Public Financial Management Improvement Project Phase 2 ( - Тендер #54700807)

• Project ID

P177742

• Project Title

Public Financial Management Improvement Project Phase 2

• Country

West Bank and Gaza

• Notice No

OP00295262

• Notice Type

Request for Expression of Interest

• Notice Status

Published

• Borrower Bid Reference

GZ-MOFP-419920-CS-INDV

• Procurement Method

Individual Consultant Selection

• Language of Notice

English

• Submission Deadline Date/Time

Jul 04, 2024 11:00

• Published Date

Jun 12, 2024

• CONTACT INFORMATION
• Organization/Department

Palestinian Authority-Ministry of Finance and Planning

• Name

Fahed Sheikh

• Address

Ramallah, West Bank

• City

• Province/State

West Bank and Gaza

• Postal Code

• Country

West Bank and Gaza

• Phone

+970 592925954

• Email

sfahed@pmof.ps

• Website

Public Financial Management Improvement Project-Phase 2 (P177742)

Individual Consultant Selection

Terms of Reference and Scope of Services for : “Senior Tax Economist Consultant”

BACKGROUND

The Palestinian Liberation Organization, for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority, has received financing from the World Bank, International Development Association in the amount of USD 8 million towards the cost of the Public Financial Management Improvement Project-Phase 2 (PFMIP-Phase 2) (the Project hosted by Ministry of Finance - Ramallah, West Bank).

The Project development objective (PDO) is to enhance the expenditure controls, financial accountability and procurement management of the Palestinian Authority. To achieve this PDO, the project will mainly cover six components: Component 1- Improving Budget Expenditure Management and Control; Component 2- Financial Accountability; Component 3- Enhancing Revenue Mobilization; Component 4- Improving Public Procurement Management; Component 5- Closing Critical Data Gaps and Modernizing Statistics Production; Component 6- Project Implementation Support and Management;

The project activities are anticipated to have an overall positive environmental and social impact and are aimed at enhancing the PFM capacity in the country. On the other hand, the Project"s environmental and social risk rating is low.

The Project is implemented over 5 years by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in cooperation with the High Council for Public Procurement Policies (HCPPP), with State Audit & Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB), with PACC and the PCBS. HCPPP is managing the implementation of Component 4. A Project Management Unit (PMU) at the MOF is managing the implementation of the project.

Scope of the assignment

The consultant will support establishing an Analytics Unit at the Revenue Commission. This Unit aims at providing strategic and technical evidence-based advice about tax and customs polices to the Revenue Commissioner General. The unit will mainly rely on data gathering, data modeling, and conducting research into areas from which additional revenue can be mobilized. as well as analyzing aspects of taxpayer’s behavior and feedback. It shall be an evidence based data unit that could support the decision makers in designing and delivering increased revenues as well as tax policies that can contribute towards improved compliance, equity, transparency and coherence. It will also help in assessing the cost of tax compliance. On the other hand, it shall also have a wider brief as regards considering Governmental policies on health, environment and etc. – for example environmental taxes; tobacco taxation and other related numerical advises.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Build a context based medium term strategy paper (2025-2027) for the Unit (including vision, objectives, functions, sub-functions, and outputs of the unit) in consultation with the Revenue Commissioner General and his senior Customs and Tax staff.
• Build and design relevant organigram, terms of reference for the required team, covering core functions, responsibilities and the required professional skills and expertise of the required team. This also includes specifying all related programs and business intelligence tools that could be used by the team.
• Draw up a proposed work plan for Year 1 (2025).
• Develop a procedural manual for the units which includes;
• Methodology of data collections, modeling, analysis and data quality and assurance standards.
• Designs of pro forma for all regular reports, general purpose and proposed special reports.
• Internal reporting hierarchies and procedures.
• External communication procedures.

5. Deliver hands-on capacity development and full know-how transfer to the founding team; this includes but not limited to enable the team to:

• Have a strong understating of the unit strategy, the work plan, the procedural manual and the team duties to achieve the unit responsibilities.
• Apply tax data modeling, data forecasts, conducting sensitive analysis and draw possible scenarios, etc.
• Design and coordinate comprehensive studies to support building sound tax policy decisions. These may include how to conduct impact studies, analysis of exemptions and tax expenditure, or research into specific tax considerations such as the differential impact of certain taxes on gender/vulnerable groups etc.
• Evaluation and analysis of the efficiency and fairness of the main applied taxes.
• Build sensitivity analysis about changes in tax rates reduction/elimination of certain exemptions.
• Orient the team on how to support tax policy decision making with evidence-based data and provide sense of direction to areas of potential tax avoidance and evasion.
• Assessment of potential revenue and efficiency gains from proposed reforms.
• Conducting cost-benefit analyses of proposed decisions, support to senior management in relation to tax policy interventions.
• How to deliver quality regular reporting about the implementation of tax regulations/polices.
• 6. At end of the assignment, issuing a final report about the unit and staff progress status and recommendation for enhancements.

Deliverables and timeline:

Indicative timeline (length of pausing periods between onsite missions will be confirmed by issuing admin directives by PFMI project during implementation):

Academic and professional qualifications:

• At least a Bachelor degree in Finance or Economics or other relevant fields
• Practical and proven (minimum 10 years) experience in tax policy or tax research in international contexts, and in particular in the context of developing countries.
• Advanced skills in data management, analysis and modeling using specialized systems such as advance financial excel, SPSS, Tableau, etc.
• Experience in developing the technical capacity, including strong mentoring/coaching/training skills, where sustainable transfer of knowledge and skills is a priority.
• Ability to work effectively in politically sensitive and challenging environments.
• knowledgeable and experienced in the economic and social environment of Palestine.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with related stakeholders.
• Excellent command of English Language (Arabic Language is a plus)

Assignment duration:

One-year Contract.

Terms of payments:

• Payments under this contract will be issued upon the approval and acceptance of deliverables as set in the following table. in addition to reimbursing related expenses pertains to each deliverables. All reimbursable expenses will be subjected to prior review and acceptance process by the project.
• Remunerations will be calculated according number of working days per each deliverables and for other onsite and virtual tasks.
• Reimbursable will subject to submitting full original supporting claim documents.

Reporting and deliverables:

The consultant shall report directly to the Revenue Commissioner General with a final approval of the PFMI project.

General Conditions:

• Only short-listed candidates will be called for interview. The date & time of interview will be communicated through email.
• Contract ceiling amount will include remuneration and reimbursable (all taxes, per Diem, accommodation, transportation, and all associated costs to accomplish the assignment) costs.

The selection will be made in accordance with the Open Competitive Selection of Individual Consultants of World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers of the World Bank, September 2023 edition setting out the policy of the World Bank regarding conflicts of interest.

Interested consultants should express their expression of interest by submitting recent Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a cover letter (indicating how their previous experience and achievements matches with the TORs), by 4th July 2024 till 11:00 AM (East Jerusalem time) to email pfmi.bids@pmof.ps.

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