Request for Proposal (RFP) at SOS Children's Villages

Posted by Future on Fri 11th Feb, 2022 - nigeriantenders.com

SOS Children's Villages invites interested and certified audit firm(s) to indicate interest by tendering RFP documents for the following works:

SOS Children's Villages also known as Save Our Soul is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit international development organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Request for Proposal (RFP) In Respect to Providing External Audit Services for the Reducing Child Vulnerability Through Youth, Family and Community Empowerment Project

Project Background

SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organization and an active member of the international umbrella organisation of SOS Children’s Villages International, which is active in 137 countries. Since 1973, SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria has been operational the field of social protection of children and young people without parental care as well as families at risk.

While SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria is responsible for the implementation of the projects and programmes, the German funding association SOS-Kinderdorfer weitweit, Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds e.V. (HGFD) supports SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria through monitoring, public relations and fundraising. The Reducing Child Vulnerability through Youth, Family and Community Empowerment Project in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State which is to be audited has been co-funded by SOS-KinderdOrferweltweit, Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds e.V. and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany. The project aims at Family Strengthening, Youth Development, and Child Care Reform as a means of reducing child vulnerability.

Mandate and Relevance

In accordance with the requirements of SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit, Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds eV. all Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) co-financed projects are obliged to undergo a complete project audit covering the whole project duration as well as annual or interim audits, as specified in the Project Proposal, to be conducted by an independent and recognized audit company.

The audits of the accounts are essential for SOS Children’s Villages to prove to the donor that all the funds have been used for the intended purpose and according to donors regulations.

Goals and Scope:

SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria is seeking the services of a certified audit firm to conduct external financial audits for the Reducing Child Vulnerability through Youth, Family and Community Empowerment Project in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State for the period of 01 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Scope of Auditing

The auditing shall be conducted at the location of the project, in particular at the place where the project bookkeeping is done. The auditors assignment includes the following tasks:

To verify whether or not the entity has accounting and operating policies and procedures manuals and their conformity with the agreements and relevant national regulations.
To verify whether the Project has special bank accounts: one in EUR, that may be used to receive funds from various donors and one in LCY, that is used especially and exclusively for the project.
For all transferred installments, examine the accuracy and completeness of records (dates and amounts of exchange transactions, relevant fees, etc.) of the exchange transactions between EUR funds received from HGFD and LCY.
To examine whether any gain was generated from payments of HGFD and/or any third party, and if so, whether the interest thus gained was properly reflected in the accounting documents and used for the financing of project expenditure
To thoroughly examine the bookkeeping records and ensure their alignment with the voucher list
On a sample basis, verify that the Project transactions are supported with supporting documents required by Partnership Agreement (e.g. invoice, receipt voucher, copy of cheque, copy of bank transfer.
For all assets procured for project purposes with value above EUR41 0 (excluding value-added tax) (or the respective amount in local currency, using the actual donors exchange rate), check whether the inventory and internal procedures for ensuring compliance with appropriation periods are in line with the procedures stipulated in the Partnership Agreement.
To verify that procurement of goods and services is made in conformity with Partnership Agreement conditions! SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria procurement procedures. Thus documenting most economical and efficient use possible of funds made available for purchasing or construction/renovation purposes; if no quotation or tenders wore obtained, the auditor shall give an assessment in his/her written report.
If immovables were purchased or buildings erected or renovated as part of the project, to examine evidence of ownership or of right of disposal, and to find out whether any encumbrances or obligations to third parties were created; also to examine whether they are being used for project purpose for which they were destined as stipulated in the Project Proposal.
To certify that any transfer of ownership for items financed out of the grant has been documented (Asset Transfer Agreement) and previously agreed upon with HGFD.
To reconcile the project cash balance (considering all bank accounts used for the project) and obtain entity justification with regard to unspent amounts, if any.
In case of Revolving Funds (e.g. Micro-credit Schemes) to examine whether the same have been utilised in accordance with the terms laid down in the project proposal, especially referring to the loan purpose, the defined target groups and loan modalities.
Provided that expenses are recorded when paid (cash-based method), verify that non-cash items including depreciation and imputed costs are NOT charged to the project

General Requirements / Requested Proposal Information

Interested Certified Public Accountant/Audit firms should submit a Technical and Financial proposal in relation to the terms of references (ToRs) below. The following information and documents shall be provided:

Background information on the audit firm: Details of firm’s experience in providing auditing services to companies in the not-for-profit sector, especially international organizations
Methodology to be used: Describe how your firm will approach the audit of the project, e.g. select expenditure items
Describe how and why your firm is different from other firms being considered, and why our selection of your firm as an independent auditors the best decision we could make;
Firm’s registration details with relevant regulatory authorities
Accreditation by the German Embassy or a recognized institution (e.g. chamber of commerce)
Provide at least 3 references from not-for-profit organizations for which your organisation conducted audits in recent years and are still your clients;
Provide names and resumes of key personnel that will conduct the audit.
Include estimated time required on-site to complete the services.
Include fee proposal to complete the services outlined in this request.

Location of Audit and Timelines

The audit will take place at the project location according to the timeline below:

Audit report covering period - 1/01/2021 to 31/12/2021
First draft due date - 21/03/2022
Final report due date - 25/03/2022

Auditing of Annual Statements:

The auditor shall audit the accounts for periods 01 January 2021 to 31 December 2021

Auditing Procedure:

The auditing shall be conducted in accordance with the relevant national regulations as well as SOS internal auditing standards.
In addition to the auditing as such, the auditor may provide professional advice in whatever financial management and bookkeeping matters

Auditor’s Report:

The auditor shall draw up his statement according to the specimen to be provided by HGFD
SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria shall provide the auditor with all supporting documentation in originals (in exceptional cases, digital copies can be accepted), preferably structured in conformity with the items of the financing plan and in chronological order.
The Annual Audited Statement of Accounts should be accompanied by a condensed voucher list in chronological order, including all payments effected by SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria in original currency (expenditures paid by HGFD, e.g. for monitoring visits, shall be excluded), Digital copies shall be sufficient for annual and interim audits. Hard copies signed and certified by the auditor only are required for the final audit.
The audit report should contain a statement of cash receipts (including converted funds, if available) which is to be supported by documentation (bank statements, exchange receipts, etc) as well as a fund accountability statement
The final auditor’s certificate is to be worded as in: “Format Audited Statement of Accounts”.
Budget items that exceed the budget appropriations by more than ± 20% must be explained separately, if prior approval has not been obtained from HGFD.
Any significant deviation between budgeted and actual receipts must be explained
The audit report shall contain a description of the detailed task that has been entrusted and a detailed list of documents which have been made available for inspection.
The audit report shall also include precise comments and recommendations on the accounting systems)procedures in force. Each following audit report shall refer to such recommendations and verify whether the same have been implemented by the project holder.
The copy of official registration certificate is attached to the audit report.

Final Audit Package:

The auditor shall submit the following documents, properly signed and stamped, on the completion of the audit process as Audit Package:
Auditors’ report, according to the format provided
Audited statement of accounts according to the format provided
List of key employees.

Selection Criteria

All RFPs received will be evaluated based on the requested proposal information and on cost-vs-benefits basis. Our evaluation process will include, but will not be limited to:

Quality of technical proposal
Competitiveness of financial proposal
Relevant experience

Application Closing Date

4:00pm Tuesday, 22nd February, 2022.

Submission of Documents

Proposals in response to this RFP should be addressed to the contact information below and emailed in one document to: soscv.services@sos-nigeria.org

The National Director,

SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria,

298 Haile Selassie Street,

Asokoro - (FCT) Abuja.

Note

That submission of false information will lead to automatic disqualification.
SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria reserves the right to accept or reject any application without giving any reasons.