REQUEST FOR TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSALS FOR EXTERNAL AUDIT SERVICES FOR COMESA

EXTERNAL AUDIT SERVICES

REQUEST FOR TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSALS




BACKGROUND

1. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is one of the 8 Regional Economic Communities (REC) recognised by the Africa Union. It consists of nineteen member States that have agreed to co-operate and promote regional integration through trade and investment development resources for the mutual benefit of their people.

2. The mission of COMESA is to achieve, over the long term, sustainable economic and social progress in member states through enhanced co-operation and integration in all fields of development especially in trade, customs and monetary affairs, transport, communications and information, technology, industry and energy, gender, agriculture, environment and natural resources.

3. The work of COMESA is co-coordinated through a Secretariat which is headed by a Secretary General. The Secretary General has the responsibility to submit annual audited financial statements of the Secretariat to the Council of Ministers.


4. The financial statements of the Secretariat are prepared in accordance with the International Accounting Standards and the Financial Rules and Regulations of COMESA. The accounts are required to be audited by the appointed External Auditors.

5. Pursuant to article 169 of the COMESA Treaty, External Auditors are appointed by the Council of Ministers on the recommendation of the Secretary General.

6. The COMESA Secretary invites reputable auditing firms to submit proposals for providing audit services for a period of two years: 2011 and 2012.

OBJECTIVE OF THE EXTERNAL AUDIT

7. The objective of the external audit is to express a professional opinion on the Financial Statements of the Secretariat and Projects. These Financial Statements, among others, consist of the Income and Expenditure Account, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement which show the financial position, surplus and cash flows for the year under review. They are also required to express a professional opinion on the soundness of the internal systems of control and compliance with the COMESA Rules and Regulations, and procedures in respect of Regular Budget and Extra Budgetary resources.






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AUDITING STANDARDS

8. The external audit is carried out in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA) and includes such tests and auditing procedures as the auditor considers necessary for the assignment.

SCOPE OF WORK

9. The auditor shall be required to :

(a) Carry out tests of transactions as are necessary, in order to obtain an understanding of the accounting system, to assess its adequacy as a basis for the preparation of the financial statements and to establish whether adequate records have been maintained as required by the COMESA Financial Rules and Regulations and Financial Manual;

(b) Conduct an in-depth and exhaustive review of the internal control systems to have sufficient knowledge of the procedures underpinning the systems, as contained in the Financial Rules and Regulations, and Financial Manual;

(c) Confirm that although responsibility for preventing irregularity and fraud, remains with the Secretariat, the audit has been planned so as to have a reasonable expectation of detecting material misstatements in the financial statements;

(d) Have to state the extent to which it has relied on the work of the Internal Audit;

(e) Confirm that that funds have used in accordance with the Financial Rules and Regulations , Financial Manual and Council decisions with due attention to economy and efficiency, and only for the purposes for which the funding was provided;

(f) Confirm that goods and services financed have been procured in accordance with sound procurement procedures spelled out in the COMESA Procurement Implementation Rules;

(g) Confirm that all necessary supporting documents, records and accounts have been kept in respect of all activities;

(h) Confirm that he Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards and give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Secretariat as at the end of the financial year; and





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(i) Confirm that where special accounts have been used, they have been maintained in accordance with the provisions of the relevant Memorandum of Understanding and Agreements.

10. The above-defined scope does not in any way restrict the audit procedures or the techniques that the auditor may wish to use in forming an opinion on the Financial Statements being audited.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

11. The Financial Statements , among others ,include:

(a) A Statement of Income and Expenditure;

(b) A Balance Sheet reflecting the assets, liabilities and funding of the Secretariat based on accrual basis;

(c) A Statement of Cash Flow;

(d) A summary of expenditures shown under the various budget lines and by Division/Section categories of expenditure, both for the current fiscal year and previous year figures;

(e) The Accounting Policies Adopted and Explanatory Notes; and

(f) Summary of Fixed Assets.

AUDIT REPORT

12. The Auditor is expected to present two types of reports: An opinion on the Financial Statements prepared by the Secretariat and a Management Letter.

13. The opinion on the Financial Statements shall contain:

(a) A professional opinion on the financial statements and supporting schedules as regard to their true and fair view;

(b) Accounting standards and COMESA Financial Rules and Regulations that have been applied indicating the effect of any deviations from them;

(c) The International Audit standards that were applied; and

(d) Whether the Cash Flow Statement and supporting schedules present fairly the cash receipts and disbursements of the funds and they were utilized for the purpose for which they were intended for;





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(e) Include all other requirements of cooperating partners as stated in the various cooperating agreements.



14. The Management Letter , among others, shall contain:

(a) Comments and observations on the accounting records, systems and controls that were examined during the course of the audit;

(b) Specific deficiencies and areas of weakness in systems and controls and make recommendations for improvement;

(c) The degree of compliance of each of the co-operating partner funding and give comments, if any, on internal and external matters affecting such compliance;

(d) Matters that have come to their attention during the audit which might have a significant impact on the implementation and sustainability of the funding;

(e) Areas of risk that need to be flagged out to management ;and

(f) Any other matters that the auditors consider pertinent to be brought to the attention of the Secretariat.

AUDIT OF PROJECTS

15. The scope of the audit of projects depends on the cooperation agreement signed between the cooperating partners and the Secretariat. Some of their requirements are the following:

a. That the funds received have been used in accordance with the cooperation agreement;

b. That the Secretariat has maintained the necessary supporting documents, records and accounts in respect of the project activities; and

c. That the internal control systems of the organisation are comprehensive, sufficient and adequate.

16. The financial records maintained for projects are usually the following :

(a) Cash Book ;

(b) Financial ledgers ;
(c) Bank Reconciliation Statements:

(d) Payments vouchers substantiated by support documentation;
(e) Interest earned on the bank account ; and

(f) The Assets Register.




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AUDITOR’S QUALIFICATIONS

(a) The auditor must be completely impartial and independent from all aspects of management or financial interests of the organization;

(b) The auditor shall not, during the period covered by the audit nor during the undertaking of the audit, be employed by, serve as advisers or mentors for, or have any financial or business relationships with the organization; and

(c) The auditor shall be registered with the Accountancy Council and must demonstrate that he employs adequate staff with appropriate professional qualifications and suitable experience in accounting and auditing the accounts of entities comparable in size and complexity to the entity being audited;

(d) Curriculum Vitae (CVs) must be provided to the client by the Partner of the firm of auditors who shall be responsible for signing the opinion, together with the CVs of managers, supervisors and key personnel proposed as part of the audit team. The CVs shall include details of audits carried out by the concerned staff, including ongoing assignments indicating capability and capacity to undertake the audit

INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS AND OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

ELIGIBILITY OF AUDITING FIRMS

This consultancy is open to reputable Auditing Firms operating in Zambia.

LANGUAGE OF TENDER

The language of this tender shall be English

EXPECTED WORKLOAD

For 2010, the three Programmes being implemented have the following budgeted values:

PROGRAMMES Budgeted VALUE OF ACTIVITIES IN 2010

COMESA Secretariat Accounts US$ 9,000,000.00


COMESA Centre US$ 262,890.00


RISPS Continuation EURO 16,000,000.00





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Separate Audit Reports will be submitted for each of the above Programmes. COMESA will require 3 bound copies of the final comprehensive Audit Report for each of the Programmes.

DUTY STATION

COMESA Secretariat, Lusaka.

PRICING

All prices MUST be indicated in USD.

There will be a no price variation contract after signing of contract except upon a mutual written agreement between the two prices;

Prices must be exclusive of all taxes within Zambia only. Since COMESA is exempted from Taxes in the host Country Zambia only.

PAYMENT PERIOD

The period for payment shall be 30 days from certification of invoices and delivery of services. Bidders are advised to indicate their payments terms.

VALIDITY OF THE BID

The Bid shall be valid for a period of 120 days after the closing date of this tender.

CLOSING DATE OF TENDER

Tenders must be submitted to the COMESA secretariat on or before 7th July 2011 at 16:00 hrs

LUSAKA TIME.

It is the responsibility of the Bidder to ensure that the proposal is received by COMESA by the above specified date and time.

SUBMISSION OF TENDER ADDRESS

Proposals should be submitted in a sealed envelop clearly marked “Tender for External Audit Services COMESA Secretariat ,COMESA centre and RISP 2 accounts for the Financial Year 2011 and 2012 ” and Reference number Tender No. CS/08.06-11/1. Proposals should be sent to the address indicated below and shall be delivered by courier or by hand to COMESA Secretariat before 7th July 2011 at 16:00 Hrs Lusaka Time. The bids will be opened thereafter in the presence of bidders or their representatives who choose to attend.









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THE CHAIRMAN

PROCUREMENT COMMITTEE
COMESA SECRETARIAT

BEN BELLA ROAD
P.O BOX 30051

LUSAKA,
ZAMBIA

Tel: 260 1 229725/ Fax 260 1 225107
Attention: Josephat Kinyele

Electronic Submissions or bids submitted through any other means will NOT be accepted.

All tenders must have the tender name and reference number clearly marked on final envelope that is used to send bid:

“Tender for External Audit Services COMESA Secretariat, COMESA Centre and RISP 2 Accounts for the Financial Year 2011 and 2012 RFP No. CS/08.06-11/1” DO NOT OPEN BEFORE 7th

JULY 2011 at 16.00 HOURS Lusaka time.

NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED

The tender must comprise of a Technical offer and a financial offer and these must be submitted in separate envelopes .Each Technical offer and financial offer must contain one original, clearly marked "Original", and 4 copies, each marked "Copy".

All the costs involved in the preparation of s Proposal responding to RFP will be the responsibility of the Bidder and will not be reimbursed by COMESA.

COMMENCEMENT OF WORK

The Assignment will be undertaken in 2012 upon appointment by the Council of Ministers in October, 2011.

Bidders are advised to indicate their expected duration for completion of work as well as their schedule to complete the tasks however completion of work within the proposed time frame is preferred by COMESA.

REJECTION OF BIDS

Any bid received by the Secretariat after the closing date and time shall be rejected.

TECHNICAL QUERIES

For any technical queries related to specifications of work or TOR, kindly contact the Procurement Unit by email procurement@comesa.int with a copy to gjerenyama@comesa.int and xbakunzi@comesa.int.






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Clarification to enquiries will be made available to all Bidders expressing interest in responding to this RFP. The deadline for receiving requests for clarification is 24th June 2011.

Bidders who intent to submit a bid should register by email with the Procurement Unit.

AWARD OF CONTRACTS

COMESA reserves the right to wholly or partially reject or award these contracts to any bidder and has no obligation to award this tender to the lowest bidder.

LETTER OF ENGAGEMENT

A formal letter of engagement specifying the scope of audit shall be prepared and signed between the Secretariat and the auditor prior to the beginning of the assignment. The letter of engagement shall also clearly spell out the responsibilities of the two parties


STANDARD BIDDING FORMS

Bidders are advised to include in their bids the following standard tender Forms in the order listed below:

a. Bid Submission Sheet;

b. Bidder’s references;

c. Comments and suggestions on the Scope of Work ;

d. Description of the methodology for performing the assignment ;

e. Team Composition and Tasks assignment; and

f. Proposed fees and Financial proposal form

EVALUATION CRITERIA AND COMPARISON OF TENDERS

To assist in the examination, evaluation and comparison of Tenders, the Procurement Committee may at its discretion, ask the Bidder for clarification of its Tender. The request for clarification and the response shall be in writing and no change in price or substance of the Tender shall be sought, offered or permitted.

The Procurement Committee will examine the Tenders to determine whether they are complete, whether any computational errors have been made, whether the documents have been properly signed, and whether the tenders are generally in order.

Arithmetical errors will be rectified on the following basis: If there is a discrepancy between the unit price and the total price that is obtained by multiplying the unit price and quantity, the unit price shall prevail and the total price shall be corrected. If the Bidder does not accept the correction of errors, its Tender will be rejected. If there is a discrepancy between words and figures the amount



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in words will prevail.

Prior to the detailed evaluation, the Procurement Committee will determine the substantial responsiveness of each Tender to the Bidding document. For purposes of these Clauses, a substantially responsive Tender is one, which conforms to all the terms and conditions of the Bidding document without material deviations. The Procurement Committee’s determination of a Tender's responsiveness is based on the contents of the tender itself without recourse to extrinsic evidence.

A Tender determined as not substantially responsive will be rejected by the Procurement Committee and may not subsequently be made responsive by the Bidder by correction of the, non-conformity.

Proposals may be judged to be non-responsive and removed from consideration if any of the following occur:

• The proposal is not received timely in accordance with the terms of the RFP

• The Proposal is submitted by fax or email
• CVs are not provided or where provided they are not certified by an authorised individual.

A two step procedure shall be used in evaluating the Tenders, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any Financial Part of the tender being opened and compared. The Financial Part of the tenders will be opened only for submissions that will pass the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical proposals.

In the Second Step, the Financial Part of the tenders of all Bidders, who have attained the minimum score of 70% in the technical evaluation, will be evaluated.

Bidders must provide both Technical and Financial proposals. The evaluation shall be based on Quality and cost based system with the technical evaluation being given a weight of 80% and the financial evaluation a weight of 20% as indicated below.



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