Provision of Internal Audit Services to the Commonwealth Secretariat

The Commonwealth Secretariat (The Secretariat) is an international organisation established by Agreed Memorandum, which is given privileges and immunities under the domestic law of the United Kingdom by the Commonwealth Secretariat Act 1966 (as amended by the International Organisations Act 2005). Under this legislation, the Secretariat is not subject to UK jurisdiction and enforcement. Further information on the Secretariat can be found at: http://thecommonwealth.org/

This status has an impact on some of the standard terms and conditions of contract (see appendix 1). In particular, we draw your attention to our dispute resolution clause, which refers disputes to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitration Tribunal (CSAT). The 8 members of the Tribunal are selected by the Board of Governors and come from Commonwealth member countries. CSAT is located in London, United Kingdom. Information about CSAT, including its governing statute and procedure are available on its website at http://thecommonwealth.org/tribunal.

The Secretariat implements decisions agreed by 54 Heads of Government and Ministers through advocacy, consensus–building, information sharing, analysis, technical assistance, capacity-building, and advice on policy development.

Purpose

The Secretariat wishes to appoint a suitable supplier for the for the Provision of Internal Audit Services to the Commonwealth Secretariat. The appointed supplier shall be awarded a contract that shall be effective for 3 years, with an option to extend for a maximum of up to 3 further (1+1+1) years.

The Secretariat will shortly be running a further procurement exercise for the provision of External Audit services. The Secretariat requires that Internal Audit and External Audit services are supplied by different providers. Therefore, the successful bidder for Internal Audit services will not be permitted to bid for External Audit services.

• Code of Ethics
• Commonwealth Secretariat Terms & Conditions 
• Invitation to Tender (ITT)