Tender Advertisement #1468134

Request for Tender (Open tender)

Independent External Audit of the Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) Offices for Financial Years 2024-2026

Background

Pacific Trade Invest (‘PTI’) is a promotion agency of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (the “Secretariat”) and is the Pacific regions lead trade and investment promotion agency with offices located in New Zealand (Auckland), Australia (Sydney), Switzerland (Geneva) and China (Beijing). The offices are funded by the host government except for PTI office in Geneva which is funded by the Government of Australia.

PTI is tasked by the Forum Leaders (via establishing the office’s annual work program) to facilitate trade, investment and tourism deals between Forum Island Countries (‘FIC’) and the rest of the world. PTI office’s objective include, growing exports from FIC’s through building capacity, increasing investments into FIC’s by connecting businesses with importers and investors in global markets, broad support functions regarding development and political objectives and other specialized services as required to meet host-market needs and requirements.

The PTI offices in aggregate excluding PTI Geneva currently has total assets of FJD3.8m and total liabilities of FJD1.4m. Annual income is approximately FJD7.36m, and annual expenditure is approximately FJD7.4m, with the deficit being funded from prior year carry forward funding. Furthermore, the Switzerland (Geneva) offices’ financial transactions are carried out by the Secretariat and incorporated within the Secretariats consolidated financial statement.

The Secretariat has adopted the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (‘IPSAS’) as its financial reporting framework. The PTI offices is required to present financial statements in accordance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (‘IPSAS’) for the 2024 financial year and onwards. Historically they have used a mixture of reporting standards per the jurisdiction of their host country. All accounting records are maintained in their local currencies and in the English language.

The Independent Advisory Board (IAB) has been one of the key reforms being implemented by the Secretariat to improve Corporate Governance reforms of the Network with PIFS Secretary General as the Chair of the Board. The IAB functions in an advisory capacity to the Secretary General and Forum Officials Committee. The appointment of external auditors is done by PTI offices in collaboration with the Secretariat and IAB, which provides oversight functions to the Network as well as reviews audit outcomes and recommends for continuous improvements.

PTI Australia have adopted IPSAS which was reflected in the 2023 audit. The other PTI offices have not adopted the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). The 2024 financial statement will be the first year for all the PTI offices to fully adopt IPSAS.

The Secretariat will appoint the auditors for the three years (2024-2026). PTI auditors will have to liaise with PIFS auditors to complete the Secretariat’s audit.

Purpose

Audits are to be performed in accordance with International Standards of Auditing. The purpose of the audit would be to report as to whether the PTI offices including Australia, China and New Zealand’s financial statements comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (‘IPSAS’).

The auditor will carry out all necessary tests and evaluations of the PTI offices accounting policies, procedures and records to provide the above assurance.

The auditor will also provide advice where appropriate on possible improvements to the PTI’s accounting systems, policies and procedures to comply with international best practice.

Scope of Work

The Consultant will carry out the responsibilities and tasks as per specifications set out under the Terms of Reference (TOR) document which can be downloaded from www.tenders.net/forumsec.

HOW TO APPLY

Submissions should be entitled: OPEN TENDER – Independent External Audit of the Pacific Trade Invest (‘PTI’) Offices for financial years 2024 - 2026

Method of Submissions:

Submissions must be forwarded in PDF format following the instructions at www.tenders.net/forumsec

Note: Tenders must be submitted with clear labelling of the technical offer and the financial offer. The Technical Offer documents must be saved and submitted clearly labelled “A. Technical Offer”. Financial Offer documents must be saved and submitted clearly labelled “B. Financial Offer”.

The electronically submitted documents should be converted to the PDF format.

Deadline for Submissions:

Submissions need to reach the Secretariat by 5pm (Fiji Time), Friday 23 August 2024.

Late or incomplete tenders will not be considered.

Questions and Answers

All queries or request for information must be submitted via the Question and Answer Forum at www.tenders.net/forumsec . Tenderers may submit questions in writing to the mentioned Question and Answer Forum before the stated “deadline for requesting clarifications” 19 August 2024. The Secretariat has no obligation to provide clarification after this date.

Note: The Secretariat will not be responsible for non-receipt/non-delivery of the Bid documents due to any reason whatsoever.

Any complaints regarding the Secretariat’s tender must be directed to the following email: Tender.Complaints@forumsec.org. This email address will forward your complaint to a person that is independent and removed from the tender process. Complaints must be well founded and should not be used as a mechanism for notifying displeasure with the outcome of a tender award. Further information on making a complaint can be found on the Policies & Information page at http://tenders.forumsec.org.

In the event that further information is required by the Secretariat in relation to the tender for consultancy, the Secretariat reserves the right to seek the required information without the need for calling for resubmission of proposals.