The Improving Public Procurement project (the Project), implemented by Deloitte Consulting LLP, is a five-year United States Agency for International Development-funded project initiated in July 2022 with the overall objective to strengthen institutional capacities for management and oversight of a fair, open, non-discriminatory and transparent public procurement process at the national and local levels. The Project is structured around four components focused on 1) improving local procurement planning, 2) improving procurement procedures across the entire procurement lifecycle in accordance with international standards, 3) improving capacities for effective legal enforcement, and 4) increasing the effectiveness of public procurement oversight. The Project counterparts include local self-governments (LSGs), the Public Procurement Office, the Commission for Protection of Bidders’ Rights, public prosecutors’ offices, Administrative Courts, Misdemeanor Courts, the Ministry of Finance, State Audit Institution (SAI), civil society organizations, and investigative journalists.
The Project’s strategy is to enhance the implementation of existing laws, policies, and procedures and to support the alignment of the public procurement ecosystem to international standards and good practices. The Project will facilitate the identification of locally led solutions that cut across government, business, and civil society, to create space for stakeholders to collaborate across institutional boundaries. Emphasis will be placed on professionalization of the procurement function through trainings, development of tools, and identification of leading practices for adaptation by institutions. Collaboration and information exchange among institutions will be supported with the objective to increase oversight, improve identification of procurement irregularities for prosecution and adjudication, legislative engagement to resolve identified weaknesses in the law, and capacity building of civil society organizations to contribute to oversight and communication to the public.
The State Audit Institution is the supreme state authority for auditing public finances in the Republic of Serbia. SAI is an independent institution subject to supervision by the National Assembly. SAI provides the National Assembly, citizens, and other stakeholders at all levels of government with information on how public funds are managed and used and contributes to improvement of financial management, as well as accountability, transparency, and integrity of public officers. The Institution performs financial, compliance, and performance audits of Government spending by multiple auditees, including ministries, LSGs, and public utilities. A substantial percentage of the audits address auditees’ planning and management of public procurements.
The State Audit Institution aims to provide its auditors with continuous possibilities for learning, trainings and improvement of their knowledge and capacities. SAI’s official seat is in Belgrade, but auditors work from four offices in Serbia, located in Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Kragujevac. One of the SAI’s strategic goals is to create opportunities and technical recourses that will enable its employees to further acquire professional knowledge, and establish continuous education, thus keeping its work in line with the best international standards and practices. With this objective, the Project will support SAI in exploring the possibilities to create an e-learning platform for the internal use of SAI’s employees and access to various trainings, training materials and knowledge sharing, many of which have been created and delivered with USAID support.
An e-learning platform should enable greater accessibility for SAI’s employees to new knowledge, and consistency in knowledge sharing between various audit sectors. It should also contribute to sustainability of learning and an economic solution for extending the knowledge base, that will be accessible to all SAI employees including newly hired, in need of further professional development. With this technical assistance, the Project intends to support SAI’s efforts in finding the best technical solution for creating an e-learning platform, thus continuing to provide support to SAI in developing its capacities, tools and mechanisms to achieve higher levels of modernization and efficiency in their work.
SCOPE OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCEThe short-term technical assistance shall be provided in assessing the e-learning platforms and opportunities for SAI, and it should include the following:
1) Assess current SAI Technical Capabilities (e.g., SAI’s intranet, Audit Management System) across all branches and departments, and determine SAI’s technical capabilities, needs, and opportunities to integrate or create separate e-learning technical solution for internal use of SAI’s employees. The assessment should take into account possibilities for employees to participate in online trainings in an interactive manner, to record the trainings, enable the employees to access the learning content before and after the completion of trainings, and to create a depository of existing and future training materials developed on a variety of software.
2) Produce Feasibility and Sustainability Study on the SAI e-learning platform to include the technical specifications, financial and operational costs; propose technical specifications for a platform that will enable online interactive trainings allowing for communications between trainees and trainers and storing learning materials. Study should include technical specifications for the e-learning platform and implementation plan, including technical, financial, operational and maintenance feasibility.
3) Draft Technical RFP document for the e-learning platform development, inclusive of IT specifications and requirements, as well as professional qualifications to develop e-platform.
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Instructions to ApplicantsApplicants must:
Ø Submit a curriculum vitae(s) of each consultant or team member and a cover letter describing direct relevant experience with references. The cover letter should include a clear division of tasks and responsibilities of each team member
Ø Submit a financial offer for the assignment (in US dollars) presented per deliverable (Use the Financial Offer Template presented below in the SOW document. Full document is available for download at the bottom of Devex ad).
Ø The application should reflect the contracting party – entity or individual; The subcontract will be signed with the entity/individual indicated in the application. Contracting Country Nationals (Serbia) must apply and will be contracted as legal entities (businesses).
Ø Offers should be submitted via email to IPP Project Office in Belgrade, Serbia, to the email address: office@boljenabavke.com, no later than 5 pm CET on Wednesday, March 6th, 2024.
NOTE: Submission of a CV(s) alone IS NOT considered a complete application. An application MUST include a Financial Offer in a format provided within the Scope of Work. Failure to provide the required information will result in your not being considered for this assignment. Requests for clarifications may be sent to office@boljenabavke.com by 5 pm. CET on Friday, March 1st, 2024. The clarifications for all questions received will be circulated to all interested parties via email no later than 5 pm. CET on Monday, March 4th, 2024.
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For more than 25 years, Deloitte’s International Development Organization (IDO) practice has worked with governments, development agencies, NGOs, and private firms in over 60 countries to build the institutions, legal framework, and policies required for effective public and private sector growth.
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