A. BACKGROUND

Mongolia received a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability (SFFS) Project. The objective of the SFFS Project is to contribute to the Government of Mongolia’s efforts to strengthen fiscal and financial stability and improve the quality of expenditure. The project is designed into five components: (A) Strengthening Macroeconomic and Fiscal Management; (B) Improving the Efficiency of Public Financial Management; (C) Enhancing Financial Sector Stability; (D) Strengthening the Social Protection System; (E) Project Management and Monitoring. For more details, please refer to the Project Appraisal Document Report No. PAD2269.

The World Bank (WB) and the EU has also been implementing a Trust Fund-financed project called Strengthening Governance in Mongolia (SGM) (TF) aimed to support the efforts of the Government of Mongolia (GM) to improve fiscal discipline, public financial management (PFM), and transparency and accountability processes for strengthened governance in the public sector in Mongolia. This project complements the WB-financed Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability (SFFS) Project in supporting the ongoing government reforms in PFM and governance in the public sector. 

This TF, through both Recipient Executed (RE) and Bank Executed (BE) interventions, serves two main purposes. Firstly, it complements and expands the ongoing technical assistance the WB is providing through the Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability (SFFS) Project. Secondly, this TF supports 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.

Specifically, Component 2 of the TF 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 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.

As per the Government’s PFM strategy and action plan for 2020-2023, (under budget revenue and expenditure matters), the GFMIS’s functions should be improved and integrated with other related systems. To achieve this goal, the Treasury Department (TD) of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) contracted with Freebalance Ltd to implement commitment control and a web service extension to the GFMIS, but the possibility of providing all spending units with access to the system remains to be limited. The TD| maintains more than twenty thousand accounts for more than four thousand six hundred budget entities through the units located in each soum and aimag. To increase the coverage of the accounts in the use of the FMIS, developing a Portal system to enable the electronic exchange of financial information with budget entities as spending units, billing of utility services, and more. This will enable the TD to integrate subsystems with the GFMIS and improve the unified coding system for further reporting, which will allow data exchanges with line ministries and the National Statistics Office. The TD has been working toward improving its operations through interlinked systems with paperless transactions, digital signature approval and implementation of subsystems that allow data exchanges with other government agencies such as the tax office, procurement agency, and the Civil Service Council. To help bring these efforts together, there now is a need to develop and implement a portal for electronic exchanges of financial transactions for budget entities. 

Furthermore, the Government maintains bank accounts at commercial banks to quickly and timely provide some government services such as social security, revenue collection, and petty cash needs of budget entities. However legislative arrangements, effective rules, and regulations governing the opening/closure of accounts at commercial banks for the Government and budget entities have resulted in difficulties in practice when opening, closing, managing, monitoring, and reporting on these accounts.  This creates a discrepancy between central bank and commercial banks data that is challenging for the TD to reconcile. To manage all commercial bank accounts daily basis, there is a need to develop and implement of a Bank Account Management, Monitoring and Dynamic Reporting System (BAMMDRS) for Government banks accounts, which will improve transparency and coordination of tax offices, local treasury units, and line ministries for better management.

The IT Center (ITC) of the Custom, Taxation and Finance (hereinafter, the developer), a State-Owned Enterprise was established under the MOF in 2015 and has since developed several systems for the MOF. The MOF has assigned the task of developing the web portal system for the Treasury also to the ITC. 

B. OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT 

The objective of the assignment is to provide assistance to the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance (TD, MOF) in implementing a portal system and a commercial bank account monitoring and reporting system for the Treasury, which are to bring Treasury services to a new level through improved automation and digitization. The desired national consultant will work closely with the Payment and Settlement Division of the TD, MOF, and act as a functional consultant to provide functional support in the development and implementation of the above mentioned two systems. 

C. SCOPE OF WORK

The main responsibility of the consultant will include assisting in the coordination of the overall system development and implementation activities, commencing pilots, conducting trainings, providing day-to-day support to relevant users in support of the implementation of the proposed systems. The consultant will work closely with the Treasury Department in this regard and will perform the tasks including, but not limited to, the following under supervision of the senior national consultant (project manager):

Task 1. Provide functional support in the development, piloting and implementation of the Portal system:

1.1 Provide assistance to reviewing the legal framework to implement the portal system and develop a draft government resolution to enable implementation of the portal system nationwide, if required;

1.2 Provide functional support to testing and conducting pilot-runs of the portal implementation before the actual go-live start of the Portal;

1.3 Identify and report system bugs and errors in the system during testing, piloting, and implementation in collaboration with end-users and offer operational solutions to resolve issues;

1.4 Provide functional support to collecting data for developing a detailed work plan draft to carry out the pilots and implementing them at selected budget entities, aimags and districts;

1.5 Provide functional support to developing an implementation and roll-out plan detailing the systematic roll-out of the solution in accordance with the PFM action plan;

1.6 Act as a key functional resource person to interact with end-users and provide support over the phone on a daily basis to ensure smooth functioning of the system for the end-users;

1.7 Prepare a draft user guidance for the Portal and a draft of an online end-user manual;

1.8 Prepare and conduct end-user training nationwide in accordance with the approved training plan;

1.9 Support to monitoring the implementation progress of the Portal and its IT infrastructure with a view to reporting to the TD and PIU if there are necessary actions and corrections to be undertaken;

1.10 Train the MOF system administration team and MOF end-users in order to transfer the relevant knowledge; particularly on how to provide daily support and assistance in parallel with the preparation and rollout of the system; and

1.11 Undertake such other tasks related with the system as reasonably requested and/or assigned by the Director-General of the TD or Project Coordinator of the SGMP. 

Task 2. Provide functional support to the implementation of a Bank Account Management, Monitoring and Dynamic Reporting System (BAMMDRS) for Government banks accounts:

2.1 Support to monitoring the implementation of the BAMMDRS and report to the TD and PIU if there are necessary actions and corrections to be undertaken;

2.2 Act as a key functional resource person to interact with end-users and provide support over the phone on a daily basis to ensure smooth functioning of the system for end-users;

2.3 Provide support on testing and pilot-runs of the system implementation before the actual go-live start of the BAMMDRS;

2.5 Prepare and conduct training to the MOF system administration team and MOF end-users in order to transfer the relevant knowledge; particularly on how to provide daily support and assistance in parallel with the preparation and rollout of the system;

2.6 Assist the TD in organizing periodic meetings with the ITC and other stakeholders to coordinate the planned work and to complete the assigned tasks in compliance with the approved WP including preparing and circulating the agenda and other communication and recording of the meetings;

2.7 Coordinate compiling, maintaining and archiving project documents, as well as  recording incoming and outgoing documents/correspondence; and

2.8 Undertake such other tasks related with the system as reasonably requested and/or assigned by the Director-General of the TD or Project Coordinator of the SGMP. 

D. DELIVERABLES:

Based on the tasks under the assignment and a detailed Work Plan (WP) to be approved by the client, the consultant’s deliverables will be as follows:

Task 1: Progress and Final reports on Task # 1 including the following:

1.1 Periodic progress for Task # 1 as agreed with TD, MOF and SGMP.

1.2 Review on the legal framework to implement the portal system and a draft government resolution to enable implementation the portal system nationwide;

1.3 Testing and pilot-runs of the portal conducted before the actual go-live start of the Portal;

1.4 Evidence on identified and reported system bugs and errors in the system during testing, pilot;

1.5 An implementation and roll-out plan detailing the systematic roll-out of the solution in accordance with the PFM action plan;

1.6 Support provided as functional resource persons interacting with end-users;

1.7 A draft of the Portal user guidance and a draft online manual for end-users;

1.8 Training materials covering the portal capabilities and processes;

1.9 End-user’s training conducted nationwide in accordance with the approved training plan; and

1.10 Training organized for the MOF system administration team and MOF end-users.

Task 2: Progress and Final reports on Task # 2 including the following:

2.1 Testing and pilot-runs of the system conducted before actual go-live starts of the BAMMDRS;

2.2 Evidence on identified and reported system bugs and errors in the system during testing and piloting;

2.3 Periodic progress on working as a functional resource person interacting with end-users;

2.4 Training materials covering the portal capabilities and processes;

2.5 Training organized for implementing treasury units and budget entities;

2.6 User guides including all user roles for all levels of treasuries and of budget entities to serve as day-to-day references; and

2.7 Documents on the BAMMDRS system, compiled, archived, and handed over to the TD.

2.8 Periodic progress for Task # 2 to TD, MOF and SGMP.

The Consultant will receive formal feedback and comments on each deliverable within 1 week after submission from the TD.

E. CONSULTANT’S QUALIFICATIONS/ SELECTION CRITERIA

Education: A suitable candidate should have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in business administration,  finance  and accounting or in other fields related to this assignment; Experience:  Incumbent should have at least two (2) years of relevant professional experiences in finance; 

• Previous experience in a similar capacity of working with the Enterprise resource planning /ERP/ system is required; 
• Previous experience as working in the public sector would be an advantage; 
• Experience in PFM system review and improvement of functional requirements, including accounting, consolidation of financial statements, and reporting would be an advantage; 

Language skills:  Good written and spoken skills in English and excellent written and spoken skills in Mongolian.

Other skills: 

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

F. SUPERVISION AND REPORTING 

The consultant will report directly to the Director-General of the TD, MOF, who will meet regularly with the consultant to review progress with the work program and to resolve any outstanding issues. The Client may also appoint officials to monitor the contract implementation. Appointed MOF officials will be responsible for the coordination of activities under the Contract. 

The consultant will be required to carry out his/her tasks in line with the approved WP which will serve as a basis for measuring progress on desired outcomes and goals for the entire consultancy service.

The consultant will prepare monthly progress reports detailing the achievements and impediments in executing the entire WP effectively. These progress reports will be discussed with the Director-General of the TD.

G. CONTRACT DURATION 

The consultancy is expected to commence in June 2021 with a total duration of 7 months with a possible extension period, subject to business needs and satisfactory performance.  

H. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The MOF will provide office space for the consultant and the Consultant is expected to bring his/her computer equipment. During the workshop, the client will provide the venue and projectors. 

The consultant will work on a day-to-day basis with the ITC team on the system development matters related to the assignment and also work closely with respective officials of central and local budget entities. 

The Consultant will have access to all the necessary data/information that the MOF could provide for this assignment. All information provided to the consultant will be regarded as confidential and information shall not be shared with any outside individuals or organizations.

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