REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST.
Mongolia has received a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability Project (SFFSP). The Objective of the SFFSP is to contribute to the Government of Mongolia’s efforts to strengthen fiscal and financial stability and improve the quality of expenditure management. The project is designed with five components: (i) Strengthening Macroeconomic and Fiscal Management; (ii) Improving the Efficiency of Public Financial Management; (iii) Enhancing Financial Sector Stability; (iv) Strengthening the Social Protection System; (v) Project Management and Monitoring. The objectives are to strengthen fiscal responsibility and implement the relevant policy measures; improve fiscal discipline; strengthen the resiliency of the banking system; improve public expenditure quality in social protection; and provide support for Project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, including, inter alia, audit arrangements, reporting requirements, procurement and financial management activities, respectively. For more details, please refer to the Project Appraisal Document Report No.PAD2269 .
The Integrated Budget Law establishes the principles, systems, composition and classification of the budget, defines the roles and responsibilities of bodies that participate in the budget process, and regulates relations that arise in connection with budget preparation, budget approval, spending, accounting, reporting and auditing. The law applies to budget entities and their officials, central and and local government special funds, fully or partly state and locally owned bodies that render works and services related to the functions of the state on a contractual basis that are obliged to collect revenues to the budget in accordance with the legislation.
Subcomponent B2 of the project aims to increase budget comprehensiveness and transparency through better control, reporting and expansion of the government’s integrated financial management information capabilities. Fiscal statistics in Mongolia are compiled largely in accordance with the Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM 1986) methodology. In recent years, The Ministry of Finance (MOF) have embarked on a series of initiatives to align the compilation and dissemination of Government Finance Statistics (GFS) in accordance with the guidelines of the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM 2001), and its update -- GFSM 2014. Despite the well intentioned legal framework, actual compilation practices and data management issues do not provide sufficient clarity in terms of classifications, valuation and time of recording to effectively support compiling the standard GFS components, aggregates and analytical balances. The process of implementing GFS methodology has progressed appreciably, but there is still far from producing reliable information due to the lack of a supporting structure to correctly identify and eliminate related items and software limitations. This has resulted in considerable manual intervention and problems of data quality.

SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The objective of this assignment is to assist the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance (TD, MOF) in improving the compilation of fiscal data for operational and reporting purposes in accordance with GFS principles.
The consultant will perform the tasks including the following, but not limited to:
I. Review the legal and institutional framework supporting the current accounting and fiscal reporting practices, and provide guidance for the classification and recording of transactions and balance sheet/stock positions;
a.Define the criteria for classifying entities for each subsector as outlined in GFSM 2014 (including all state-owned enterprises into financial or nonfinancial corporations based on the nature of their activities) and develop a guidance document for approval by State Secretary of MOF;
b.Review and classify all general government entities covered under the 2017 Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with the GFSM 2014;
c.Review of current consolidation practices for producing the annual consolidated financial statements against the GFS consolidation rules of GFSM 2014;
d.Review the existing procedures for monthly budget reporting and templates for fiscal reporting;
e.Renew the monthly reporting templates and procedural manual based on the recommendations of the GFSM 2014;
f.Analyze the current practice of consolidation of fiscal reports on a monthly and annual basis and develop a guidance document for approval by the Finance Minister on identifying inter- and intra-sectoral flows and stock positions; and
g.Review issues related to classification, recording of transactions, other economic flows, and stock positions and produce a report.

II. Provide support in the approval process for the draft guidance and templates, through carrying out the following activities in collaboration with TD, MOF:
a.Organize discussions and consultations on the draft documents amongst specialists in the field and relevant stakeholders;
b.Develop training materials covering the content of the manual to be developed for monthly fiscal reporting and templates;
c.Prepare a training plan and conduct training with the MOF staff for line ministries and relevant local government/aimag officials;
d.Respond to the related ad hoc consultations carried out by the TD, and perform any other tasks as reasonably assigned by the Director-General of the Treasury Department.

SHORTLISTING CRITERIA/CONSULTANT’S QUALIFICATIONS:
Education and Knowledge:
 A suitable candidate must have a master’s degree in relevant field: Statistics, Accounting, Finance or any other relevant fields;
 Proven knowledge of GFS principles will be desirable;

Experience:
 Incumbent should have at least 10 years of working experience in the finance and statistics/accounting field in the public sector;
 Previous experience in a working on fiscal reporting documents and other policy and methodology documents will be considered a plus;

Language skills:
 Fluent written and spoken Mongolian and English.
Other skills:
 Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to function effectively and collaboratively in a team environment and high integrity and accountability;
 Be proficient in PC based applications such as Word, Excel and data management, and have excellent web research and navigation skills;

CONTRACT DURATION:
The consultant’s assignment is expected to commence in June 2018. The assignment duration should be 10 months. The consultant will be selected in accordance with the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers (July 2016).

If you possess the above qualifications, please submit following documents in person:
    Cover letter indicating why she/he considers her/himself suitable for the position,
    Detailed CV highlighting relevant skills/experience,
    Copy of diplomas or certificates and,
    2 reference letters from previous last two employers no later than 11:00, July 09, 2018.

The submitted documents will not be returned to the applicants. Please be noted that incomplete applications would not be considered for evaluation. Only selected candidates will be contacted. Candidates can be interviewed. Detailed terms of reference can be requested from procurement@sffs.mn Contact address: Attn: Ms.Khaliun, Procurement Specialist, Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability Project
Room #204, Negdsen undestnii 8/2, 4th khoroo, Chingeltei District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Tel: 70120582

70120582