Finance Application Specialist - Consultancy Services For State Integrated Financial Management Information System (SIFMIS) at Rivers State Government

Reference No: RV/SFR/IC/AS/2018/01
Location: Rivers

Details

• This request for expressions of interest follows the general procurement notice for this project that appeared in Development Business on June 12, 2012.
• The Consultant is required to assist and guide the State Government prepare, coordinate and successfully implement the SIFMIS using technologies that are simple and user friendly. A SIFMIS Unit is in place in the Office of the Accountant-General to manage the implementation of the roll out to MDAs and undertake change management together with the SIFMIS vendor and State officials who are expected to provide leadership for the implementation to be successful.

Objectives

• The objective of the role of the SIFMIS Application Specialist is to provide technical support to the implementation of financial management reforms under the SIFMIS programme with specific focus on the implementation of an automated accounting and financial reporting system capable of addressing the long-term needs of all entities of Rivers State
• In addition to providing technical expertise, the SIFMIS Application Specialists will provide support to the Office of the Accountant General to create a culture for continuous improvement in public sector financial management and to act as change agents and spearhead the introduction of the financial management infrastructure in Government
• The Consultant is highly expected to take a “hands on” approach while undertaking activities on this assignment.

Scope of Service
The Consultant shall:

• Obtain knowledge of legislation, regulations, policies, procedures and systems relating to River States Government financial management activities and apply this knowledge in the course of execution of the assigned activities
• Provide technical expertise to the Office of the Accountant General aimed at improving public sector accounting, financial management activities and resolving key accounting problems existent in Rivers State Government
• Support the testing, trouble shooting, quality assurance and Post implementation of the SAP S/4HANA software selected by Rivers State Government post go-live
• To support the realization of the SIFMIS implementation objectives primarily comprising of improvements in the financial management activities especially the timely, accurate and reliable Government financial statements
• Support the formation of a financial management core group at the Accountant General's Office for the training, SIFMIS implementation, change management, and other accounting activities aimed at:
  • Improving the operation of existing accounting and financial management systems;
  • More effective financial and budgetary control practices;
  • Development of financial management system procedures following the successful introduction of the SIFMIS;
  • Training and capacity building of the Government accounting cadre
  • Being an agent of change management
• Support the development and implementation of a comprehensive capacity building and training initiative in order to enhance professional competencies of the public sector accounting cadre through the provision of in-house and on the job training to eliminate the skills gaps
• As part of the schedule of duties, this position will involve training and capacity building of SIFMIS Support Accountants and Government counterpart staff and a significant amount of knowledge transfer during the course of implementation. On completion of the assignment, knowledge transfer will be assessed as one of the major deliverables
• Assisting in testing process in order to discover errors and issues in business processes, documentation or user’s lack of experience
• Provide application support and training of end users during system implementation if required; Cooperating with Consultants from other modules such as MM, PM, PP and PS. The Functional expert should work closely with both the implementing partner and the QA team to ascertain the adequate implementation of the system functionalities in accordance with the system's requirements;
• Any other such duties as may be assigned from time to time by the Senior Financial Management Specialist or by the SIFMIS Coordinator and Accountant General in line with the SIFMIS implementation activities

The shortlisting criteria are:

• Providing evidence showing the fields of specialty of the Consultant (Consultant’s CV)
• Evidence of registration with relevant professional bodies
• Evidence showing the technical and managerial capabilities of the Consultant in the field of assignment
• Availability of appropriate skills and essential technology
• Experience of working in a similar geographical region
• Description of similar assignments. For each previous project performed, the Consultant shall provide the name and contact address of the client (office & e-mail address, and telephone number), date(s) of execution, and names of lead and associate firms, contract amount and financing sources.

Submission of Expression of Interests (EOIs)

• The Rivers State Employment and Expenditure for Results Project now invites eligible Consultant (“Individual Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services.
• Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services.
• The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of the World Bank’s Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants [under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants] by World Bank Borrowers [July 2014] (“Consultant Guidelines”)
• setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.
• A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultancy method set out in the Consultant Guidelines.