Call for Tender External Auditor FIDA Nigeria

1. General Information:
   The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of over 4,000 female lawyers with several years’ experience in utilizing the law to address social problems in Nigeria. The organization’s mandate is the enhancement, promotion, protection and preservation of the rights and welfare of women and children in Nigeria. FIDA Nigeria implements key projects and activities aimed at providing access to justice to indigent persons, particularly women and children.
   
2. Information of tendering

2.1 Purpose
FIDA Nigeria plans to finalise a contract with a highly specialised external service provider to provide auditing services. According to Section 29 of the FIDA constitution, FIDA Nigeria shall be subject to the requirements of the country’s law where it has its statutory seat regarding preparation, filing, auditing and publication of accounts. An auditor’s assessment of the correctness of the organization’s accounts will be an invaluable source of support for FIDA members and supervisory bodies, helping them fulfil their monitoring function. The present tender aims to select a qualified organisation specialized in auditing consulting services to perform an economic and financial audit for the FIDA Nigeria accounts and Financial Statements for the financial years from 2024 to 2026. This call for tender includes a description of the required services and instructions to be followed to participate in the tendering process. FIDA Nigeria procurement policy follows the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and competition. According to FIDA policies and procedures, FIDA Nigeria shall treat procurement candidates and tenderers equally and without discrimination.

     2.2. The subject of the contract 

The awarded contractor will be required to perform auditing services to the accounts of the FIDA Nigeria financial years from 2024 to 2026 (three years), stating that the assignment will continue until the approval by the National Executives Committee of the Financial Statements as of 30/09/2026. The purpose of the audit will be to examine FIDA Nigeria accounts and the annual Financial Statements, including the balance sheet of the assets and liabilities and profit and loss account and accompanying disclosures and notes, to gain assurance on the effective functioning of the management and control systems, and to give an evaluation of the appropriateness of accounting policies used and of the reasonableness of accounting estimates, made by the management; the Auditors is requested to provide its professional opinion on these Financial Statements, whether they are prepared, in all material respects, by the applicable financial reporting framework, that is a general-purpose one. The examination will be aimed to check and make certain that the FIDA Nigeria accounts and annual statements are correct and complete. The audit activity will investigate the accounting records, the internal control policies and accounts to ensure they align with the accounting standards. The result of this examination will be an “Audited Financial Statements” expressed by the independent Auditor, representing the Auditor’s opinion on the fairness and appropriateness of the annual Statements of accounts and related disclosures. Regarding the Financial Statements, FIDA Nigeria adopts an accrual-based accounting system by IFRS, integrated to be consistent with the legal structure, activities and scopes of FIDA Nigeria.

         2.3. Duration and maximum volume of the Contract 

The contract duration will be three financial years: 2024, 2025 and 2026. The contract might be renewed, a previously written decision, for one time under specific conditions to be agreed by the parties, in line with those provided in this tender.

The maximum amount of this contract is estimated at N1,500,000 (One million five hundred thousand Naira only) over the three years, divided as follow:
1. The year 2024 = Naira 500,000
2. The year 2025 = Naira 500,000
3. The year 2026 = Naira 500,000 (This includes the first portion of 2027 until the 2026
Financial Statements approval).

It will comprise the remuneration and all expenses to be paid to the Auditor in return for services rendered by the contract. No price revisions to the agreement shall be allowed, except for considerable increases in audit activities required to the Auditor to be agreed between the parties. FIDA Nigeria benefits VAT exemption from the FIRS article. Price is quoted in Naira and will be WHT deductible.

            2.4. Contractual conditions 

The tenderer should bear in mind the provisions of the draft contract, which specify the rights and obligations of the contractor, particularly those on payments, the performance of the agreement, confidentiality, and checks and audits. It is asked that the Audited Account should be delivered to the FIDA Country Vice president no later than 31st October of each year.

             2.5. Standards 

The Auditor undertakes to comply with generally and internationally accepted standards for auditing – International Standard Auditing (ISA) and in particular with ISA Nigeria.

              2.6. Compliance with applicable law 

The tender, if awarded at the time of submitting the offer and beyond over the assignment years, must comply with applicable environmental, social and labour law obligations established by Union law, Nigerian legislation, collective agreements or the international environmental, social security and labour conventions. The exact compliance must be verified about fiscal matters.

2.7. Subcontracting
The Auditor shall not subcontract any portion of the activities or contract.

3. Tender evaluation
   Tenderers must prove their legal, regulatory, economic, financial, technical and professional capacity to carry out the work subject to this procedure.

The evaluation is based solely on the information provided in the submitted tender. It involves the following:
▪ Verification of non-exclusion of tenderers based on the exclusion criteria;
▪ Selection of tenderers based on selection criteria;
▪ Proof of compliance with the minimum requirements set out in these tender specifications;
▪ Evaluation of tenders based on the award criteria.

FIDA Nigeria may reject abnormally low tenders, particularly if it is established that the tenderer does not comply with applicable obligations in environmental, social security and labour law, and fiscal matters. The tenders will be assessed in the order indicated above. Only tenders meeting the requirements of one step will pass on to the next step.

  3.1 Legal and regulatory capacity 

Tenderers must prove that they are allowed to pursue the professional activity necessary to carry out the work subject to this call for tenders and must provide the following information in its tender:

• A certificate of legal effectiveness issued by the Corporate affairs commission, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (chartered in its country and preferably in Nigeria as well) and a certificate of a VAT position.
• A legible copy of the notice of appointment of the persons authorised to represent the tenderer in dealings with third parties and legal proceedings, or a copy of the publication of such work if the legislation applicable to the legal person requires such publication. Any delegation of this authorisation to another representative not indicated in the official appointment must be evidenced.

3.2 Economic and financial capacity criteria and evidence
The following economic and financial evidence should be provided:
I. Statement of turnover in respect of the services to which the contract relates for the previous two financial years of at least Naira 5,000,000 (Five million) per year;
II. Copy of the financial statements (profit & loss account and balance sheet and notes) for the last two years;
III. Evidence of tax clearance certificates for last 2 years.

3.3 Technical and professional capacity criteria and evidence

a. Criteria relating to tenderers
Tenderers must comply with the following criteria:

• A complete description of the tenderer’s references in the Nigerian space. This should include examples of work covering at least three years’ work directly related to these services and products, indicating how the tenderer has carried out similar types of work in the past for public or private sector recipients.
• Evidence of affiliation to a body such as the ICAN, FRCN, the IEA (Institute of External Auditors) or equivalent. In the absence of such an affiliation, the tenderers should demonstrate how they will undertake to comply with international audit standards. The Nigerian tenderers must be registered to the financial reporting council of Nigeria
• The tenderer must ensure that its standards about all security matters including, but not limited to, physical security, data security, and virus protection, are in accordance at all times with the highest possible standards, best practices, and any relevant legislation or code of practice with which they are bound to comply.
• The tenderer must prove their capacity to draft reports in the English language. b. Criteria relating to the team delivering the services:
  The team providing the services should include, as a minimum, the following two profiles:
  Staff. N°1: Audit Senior
  Be an auditor who should have:
• At least five years of professional experience carrying out audit and control activities;
• should have excellent knowledge of Nigerian Laws and Regulation regarding the Not for profit field;
• should have an excellent knowledge of written and spoken English language.
• Status of Certified Auditor and Chartered Accountant; – the statutory capacity to commit the Company in writing (only in the case of companies).

Staff. N°2: Audit specialist

• At least three years of professional experience carrying out audit and control activities;
• should have excellent knowledge of Nigerian Laws and Regulation regarding the Not for profit field
• Should have an excellent knowledge of written and spoken English language,
• Status of Certified Auditor and Chartered Accountant.

The following technical and professional evidence should be provided to fulfil the above criteria: – Technical and professional capacity by delivering Curriculum Vitae of the two team members involved in providing services. CVs should include information on work experience, qualifications, and language ability.

• A list of services proving experience in auditing public administrations’ expenditures, especially not for profit organisations. The services directly relevant to the tender must have been provided within the last three years. The list should include at least five audits with at least one audit of each of the following types:
  – Financial audit regarding Financial Statements drawn for general purposes;
  – Nigeria Not for profit organisation audit.
  The list should also include the amount, date and public or private recipients of
  the services.
• The tenderer should prove the linguistic capacity of the team.

1. Award Evaluation
   The tender will be awarded according to the best-value-for-money criteria and procedure. FIDA Nigeria may, at its discretion, extend the closing date and time of the tender. The selection procedure will be based on equal treatment, fairness, and transparency principles by an evaluation panel.

All applicants will receive acknowledgment of receipt of their tender and will be informed of the outcome of the selection process of their offer by e-mail only within two weeks following the evaluation procedure conclusion. Tenderers should provide a valid e-mail address and contact details in the tender. FIDA Nigeria is not obliged to provide reasons for its decision to shortlist, accept or reject any tender. FIDA reserves the right to conclude or not the tender process and select the successful tenderer. FIDA Nigeria will not be contractually bound to a bidder for this tender until FIDA Nigeria, and the successful winner, has entered into a written contract.

The following offers will be excluded from the tendering procedure:
− Those received after the deadline;
− Those missing information about the professional economic operator or lacking the
requested requirements;
− Those submitted by experienced economic operators whose position is inconsistent
with the law or the procedure;
− According to Nigerian law, those submitted by professional economic operators who
are subject to one of the causes of exclusion.
If the documents delivered by the tenderer are inconsistent with the statements made in presenting its offer, and the award must be invalidated.

5. Accuracy of proposal
   The tender must be clear, concise and complete. Tenderers are advised to check the accuracy of their submission before return, paying particular attention to clerical errors and omissions. Tenderers will not be permitted to amend proposals after the proposed return date except as part of any proposal clarification process initiated by FIDA Nigeria. FIDA Nigeria reserves the right to mark a tenderer down or exclude them from the procurement if their tenders contain any ambiguities, caveats or lack of clarity. Tenderers should submit only such information necessary to respond effectively to this call. Tenders will be evaluated based on information submitted by their tenders only before the deadline for submission of tenders.
   
6. Tender procedure scheduled
   The tender is open from the 11/03/2024 to 25/03/2024.
   
7. Confidentiality and conflict of interest
   The tenderers undertake that they will not at any time, either before, during or after the termination of the service contract, use, disclose, or communicate to any third parties confidential information relating to FIDA Nigeria. This restriction shall continue to apply after the contract’s termination without a limit in time. To ensure the independence of the terms of the agreement, the winning tenderer will sign a declaration certifying that it has no conflict of interest about the tasks to be undertaken and that it will inform FIDA Nigeria should this status change.
   
8. Terms and condition
   This invitation to tender is in no way binding on FIDA Nigeria. Its contractual obligation commences only upon the signature of the contract with the successful tenderer awarded. FIDA Nigeria may cancel the award procedure up to the point of the signature without the candidates or tenderers being entitled to claim any compensation. This decision must be substantiated, and the candidates or tenderers notified. Similarly, FIDA Nigeria reserves the right to reject any proposals, advertise for new bids, abandon the need for services, or amend this Call for Tender at any time before executing the written contract. FIDA Nigeria reserves the right to waive any formalities in the call for the tender process. FIDA Nigeria shall not be liable for any compensation concerning tenderers whose tenders have not been accepted or ranked. Nor shall it be liable if it decides not to award the contract.
   The Tenderer accepts all the terms and conditions in this call for Tender by submitting a tender. The Tenderer agrees that:
   – FIDA Nigeria may copy the proposal to facilitate the evaluation of the proposal and
   agrees that such copying will not violate the rights of any third party.
   – It will not bring any claim or cause of action against FIDA Nigeria based on any
   misunderstanding concerning the information provided or FIDA Nigeria’s failure,
   neglect or otherwise, to give the bidder pertinent information as this Call for Tender.

The agreement for services provided will be completed by signing a contract between the parties. It will include the terms and conditions for the services offered, the terms of delivery, invoicing and banking payment modalities, and the termination of the contract.

9. Privacy Statement
   Once FIDA Nigeria has received and opened the tender, it becomes her property and shall be treated confidentially.

FIDA Nigeria will treat your data with respect. The tenderer can contact FIDA Nigeria anytime to cancel the consent to store and use its data by emailing hr@fida.org.ng
Unless indicated otherwise, the replies to the questions and any personal data requested are required to evaluate the tender by the specifications of the invitation to tender. They will be processed solely by FIDA Nigeria.

10. Contact Person
    Information and any question regarding the tender should be submitted to the Human Resource Manager at ez.obiajunwa@fida.org.ng

Questions shall be submitted in English only to clarify the procurement documents and procedure. FIDA Nigeria may respond to questions or provide information from tenderers but is under no obligation to provide such responses or information to all the other tenderers.

11. Contracting Organisation
    FIDA Nigeria
    Block 2, flat 1, Ankpa close,
    Ogun street
    Area 2, Abuja.