Financial Audit Services: On behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Northern Ireland Audit Office Invitation to Tender potx

1 Financial Audit Services: On behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Northern Ireland Audit Office Invitation to Tender Introduction 1.1 This Invitation to tender ITT s

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Financial Audit Services: On behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Northern Ireland Audit Office

Invitation to Tender

Introduction

1.1 This Invitation to tender (ITT) sets out the requirements of the services to be provided under this pr

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General Information

1.9 Whilst every effort has been made to give an accurate description of the requirements set out in this ITT, organisations responding to the ITT should form their own

conclusions about the methods and resources needed to meet the Requirements The NIAO cannot accept responsibility for any costs incurred in the participation in this procurement, including any costs relating to the preparation of the tender Tenderers should note that the NIAO reserves the right to terminate the procurement process at any stage and not to award any Contracts

Enquiries

1.10 All enquiries about the nature of the Requirements or procurement/contractual issues should be addressed in writing to:

Procurement Manager

Northern Ireland Audit Office

106 University Street

Belfast

BT7 1EU

Tel : 028 90251065

Fax : 028 90251051

Email: procurement@niauditoffice.gov.uk

Service Requirements

2.1 The purpose of this section is to specify the service and information requirements relating to the services, which are being let in four lots

2.2 The assignments comprise financial audits conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by the Auditing Practices Board The C&AG has personal responsibility for signing the audit certificate for the accounts of all

of the organisations included in this invitation to tender

2.3 The contract for each lot shall cover the audit of the 2010-2011, 2011-12, 2012-2013 accounts, with the option of extending annually to cover the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 accounts

2.4 The specific requirements relating to each audit assignment are set out in the Terms of Reference for each lot

2.5 Additionally:

(i) Tenderers should confirm their status as appropriately qualified auditors and

provide relevant details;

(ii) Tenderers must demonstrate their knowledge and relevant experience of the

public sector, including the accounting, auditing and corporate governance framework;

(iii) Tenderers must be able to provide staff who have a sound general knowledge

of the issues and problems relating to the public sector and of the corporate governance framework in place in the sector Only staff who are trained and suitably qualified to undertake the audit work should be provided;

(iv) Tenderers must confirm that they are able to comply with NIAO’s five year

policy for rotation of engagement partners and managers The policy

includes work on previous organisations which have subsequently merged;

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(v) Tenderers should demonstrate that they are able, technically, to supply the

services for which they are bidding;

(vi) Tenderers must describe their quality assurance arrangements, outlining their

arrangements for complying with ISQC1 and ISA 220;

(vii) Tenderers must provide full details of their organisation’s training policies and

practices and the extent to which these address the accounting, auditing and corporate governance framework in the public sector;

(viii) Audit Assignments may require attendance at a number of locations within

each organisation, and tenderers must confirm they are capable of fulfilling such requirements regardless of location;

(ix) Tenderers must certify that they have not colluded with other firms tendering for

the contract;

(x) Tenderers must confirm that there would be no conflict or perceived conflict of

interest in relation to their servicing this contract (more information is provided

in paragraphs 2.19 and 2.20 below)

(xi) Tenderers must complete the Background Information Questionnaire at

Appendix 1 and the Freedom of Information Statement at Appendix 3

(xii) The NIAO Standard Terms and Conditions applicable to the Contracts are

attached at Appendix 2 Tenderers must accept and agree to abide by these

Terms and Conditions which take precedence over any terms, conditions, stipulations or provisos which may appear on or be annexed to any

correspondence submitted by the tenderer in connection with this Contract 2.6 All information provided by the NIAO, their clients or otherwise obtained during the course of an audit must be treated in strict confidence Staff engaged by the Service Provider and having access to such information will have to agree to be bound by the Official Secrets Act 1911 to 1989

Security Clearance Procedures

2.7 Service Providers will be required to follow NIAO security clearance procedures for all their staff engaged on audit work These will require the completion of Security

Questionnaires Service providers will need to allow for this lead-time in providing details of all their staff to be engaged on audits The expectation is that in all instances the Contractor shall ensure that only personnel that have been security cleared to the Standard Personnel Security level will carry out work associated with contract audits 2.8 In order to obtain the required security clearance the Contractor shall obtain and pay for the Standard Personnel Security clearance and deliver the Disclosure Certificate received from AccessNI for each individual to the NIAO’s Central Services Branch (photocopies will not be accepted) It should be possible to anticipate and complete this clearance well in advance of the audit commencing in the majority of cases 2.9 It is not necessary however to have staff security cleared before bidding for these contracts but firms will be expected to move quickly to complete the security

arrangements if they are awarded a contract

2.10 The NIAO security clearance arrangements have been updated to reflect the current roles of Access NI and the Defence Vetting Agency (DVA) Further details are

provided in Appendix 4

Clarified International Standards on Auditing

2.11 Clarified International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) were issued in October

2009 and will apply to the audits in these contracts

Reclassification to Central Government Sector

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2.12 On 13 October 2010, The Office of National Statistics announced the reclassification of

Further Education Colleges to the central government sector The full implications of this announcement are not known yet, however, the financial statements may need to

be re-stated and prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) This may have a bearing on the form and scope of the audit to be undertaken which

may require the audit fee to be renegotiated

Shadow Audit Certificates

2.13 A shadow audit certificate is one which advises the reader what the audit opinion would have been if the auditor had a statutory responsibility for certifying the accounts

A shadow certificate is provided by the firm on our contracted out audits In these cases the work carried out by a firm under contract to the NIAO results in a shadow certificate which is provided by the firm to the NIAO The statutory responsibility rests with the NIAO and the C&AG certifies the account

Tender Evaluation

2.14 The NIAO will award a contract for each lot on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender received for the assignment, having regard to the following criteria and associated weightings:

(1) Proposed audit approach to the Audit Assignment (20%)

(2) Application of relevant experience and track record to the Audit Assignment (15%) (3) Resources proposed for the Audit Assignment (15%)

(4) Total cost of the Audit Assignment (50%)

2.15 Where there are several audits in one lot, the audits will be assessed as one unit However, each individual audit will be required to meet a minimum standard for each criteria (1) to (4) above Each proposal should contain sufficient information on the above criteria to allow each audit within a lot to be individually assessed

2.16 Tenderers may be required to attend clarification interviews as part of the evaluation process They may also be required to give presentations as part of the final selection process

Procurement Timetable

2.17 The closing date for receipt of tenders is 12.00 pm on Wednesday,20 th April

2011 The target timetable for the remaining stages of the procurement is as follows:

Date

May 2011

Notification of intention to award contracts/agreements By Tuesday 17th May

2011

2011

2011

2.18 Late tenders will not be considered

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Conflict of Interest

2.19 Tenderers must confirm in their proposals that there would be no conflict or perceived conflict of interest in relation to their servicing this contract Further details relating to conflicts of interest are provided in the Terms of Reference for each Lot

2.20 Tenderers should supply information in relation to existing contractual links In order for the NIAO to consider the impact on the firm’s independence of any other work undertaken for the audited body or funding department and related bodies as detailed

in Annex A of the Terms of Reference of each audit, tenderers must therefore provide

a complete listing, giving:

• details of all existing contractual links between the firm and the audited body which may cause or be perceived to cause a conflict of interest situation to arise – this should include any work carried out during the last two years and any major work

on information systems which are still in use within the audited body or its parent department and related bodies; and

• details of all existing contractual links between the firm and any third party, whose interest may conflict or be perceived to conflict with those of the audited body

Assumptions

2.21 Tenderers must not make assumptions that the NIAO has experience of their

organisation or their service provision even if on a current or previous contract

Tenderers will only be evaluated on the information provided in their response

Official Amendments

2.22 Should it be necessary for the NIAO to amend the tender documentation in any way, prior to receipt of tenders, all tenderers in receipt of documents will be notified

simultaneously If deemed appropriate, the deadline for receipt of tenders will be extended

Freedom of Information Act (FOI)

2.23 The tenderer should treat the Tender documents as private and confidential between themselves and the NIAO Tenderers are advised that the NIAO has incorporated a clause in its terms and conditions of contract to ensure full compliance with the

Freedom of Information Act Please note that the clause states that unless an

exemption provided for under the Act is applicable in relation to any particular

information, a public authority will be obliged to disclose that information in response to

a request regardless of the terms of any contract

2.24 Tenderers are asked to consider if any of the information supplied in the course of this tender competition should not be disclosed because of its sensitivity Tenderers must

complete the “Freedom of Information Statement” contained at Appendix 3 identifying

which information is considered commercially sensitive, specify the reasons for its sensitivity and specify the period for which the information will remain sensitive The NIAO will consult with you about sensitive information before making a decision on any Freedom of Information requests received

Response to the ITT

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3.1 The purpose of this section is to detail how Tenderers must respond to this ITT

3.2 Tenderers are required to submit a single proposal for each Lot, ensuring each

proposal meets the Requirements in section 2 above The proposal for each Lot

should meet the full ‘Information Requirements’ in the audit terms of reference for each individual audit within the Lot

Format of Responses

3.3 Prospective Service Providers should provide a response to this ITT by submitting a Full Proposal A Full Proposal should be provided for each Lot, as appropriate

3.4 The Proposal should adopt the following format:

Section 1: Management Summary - this should summarise the key elements of the

Tenderer’s proposals including the price, per year and in total

Section 2: Introduction – this should be brief (no more than two A4 single sided

pages), outlining the subject of the Full Proposal and confirming a single contact point for correspondence, queries, etc

Section 3: Response to Service Requirements – the proposal should specify in

detail the Tenderer’s approach to the Requirements The Tenderer must address each of the Requirements set out in paragraph 2.5 above, and in section 3 in each of the terms of reference for each of the individual audits within for the Lot for which they are bidding

Section 4: Appendix 1 (Background Information) – Tenderers must submit

completed questionnaire and associated documents

Section 5: Appendix 3 (Freedom of Information) - Tenderers must submit a

completed freedom of information statement

3.5 All submissions must be in the English language and all prices must be exclusive of

VAT and in pounds sterling

Submission of tenders

3.7 Two hard copies of the tender (in one package) should be submitted to The

Procurement Manager, NI Audit Office,106 University Street, Belfast BT7 1EU by

12pm on Wednesday 20 th

FAO THE PROCUREMENT MANAGER

April 2011 The package should be marked prominently

in capitals:

TENDER FOR EXTERNAL AUDIT SERVICES – FINANCIAL AUDIT

NOT TO BE OPENED UNTIL AUTHORISED 3.8 Failure to supply any of the required information may result in the application not

being considered Any tenders received after the closing date will not be considered

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