CALL FOR PROPOSALS

INVITATION TO CONSULTANCY FIRMS OR INDEPENDENT CONSULTANTS FROM

COMMONWEALTH MEMBER COUNTRIES

PROJECT REFERENCE: G/BOT/106

PROJECT TITLE: Building a Decentralised E-Public Procurement System

for Botswana

LOCATION: Gaborone, Botswana

DURATION: 130 person days over a 12 month period

PROJECT BUDGET: An all inclusive fee of £80,000 (to cover fees, economy
class airfares, subsistence allowance and incidentals.)

RESPONSIBLE TO: Acting Director, Governance and Institutional

Development Division, Commonwealth Secretariat or his
nominee

CLOSING DATE: 04 Thursday, 04 March 2010 – extended by one week to

Thurday, 11 March 2010

1. The deadline for receipt of proposals is midnight GMT, Thursday, 04 March 2010;
Closing date extended by one week to Thursday, 11 March 2010.
2. This invitation is open to consulting companies and individual consultants;
3. Consultants must demonstrate knowledge of the subject by clearly interpreting the
terms of reference and providing a methodology and approach that they will adopt in
undertaking the assignment;
4. Consultants should submit a write-up of no more than 12 pages, describing
methodology and approach for the consultancy, a detailed outline of the work plan
along with milestones to achieve, and clarification of responsibilities between the
consultants.
5. A detailed financial proposal on fees, air and local travel, subsistence and other costs
must also be attached to the proposal;
6. Consulting companies must provide the names and nationalities of all the consultants
who will be involved in the project, their respective levels of effort and their CVs;
7. Consulting companies should also attach their company profile/capability statement to
the proposal;
8. Proposals should be submitted electronically to the attention of Mr James Lek at
j.lek@commonwealth.int or via fax on 44-207 747 6520.

Only consulting firms (registered in any Commonwealth member country) or independent

consultant(s) who are national(s) of a Commonwealth member country and who possess the required
expertise are invited to submit their proposal which should include a covering statement of your
organization/company’s relevant expertise, if applicable, and its experience of similar projects and
services carried out in developing countries.

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 TERMS OF REFERENCE

1.0 Background
The Commonwealth Secretariat through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation
is providing technical assistance to the Government of Botswana to design, develop and
implement a comprehensive, decentralised e-public procurement system for use throughout
government in conjunction with other related government systems.

This project is part of a wider reform programme being undertaken by the Ministry of
Finance, Development and Economic Planning. The reasons for the reform lie in the fact
that MOFDP needs a more functional decentralised public procurement system with an
improved e-procurement functions that would reduce corruption and address all the
inherent compliance standards. This project fits into phase two and three. Phase two is to
review the existing legislation and procedures and process, while phase three would include
Training of procurement functionaries, and maximisation of e-procurement access.

2.0 Current Scenario

- Department of Supply (DOS) currently deals with unallocated supplies as well as

allocated supplies. Basically its processes are of Warehousing and Inventory
Management in nature.
- To handle its processes DOS has bought a Baan 5.0c service pack 18 software
and customised it to handle Government operations as far as DOS processes are
concerned. The customised system is called Computerised Department of
Supply.
- The CDOS has both logistics and financial modules integrated together. The
latter to handle below the line accounts i.e. payments from unallocated supplies,
stock accounts etc.
- To handle above the line accounts like auction receipts, sundry receipts etc,
DOS has access to Government accounting and Budgeting System (GABS).
- Both Systems (GABS and CDOS) albeit separately, are hosted at Department of
Information Technology on AIX operating systems as well as Oracle databases.
- In terms of Network connectivity; DOS has six Local Area Networks (LANS)
throughout the country which is connected by Government Data Network
(GDN). At every LAN, DOS has one or more Domain Controllers running
Windows server. For e-mail, DOS has two exchange servers connected to
Government open mail server for communication with the rest of the world.
- The client side runs windows and usually windows office products are installed
on top of it.

3.0 Rationale
The Ministry of Finance, Development and Economic Planning faces some challenges in the
Public Procurement system such as; putting in place a robust information system
(generation and dissemination); undertaking capacity development in all sectors;
strengthening oversight structures; strengthening performance audit mechanisms; The
Ministry needs a more functional decentralised public procurement system with an

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improved e-procurement functions that would reduce corruption and address all the
inherent compliance standards.

4.0 Moving Forward

- The Procurement office and Government in general are technically advanced in

IT, so a senior officer who is conversant with working on the above stipulated
environment will be ideal.
- In order to implement the SOUR of e-procurement, an officer who understands
systems especially e-procurement systems is essential. But knowledge of
computerised Warehousing and Inventory Management is also required.
- DOS has since April 2008 started the process of decentralisation. The office has
changed to Office of Accountant General (Procurement Office). In terms of
processes changes; this entails that the Procurement Office will no longer deal
in Unallocated Supplies but rather in contract management, allocated supplies,
demand management, compliance etc.
- The phasing out of Unallocated Stores will bring about the steady phasing out of
CDOS. A System currently under implementation and to be piloted at
Department of Supply called Supplies Warehousing and Inventory Management
System (SWIMS) is to eventually replace CDOS at Procurement Office. This
System is a module of Oracle suite, so will sit together with GABS.
- Procurement Office already has a Statement of User Requirement (SOUR) for e-
procurement.
- PPADB is busy implementing an Integrated Procurement Management System
(IPMS).

5.0 Purpose of the project

To assist the of Ministry of Finance, Development and Economic Planning (MOFDP) to
design, develop and implement a comprehensive, decentralised e-public procurement
system for use throughout government in conjunction with other related government
systems.

6.0 Scope of Work

The firm/expert will be based at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning
(Audit/Accountant General Office) in Gaborone During the implementation period it is
expected that the consultant will undertake the following activities, inter alia ;

Review comprehensive public Procurement policy and procedures reviewed, with

accompanying manuals, and documentations
Implementation plan for decentralised public procurement system with improved e-
procurement system
Train procurement functionaries (Undertaking capacity development in all sectors
Putting in place a robust information system (generation and dissemination);
Strengthening oversight structures; strengthening performance audit mechanisms;

7.0 Outputs (Deliverables)

Implementation plan for decentralised public procurement system developed,
adopted and in use by line ministries.
Technical support/advice on improved e-procurement system provided.
Comprehensive public Procurement policy and procedures reviewed, with
accompanying manuals, and documentations.
Capacity of Public procurement staff enhanced to manage the Public procurement
system through training.

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8.0 Transfer of Expertise
The Commonwealth Secretariat attaches particular importance to the transfer of expertise
and knowledge to counterparts. A Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning
(Audit/Accountant General Office) counterpart officer will be assigned to the firm/consultant
soon after commencement of duties. The firm/consultant should therefore draw up a
training programme for the counterpart as early as possible in order to ensure that
expertise transferred is understood and mainstreamed during the course of the consultants
posting.

9.0 Methodology
The Consultant will develop a methodology and design a work programme identifying the
activities to be undertaken, which will be discussed with the Commonwealth Secretariat and
approved before the commencement of the assignment.

10.0 Proposal
The proposal outlining how the assignment will be carried out should include a detailed
Work Plan for the execution of the assignment with clear milestones for each stage of the
assignment, and a detailed financial plan.

11.0 Level of Effort and Duration

The level of effort that will be required from the successful consultants is 130 person days,
equivalent to 26 person weeks, over a one year period commencing on or about April 2010
to March 2011.

12.0 Budget
An all-inclusive budget of £80,000 which will cover professional fees, daily subsistence
allowance, economy class international air fares, and any other project related costs.

13.0 Implementation Arrangements

The Public Procurement firm will be responsible to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of
Finance and Economic Planning (Audit/Accountant General Office) while in Botswana.
Copies of all reports will also be submitted to the Commonwealth Secretariat project
manager.

14.0 Required Experience and Qualifications

The firm or independent consultant should have at least over 10 yrs experience in:

Professional procurement and logistics practices.

Practical hands on experience in development and management of e-procurement
systems.
Track record of building e-procurement networking systems.
Experience of transformation of government systems.
Developing precise specifications and pre-qualifying suppliers to ensure they can
deliver reliably.
Strengthening skills through on-the-job and formal training.
Developing systems, structures and procedures that ensure accountability,
transparency and value for money.
Understanding government and funding agency procedures.
Experience in developing and managing public sector procurement systems
especially in analyzing, mapping ad re engineering of all processes related to budget
expenditures management.
Experience in management complex projects, especially public sector projects
related to managerial control and audit will be an asset.
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.
Ability to develop manuals.
Excellent communication and facilitation skills and must be based in a
Commonwealth Country.

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15.0 Preparation of Proposals

Proposals should clearly indicate the following:

1. Methodology proposed to undertake activities outlined in the scope of work.

2. Proposed work plan and milestones.
3. Proposed budget with all costs clearly broken down.
4. Detailed CVs of the proposed two team members clearly indicating the
experience and qualifications required for the assignment.
5. A breakdown of tasks and responsibilities of the consulting team.

16.0 Submission of Proposals

Proposals should be submitted electronically to Mr James Lek via email at

j.lek@commonwealth.int

17.0 Closing Date for Submission of Proposals

The deadline for receipt of proposals is midnight GMT, Thursday, 04 March 2010.
Closing date extended by one week to Thursday, 11 March 2010.

(JL/23-Feb-2010)