Avis de recrutement d’un consultant individuel pour la révision des règles administratives du SRP, H/F, Abidjan 01, Cote d’Ivoire

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP

STAFF RETIREMENT PLAN

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

FOR

AN INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Reference: SRPU/EOI/ SRPADMINISTRATIVE RULES REVIEW/2021

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

STAFF RETIREMENT PLAN

Avenue Joseph Anoma

01 BP 1387

Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

STAFF RETIREMENT PLAN UNIT

EMAIL: [email protected]

Title of the assignment: SRP ADMINISTRATIVE RULES REVIEW

Brief description of the Assignment : The mission objective is to update the administrative rules taking into account the current Plan rules, the policies and decisions of the Steering and Investment committees, procedures and practices guiding the operational activities of the Plan either described or to be described in administration and governance manual. A consultant, for whom terms of reference are defined below, will be recruited for this purpose.

Profile of the consultant: The Consultant must have a Master’s degree in Law or other relevant area. He/she shall possess a proven record of accomplishment of at least 10 years in drafting legal document and seasoned knowledge of international law, and related matters within the Bank or other international organizations.

The Consultant shall also have good interpersonal skills, good communication skills and very good command of English and French.

Individual consultants are invited to indicate their interest in providing the above -described services.

Place of assignment: The consultant will work under the responsibility of the Plan administrator of the Staff Retirement Plan based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Duration of the assignment: Tree months from the date of commencement of assignment

Tentative Date of commencement: 1^st December 2021

Applications to be submitted using the following address: [email protected]

Deadline for applications: 27 October 2021, not later than 17:00 GMT and must be clearly

marked: “SRPU/EOI/ SRPADMINISTRATIVE RULES REVIEW/2021”

Interested eligible consultants shall provide:

• A cover letter of maximum 300 words;
• Their Curriculum Vitae using the format in Appendix 1;and

• A financial proposal for the services.

Eligibility criteria, establishment of a shortlist and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedures for the Use of Consultants under projects financed by the Bank Group. Please note that the interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist.

It is required that all consultants of the Bank be registered in our database of using the following link:https://econsultant.afdb.org:44356/welcomedacon#.

Any questions and requests for clarifications may be sent to [email protected]

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. Background

1.1 The Staff Retirement Plan (SRP or the “Plan”) of the African Development Bank (the “Bank”) was established by Resolution No. 05/89 of the Board of Governors on 31 May 1989 and became operational on 1^st January 1990. The Plan is a Defined Benefits (DB) and Defined Contribution (DC) Scheme providing the following benefits: normal and early pension, death benefit (spouse and children), disability pension, withdrawal benefit and DC capital.

The main objective of the Plan is to provide income security to participants after separation from the Bank or to their survivors at the time of death of the member.

1.2 The Plan is financed by contributions from participants (9% of salaries) and the Bank (18% of salaries), as well as income generated from investments of the Plan’s assets which are invested by external asset managers in Africa and in the international financial markets.

1.3 The administration of the Plan is vested in three entities: the Steering Committee, the Investment Committee and the Plan Administrator.

1.3.1     The Steering Committee has the responsibility of:

• formulating the strategies and major policies of the Plan;
• supervising the administration of the benefits provided under the Plan;
• reviewing and following up the periodic actuarial valuation of the Plan;
• monitoring the activities of the Plan Investment Committee.

1.3.2    The Investment Committee is responsible for the assessment of the global management of the Plan portfolio, payments made, and the review of the sustainability of the Plan with an overall responsibility for the financial management of the Plan.

1.3.3     The Plan Administrator conducts the day-to-day operational and administrative business of the Plan and, subject to other provisions of the Plan, acts as the official representative of the Plan. The Plan Administrator office comprises two sections :

• Investment management service;

• Benefits administration service.

In the event of disagreement or litigation resulting from the application or interpretation of the provisions of the Plan, the Pension Appeals Committee and the Bank’s Administrative Tribunal may be referred to, within prescribed time limits.

1.4    Key documents of the Plan Administration are:

 Plan rules approved by the Board of Directors which governs the Administration, Investments and Benefits of the pension plan;

 Administrative rules approved by the Steering Committee which interprets and complements the provision of the Plan;

 Governance manual, which describes the Governance and Administration structure of the plan, presents policies and procedures, guidelines, templates and examples relevant to administration and operations of Plan.

1.5     A number of reforms have been made to the Plan in the last two decades, including:

1. 2004: Definition of the role of the Bank towards the Plan;
2. 2007: Inclusion of employees in Regional and Country offices of the Bank to the SRP;
3. 2008: Introduction of spouse pension and reduction of early retirement reduction rates;
4. 2009: 1^st Financial Sustainability Reforms of the SRP;
5. 2010: Creation of the SRP Administration;
6. 2011: Adoption of new commutation factors;
7. 2012: Increase in the retirement age to 62;
8. 2015: 2nd Financial Sustainability Reform of the SRP;
9. 2018: Reforms for an Alternative Plan Structure resulting in a DB/DC (Hybrid) Scheme.

1.6   Key interactions:

Within the Bank, the Plan Administration office interacts with the General Counsel and Legal Services, Human Resources, Treasury, Financial control, IT, Internal Audit and Risk Departments and outside the Bank, its principal stakeholders are the actuaries, the asset managers, the external auditors and sister organizations.

2. Objective of the Assignment

The mission objective is to update the administrative rules taking into account the current Plan rules, the reforms approved by the Board of Directors, namely the implementation of the hybrid pension scheme, the policies and decisions of the Steering and Investment committees, procedures and practices guiding the operational activities of the Plan either described or to be described in administration and governance manual.

The Consultant will also identify areas for vigilance or improvement in order to anticipate and limit any possible dispute or disagreement related to interpretation and to administrative practices, with reference to the best practices of Comparators. To this end, the consultant shall make relevant recommendations falling under the responsibility of the Board of Directors or of the governing bodies of the Plan or of the Plan Administrator.

3. Scope

The scope of the project will be as follows:

3.1 List all changes to be made to the existing administrative rules on the basis of the review of the Plan’s reference documents, legal opinions rendered on complex cases, interviews with the legal department, the Plan Administrator’s team and possibly the Steering, Investment and Appeal Committees.

3.2 Amend the administrative rules based on the list of changes and submit it to the Plan Administrator for review and validation with the Legal Department.

3.3 Present to the Steering Committee of the Plan the revised administrative regulations, as well as any relevant recommendations resulting from the review of documents and practices related to comparators with the aim of anticipating / limiting interpretative disagreements.

4. Input to the study

To amend the Administrative rules, the following documentary resources will be made available

• The Regulations and administrative rules of the Plan;
• SRP Reforms, Investment Guidelines, Actuarial valuations, Asset Liability Management (ALM) studies and other similar relevant documents;
• The Consultant’s shall gather all relevant information and undertake initial discussion; consult with the Plan Administrator and his Office team, the Legal Department and any other concerned stakeholders; and maintain regular communication with the Plan Administrator on the structure and content of the report.

5. Deliverables

The Consultant shall deliver a draft Administrative rule to be discussed in consultation with the Legal Department and presented to the Steering Committee, and, shall amend it, as necessary, to include comments received. The final document reflecting all comments shall be delivered to the Plan Administrator.

6. Timetable

1. The assignment should be completed within a period of three months from the date of commencement of assignment.
2. Reference documentation and initial meetings with various stakeholders will be conducted within two weeks from the commencement date,
3. The first draft report should be produced within six weeks from the commencement date.
4. The Plan Administration and the Legal Department should provide their comments and reviews within two weeks of the initial draft report submission.
5. The amended Administrative rules and recommendations should be produced within the next two weeks for submission to the Steering Committee.
6. The final Administrative rules reflecting comments from the Steering Committee shall be delivered to the Plan Administrator within the following two weeks.

APPENDIX 1. FORMAT OF CURRICULUM VITAE (CV) FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Education: {List college/university or other specialized education, giving names of educational institutions, dates attended, degree(s)/diploma(s) obtained}

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Employment record relevant to the assignment: {Starting with present position, list in reverse order. Please provide dates, name of employing organization, titles of positions held, types of activities performed and location of the assignment, and contact information of previous clients and employing organization(s) who can be contacted for references. Past employment that is not relevant to the assignment does not need to be included.}

Membership in Professional Associations and Publications:

______________________________________________________________________

Language Skills (indicate only languages in which you can work):

______________________________________________________________________

Certification:

I, the undersigned, certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief, this CV correctly describes myself, my qualifications, and my experience, and I am available to undertake the assignment in case of an award. I understand that any misstatement or misrepresentation described herein may lead to my disqualification or dismissal by the Client, and/or sanctions by the Bank.

                                                                                                                                                                          {day/month/year}

______________________________________________________________________

Name of Expert                                                                      Signature                                                                              Date