Tender Advertisement #1493686

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS (Open tender)
CORRESPONDENT BANKING RELATIONSHIP (CBR) PROJECT MANAGEMENT RECRUITMENT
Background
The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (PIFS) has received financing from the World Bank (WB) Group’s International Development Association (IDA)and will act as the Implementing Agency for the regional “Pacific Strengthening Correspondent Banking Relationships Project” (the Project), which will enable continuous access to correspondent banking services in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). The PICs covered by the regional project (Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu) include diverse island economies facing similar correspondent banking. relationship (CBR) challenges . PICs range in size and topography – from small island states such as Samoa, with two principal inhabited volcanic islands, to large archipelagos such as the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), with 29 atolls spread over 2 million km2 of ocean. Population sizes vary from 11,300 people in Tuvalu to 930,000 people in Fiji.
Financial systems in PICs are characterized by low levels of financial access and an uneven development of national payment systems. Commercial banks, both domestically owned and multinational, dominate the financial sector in all PICs. In several PICs, much of the population lacks access to basic transaction accounts, limiting households and businesses’ ability to send and receive payments, save, invest, and respond to climatic and economic shocks. The financial market infrastructure is underdeveloped in part due to limited competition and lack of economies of scale. The level of national payment system development is uneven across PICs, and regional efforts to improve the efficiency of cross-border payments are limited in scale and scope.
The project will have two components: (1) Temporary correspondent banking services, and (2) Enabling environment and regulatory harmonization. The Project will be implemented by a project management Unit (PMU) within the PIFS, with strategic project oversight provided by a Project Steering Committee (PSC) comprised of representatives of participating Pacific Finance Ministers.
While the PMU will be responsible for day-to-day project activities, it will need to ensure close collaboration and coordination with participating Ministries of Finance, which will be responsible for the oversight of project activities and the approval of work plans through the PSC. Comprising of Secretaries of Finance or other officials from the participating PICs finance ministries and the PIFS Director, the PSC will meet on a quarterly basis and be responsible for the approval of key project activities as needed. The PSC will report to Pacific Finance Ministers annually at the Forum Economic Minister Meeting (FEMM) to ensure that strategic guidance and orientation are provided over the project activities.
At the technical level, each participating PIC will be required to nominate a competent official responsible for project coordination at the national level, who will be designated as the point of contact with the PMU and the World Bank team. The competent government official in each PIC will be complemented by a country-based PMU focal point recruited through the PMU and responsible for the coordination of service delivery at the individual country-level
The PIFS is seeking qualified and experienced Project Coordinator, Procurement Specialist and Financial Management Specialist who will be based in Suva, Fiji as key personnel for the management of the project.

HOW TO APPLY

Submissions should be entitled:
[OPEN TENDER] – CORRESPONDENT BANKING RELATIONSHIP PMU RECRUITMENT (NAME OF POSITION)
Method of Submissions:
Submissions must be forwarded in PDF format following the instructions at www.tenders.net/forumsec
Note: Tenders must be submitted as per instructions indicated on the Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) for each position.
The electronically submitted documents should be converted to the PDF format.
Deadline for Submissions:
Submissions need to reach the Secretariat by 5.00pm on Thursday,12th December, ,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” on Monday 18 November, 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.