliver the program over the coming years. I. Scope of Work Note: The list of proposed services for inclusion in the digitization program specified in the scope of work below can be found in Annex A. A. Current State Assessment In conjunction with MICT, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current state environment within the Government to enable the development of the implementation plan, including but not limited to the following key components: • The current state of the ICT and information systems environment across Government that includes all major ministries and departments relating to the list of services in scope for digitization. This includes, but is not limited to: MICT, Commerce, Education, Health, Finance and Home Affairs, amongst others. • The current state of foundational platforms and Digital Public Infrastructure within GoE, including but not limited to: Digital ID, data interoperability/exchange, social registries, single Government portal, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and payment platforms, amongst others • The current state of the services and business process landscape pertaining to the services highlighted by GoE for digitization, including documenting all manual processes relating to those services. • The current state of the change management landscape, including documenting the current governance and institutional arrangements in place to manage change across the ICT and service ecosystem within GoE. • Any other aspects relevant to the development of the implementation plan and budget, as specified by MICT or from the firm’s previous experience. In order to successfully map the current state environment, it is expected that the firm will engage across all relevant ministries and departments, taking the lead with support from MICT to convene relevant stakeholders. Resourcing for this exercise must take this into account. B. Future State Mapping In conjunction with MICT, develop a comprehensive view of the future state enterprise architecture, ICT environment and change management/institutional governance arrangements for the digitization program, which will include the following: • Future state requirements for ICT and information systems architecture required to support the Government’s digitization program. • DPI and foundational systems architecture required to support the digitization program and enable the GoE to continue to digitize priority services in the long term. • Full service and business process catalog required to support the digitization program. • Proposed governance and change management model required to support the digitization program, including all institutional all-of-government arrangements required to manage the program both during implementation phase and following implementation into a business-as-usual model in the long term. • A full resource and organizational map of the human resources required to support the digitization program from the Government, including resources required for the implementation phase of the program, and the long term resource requirements post-program needed to support the new environment in the long term. • Any other aspect relevant to the mapping of the appropriate future state environment pertaining to the GoE digitization program. It is expected that the successful firm will also act as convener for the relevant governance and approval processes required to obtain approval for the proposed future state from relevant ministries and departments, with support from MICT. Proposed resourcing from the from the firm for this exercise must take this into account. C. Development of Digitization Program Implementation Plan and Budget Develop a comprehensive, detailed implementation plan and associated budget for the digitization program showing the delivery of the future state environment as outlined in the previous phase. This should include the following: • All activities relating to the development of the ICT and information systems environment required to support the program, including all systems and data migration activities, hardware and software requirements, and proposed operational model for those systems and assets within Government. • All activities required to develop, implement and operationalize the required Digital Public Infrastructure components needed to support the broader digitization program and ongoing digitization of services in the long term. • Activities required to transition to the necessary all-of-government governance model, including all institutional changes required to support such a model. • All activities required to digitize the proposed services, in a phased and prioritized manner which will take into account the following: • Government priorities for delivery of services to citizens and internal departments; • Ease of delivery and implementation to ensure that ‘quick wins’ can be realized early in the program while more difficult services are devliered in the longer term; • Alignment of services with the funding available under the Digital Eswatini project, which will not cover the full complement of services proposed under the digitization program. • All resourcing required from Government ministries and departments to support the digitization program, as well as the transition to the business-as-usual future state. It should be noted that the implementation plan and budget should be sufficiently detailed to support the immediate launch of the tender for a firm to manage the activities required for the implementation phase; it is not expected that further detailed implementation planning will be required following the completion of this engagement. This expectation of the deep level of detail required for the implementation plan must be taken into account in any technical proposals for this engagement. II. Deliverables | Deliverable | Description | Timeline | Inception Report | Outlining methodology, information needs, work plan, stakeholder engagement plan, and proposed governance model for activity | Week 2 | Current State Assessment Report | Detailing the current state assessment findings | Week 10 | Future State Mapping Report | Detailing the proposed future state model for approval by GoE | Week 18 | Implementation Plan and Budget | Containing all activities for implementation and migration phase, along with proposed budget and cost model | Week 22 | Final Report and Workshop Presentation | Final package containing all reports, presentation, briefi