Recruitment of a Consultant as Resident Senior Adviser to the Directorate of State-owned Enterprises — The Gambia Fiscal Management Development Pro…

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Name of Project: The Gambia Fiscal Management Development Project (P166695)

Grant No.: IDA-D6190

Assignment Title: RECRUITMENT OF A CONSULTANT AS RESIDENT SENIOR ADVISER TO THE DIRECTORATE OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES (DSOE)

Reference No. GM-PPPPE-277690-CS-INDV

Background

The Directorate of State-Owned Enterprises (DSOE) has recently been institutionalized within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA) to provide oversight of commercial State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) across the country. The current legal framework that governs the Directorate execute its mandate of collection, compilation, processing, analysis and dissemination of operational and financial information/data of the PEs, as well as coordinating their activities is derived from various legal documents ranging from the Constitution 1997, the Public Enterprises Act 1990 (PEA), the Public Finance Act 2014 (PFA), the Companies Act 2013 (CA), the National Audit Office Act 2015 (NAOA), and individual laws establishing specific PEs/SOEs in some cases, e.g., the Social Security and Housing Fund Corporation Act 2015 (SSHFC). However, an SOE bill is currently being drafted by the Ministry of Justice, and is likely to be submitted for Parliamentary approval by the first or second quarter of 2022. The Bill caters for the establishment of an SOE Commission that shall monitor and provide oversight functions on all SOEs.

The SOE sector in The Gambia is composed of thirteen (13) SOEs delivering public services in various sectors such as energy, telecommunication, agriculture, and transport. However, the sector has been characterized by significant fiscal risk to public finance amounting to high levels of contingent liabilities as well as ineffective service delivery as result of weak operational and financial performance in several SOEs. In the Gambia context, the management of SOE has been a challenge and undergoing changes and evolving overtime towards improved service delivery to its citizens.

To address the above challenges, On these grounds, a Technical Assistance (TA) was requested from the World Bank (WB) to assist in designing a medium and long-term action plan for the attainment of SOE reform program in The Gambia.

Objectives

The overall objective of the assignment of Resident Senior Adviser is to provide advisory services to the Director and staff of DSOE. The advice will focus on the design and implementation of policies for monitoring and assessing SOEs using sound methodologies whilst following international standards. These policies should aim to: (i) support macroeconomic stability and improve the performance of SOEs (ii) safeguard the value of SOEs and help ensure appropriate returns from taxpayers’ investments, (iii) enhance accountability in the management and control of the businesses and provide clarity on reporting and monitoring requirements, (iv) reduce fiscal risks from SOEs to the State, (v) assist further development and improvement in the operations of SOEs based on restructuring, modernization and diversification, (vi)balance the need for accurate and timely information against any compliance burden with appropriate best-practice from the private sector and consistency with legislation, (vii) improve the reporting on SOEs operational and financial performance and promote transparency and disclosure, and (viii) promote co-operation, openness, mutual respect and information sharing between management, boards and the Government.

Scope of Services:

The Resident Adviser will support the Directorate in a full range of activities includes but not limited to the following:

• Preparation of quarterly and annual Reports on SOE financial and performance
• Improvement of Financial Relations between the SOEs and the State
• Preparation of fiscal risk assessments for the largest loss making SOEs
• Improvement of Reporting and disclosure,
• Initiating a Corporate governance Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC),
• Implementation of a code of good corporate governance for SOEs,
• Compiling a comprehensive SOE database with financial information for all SOEs
• Preparing an aggregate SOE portfolio report covering all SOEs, in line with good international practice (quarterly reports as well, but this could be in a second stage).
• Training the SOE oversight entity on all the above issues and preparing templates and instructions/operations manuals for their institutionalization. Submission of Expressions of Interest:

The Ministry of Finance now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to express their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultant firms should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services.

The attention of interested Consultant firms is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July dated July 2016 and revised November 2017 and August 2018 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub-consultant to enhance their qualifications and experience.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant Selection (IC) method set out in the Consultant Guidelines. Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours from 09:00 to 16:00 Monday to Thursday and 09:00 to 12h30 on Friday.

Expressions of interest should be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail) on or before 1st March 2022 at 12h30 GMT

Gambia Fiscal Management Development Project GFMDP

Ashobee Store Building

2nd Floor, Banjul

The Gambia

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]