A. BACKGROUND  

The World Bank (WB) and the EU agreed to implement a new Trust Fund (TF) financed project called Strengthening Governance in Mongolia 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.   

This new TF, through both Recipient Executed (RE) and Bank Executed (BE) interventions, will serve two main purposes. Firstly, it will complement and expand the ongoing technical assistance the WB is providing through the Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability (SFFS) Project. Secondly, this TF will support the GOM in advancing the current efforts toward increasing transparency, participation and accountability in fiscal matters as well as in strengthening its capacity to deal with non-technical drivers of the reform process that prevent state agencies from implementing policies and regulations as intended.  

The Component 2 of the TF will focus 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 state 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. 

The 2019 Citizen’s Budget for Mongolia were also developed both on the proposed and approved budgets intending to explain the budget in a transparent and easy-to-understand format using dialogues be¬tween family members. It 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. 

To continue this effort, the WB and the MOF agreed to develop the Citizen’s Budgets (proposed and approved) for 2020 and onwards under the SGM Project. In this regard, the Fiscal Policy and Planning Department (FPPD) of the MOF plans to engage with a local consultant and a consulting firm to support the preparation of the Citizen’s Budget for 2020 and its further development going forward. Following above mentioned measures, the local consultant started working on the development of Citizen’s Budget Execution Reports as well as further developments of Citizen’s Budget in a long-run.   

Furthermore, as mentioned above, to support identifying the methodology and approach to further development of the Citizen’s Budgets in the long-term, the FPPD wishes to hire a local consulting firm to redesign current fiscal transparency website not only to improve citizen’s engagement but also to bring effectiveness and efficiency of the Citizen’s Budget activity in a long-term by developing web-based interactive version of Citizen’s Budget and other alterations. 

B. OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT     

The main objectives of this assignment are to (i) develop Citizen’s Budget based on the 2020 submitted and approved budgets; (ii) develop 3rd and 4th quarter of 2019 budget execution reports; and (iii) redesign current fiscal transparency website to update or develop a new web-based interactive version for Citizen’s Budget activity in a long-term in collaboration with the MOF team.    

C. SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT    

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

Task 1 – Develop 2020 Citizen’s Budget, both submitted and approved:    

     1. Analyse the data received from the MOF/National Consultants;  

     2. Design creative infographics based on the data received for print; 

     3. Present and finalize the infographics with the MOF; and 

     4. Prepare preprint designs for the 2020 Citizens Budget and finalize with the MOF.    

Task 2 – Develop 2019 Quarterly Citizen’s Budget Execution Reports (3rd and 4th quarters):    

     1. Analyse the data received from the MOF/National Consultants; 

     2. Design creative infographics based on the data received for print;  

     3. Present and finalize the infographics with the MOF;  

     4. Prepare preprint design for the Quarterly Citizens Budget Execution Reports and finalize with the MOF

Task 3 – Redesign current fiscal transparency website to update or develop a new web-based interactive version for Citizen’s Budget activity in a long-term in collaboration with the MOF team: 

     1. Based on Tasks 1 and 2, redesign or develop an interactive, user-friendly web version of the Citizen’s Budget (submitted, approved budgets of fiscal year 2020; quarterly and annual reports of fiscal year 2019); 

     2. Redesign current modules with collaboration with the MOF/National Consultant, for this, the consultant must:

           a. Present analysis of potential audiences, through Personas or similar technique;

           b. Define the format and sections and present wire-frames of the structure for comments and approval to the MOF; 

           c. Present mock-ups of the proposed design;

           d. Perform focus groups with potential users with the mock-ups for adjustment;

     3. Hosted in the national data center servers (Apache Server) and managed through its content manager (ExpressionEngine) (For that, it must be developed in PHP and compatible frameworks such as Bootstrap and Javascript compatible libraries should be used); 

     4. The platform must:

            a. use innovative open library data visualization tools (such as D3, Chart.JS, Bootstrap and others), data visualizations must be programmed, not images unless exceptional case;

           b. provide feature to include pop-up messages;

           c. feature to include polls and quizzes in the site;

           d. feature to allow sharing specific content in social media (Add This or similar);

     5. With collaboration with the MOF/National consultant develop structured data template to be imported into interactive web-site while considering smooth manageability;   

     6. Program the back-end (CMS) for easy update of the citizen budget data and other related contents; 

     7. Ensure accessibility of static sections and data to users, prioritizing the availability of open data (downloading in various file formats such as Excel, CSV and JSON) and development of an open API for consuming the data;

     8. Prepare digital communications materials for dissemination, including images, videos, animations, gifs or others, shareable through social media platforms considering the audience segmentation developed for point 2;

     9. Present complete documentation of the development; 

    10. Provide training for technical maintenance of the platform and for updating the site; and

    11. Any other relevant tasks requested by the Client.   

D. DELIVERABLES:  

The Consulting firm will be required to provide the following deliverables:  

Task 1 – Develop 2020 Citizen’s Budget, both submitted and approved:  

     1. Draft infographic designs for the 2020 Citizens Budget;  

     2. Preprint design of the 2020 Citizens Budget;  

     3. Final 2020 Citizens Budget: both submitted and approved. 

Task 2 – Develop 2019 Quarterly Citizen’s Budget Execution Reports (3rd and 4th quarters):  

     1. Draft infographic designs for the 2019 3rd and 4th quarter budget execution reports; 

     2. Preprint design of the 2019 3rd and 4th quarter budget execution reports; 

     3. Final 2019 3rd and 4th quarter budget execution reports.  

Task 3 – Redesign current fiscal transparency website to update or develop a new web-based interactive version for Citizen’s Budget activity in a long-term in collaboration with the MOF team: 

     1. Proposed audience segmentation, structure of the site in wire-frames and mock-ups for approval;

     2. Report of focus groups of the mock-ups, identifying adjustments made after feedback;

     3. Programmed interactive infographic web version of Citizen’s Budget; 

     4. Structured data template for website content updating; 

     5. Communications materials for dissemination; 

     6. Back-end for management and training to use; and 

     7. Complete documentation of the development. 

E. CONSULTANT’S QUALIFICATIONS/ SELECTION CRITERIA    

Consulting firm:  

The firm must have proven experience in providing consulting services in similar projects  relating to development of infographics, designs, and developing web-design. The firm must have the following minimum qualification requirements:  

    ­ 1. The firm shall have experience in development of infographics and designs of similar products;  

    2. ­ During the last 2 years, must have completed at least 2 successful contracts related to the development of infographics and designs/web designs (sample products to be submitted as evidence); and  

    ­3. The firm shall be operating as a legally and financially autonomous firm for at least 2 years.   

The firm will provide a project team consisting of at least a Team Leader, 1 infographic designer and 1 web developer. Proposed members of the team shall meet the following requirements with total inputs of maximum 7 months each.  

Team leader:   

    ­ Incumbent should have a master’s degree in business administration, finance and accounting, communications or digital arts;  

    ­ Incumbent should have at least 5 years of relevant professional experience in developing infographics and designing budget and finance related books/websites; and  

    ­ Fluency in English.  

Infographic designer and web developer:   

    ­ Incumbents should have a degree in information technology, digital arts, communications, data science or finance and accounting;  

    ­ Incumbent should have at least 2 years of relevant professional experience in designing infographics and developing web sites; and   

    ­ Full proficiency and experiences in dataset management.  

A consulting firm will be selected in accordance with the Consultant’s Qualification-based Selection method set out in the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers (issued July 2016,revised November 2017 and August 2018) and which can be found at www.worldbank.org.

F. CONTRACT DURATION

The assignment is expected to commence in October 2019. The total duration of the consultancy service is estimated to be at least 7 months with a possible extension of the due dates for the deliverables, if necessary.  

Interested consultanting firms should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services.

Please submit the following documents no later than 17:00, September 19, 2019:

- Letter of Expressions of Interest;

- Company introduction along with a copy of state registration certificate;

- Evidence of specific experience and qualification information of the firm relevant to the assignment.

Expressions of Interest should be submitted in an sealed envelope and clearly marked “Expression of Interest for National consulting firm to support preparation of the interactive/web version (in a long-run) including infographics for the Citizen's Budget, Reference number: SGM/23/CS/002.

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. Address for submission of Expression of Interest: Attention to Ms.Bayarmaa L, Procurement Specialist, Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability Project, Address: Room #204, Negdsen undestnii 8/2, 4th khoroo, Chingeltei District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Tel: 70120582 or via email to: procurement@sffs.mn.

70120582