A. BACKGROUND

Mongolia has been implementing the Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability Project (SFFS) Project financed through a credit form the International Development Association (IDA). The objective of the SFFSP is to contribute to the Government of Mongolia’s efforts to strengthen fiscal and financial stability and improve the quality of expenditure management. The project is designed with five components: (i) Strengthening Macroeconomic and Fiscal Management; (ii) Improving the Efficiency of Public Financial Management; (iii) Enhancing Financial Sector Stability; (iv) Strengthening the Social Protection System; (v) Project Management and Monitoring. The objectives are to strengthen fiscal responsibility and implement the relevant policy measures; improve fiscal discipline; strengthen the resiliency of the banking system; improve public expenditure quality in social protection; and provide support for Project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, including, inter alia, audit arrangements, reporting requirements, procurement and financial management activities, respectively. For more details, please refer to the Project Appraisal Document Report No. PAD2269 . Subcomponent B2 of the project aims to increase budget comprehensiveness and transparency through better control, reporting and expansion of the government’s integrated financial management information capabilities. The Government of Mongolia has been using FreeBalance software since 2005 as the Government’s Financial Management Information System (GFMIS) i.e. the treasury system. This system is primarily focused on enabling quick settlement of payments and producing budget execution reports. Starting from 2018, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) has upgraded the GFMIS to the latest web-based FreeBalance Version 7 (FB v7). As stated in 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 TD, MOF, with support from the SFFS Project, contracted with Freebalance Ltd to implement commitment control and a web service extension to the GFMIS. Yet the possibility of providing all spending units with access to the system remains to be limited while 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. Moreover, the Government maintains bank accounts at commercial banks to quickly and timely provide some government services such as social security, revenue collection and pety cash needs of budget entities. However, legislative arrangements, rules in effect, 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 discrepancy between central bank and commercial banks data that is challenging for the TD to reconcile. The ITC and with support of national consultants, has developed 4 modules of a Treasury Portal System (hereafter TPS). The TPS is expected to bring together the TD’s efforts toward electronic exchanges of financial transactions for budget entities particularly regarding enabling interlinked systems with paperless transactions, digital signature approval and implementation of sub systems that allow data exchanges with other government agencies such as the tax office, procurement agency and the Civil Service Council. The TPS will support efforts to increase the coverage of the accounts in the FMIS, enable the TD to integrate sub-systems with the GFMIS, and improve the unified coding system for further reporting, which will allow data exchanges with line ministries and national tax office. In addition, developing a Bank Account Management, Monitoring and Reporting System as module of the TPS will support information flows regarding commercial bank accounts on a daily basis. This system will improve transparency and coordination between tax offices, local treasury units and line ministries and thereby enable better accounting and cash management. The Treasury’s experience so far with development and introduction of various information systems has required updates and modifications in the relevant internal operations and business processes, the relevant regulatory documents, as well as training materials and manuals. Furthermore, building capacity and skills of system users has faced various challenges regarding time and space, and in particular in-person training of specialists in remote aimags and soums has not been sufficiently accessible due to the required travel costs and availability of quality trainers. The inability to adequately train staff and professionals in the use of the systems in their day-to-day operations has a direct impact on the success of the digital transformation efforts. Hence, in order to help address the gap in training delivery, the TD, MOF has developed a Learning Management System (LMS) with a series of training contents on the TPS, the Integrated Payroll System for civil servants, the Electronic Transaction Verification Directory (E-TVD) and Glass account platform that allow budget entity accountants and Treasury specialists to study independently and improve their skills according to their time, availability, and needs. The LMS has been used by accountants and treasury officials nationwide, currently with over 5000 users, of which 1360 users completed all training sessions and passed the associated tests qualifying them to receive certificates. B. OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT The objective of the assignment is to assist the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance (TD, MOF) in the process leading up to the implementation and rollout of the TPS, ETVD which is to bring Treasury services to a new level through improved automation and digitization. The main responsibility of the consultant will include implementation, testing, and deployment of the proposed systems, assessment of progress of the overall project activities, identifying key issues hindering the project implementation, and offering technical options/resolutions upon careful analysis of the associated risks and benefits.

SCOPE OF WORK

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

1. Oversee functionality of the TPS, ETVD and their interfaces with other systems including MOF Intermediate Service Platform/ HUB intergation;

2. Act as key technical supporting resource persons to interact with TD and local treasury units;

3. Ensure smooth development and functioning of Budget control module as per the approved user requirement document;

4. Ensure smooth development interfaces with government’s bank account registration module of the TPS;

5. Perform the implementation, testing, and deployment of the proposed system;

6. Provide required support on the implementation of the GFMIS /FB V7 and its integration with other systems.

7. Identify necessary development requirement on the LMS integration with the E-TVD;

8. Oversee functionality of the LMS and its integration with SSO system for user registration;

9. Provide support to transferring ownership of the LMS to the MOF together with all the related documents;

10. Oversee functionality of the Treasury Portal interfaces with GAP system;

11. Identify critical issues hindering the proposed systems implementation and offer technical and operational solutions for resolution upon careful analysis of their associated risks and benefits;

12. Work with consultants on proposed systems policy documents and provide technical assistance for successful implementation of the project.

13. Report on a regular basis and when required on the status and issues of the systems to the team leader and the Project Coordinator of the SFFSP;

14. Undertake other tasks related to above tasks as reasonably requested and/or assigned by the Director General of TD or Project Coordinator of the SFFSP.

C. DELIVERABLES

1. Evidence of smooth functioning of the TPS and its interfaces in relation to the other systems;

2. Evidence of smooth functioning of the ETVD and its interfaces in relation to the other systems;

3. Evidence of smooth functioning of the LMS and its interfaces with ETVD systems;

4. Evidence of smooth functioning of the Treasury Portal interfaces with GAP system;

5. All evidence of development of government’s bank account registration module for the TPS in compliance with the functional requirements;

6. All eveidence of development of Budget control module for the TPS in compliance with the functional requirements;

7. Evidence of work on the implementation of the GFMIS /FB V7 and its integration with other systems.

8. Evidence of the transfer of ownership of the proposed systems to the MOF together with all the related documents, training materials and manuals; 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

The Consultant shall have the following qualifications:

Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent in ICT, or in other fields related to this assignment;

Experience: Incumbent should have at least 10 (ten) years' relevant professional experience. System Integration and testing experience is essential.

• Previous experience in a similar capacity of working with Government Financial Management systems is required; Previous professional experiences in system integration and project management is required; Programming Language: Fluent in Java, C#, Python, CSS, Swift and JavaScript; Database: Fluent in Oracle, MySQL, MSSQL, NoSQL, SQLite, Claris and Elastic Search; Server: Windows, Linux, Ubuntu and RedHat; Application Server: Web logic, MQ, JBoss, Java Server, WildFly and IIS; Provable experience in agile development; and Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to function effectively and collaboratively in a team environment.

• revious experience in a similar capacity of working with Government Financial Management systems is required;
• Previous professional experiences in system integration and project management is required;
• Programming Language: Fluent in Java, C#, Python, CSS, Swift and JavaScript;
• Database: Fluent in Oracle, MySQL, MSSQL, NoSQL, SQLite, Claris and Elastic Search;
• Server: Windows, Linux, Ubuntu and RedHat;
• Application Server: Web logic, MQ, JBoss, Java Server, WildFly and IIS;
• Provable experience in agile development; and
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to function effectively and collaboratively in a team environmen

Language skills: Good written and spoken skills in both English and Mongolian;

F. SUPERVISION AND REPORTING

The consultant will report directly to the Director-General of the TD, MOF and will work on a day-to-day basis with the TD officials and the MOF-IT division on functional and technical matters related to the assignment. 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 August, 2023 with the total duration of 4.5 months in full time basis.

H. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The MOF will provide office space for the consultant. During workshops and training, the client will provide the venue, projectors, etc. 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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