REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

ACCREDITATION OF ATAF TRAINING PROGRAMMES AND REGIONALIZATION OF ATAF TRAINING ACTIVITIES

ATAF is a platform for building capacity within; and facilitating mutual co-operation among African Tax Administrations (and other relevant stakeholders), with the aim of improving the efficacy of their tax administration to optimise collections.

Based on the increased changes in the tax space, as well as the maturing of the organisation over the past 10 years, expectedly there is an increase in the expectations from its membership specifically, as their partner of choice whenever capacity needs arise.

While the current model is working fairly well for both the membership and the Secretariat for now, in order to consolidate and increase the value of the ATAF product, it is crucial that recognised accreditation is attained. This also provides quality assurance, and sustainability, hence the call for Individual Consultancy Expression of Interest for technical guidance on both accreditation and regionalization of training activities.

The Individual Consultant general scope of work will be twofold, firstly to analyse the requirements for the Accreditation of ATAF’s training to its members. Secondly, the consultancy is to explore the possibilities of ATAF partnering with existing regional training facilities in its member countries in delivering the bulk of its training programmes. Leveraging on the training facilities of member countries is viewed as being both sustainable and cost-effective. Both the operationalization of regionalization of ATAF training activities and the accreditation process are key outcomes of the consultancy assignment and crucial to the attainment of ATAF’s vision and mission.

The assignment shall run for a period not exceeding three (3) months from the signing of the contract.

The African Tax Administration Forum now invites eligible Individual consultants to indicate their interest in providing these services. Interested consultants must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services.

The Individual Consultant is expected to have the following key competencies :

  • A Master’s degree or equivalent in Education, Curriculum development, Economics, Organizational Development, Public Finance, Public Administration, Corporate Governance, Social Science, Law or related field ;
  • A minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience in Education or policy development, management and administration, experience of working with tax administration will an added advantage ;
  • Previous similar consultancy assignments will be a preference ;
  • Strong project management skills, organisational skills and networking skill ;
  • Strong reporting skills ;
  • Excellent writing skills ;
  • Good presentation skills ;
  • Fluency in English or French.

Added advantages :!

  • Experience of working with International Organizations in designing and implementing new projects ;
  • Experience in training and capacity development.

Thus, an individual with these competencies and proven experience of similar or related assignments is eligible for the position. Applications should be supported by no less than three traceable referees and previous work profile.

Interested Individual consultants may obtain clarification at the email address below. The detailed Terms of Reference are in Annex I of this Request for Expression of Interest.

Expressions of interest must be sent to the email address below by 15 May 2020 and cover letters should clearly indicate the position of “Individual Consultant – Accreditation and regionalization of ATAF training programmes”.

Attention :

African Tax Administration Forum

Ms. Nune Mandala

Procurement Specialist

Tel : +27 (0) 12 451 8837

E-mail : [email protected]

ANNEX I

ATAF/AfDB Project

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

ACCREDITATION AND   REGIONALISATION   OF ATAF TRAINING PROGRAMMES

Pretoria, South Africa

Pretoria, South Africa

© ATAF 2020

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR PROCUREMENT OF AN INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT FOR

THE AFRICAN TAX ADMINISTRATION FORUM (ATAF) ACCREDITATION OF ATAF TRAINING PROGRAMMES AND REGIONALIZATION OF ATAF TRAINING ACTIVITIES

  1. ATAF Strategic Position and Background :

ATAF is a platform for building capacity within; and facilitating mutual co-operation among African Tax Administrations (and other relevant stakeholders), with the aim of improving the efficacy of their tax administration to optimise collections.

ATAF, in its 10 years of existence has built its profile with regard to this support to countries and its scope of activities has widened. ATAF’s core mission remains to improve the capacity of African tax administrations for better domestic resource mobilisation (DRM), mainly through capacity building activities and technical support. However, with a fast-changing environment and dynamic global tax agenda, ATAF consequently has to adapt its offering accordingly.

Improved DRM not only requires efficient and effective tax administrations; it also implies improved tax policy and legislation. In addition to its capacity development activities, ATAF is well placed to engage its members on tax policy and legislation discussions, instil knowledge in order to establish common understanding, and be a voice in the regional and global tax arena.

Based on the increased changes in the tax space, as well as the maturing of the organisation over the past 10 years, expectedly there is an increase in the expectations from its membership specifically, as their partner of choice whenever capacity needs arise.

ATAF adopted a new strategic plan which set out four strategic objectives and priority areas for the period 2016-2020, namely: (a) developing a sustainable member-oriented African organisation on tax matters; (b) Fostering efficient and effective African tax administrations; (c) driving the knowledge hub on African tax matters; and (d) informing and influencing the regional and global dialogue as the African voice in the field of taxation. ATAF’s mandate is to i) improve the capacity of African tax administrations to achieve their revenue objectives; ii) advance the role of taxation in African governance and state building; iii) produce and disseminate knowledge on tax matters to inform policy and legislation formulation, foster transparency and accountability and improve revenue collection; iv) provide a voice for African countries on regional and global platforms and influence the international tax debate; and v) develop and support partnerships between African countries and development partners.

As noted above attainment of the ATAF strategic objective and mandate still resonates around building the capacity of member tax administrations for improved revenue collection. Training by ATAF is demand driven in areas viewed by the membership as pertinent to improved revenue collection. Its scope and delivery varies and while the short-term training runs over five (5) days and 10 weeks are allocated for the virtual programmes. The training courses are tailor-made to address tax administration needs and mostly conducted in different countries. ATAF engages seasoned experts globally to deliver its courses, with a specific preference for continental experts for continuity, and to ensure that both the model and its delivery are fit for purpose

While the model is working fairly well for both the membership and the Secretariat for now, in order to consolidate and increase the value of the ATAF product, it is crucial that recognised accreditation is attained. This also provides quality assurance, and sustainability. Further arising from engagements ATAF have had in the past two years under the sponsorship of African Development Bank (ADB) with taxpayers education units, media, parliamentarians, Civil Society Organizations and corporate taxpaters, there is recommendation that ATAF should explore on the possibilities of accrediting its training activities. The recommendation resonates well with the guidance from the ATAF Council, hence the call for consultancy for technical guidance on both accreditation and regionalization of training activities.

  1. General Scope of the Consultancy Assignment :

The coverage of this consultancy is twofold, firstly to analyse the requirements for the Accreditation of ATAF’s training to its members. Secondly, the consultancy is to explore the possibilities of ATAF partnering with existing regional training facilities in its member countries in delivering the bulk of its training programmes. Leveraging on the training facilities of member countries is viewed as being both sustainable and cost-effective. Both the operationalization of regionalization of ATAF training activities and the accreditation process are key outcomes of the consultancy assignment and crucial to the attainment of ATAF’s vision and mission.

  1. Specific Terms of Reference for the Consultant :

The specific areas that the Consultant will be responsible for :

  • Carry out feasibility study on the viability of the assignment as provided in the consultancy scope ;
  • Develop the rationale for ATAF to accredit its training programmes and draw strategy on how best to achieve this expeditiously ;
  • Adopt the regionalization strategy clearly outlining the advantages and disadvantages to such an option ;
  • Propose an appropriate approach for ATAF to employ in order to accredit its training product e.g What will best suit ATAF on accreditation; will that be ATAF accrediting its own courses? or delivering courses using accredited trainers or partnering with accredited institutions to deliver its courses?
  • Propose a strategy for ATAF to adopt to regionalize its training activities with a clear cost benefit analysis including resources required ;
  • In the case of regionalization; will ATAF utilize facilities of existing training institutes from the continent in terms of venue and trainees accommodation or would it be more feasible for ATAF to utilize resource persons from training institutes that have key competences in requisite areas, or both- while maintaining the quality expected by its beneficiaries and stakeholders?
  • Draw a road map and timeframe for accreditation and regionalization should these be considered feasible ;
  • Prepare implementation and monitoring frameworks for both the accreditation and regionalization process ;
  • Provide clear cost implications of implementing the two processes ;
  • Provide ATAF Management with the draft report two months after the signing of contract and final report one (1) month later; and
  • Provide support in related areas that will be determined by the head of department.
  1. Expected Deliverables :

The Consultant’s key deliverables will be a final report with :

  • Viability of the two strategies ;
  • Budgetary justification for or against ATAF accrediting and regionalizing its training programme ;
  • Appropriate approach(es) recommended if ATAF is to accredit and regionalize its training programmes ;
  • Cost-benefit analysis for the interventions ;
  • Insert Key milestones to guide the process and ensure the projects are on track ;
  • Develop a summary of the identified institutions that ATAF Should partner with in both accreditation and regionalisation of its trainings; with full justification of the choices made ;
  • A clear road-map with time frames for implementation of the processes ;
  • Monitoring and evaluation framework.
  1. Profile of the Consultant :

The potential Consultant is expected to possess the following key competencies :

  1. A Master’s degree or equivalent in Education, Curriculum development, Economics, Organizational Development, Public Finance, Public Administration, Corporate Governance, Social Science, Law or related field ;
  2. A minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience in Education or policy development, management and administration, experience of working with tax administration will an added advantage ;
  3. Previous similar consultancy assignments will be a preference ;
  4. Strong project management skills, organisational skills and networking skill ;
  5. Strong reporting skills ;
  6. Excellent writing skills ;
  7. Good presentation skills ;
  8. Fluency in English or French.

Added advantages :

  1. Experience of working with International Organizations in designing and implementing new projects ;
  2. Experience in training and capacity development.

Thus, an individual with these competencies and proven experience of similar or related assignments is eligible for the position. Applications should be supported by no less than three traceable referees and previous work profile.

The performance criteria will be used to assess the delivery ability of the Consultant at regular intervals and upon which the contract may be continued or terminated are; effectiveness, efficiency and quality of delivering on the Scope of the assignment, specific terms of reference and expected key deliverables of the assignment.

  1. Resources Provided :

The Consultant will be consulting for the African Tax Administration Forum. He/she will be guided by the engagement contract and the Terms of Reference of the assignment from which details and conditions of the assignment will be stated.

  1. Duration :

The assignment shall run for a period not exceeding three (3) months from the signing of the contract.

  1. Reporting Structure :

The Consultant will engage with the training unit at ATAF under the guidance of the Director: Tax programmes. The draft report is expected to be submitted to the Director: Tax Programmes two months after the signing of the contract and the final report one (1) month after submission of the draft report.

  1. Restrictions :

In addition to the standard conflict of interest restrictions specified in the consulting contract, all materials created under the contract will remain the sole property of the African Tax Administration Forum. Reuse of the materials will require the formal, written approval from ATAF. The Consultant shall have no material interests in any of the outputs of this project.

  1. Evaluation Criteria :

The detailed evaluation criteria will be as follows ;

Id No Description of evaluation criteria Maximum points
1 A  Master’s  degree  or  equivalent  in  Education,  Curriculum development, Economics, Organizational Development, Public Finance, 15
Public Administration, Corporate Governance, Social Science, Law or related field;
2 A minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience in Education or policy development, management and administration. 25
Experience of working with tax administration will an added advantage;
3 Previous similar consultancy assignments will be a preference; 20
4 Strong project management skills, organisational skills and networking skill; 15
5 Strong reporting skills and Excellent writing skills; 15
6 Good presentation skills 5
7 Fluency in English or French 5

11.Submission of Expression of Interest

Interested individuals may obtain further information at the address below : Expressions of interest must be sent by email or to the address below by 15th May 2020 and subject should be “ACCREDITATION AND REGIONALIZATION OF ATAF TRAINING PROGRAMMES”.

Attn : Ms Nune Mandala, Procurement Specialist

Tel : +27 (0) 12 451 8837

E-mail : [email protected]