Recruitment of an External Audit Firm

The African Development Bank Group (the Bank) has been supporting Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) in its development efforts since 2018. The Bank approved a grant to GAFI to help finance the Enhancement of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (EEE) Project in Egypt.

GAFI has established “Fekretak Sherketak”, a hub dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs through the coordination, facilitation and provision of tailored technical assistance activities. In close collaboration with Fekretak Sherketak, the objective of the EEE Project is to contribute to the enhancement and improvement of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt by supporting GAFI’s entrepreneurship resource hub, through the expansion in access to services and information and the provision of tailored business development services to entrepreneurs.

The project is structured into three main components as follows: (i) Expanding and improving access to entrepreneurship services and information; (ii) Enhanced provision of tailored services to entrepreneurs; and (iii) Project management. The project is funded through a Middle Income Countries TAF for 396,000 Unit of Accounts (UA).

Part of the proceeds of the Grant will be used for the recruitment of an external audit firm to conduct an audit on the EEE Project’s activities.

Objectives of the Assignment: the overall objectives of the audit are to (i) obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the Project’s financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; (ii) enable the auditors to express an independent professional opinion on the financial position of the Project and assure that the Project funds have been used for their intended purposes and in accordance with the provisions of the Grant Agreement; and (iii) obtain reasonable assurance about the achievement of Project objectives by matching the Project’s physical outputs and achievements to funds disbursed and the timing of the flows.

The General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) / Enhancement of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project now invites eligible consultant firms to express their interest in performing the EEE Project audit assignment. the interested consultant must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services brochures, experience in similar assignments, availability of appropriate skills and resources, biographies of key experts involved in implementation, etc.). Consultants may constitute joint ventures to enhance their chances of qualification. the short-listing criteria for this assignment are as follows:

• The firm should be registered and have a license from a national and/or regional professional accountancy body;
• A proven track record of at least 7 years of auditing experience, preferably with development projects and donor-funded operations;
• Submission of supporting documentation, including but not limited to a corporate profile, track record in executing similar assignments, availability of required skills and resources, biographies of key experts to be involved in implementation, etc.; and
• The consultancy firm is registered as a company in AfDB member countries.

Procurement Guidelines: eligibility criteria, establishment of the short-list and the selection procedures shall be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s Procurement Framework, dated October 2015, which is available on the Bank’s website at http://www.afdb.org using the least-cost selection (LCS) method.

Request for Expression of Interest