Request For Proposals: Financial And Risk Management Compliance Audits For Sub-grantees

Request for Proposals: Financial and Risk Management Compliance Audits for Sub-Grantees Background and context Tiko engages various partners, including Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), Quality Assurance providers, SGBV service providers, and safe houses, through formal Sub-Grant Agreements to deliver community and health response services. These partnerships are critical for reaching adolescents and young women (AGYW). To ensure programmatic integrity, financial stewardship, robust risk management, and the highest standards of financial governance, Tiko requires periodic and comprehensive financial and risk management compliance audits of these entities. The relevant locations for this scope are: Kenya: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Machakos, Nakuru, Migori, Kilifi, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Nyamira, Kisii, Busia and Kakamega counties. Uganda: Wakiso and Kampala districts. Ethiopia: Addis Ababa and Hawassa. South Africa: City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane. Nigeria: Abuja FCT and Nasarawa. Burkina Faso: Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. Firms can apply for one or more markets where they can demonstrate the ability to deliver the assignments. Firms must be registered in each country where they seek to provide the services. Objective of the audit The primary objective is to verify that sub-grantees are operating in full compliance with the financial, risk management, and statutory requirements of their signed grant agreements and relevant regulatory standards. The audit will assess: Financial accountability, internal controls, and complete expenditure documentation. Compliance with anti-fraud, anti-corruption, and financial risk governance mandates. Accuracy, integrity, and reconciliation of financial and transactional data across reporting frameworks. Adherence to statutory obligations, procurement guidelines, and budget line allocations. Scope of audit Expenditure verification: Reconcile transaction listings, general ledgers, and bank statements against approved budget lines and the project scope of work. Milestone achievement: Verify that disbursements are linked to confirmed deliverables as per the signed agreements. Expenditure verification and anti-double dipping: Verify that all incurred expenditures are legitimate, supported by adequate documentation, and that there is no double dipping or duplicate funding from other sources for the same activities. External audit review: Review external audit management reports and prior audit findings for the last two financial years. Test to ensure that all recommendations arising from findings have been implemented. Procurement compliance: Inspect procurement documentation to ensure competitive bidding policies were followed. Internal controls: Evaluate sub-recipient internal controls, including segregation of duties, delegation of authority, and financial software controls. Conduct walkthroughs for various cycles, including payments, payroll and assets, ensuring they are in line with policy. Statutory compliance: Confirm compliance with statutory obligations, including tax filings, labour laws, and anti-corruption policies. Deliverables Audit plan: Detailed timeline and 100% review for selected sub-grantees. Individual audit reports: Comprehensive audit reports for each sub-grantee featuring granular findings, objective risk ratings (Compliant / Partially Compliant / Non-Compliant), root-cause analysis of compliance gaps, and actionable, time-bound Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) complete with clear implementation deadlines, designated responsible owners, and re-verification milestones to ensure full risk mitigation. Summary consolidation: High-level overview of systemic compliance gaps and recommended training/capacity-building interventions. Qualifications of firms and proposed personnel The selected firm and its proposed personnel must demonstrate a comprehensive profile aligned with financial audit and risk compliance requirements. Mandatory qualifications include: Extensive experience in conducting financial, forensic, and risk compliance audits within the NGO and development sectors. Proven technical expertise in financial risk management, internal controls assessment, and fraud prevention/detection methodologies. Certified financial and risk audit professionals, such as CPA, ACCA, CFE, or equivalent certifications. Strong analytical skills in financial data reconciliation, transaction testing, and identifying systemic governance and control gaps. Experience in reviewing grant agreements, evaluating statutory compliance, and producing actionable financial audit reports. Evaluation criteria Proposals should: Be clear about the relevant skills, experience and capacity of the participant in respect of this particular scope of work. Contain details of the proposed approach to be adopted to deliver the service in accordance with the scope of work. Clearly indicate whether bid participants have the capacity to meet the requirements of the scope of work. Clearly indicate compliance with the appropriate data protection, privacy, legal, social, tax and ethical requirements applicable to each country applied for. Bidders must be registered firms in the countries where they seek to provide the services. A firm can bid for one or more markets depending on capacity. Proposals will be evaluated against the following criteria: 1. Experience, skills and ability of the service provider 30% Past experience in similar work of this nature. Team member experience, accompanied by brief CVs. Ability of the bidder to fulfil Tiko’s requirements. 2. Technical approach and execution plan 30% Proposals must contain details of the proposed approach to be adopted to deliver the service in accordance with the scope of work. 3. Financial quotation 10% Proposals should clearly indicate whether bid participants have the financial capacity to meet the requirements of the scope of work, based on the previous value of similar work undertaken, for example by sharing copies of recent audited financial statements. 4. References 10% Submission of at least three relevant and contactable clients previously served. 5. Capacity 20% Proposals should clearly indicate whether bid participants have the capacity to meet the requirements of the scope of work. Total: 100%