Audit of SWIOFISH2 Project Accounts

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

for the selection of a Consultant (Audit firm)to ensure "Audit of Accounts of the SWIOFish 1 & 2 project "

• The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) is an intergovernmental regional cooperation organization which brings together the Union of the Comoros, France, on behalf of Réunion, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles. Its mission is to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between peoples and to contribute through regional cooperation to the sustainable development of its member states. The IOC has received grants from the World Bank to support both SWIOFish regional projects (SWIOFish 1 & 2). It intends to use part of this grant to make payments under the consultant service contracts that will be responsible for«Audit of Accounts of the SWIOFish 1 & 2 project».

• The objective of the audit of the Program Financial Statement (PFS) is to enable the auditor to express a professional opinion on the financial position of the SWIOFish 1 and SWIOFish 2 projects at the end of each fiscal year) at the end of fiscal year 2019, 2020 and 2021 for three years. The auditor is also required to express separate opinions on the Statement of Expenditures (SOE’s) and the Special Account (SA) for the funds received and expenditures incurred for period ending 31st December over the implementation period of the project. and expenditures for the year ended on 31st December. The first year of audit is 2019.

• The Program Management Unit (PMU), at IOC, shall be responsible for the preparation of financial statements including adequate disclosure. The PMU shall prepare the statements in accordance with international applicable accounting standards – IRFS or IPSAS. The program account (books of account) provides the basis for the preparation of the PFS and is established to reflect the financial transactions in respect of the program, as maintained by the PMU. The audit shall be conducted at IOC with the Head of the Administrative and Finance Section being the key contact person.

• As stated above, the audit of the project will be carried out in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA) promulgated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and will include such tests and auditing procedures as the auditor will consider necessary under the circumstances.

• As stated above, the audit of the project will be carried out in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA) promulgated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and will include such tests and auditing procedures as the auditor will consider necessary under the circumstances. Special attention should be paid by the auditor as to whether the:

• - World Bank financing (and all external financing where the World Bank is not the only financier) has been used in accordance with the conditions of the relevant financing agreement, with due attention to economy and efficiency, and only for the purposes for which the financing was provided – please see the relevant financing agreements are the Project: P132123 of USD 5,000,000 until 30th September 2021 (SWIOFISH1), ant the Project: P153370 of USD 9,000,000 for a period of six years (SWIOFISH2), in the form of grants from IDA;.

• Counterpart funds have been provided and used in accordance with the relevant financing agreements, with due attention to economy and efficiency, and only for the purposes for which they were provided;

• Goods and services financed have been procured in accordance with the relevant financing agreement, including specific provisions of the World Bank Procurement Policies and Procedures

• All necessary supporting documents, records, and accounts have been maintained in respect of all project activities, including expenditures reported using Statements of Expenditure (SOE) or Interim Unaudited Financial Statements (IFS) methods of reporting. The auditor is expected to verify that respective reports issued during the three years, from 1st January 2019 to 31 December 2021 with the underlying books of account.

• The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) now invites eligible consultants(Audit firm) to express their interest in providing the services described above. They must provide information justifying that they are able to implement the necessary expertise and perform the services in question (curriculum vitae, copies of diplomas and attestations, references concerning the performance of similar contracts, etc.).

• The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of the World Bank’sGuidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World BankBorrowers (January 2011Revised July 2014). (“Consultant Guidelines”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict ofinterest.

• A version of the terms of reference only in English is available on the website of the Indian Ocean Commission http://commissionoceanindien.org

• Expressions of interest must be filed electronically in uncompressed format at the address below no later than Friday, January10, 2020 at 16:30(Mauritius time UTC+4): . e-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] - . Reference: "Audit of Accounts of the SWIOFish 1 & 2 project (SW2/Y2-C012)"

• Consultants(Audit firms) will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank Guidelines on Selection and Employment of Consultants.

• The consultants (Audit firms) concerned may obtain further information from the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) by sending e-mails to the addresses referred in paragraph 9.