Consultancy to Support Administrative Data Collection for the National Accounts Rebasing Exercise

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Country: The Gambia

Project: Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West and Central Africa

Grant No.: IDA E1750-GM

Assignment Title: Recruitment of an individual consultant for to Support Administrative Data Collection for the National Accounts Rebasing Exercise

The Project Implementation Unit (PIU), operating under the Gambia Bureau of Statistics, has obtained funding from the World Bank for the Harmonization and Improvement of Statistics in West and Central Africa (HISWACA) Series of Projects (SOP1), The Gambia. A portion of these funds is designated for the recruitment of consulting services. The consulting services (“the Services”) include:

• Recruitment of an individual consultant to undertake the following responsibilities:

• Under the supervision of the Project Coordinator (HISWACA - SOP1), the consultant is responsible for Support Administrative Data Collection for the National Accounts Rebasing Exercise as well as produce aactual data in an electronic format among others.

CONTEXT

The primary objective of this project is to facilitate institutional reforms, enhance statistical performance, promote harmonization, and improve data accessibility among participating countries and regional bodies in West Africa. Additionally, it aims to support the modernization of national statistical systems, enabling governments to make informed decisions for the effective monitoring of national commitments, such as the Interim Reference Plan and the Economic Recovery Programme, as well as international obligations, including the ECOWAS Vision 2050, the African Union Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To achieve this objective, the project will implement a series of targeted activities structured around four (4) key components:

• Component 1: Harmonization and production of basic statistics using international standards

This component supports the implementation of planned reforms to develop and adapt harmonized methodologies and standards within the project's target area, aiming to enhance the production and quality of demographic, economic, social, and poverty statistics. It comprises five sub-components: (i) regional coordination and adoption of harmonized data quality standards to ensure consistency and comparability; (ii) production of demographic and socio-economic statistics to strengthen data collection on population, labor markets, and social indicators; (iii) production of real and fiscal sector statistics to improve macroeconomic data, including national accounts and public finance; (iv) production of agricultural and climate change statistics to monitor agricultural productivity, food security, and environmental impacts; and (v) curation of sectoral and sub-national administrative data to enhance data integration and support policy planning. Collectively, these efforts ensure the availability of high-quality, standardized statistical data for informed decision-making and sustainable development.

• Component 2: Statistical modernization, institutional reform, human capital, data accessibility and use

This component plays a pivotal role in modernizing statistical systems by fostering technological advancements, supporting institutional reforms, enhancing data dissemination, and strengthening human capital to meet the growing demand for high-quality data and ensure more effective monitoring of commitments. It comprises five key sub-components: the modernization of National Statistical Systems (NSS), institutional reforms for selected NSSs, strengthening of human capital, enhancing data accessibility and dissemination, and the utilization and analysis of data to inform public policy.

• Component 3: Infrastructure Upgrade and Modernization

This component is designed to facilitate the modernization of the national statistical system's physical infrastructure, with a particular focus on the National Institute of Statistics. It enhances the capacity of the NSS by strengthening its ICT and statistical infrastructure, ensuring improved efficiency, accuracy, and sustainability in data collection and analysis.

• Component 4: Project management, monitoring and evaluation

Under this component, the PIU will oversee the implementation of all project activities and ensure the achievement of its objectives. This unit will consist of two key sub-components: project management, which will be responsible for planning, execution, and coordination, and project results and user satisfaction monitoring, which will focus on evaluating outcomes and assessing stakeholder satisfaction. To support the effective implementation of the project, the Project Management Unit seeks to recruit a highly qualified individual consultant

As part of the implementation of this project, the Project Implementation Unit wishes to recruit an individual consultant

Terms of Reference for the Recruitment of a Consultant to Support Administrative Data Collection for the National Accounts Rebasing Exercise

• Background

The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) has started the process of rebasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), shifting the base year from 2013 to 2024. This exercise will, for the first time, utilize the Supply and Use Table (SUT) framework. GDP rebasing involves updating the reference year used to calculate real GDP, in order to better capture structural changes in the economy and to reflect evolving price levels. The goal is to ensure that GDP figures more accurately represent current economic conditions, including emerging economic activities and changing consumption patterns.

The rebasing process relies on three primary data sources: censuses, surveys, and administrative records. GBoS plans to draw data from several key sources, including the Economic Census (EC), National Agriculture Sample Census (NASC), Business Establishment Survey (BES), Integrated Household Survey (IHS), The Labour Force Survey (GLFS), and administrative data from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). The data from censuses and surveys will be available following the completion of these activities.

GDP rebasing and benchmark updates present an opportunity to review and enhance the data sources currently used in compiling GDP. Administrative data, if properly identified and integrated, can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of GDP estimates. Mapping these sources will enable the identification of gaps, redundancies, and opportunities for improvement.

Administrative data will be mapped as an initial step. This mapping exercise will enable the National Accounts Unit to evaluate and select the most relevant indicators with the support of a consultant. By integrating this data effectively, the rebasing process will yield a more precise representation of the country’s economic landscape, ultimately supporting more informed policy decisions and a better understanding of overall economic performance.

• Objectives of the Consultancy

The primary objective of this initiative is to conduct a comprehensive mapping of administrative data sources to strengthen the compilation of quarterly and annual GDP estimates. This exercise is expected to support the ongoing GDP rebasing and benchmark updates by ensuring that relevant, timely, and high-quality data are utilized in national accounts. Specifically, the consultancy aims:

• To identify the types of data available from various providers that are relevant to national accounts.

• To compile a comprehensive inventory of administrative datasets, including details such as data type, frequency, timeliness, scope of coverage, and the names of data providers (sources).

• To collect existing administrative data (relevant to national accounts) covering the period 2019–2025, with monthly, quarterly, and annual data as appropriate.

• To update the list of indicators used in national accounts compilation to ensure accuracy and relevance for upcoming revisions.

• Scope of Work

The Consultant shall be responsible for carrying out the following tasks:

• Identification of Data Sources

• Review the data provided by government ministries, departments, agencies, regulatory bodies, municipalities/councils, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and identify all relevant administrative data sources that are pertinent to the compilation of national accounts.

• Data Collection and Organization

• Collect, compile, and systematically organize administrative data obtained from the identified institutions to facilitate the preparation of national accounts.

• Data Gathering for Key Economic Indicators

• Gather all available information relevant to national accounts compilation. The information should be limited to the available data as provided by the source.

• Data Quality Assessment

• Review and assess all datasets for completeness, timeliness, with existing national accounts data to ensure reliability and comparability.

• Deliverables and Output

Expected Outputs from the Consultancy:

• List of all institutions that provide data relevant to the compilation of national accounts, including the name, email, and contact details of the respective contact person(s).

• Dataset of identified economic data.

• Actual data in an electronic format.

• Application and Selection Criteria

The consultant shall have a strong academic and professional background, hold at least a first university degree and demonstrate the ability to independently undertake data collection tasks. The ideal candidate must have:

• At least a first university degree and demonstrate the ability to independently undertake data collection tasks

• Very familiar with the System National Accounts framework and have the ability to identify all the data needs for the GDP rebasing.

• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in data collection, cleaning, editing, compilation, and analysis

• Possess strong communication skill