Consultancy Announcement 2
USAID’s Strengthening Resource Mobilization Activity (SRMA)
Consultant’s Terms of Reference
Own Source Revenues increased through strengthening LSGUs capacities to diversify and update the revenue data base
I. Introduction/Background
North Macedonia aspires to be prosperous, self-reliant, and inclusive democratic society, whereas USAID SRMA 2021 – 2026 will assist Macedonia’s government institutions to raise and independently manage the necessary administrative, fiscal and policy changes foreseen in the Activity Plan of the SRMA Project. As part of the overall technical assistance (TA) package for capacity building, under the Objective 1, USAID SRMA will provide technical assistance to first cohort LSGUs to increase own source revenues and diversify the revenue base under LSGUs’ discretion and enhance the effectiveness of tax and fee collection systems, while strengthening the operational capacity of local tax administration to improve accountability.
The consultant’s technical assistance should identify best practices for improvement of local taxes, fees and charges collection in all LSGUs of Republic of North Macedonia and develop recommendations for further tax, fees and charges collection improvement and test them with the first cohort of SRMA partner LSGUs, as per SRMA Work Plan under the:
Objective 1: Own source revenue increased:
– Activity 1.1.2: Identify and test best practices to improve local taxes, fees and charges collection in pilot LSGUs; develop recommendations for further tax, fees, and charges collection improvements.
The provision of consultant’s services will be part of the SRMA TA tailor-made packages provided to the first cohort municipalities. The consultant shall take a due attention to the fact that the TA are tailor made with specifically designed activities to address concrete issues for each municipality.
II. Objective and Scope of the engagement
The objective of this assignment is to enable USAID/SRMA first cohort of North Macedonia partner LSGUs to increase own source revenue base and collection rate, improve and update current tax, fees and charges (overall tax administration) system through diversifying and improving local taxes, fees and charges data base and improving planning and increasing collection of own source revenues.
To provide support in achieving the above objectives and results, the consultant will implement the following tasks:
Identify successful practices in all municipalities of Republic of North Macedonia (special attention should be paid to the first cohort of 16 SRMA partner LSGUs) regarding improvement of own source revenue collection, in particular tax and fees collection system (that includes but is not limited to: property tax, fees and charges collection data base update; tax, fees and charges enforced collection; public awareness raisin campaigns; use of digital means/platforms; internal sectoral/department
vertical and horizontal communication and information share; or any other activity) to further increase of tax, fees and charges collection.
The consultant will report directly to Objective 1 Component Lead. The deliverables should be developed in close cooperation with other engaged consultant/s working on Objective 1 and SRMA team.
III. Outputs and deliverables
The consultant will provide the following outputs and deliverables:
1. Report on discovered successful practices regarding own source revenues (in particular, property tax and fees collection) in all LSGUs of Republic of North Macedonia. The report should include detailed information about: meetings organized with LSGUs (LSGUs name and contact person); and discovered successful practice, LSGUs name and contact person information. Successful practices could include but not limited to: update of property tax, fees and charges data base; tax, fees and charges enforced collection; public awareness raisin campaigns; use of digital means/platforms for own source revenue collection; internal sectoral/departments vertical and horizontal communication and information share; introduction of new local taxes and fees and/or any other similar activity undertaken by LSGUs to increase own source revenue collection).
2. Develop recommendations and provide on-the-job training and mentoring for 16 first cohort of SRMA partner LSGUs presenting most important/successful practices regarding own source revenue collection with special attention to further tax, fees and charges collection improvements.
All reports should be developed in English language; training materials should be developed in Macedonian language; mentoring and on-the-job training should be provided in Macedonian language (translation in English or Albanian will be provided by SRMA as needed).
The Consultant will have an intermediate reporting obligation to SRMA Objective 1 Lead and will submit the deliverable(s) as developed. The consultant must be available to respond to the first round of comments and the final round of requests for any changes of the reports format. The Consultant engagement will be assessed by fulfilling the following indicators:
Number of LSGUs contacted on national level and number of success practices discovered and properly documented;
Number of LSGUs receiving USAID/SRMA assistance in increasing the collection rate of local taxes, fees and charges (Number of municipal employees trained/mentored).
IV. Period of execution of activities
The engagement will be executed in the period October 1st, 2021 – March 31st, 2022. The overall consultancy engagement will include 22 workdays:
Output 1 – 8 day
Output 2 – 14 days
V. Qualifications
Academic qualifications:
– Master’s degree in finance, economics, law, public administration, or another related field.
Professional experience:
– At least ten (10) years professional experience in working in or with central and/or local authorities with a focus on municipal finance management and/or specifically with own source revenue collection.
– Practical experience in capacity needs assessment and design and provision of mentoring and on-the-job training.
Language:
– Excellent knowledge of English and Macedonian language (knowledge of Albanian language is considered as an asset)
Other criteria:
– Proven ability to work with a tight schedule and deliver the services within the given time frame.
– Experience in working for international donors on similar projects.
– Good communication skills and ability to work with local authorities and in teams.
Intellectual property: All works created under this assignment, including creations, inventions, ideas, designs, copyrightable materials, trademarks, and other technology and rights, shall be works made for hire. The consultant is not allowed to publish any part of the deliverables.
It is envisaged that only (individual) consultants, will be eligible to apply and to be contracted to perform the activities listed in this SoW.
VI. Application procedure To be considered, the interested applicant needs to submit the following documents:
– Cover letter,
– CV,
– Comparable reference list with similar assignments with contact details of at least 2 references.
– A proposed gross daily rate in USD (inclusive of all costs and taxes)
The requested documents should be submitted to the following e-mail address: info@ideasdepo.mk no later than September 14, 2021 by 03:00 PM.
Incomplete applications will not be considered for evaluation.