National consultant to support and maintain the Citizen's budget website and to develop additional feature to improve public participation mechanisms (extended)
Reference: 23/CS/0005
Client: Ministry of Finance
Category: Consultancy Service
Advertised: 2/15/2022
Deadline: 2/28/2022 15:00:00  

Ad Invitation

A. BACKGROUND

The World Bank (WB) with the financial support of the  EU is implementing the Strengthening Governance in Mongolia (SGM) Project aimed to support the efforts of the Government of Mongolia (GOM) to improve fiscal discipline, public financial management (PFM), and transparency and accountability processes for strengthened governance in the public sector in Mongolia.   

Component 2 of the SGM project focuses primarily on supporting the specific needs of the GOM to establish sound fiscal discipline, to improve expenditure management by strengthening the budget credibility, to establish the foundations for medium-term budgeting, and to re-orient public investment to strategic projects linked to the diversification of the economy. Five priority areas will constitute the core of the component: (i) development and implementation of a public financial management reform plan and inter-agency coordination; (ii) strengthening budget preparation and execution towards results-based medium-term budgeting; (iii) improving budget reporting and transparency by increasing the comprehensiveness of fiscal and financial information and reporting; (iv) improving the management of contingent liabilities, through improving the existing governance framework for recognizing, managing, and disclosing contingent liabilities; and (v) strengthening public investment management, through the development and implementation of mechanisms for prioritizing capital project proposals and cost-benefit analysis.

The Citizen’s Budget for the consolidated budget in Mongolia was first-ever developed in 2018 with the aim to increase the citizens’ knowledge about the state budget, enable citizens to mon¬itor and participate in the budgeting process, and improve budget transparency by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) initiative and with the support of the U.S. Department of Treasury. 

Since 2019 the SGM project supported the production of the  Citizen’s Budget for both the proposed and approved budgets with the aim to explain the budget to the citizens in a transparent and easy-to-understand format using dialogues be¬tween family members and representatives of functional sectors, such as health, education, and environmental protection, etc. The booklets also included information on state fiscal policy, macro-economic projections, budget revenue sources, government loans, and grants as well as information on government debt. Detailed expenditure information is provided for each functional sector. Also, comprehensive information is included about government services provided to children, mothers, senior citizens, disabled citizens, civil servants, and herders. Starting from 2019, additional Citizen’s Budget booklets were developed to inform quarterly budget executions.

During fiscal years 2021 and 2022, the Citizen’s budget booklets were produced at the time of submission of the budget proposal to the Parliament and were published on the MOF website and the fiscal transparency websites as e-booklets. 

With the support of the SGM project, in February 2021 an interactive, web-based Citizen’s Budget was partially launched. Some menus of the website are currently under development, so further maintenance and improvements are needed. The Citizen’s budget menu also needs further modifications due to several structural changes that are to be made as per the 2022 Budget law. In this regard, the Fiscal Policy and Planning Department (FPPD) of the MOF plans to engage with a local consultant to support the web development going forward. Furthermore, budget documents prepared and published in 2022 will be evaluated in the next round of the Open Budget survey round. Therefore special attention is needed during the year with the support of the local consultant.

B. OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT 

The main objective of this assignment is to (i) provide support to further development of the existing features of the Citizen’s Budget website (back-end and front-end) in order to enable easy release and access of fiscal information to the public; (iii) maintain the website to ensure the data and information available on it are up-to-date; (iv) prepare a mid-year review document in a timely manner; (v) monitor budget documents of 2022; (ii) support the design and implementation of activities aimed at fostering public participation in fiscal matters (i.e. enhancing participation in the budget process).

C. SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Key responsibilities under this assignment will include, but not be limited to, the following:

Task 1. Support development of the Citizen’s Budget website:

  • Make structural/design changes to the website to ensure consistency with the Budget Law and the related legal acts;
  • Make necessary changes to the data importing excel template reflecting the structural/design changes; 
  • Add features to attract users to the website upon discussion with and approval of the MOF;
  • Create monthly budget analysis bulletin based on budget execution data; 
  • Address special needs of various groups of citizens in the design/development of the Citizen’s Budget website, and add as needed features to make the website disabled-friendly; and
  • Prepare website engagement reports on a monthly basis, using Google Analytics tool.

Task 2. Enhance public participation opportunities suitable in current fiscal process. 

  • Build into the website a menu/feature to communicate and engage with the public. It must meet requirements including, but not limited to, the following: 
  • Develop a feature that allows citizens to pose questions, make suggestions and/or raise issues/concerns related to the budget;
  • Enables users to monitor how issues are being addressed; and 
  • Cooperate with Civil Society Organizations on development of the menu by reflecting their comments, requests and suggestions on the design and functions. 
  • Respond to the requests/inquiries that come through the menu in consultation with the related MOF officials;
  • Include in “the Order on setting common standards of content and information to be posted on the GAP” a specific provision on information that must be made available to the public. The provision should meet Open Budget Survey standards as much as is feasible; and  
  • Provide assistance in organizing budget transparency campaigns to be carried out by the FPPD and the TD.

Task 3. Maintain the Citizen’s budget website to ensure that the data and information available on it is up-to-date. Collect, review, and import the following data to be made available on the website:

  • Import the 2022 approved budget data;
  • Import quarterly execution data of 2022;
  • Import approved annual execution data of 2021; and
  • Import 2023 submitted and approved budget data of 2023.

Task 4. Prepare a mid-year review document in a timely manner

  • Develop a table of content;
  • Collect information and data according to the table of content; and
  • Publish the document on the MOF and fiscal transparency websites in compliance with the national regulations and international principles/good practices (e.g. before August 15, 2022).

Task 5. Monitor budget documents of 2022

  • Get acquainted with the previous Open Budget Survey reports of Mongolia;
  • Monitor data availability and timely release of all 8 budget documents of 2022 to be assessed in the next round of the OBS and incorporate recommendations for improvement provided by the GIFT and IBP teams as well as considering international good practices.

D. DELIVERABLES 

  1. Brief report on the changes and improvements made on the CB website, including a public participation menu;
  2. Excel files used for uploading the data into the website;
  3. Mid-year review document;
  4. Report on activities conducted to ensure timely release and comprehensiveness of the budget documents to be prepared in 2022 as per the Open Budget Index methodology and in accordance with the GIFT and IBP recommendations.

E. CONSULTANT’S QUALIFICATIONS/SELECTION CRITERIA

Education: A suitable candidate should have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field: information technology or web development;

Experience: The incumbent should have at least two (2) years of relevant professional experience in IT and web developing. Knowledge of data processing and public finance would be an advantage. 

Language skills: Fluent written and spoken skills in Mongolian and English.

Other skills: 

  • Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to function effectively and collaboratively in a team environment and high integrity and accountability;
  • Be proficient in PC-based applications such as Word, Excel and data management, and have excellent web research and navigation skills; 
  • Be able to work overtime if required.

F. SUPERVISION AND REPORTING 

The consultant will report directly to the Head of the Budget Consolidation Division (BCD) and Director-General of the FPPD, MOF and will work closely with the officials of Financing, Reporting and Accounting Division of the Treasury Department and the Budget Consolidation Division of FPPD of the MoF, respectively. The Head of the Budget Consolidation Division will communicate regularly with the consultant to review the progress of the relevant tasks, respectively, to resolve any outstanding issues. 

The consultant should submit monthly brief notes on the expected deliverables during the course of the assignment. 

All information provided to the consultant will be regarded as confidential and information will not be shared with any outside individuals or organizations without prior agreement by the Client.

E. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The client will provide office space, assign the officials to accept deliverables stated in the contract and provide all necessary materials required for undertaking the assignment. The consultant shall bring his/her own computer/laptop.

F. CONTRACT DURATION AND PAYMENT CONDITION

The consultant’s contract amendment is expected to commence in February 2022. The total duration of the consultancy service to be rendered is estimated at twelve (12) months.  

If you possess the above qualifications, please submit the following documents via email to procurement_sgm@sffs.mn:

    1. Cover letter indicating why she/he considers her/himself suitable for the position.

    2. Detailed CV highlighting relevant skills/experience.

    3. Copy of diplomas or certificates; and,

    4. 2 reference letters from the previous last two employers no later than 15:00, February 28, 2022.

The submitted documents will not be returned to the applicants. Please be noted that incomplete applications would not be considered for evaluation. Only selected candidate will be contacted.

Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant Selection method set out in the Procurement Regulations: The following is the link to the World Bank’s website: https://policies.worldbank.org/sites/ppf3/PPFDocuments/Forms/DispPage.aspx?docid=083b3f94-a932-4395-a410-834f8bc14f8c

Address for submission of Expression of Interest: Attention to Ms.Oyunyam.M, Procurement Specialist, Strengthening Governance in Mongolia Project, Address: Room #204, Negdsen undestnii 8/2, 4th khoroo, Chingeltei District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Tel: 70120582 or via email to: procurement_sgm@sffs.mn

Contact Info

70120582

Attachments

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