EOI 01/2019 – REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)
Date : 03 October 2019
Grant No : 5900155003951
Project name : Capacity Building for Public Finance and Economic Management Project (CBPFEM)
Title☻: Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS) ICT Technical Advisor
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) is a parastatal under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, responsible for collecting taxes and other revenue streams for the government of Zimbabwe. Its mandate is to collect revenue, facilitate trade and travel, advise government on fiscal and economic matters and protect civil society. ZIMRA relies heavily on ICT and automated processes to effectively deliver its mandate. The Domestic Taxes Division is a division of ZIMRA, and it is responsible for mobilizing, assessing and collection of domestic taxes revenue. ZIMRA is facing a series of system challenges regarding its current tax system used in the tax and revenue administration under Domestic Taxes Division. The persistent challenges resulted in ZIMRA’s desire to replace the current system with a Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) tax system.
This desired system replacement is in line with ZIMRA’s 5-Year Strategic Plan for 2019-2023 to modernise and automate systems and processes. The new system should be simple, highly automated, reliable business driven Tax and Revenue Management System that is compliant with internationally accepted tax administration best practices. This movement from the current to a desired tax system involves Change Management since the movement will bring changes to operational structure, work culture, processes, service delivery, internal staff and stakeholders, taxpayers, software, and hardware. To this regard, ZIMRA has set up a Project Team to administer the implementation of the new Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS).
ZIMRA is thus desirous to hire an individual consultant to provide expertise advice in the automation of its processes, and to develop functional and technical specifications for the TaRMS solution and coming up with bidding documents and an Evaluation Criteria Template for selecting the suitable TaRMS solution supplier. The Government of Zimbabwe has received a grant from the African Development Bank Group towards the cost of Capacity Building for Public Finance and Economic Management Project (CBPFEM). The grant will fund the individual consultant’s assignment for the provision of consultancy services and specifically: to provide advice to ZIMRA on the automation of ZIMRA tax processes, Technical Assistance during the development of technical and functional specifications for the TaRMS, and coming up with bidding documents as well as the Evaluation Criteria Template.
Objective
The objective of the assignment is for the individual consultant to advise ZIMRA on the automation of its tax processes, to develop the technical and functional specifications; prepare the bidding documents and an Evaluation Criteria Template for TaRMS.
The project has three components namely: (i) Acquisition of Software and Hardware, implementation and configuration of the Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS), (ii) Change Management and Capacity Building; and (iii) Project Management Support.
Scope of Work
The scope of the assignment is to :
- Preparation of Terms of Reference, technical/functional specifications for the Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS): The Consultant shall prepare/review the technical/functional specifications and conceptual solution designs for the TaRMS solution including software and hardware maintenance/Service Level Agreement(s) requirements for the whole solution.
- Evaluation criteria: The Consultant shall assist ZIMRA in designing an evaluation criteria template for choosing the ideal system provider from the bidding process.
- Technical/Functional Project assignments: The Consultant shall attend to any other technical or functional duties as assigned and
Deliverables
The key deliverable for the consultant is a final report for the procurement of TaRMS that includes the following;
- An inception report within five working days upon contract signature;
- A draft report ,within 20 working days after Inception Report approval, comprising the following:
- Terms of Reference Terms of Reference for the for the TaRMS consulting firm covering solution acquisition, data migration, integration of TaRMS with other systems, change management capacitation, and Training of Trainers;
- TaRMS Technical Specification Document
- TaRMS Functional Specifications Document
- Evaluation Criteria Template for selecting the winning bidder
- Final report, within 10 working days after approval of the Draft Report, comprising the final deliverables contained in the Draft Report and any other information pertaining to the consultancy.
Proposal Instructions
The Government of Zimbabwe, through Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, now invites eligible Individual consultants to submit their proposal(s) comprising of the following:
- Vendor information and pricing, highlighting key costs and any reimbursable expenses (if any).
- An understanding of the consultancy requirements along the lines of: TaRMS functional requirements
TaRMS technical requirements
TaRMS procurement requirements
Evaluation Template for selecting winning bidders
- Methodology and work plan for performing the assignment broken down into work packages.
- Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments undertaken in the past ten (10) years.
- Financial proposal, in Word or PowerPoint, showing clearly the budgeted cost for the work to be conducted by the consultancy under the scope of work above.
Please note: ZIMRA is obliged to withhold non-resident’s tax on the contract fees at 15% of the contract fees. It is the responsibility of ZIMRA, and not the individual consultant, to pay VAT at 15% of the contract fees, where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of,,their tax position with regards to provisions of Zimbabwe tax legislation when developing their proposals.
Qualifications
The TaRMS ICT Technical Advisor selection/implementation advisor shall have :
- A Minimum of Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Sciences, Engineering or another relevant discipline ;
- Experience in designing, implementing and advising on ICT solutions for Tax Administration Systems and implementation in at least two projects within the last 5 years ;
- Experience in the design and implementation of Server, Network, and Security Infrastructure. Prince 2 Project Management certification at Practitioner or higher level ;
- At least 15 years relevant experience in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) ;
- Knowledge and experience of procurement rules and regulations for the African Development Bank and other multilateral development partners is an added advantage ;
- Experience in preparation of OCB procurement documents for the procurement of ICT solutions in public sector ;
- The ability to communicate, negotiate, analyze, elaborate and present reports and statements ; and
- Good knowledge of the English language, written and spoken.
Eligibility criteria, establishment of the short-list and the selection procedure shall be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s “Rules and Procedures for the use of Consultants” September2010, revised July 2012, which is available on the Bank’s website at http://www.afdb.org.
Interested consultants may obtain further information at the address below during office hours 08:00 hours to 16:30hours. Expressions of interest must be delivered to the below address or by email by 16 October 2019 at 10:00hours (GMT+2hours) and mention “Expression of Interest for ICT Technical, Advisor”
Attention: The Principal Procurement Manager
Procurement Management Unit
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
ZB Centre, 6th Floor Reception
Corner First Street/Nkwame Nkrumah Avenue
Harare, Zimbabwe
Telephone : +263 242 790 811-4 Ext. 317
E-mail : dkagande@zimra.co.zw and pchingosho@zimra.co.zw