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.

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, which is to bring Treasury services to a new level through improved automation and digitization. The objective of the assignment is to cooperate with the MOF team, the developer as the functional consultant and provide functional support on matters relating to functionality of the TPS and further development and nationwide roll-out of other 2 modules for the TPS including development, pilot, and rollout nationwide.

C. SCOPE OF WORK

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

1. Provide support on functionality of the TPS and its interfaces with other systems;

2. Act as key functional supporting resource persons to interact with Treasury units;

3. Ensure smooth development interfaces with commercial banks for government’s bank account registration module of the TPS;

4. Provide support on development of modules in compliance with the functional requirements;

5. Identify and report system bugs and errors in the TPS, if any, during the piloting, and rollout stages in collaboration with end-users;

6. Assist to conduct end-user training to treasuries and budget entities;

7. Assist to revise the user guide contents as needed on the use of the TPS modules;

8. Assist to prepare a draft of user manual on the TPS; 

9. Provide support on capacity development to Treasury staff to enable sustainable operation of the TPS; and

10. 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;

11. 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.

D. DELIVERABLES

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

2. All eveidence of development of 2 modules for the TPS in compliance with the functional requirements;

3. Evidence of capacity of Treasury staff to operate the TPS;

4. Reports on training conducted;

5. A draft of end user manual on the Treasury Portal and ETVD;

6. Revised guideline and training materials prepared including for video content on the additional modules;

7. Progress and other project related reports to the Client and the SFFS PIU; and

8. Inputs to the monthly progress reports of the project in relation to this assignment.

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 five (5) years’ of relevant professional experiences in public finance; 

• 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; 
• Experience in PFM system review and improvement of functional requirements, including accounting, consolidation of financial statements, and reporting would be an advantage; and
• Experience in Project Management including Project Development, Project Planning, Project Implementation, and Project Risk Management;

Language skills:  Good written and spoken skills in both English and 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 August, 2023 with the total duration of 4.5 months in full time basis.  

H. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The MOF will provide office space and a computer 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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