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National Consultant / Trainer on Financial Management and Control.

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00601

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	28 Aug 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	22 Sep 2014
Reference to the project:	Programme for Improving the Quality of Moldovan Democracy through Parliamentary Support
Expected Duration of Assignment:	40 working days within 3 months asignment
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 28 August, 2014. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: sergiu.galitchi@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants. Important notice The applicant who has the statute of Government Official / Public Servant, prior to appointment will be asked to submit the following documentation: a no-objection letter in respect of the applicant received from the government, and; the applicant is certified in writing by the government to be on official leave without pay for the duration of the Individual Contract. A retired government official is not considered in this case a government official, and as such, may be contracted.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

The UNDP Democracy programme aims to improve the legislative, oversight and representation functions of the Parliament. To this end, the Programme is tailored to support the implementation of the Parliamentary Secretariat's Strategic Development Plan 2012- 2014. After the approval of the Strategic Development Plan (SDP), a new institutional structure of Parliament’s Secretariat was approved too. A new separate unit for strategic planning and internal auditing was created.

The Law nr. 229 from 23.09.2010 on Public Internal Financial Control aims to provide assurance that activities are carried out according to the principles of sound financial management, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness and economy, as well as current legislation and budget. In this context, a special Working Group within the Secretariat of Parliament for coordinating the implementation of the financial management and internal control was created. Nevertheless, the parliamentary senior managers, the members of the Working Group, staffers of the unit for Strategic Planning and Internal Auditing and of Budget and Finance Department need to be trained on financial management and internal control. Regular trainings on this matter will enable parliamentary staff to be better able to conduct internal quality audits, improve their knowledge and skills needed to go through all the steps required for an audit.

In this context, the UNDP Democracy Programme is seeking to hire a national consultant who will provide technical advice, management support, technical inputs and coaching required to allow the Strategic Planning and Internal Auditing unit and Budget and Finance Department to achieve the target of solid, effective and transparent financial planning, budgeting, expenditure monitoring and control, and financial reporting.

Scope of work

The expected output for the National Consultant’s assignment is to provide advice to Secretariat of Parliament in implementing the framework on financial management and internal control, in accordance with the Law no. 229 from September 23, 2010, on public internal financial control and the COSO[1] model for evaluating internal financial controls. The Consultant will also coach and provide trainings to parliamentary staff on financial management and internal control.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

I.    Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Financial Management and/or business administration or University degree and at least 5 year experience in developing internal audit reports can be considered equivalent;

II.   Years of experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in financial management and/or public sector finance;
• Experience in conducting participatory trainings, workshops, and presentations on financial management and control;
• Experience in the development and implementation of financial management systems;
• Proven expertise and practical knowledge of the internal auditing process in public institutions of Moldova;
• Knowledge of Moldovan budget and financial planning processes and the role of relevant state bodies;

• Experience in working with Parliament, Government and/or international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset);

III.  Competencies:

• Sound knowledge about results-based management;
• Extensive research and analytical skills;
• Excellent writing and oral communication;
• Facilitation and management skills;
• Availability to work during the indicated /approved period;
• Fluency in Romanian. Knowledge of English and/or Russian will be an asset.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per day, including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs, phone calls etc. );
2. Dully completed and signed P11 Form including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 reference persons.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.