Historique

Pursuant to the UN General Assembly Resolution 56/201 on the Triennial Policy Review of  operational activities for development of the United Nations System, UNDF, UNICEF, UNFPA  and WFP (the United Nations Development Group – UNDG, Executive Committee Agencies)  adopted a common operational framework for transferring cash to government and nongovernment Implementing Partners. In April 2005, the UNDG formally released a Harmonized Framework for Cash Transfers to Implementing Partners (HACT, hereinafter called as “the Framework”).  Its implementation will significantly reduce transaction costs and lesson the burden that the multiplicity of UN procedures and rules creates for its partners.

This framework applies to the UNDG’s Executive Committee Agencies (ExCom Agencies being UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA) and other UN Agencies that choose to adopt it.  It calls for an upfront assessment of the programme country’s public financial management system (macro assessment) and similar assessments of Implementing Partners’ (IPs) financial management capacity (micro assessment).

In May 2012, the Royal Government of Cambodia released Updated Standard Procedures for Implementing All Externally Financed Projects/Programs in Cambodia as attached to this Sub-Decree to replace the Standard Procedures for implementing the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank Financed Projects/Programs in Cambodia, which was promulgated by the Sub-Decree No. 14 RNK/ BK, dated 26 February, 2007.

The Updated Standard Procedures for Implementing All Externally Financed Projects/ Programs promulgated under this Sub-Decree comprise of:

  • Updated Standard Operating Procedures for All Externally Financed Projects/ Programs in Cambodia;
  • Updated Procurement Manual for All Externally Financed Projects/Programs in Cambodia;
  • Updated Financial Management Manual for All Externally Financed Projects/ Programs in Cambodia.

The SOPs contain guidelines to facilitate the day-to-day management and administration of the Kingdom of Cambodia’s portfolio of externally assisted projects, programs or technical assistance consisting of credits/loans and/or grants under the purview of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). These SOP can be used as a reference by Development Partners (DPs), in formulating their Aide Memoire (AM) and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with government partners.

In order to ensure adequate awareness of the Public Financial Management (PFM) environment within which agencies will provide cash transfers to IPs, a desk review of existing assessments of the PFM system will be conducted. The term PFM in the HACT framework is broadly defined to include a range of considerations for operating within the country, not limited solely to the financial environment, but also including national procurement capacity, exchange rate volatility, presence of informal/black markets etc. This assessment is called a
“Macro Assessment”.

The two primary outputs of the Macro Assessment are:

  • An outline of risks related to the use of the PFM for cash transfers within the country by government IPs, as well as other country specific knowledge for non-governmental IPs (e.g. environmental conditions, exchange rate volatility, presence of black markets, etc.); and
  • A determination on whether the Government’s Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) has the capacity to undertake the scheduled and special audits of government IPs.

Within this context, the relevant UN agencies in Cambodia (i.e. UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA) plan to undertake a macro-assessment of Cambodia’s public financial management system in order to enable them to take appropriate decisions on cash transfer modalities, procedures and assurance activities for their programmes/projects during the incoming United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2016-2018.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Scope of Work:

The contractor performs the macro assessment collects available PFM assessments to aid in detailing the risks related to the use of PFM systems for cash transfers within the country. This includes considerations regarding the use of the SAI and broader country conditions, such as environmental conditions, legal regulations, judicial environments, exchange rate volatility and the presence of informal/black markets, etc.

The following provides typical sources of existing PFM assessments:

Assessments by the World Bank:

  • Country financial accountability assessments. These vary in format and presentation;
  • Public expenditure reviews. These analyze a country’s fiscal position, expenditure policies and public expenditure management systems;
  • Country procurement assessment reviews. These review public procurement institutions and practices;
  • Institutional and governance reviews. These review the quality of accountability, policymaking and service delivery institutions;
  • Capacity assessments of heavily indebted poor country PFM. Performed jointly with IMF, this assessment covers some of the same issues as a country financial accountability assessment;
  • Assessments by other institutions;
  • Fiscal transparency reviews (IMF). These use the code of good practices on fiscal transparency adopted by IMF in 1998;
  • Diagnostic study of accounting and auditing (Asian Development Bank);
  • Ex ante audits of PFM systems (European Commission);
  • Assessments by CIDA, DFID, EU, ADB and other agencies.

The preliminary results of the macro assessment are discussed with the agencies implementing the HACT framework, both to provide a summary of the results and to incorporate agency-specific experience and knowledge of the country into the final assessment.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

A final macro-assessment report summarizing the findings regarding the risks related to the use of PFM systems for cash transfers within the country in the Macro Assessment Checklist (included in Annex I: General Overview of the Macro-Assessment and Risk Considerations).

Overall, the report should include:

  • Objective of the review and statement of process and participating institutions;
  • Summary of findings—to address each of the issues identified in checklist;
  • Any key risks the PFM poses to the functioning of the cash transfer framework;
  • Assessment of the Supreme Audit Institution’s capacity to undertake required audits.
  • Annex I - the completed checklist.

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will be responsible to deliver the expected outputs of the assignment and shall report directly to the UN HACT Working Group. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the focal point on a daily basis to ensure a high quality of outputs completed. The consultant will also work in consultation with the relevant agencies as required by the assignment.

Duration of the Work

In order to produce the expected outputs, the consultant will be given the period of total 30 working days. The work will tentatively commence on 27th July and expected to be completed no later than 4th September, 2015.

Duty Station

The duty station of this assignment is a combination of home-based and non-home-based. The consultant will perform duties from her/his home country through email, telephone/Skype correspondence. The duty station for this assignment is Phnom Penh, and no expectation of traveling to other cities/provinces.

Compétences

Functional Competencies:

  • Excellent written and oral communications skill;
  • Strong analytical, critical thinking skills;
  • Strong attention to details;
  • Ability to work in a team effectively;
  • Ability to work independently.

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
  • Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

  • Master’s Degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Public Administration or related field.

Experience:

  • A minimum of 7 years experiences in PFM systems;
  • Experience and expertise in reviewing PFM systems, assessing risks related to them and in performing similar assessments;
  • Knowledge of the United Nations system and familiarity with UN agencies’ financial management policies/practices and assistance projects;
  • Experience and knowledge of the Government of Cambodia’s policies and systems;
  • Ability to identify and collect reports on the PFM system in Cambodia;
  • Broad understanding of governance and accountability issues;
  • Prior consultancy experience on HACT Macro-assessments a strong advantage.

Language:

  • Strong command of written and spoken English.

Important note

Interested offeror is strongly advised to read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=23238 for more detail about term of references, instructions to offeror, and documents to be included when submitting offer.

Documents to be included when submitting the application:

Interested offeror/individual must submit the following documents/information.

UNDP reserves right to reject any applications that is incomplete.

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

Interested candidates are required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email dalis.heng@undp.org and/or procurement.kh@undp.org. While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice.