REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) For Auditing Service Issue Date: Nov, 03, 2018 Closing Date: November 15, 2018 Question Inquiry Submission Deadline: November 14, 2018 Afghanistan Payments System (APS), House # 29, Street # 8, District 10, Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul-Afghanistan 1 P a g e
Table of Contents Section 1 General:... 1 Overall Objective:... 2 Section - 2 Checklist:... 3 Cover Letter:... 4 Business License... 5 Summary of Relevant Capability, Experience & Past Performance... 6 Section 3 Scope Of Work:... 7 Reports and Deliverables... 8 Timeline... 9 Section - 4 RFP Submission Guidelines, Questions & Evaluation Process... 10 RFP Submission Guidelines:... 11 Questions:... 12 Evaluation Process:... 13 2 P a g e
Section 1 General: Afghanistan Payments System, is a Limited Liability Company duly registered at Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA). APS commenced its operation in 2011 and its registered address is, H# 29, Lane 1, Street 8, Shahre-Naw, District 10, Kabul-Afghanistan. APS was initially inaugurated and founded by Pashtany Bank, BMA and Ghazanfar Bank. Azizi Bank, IBA and Afghanistan Commercial Bank subsequently acquired full membership of APS. APS invites tenders from reputable consulting firms for the provision of external audit services for the financial year 2018. Overall Objectives Auditors shall conduct audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA) with the objective of expressing an opinion whether the Financial Statements give a true and fair view of the state of APS affairs as at the statement of financial position date and its financial performance and of its cash flows, then ending in accordance with international financial reporting standards. The audit will be conducted with the objective of expressing an opinion on the financial statements. Section - 2 Checklist: To assist offerors in preparation of proposals, the following checklist summarizes the documentation to include an offer in response to this RFP. 3 P a g e
Cover Letter: The following cover letter must be placed on letterhead and completed/signed/stamped by a representative authorized to sign on behalf of the offeror: To: Ref: Afghanistan Payments System (APS) House 29, Street 8, Lane 1, District 10, Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul-Afghanistan APS-RFP-18-003 Procurement and Provision of (Auditing Service) We, the undersigned, hereby provide the attached offer to perform all work required to complete the activities and requirements as described in the above-referenced RFP. Please find our offer attached. We hereby acknowledge and agree to all terms, conditions, special provisions, and instructions included in the above-referenced RFP. We further certify that the below named firm as well as the firm s principal officers and all commodities and services offered in response to this RFP are eligible to participate in this procurement under the terms of this solicitation. Furthermore, we hereby certify that, to the best of our knowledge and belief: We have no close, familial, or financial relationships with any APS staff members; We have no close, familial, or financial relationships with any other offerors submitting proposals in response to the above-referenced RFP; and The prices in our offer have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other offeror or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition. We hereby certify that the enclosed representations, certifications, and other statements are accurate, current, and complete. Authorized Signature: Name and Title of Signatory: Date: Company Name: Company Address: Company Telephone and Website: Company Email: Company Registration or Taxpayer ID Number: Does the company have an active bank account (Yes/No)? Official name associated with bank account (for payment): 4 P a g e
Business License Please Attach Your Company Business License 5 P a g e
Summary of Relevant Capability, Experience & Past Performance Include projects that best illustrate your experience relevant to this (RFP) or similar activities, sorted by decreasing order of completion date. Projects should have been undertaken in the past three years (i.e. 2017, 2016 and 2015). NO Project Title & Description of Activities Location Province/District Client Name/Tel # Cost in US$/AFA Start Dates End Dates Completed on Schedule (Yes/No) Subcontractor or Prime Contractor? 1 2 3 6 P a g e
Section 3 Scope of Work: These terms of reference address the requirement for external audit of financial statements of Afghanistan Payments System (APS) for one financial year starting from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. Audit will be conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those standards require that with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatements. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements, report will be addressed to BoS members of APS. External auditors have to present the audit report to BoS members and provide necessary clarifications required by BoS members Audit should be carried out in accordance to ISA (International Standards on Auditing). Sufficient audit evidence should be gathered to substantiate in all material respects the accuracy of financial statements. The audit report of the auditors should state if the audit was not in conformity with any of the above and indicate the alternative standards or procedures followed. The external auditors should examine the reliability and appropriateness of information technology and related systems through which financial statements are prepared and accounts are maintained. External auditors should report on appropriateness of internal controls which has direct relation with accuracy of financial statements. 7 P a g e
Reports and Deliverables With regard to the financial and portfolio audit, the consultant is required to provide the following reports: The annual financial statements, after appropriate adjustments, for period under review: Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Statement, Statement of Changes in Shareholders Equity; The basic audit opinion rendered of the Financial Statements; An enumeration and quantification of all adjustments necessary to fairly present the Financial Statements; In addition to the above, the financial audit report shall be prepared and submitted in Long Form, and shall discuss the following: The auditors must mention any inability to obtain sufficient information or verify any part of work and enter a relevant reservation in judgment. Timeline The total length of the assignment is around 2 weeks (31 st Dec 2018 15 th January 2019) for the year 2018. Required Personnel Composition of team for conducting audit of APS should be as following: Designation Number of Persons Required Qualifications Experience Team Leader One CA or Equivalent Seven years of Bank Audit Senior Auditor One CA or Equivalent Five years of Bank Audit Junior Auditor Two Graduate in Commerce or Economics Three years of Audit Banking Expert One Masters in Finance, banking or related field Five years experience in banking and consulting (organizational and institutional audits) 8 P a g e
Since the audit will be for opinion of financial statements, so it is a thorough process which requires inclusion of qualified team on all the related areas. Curriculum Vitae (CVs) of the principals of the firms who would be responsible for providing the opinions and reports should be provided, together with the CVs of other personnel proposed for the project. CVs for audit personnel should include details on audits carried out by these staff, including ongoing assignments. Recommended qualifications and experience are detailed below. Team Leader Tertiary qualifications Member of an internationally recognized accounting professional body Minimum fifteen years experience in the accounting profession Minimum seven years auditing experience of financial institutions Demonstrated analytical and communication skills Demonstrated similar experience in the management of complex engagements Senior Auditor Tertiary qualifications Member of internationally recognized accounting professional body Minimum ten years experience in the accounting profession Minimum five years auditing experience of financial institutions Demonstrated analytical and communication skills Similar experience in developing countries desirable Banking expert Masters in Finance, banking or related field Minimum ten years experience in the banking Demonstrated analytical and communication skills Demonstrated similar experience in the management of complex engagements 9 P a g e
Junior Auditors Graduate in Commerce or Economics Minimum three years experience in the accounting profession Demonstrated analytical and communication skills Location of the Assignment The auditor will be based in APS Office, Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul-Afghanistan. Reporting The firm will provide regular progress reports on its consultancy to the APS BoS member RFP Submission Guidelines: Cover Letter shall be included in proposals and signed by the person or persons authorized to sign on behalf of the vendor. A sample of cover letter is in Section 2. Proposal must be received no later than 01:00 PM local Kabul time on November, 15, 2018, to be sent by hard copy only to the following address Admin Department, The Afghanistan Payments System APS, House 29, Street 8, Lane 1, District 10, Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul- Afghanistan. The Proposal must be stamped and signed by the offeror s authorized representative before submission. Please reference the RFP number in any response to this RFP. Offers received after the specified time and date will be considered late and will be considered only at the discretion of APS. Questions: All question pertaining to the RFP must be submitted in writing by email to Mr. Mohammad Ayub Sabir ayub.sabir@aps.af or Mr. Mohammad Jaber Rafi Jaber.ahmad@aps.af Questions submitted up to November 14,2018 will be answered through emails. 10 P a g e
Evaluation Process: The Proposals will be evaluated in terms of fairness, cost-consciousness, and best value to the APS considering both technical and cost factors. There may be multiple awards considering the technical compliancy and low price methodology. The award will be to the responsive and responsible offeror that offers best to APS. APS may reject all of the proposals submitted for good cause. APS may negotiate Technical Requirements or service provided in terms with one or more of the bidders if it feels that negotiations would improve the chances that APS receives a better Financial & Technical Proposal. The Proposals will be evaluated according to the below criteria: Compliance with the Scope of work indicated in the section 3. Required Personnel Company s past performance and reference for the provision of similar service. The overall costs. Percentage Technical Proposal 50% Financial offer 50% Total 100 11 P a g e