TERMS OF REFERENCE
Service Provider for Sub-National Governance Programme in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Introduction
The DFID Pakistan Operational Plan sets out DFID’s vision and strategy for Pakistan in 2011-2015. DFID’s aim is a stable and prosperous Pakistan that is at peace with its neighbours. The driving principle of our partnership with the Government of Pakistan is to use our investments to catalyse reform and spending in the four areas that are critical to Pakistan’s future: (i) Building peace and stability; (ii) Making democracy work; (iii) Promoting macroeconomic stability, growth and jobs; and (iv) Effective delivery of public services. Empowering women and girls is a fundamental principle in all of DFID Pakistan’s programmes. The Sub-National Governance programme will help deliver objectives two and four of the Operational Plan.
Objective
DFID is seeking to appoint a Service Provider (SP) to deliver management and advisory services for its Sub-National Governance Programme in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The SNG Programme aims to contribute towards more stable democracy in Pakistan, by helping to ensure government services better meet the needs of poor people in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The MO will support the achievement of these objectives by enabling delivery of 3 programme-level outputs:
- Decisions by sub-national governments are based on robust evidence
- Sub-national government services are more responsive to peoples'' needs
- Strengthened sub-national government capability to deliver basic services
This will include the establishment of Provincial Delivery Units, and District Delivery Challenge Funds; the provision of technical assistance to 12 focal districts and support for public finance reform, which will also help reduce the space for corruption. The MO will also support DFID’s financial assistance to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Government for the roll out of Output Based Budgeting in 6 focal districts and funding for the World Bank’s programme in Punjab.
SNG is designed to be an investigative, as well as implementing, programme so the SP will need to demonstrate how it will work in a flexible and innovative manner to achieve these objectives.
Recipient and Results
The direct beneficiaries of the programme will be the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provincial and district governments, in particular administrators and policy makers. The ultimate beneficiaries will be the people and service users of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, especially women and girls.
The programme expects to achieve the following results:
- 7.5m people (the poorest 30% of the population of 12 Districts) having better access to services as a result of TA building the capacity of frontline delivery units (e.g. health centres, schools) and 1.7m benefiting from the scaling up of pilot initiatives (e.g. water and sanitation, rubbish collection);
- 1.3m people in Punjab having better access to services as a result of mobile phone technology tracking quality of services;
- 600,000 beneficiaries in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa due to improved budgeting linking resources to local service delivery, including at least 200,000 immunised children, 70,000 girls enrolled in primary school, and 250,000 having better school facilities;
- 4m people benefiting from scaled up services as a result of the Provincial Delivery Units unblocking cross-sector governance bottlenecks;
- 20,000 officials benefiting from more and better use of evidence (including from GIS mapping) to improve the quality and targeting of services;
- 130,000 people empowered to seek recourse from government, demand better services and hold the state to account for their delivery through pilots around Right to Information legislation.
Scope and Requirements
The programme will be based in both Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. While both provinces have many similarities, there are also marked differences between their populations, governments and institutional structures. The programme therefore requires a different structure of activities for each province.
Interventions
In both Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab the SP will: help to establish Provincial Delivery Units and provide them with on-going technical support on key areas of service delivery; design, establish and administer District Delivery Challenge Funds, providing support for successful concepts and ensuring the handover of the fund to the provincial governments by the end of the programme; provide technical assistance to administrations in 12 focal districts to enable them to improve planning, budgeting and delivery of services (including by tackling corruption); and advise on public finance reform strategy at provincial and district level.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the SP will also provide advisory support for the roll-out of Output Based Budgeting (OBB) and a Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF); provide technical support to 6 focal districts receiving conditional grants with DFID financial aid; observe and support the dialogue for the development of an Urban Unit; provide technical assistance if needed for the establishment and development of a GIS mapping facility in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; and participate in the dialogue and provide technical assistance if needed for the development of Right to Information legislation.
Funding for the expansion of GIS mapping facility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the Urban Unit(s) will be routed through the SP, and the SP will need sufficient capacity to manage this relationship on behalf of DFID. However, details on the scope of this work will be finalised through a consultative process during Inception, therefore bidders are not required to establish any prior contractual relationship with the Urban Unit(s) at this stage – only to demonstrate their ability to manage such a relationship/initiative throughout the programme.
In Punjab, the SP will also be expected to observe and support the dialogue for further development of the Urban Unit, provide oversight of its activities and assist it in providing technical and management support to the establishment of the Urban Unit in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The SP will help to ensure effective joint support by the World Bank and DFID for public financial management and Right to Information Legislation in Punjab. Full scale implementation of performance budgeting is not currently planned. The World Bank’s programme is still in design, but anticipates cross-cutting interventions (e-government, e-procurement, public-private partnerships) at the Provincial level, complementing this programme’s district focus. The Bank may also fund the scale-up of pilot initiatives proved successful at the district level, including those piloted with DFID support.
More detail on these interventions is provided in the attached table (Annex 1) as well as in the Programme’s Business Case.
Management Structure
The SP will set up a Steering Group in each province to oversee each component of the programme with members from provincial governments, civil society, private sector organisations, and donors.
The SP will be responsible for setting up and running programme offices in Peshawar and Lahore and two focal district offices in each province to support the programme’s work in the following proposed 12 districts (6 in each province). The indicative districts[1] are:
In Punjab:
- Multan or Bahawalpur plus two neighbouring districts
- Faisalabad or Gujranwala plus two neighbouring districts
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP):
- Nowshera
- Buner
- Dera Ismail Khan
- Lakki Marwat
- Karak
- Haripur
The SP will deploy a team leader in each province, each leading small teams of technical assistance supporting the two ‘Provincial Delivery Units’. The SP will place technical assistance in the two focal district offices in each Province Each focal district office will service, through regular outreach, the needs of two additional nearby districts. The intention is that all of these offices will be embedded in government offices. Support for focal districts should be co-located with the District Coordinating Officer.
In Punjab, identification of hubs and districts is still on-going. Bidders should work on the assumption that teams will be based in either Multan/Bahawalpur in the South plus either Faisalabad/Gujranwala in the North. Should bidders wish to use one of those hubs for practical and costing purposes, this is acceptable and should be made clear in the technical proposal. However, bidders should be aware they may need to adjust teams/costs during Inception once the hubs/districts have been agreed with government.
Coordination
The Governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will own the programme and the reform process. The SP must maintain a good working relationship with the Governments and frequently consult the Government counterparts and coordinate with them to ensure that all aspects of the programme functions smoothly.
The SP will also be responsible for maintaining a dialogue with other DFID Programme Teams/Management Organisations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab (particularly education, health, Aawaz, Punjab Economic Opportunities Programme, Benazir Income Support Programme, Financial Inclusion Programme and Peace Building Support to the PCNA) to help to ensure complementary approaches and synergies across interventions as well as the exchange of experiences and lesson learning. Some of these programmes may be working in the same districts as SNG. In these districts coordination is expected to be especially strong, with SNG playing a pro-active role to ensure consistency of understanding and approach.
In Punjab the SP will in particular need to support coordination with the WB, to enable the delivery of joint objectives and maximise the benefits of joint DFID-WB working arrangements.
In both provinces the SP will need to work with DFID to coordinate reform efforts with other donors, including those supporting public finance reform and district governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (the EC, USAID and GiZ).
DFID’s Sub-National Governance Team and two Provincial Representatives will be responsible for managing and overseeing this programme.
Budget
An upper limit of £23.5m has been allocated for the Service Provision including funds for Monitoring and Evaluation. Approximately 23% of this budget should be earmarked for the District Delivery Challenge Funds.
Financial Management
The SP will produce costed annual work plans, and submit progress and financial reports on a quarterly basis. These reports and DFID annual reviews will be used to assess value for money and the programme’s and SP’s performance and influence payments
The SP will be reimbursed in arrears on evidence of satisfactory performance and the delivery of agreed outputs in the logical framework and annual work plans. The SP will submit monthly detailed expenditure summaries to support invoices. In addition, quarterly forecasts of programme expenditure will be provided.
The SP will appoint a recognised firm of international standing, acceptable to DFID, to conduct annual audits of its accounts and those of implementing partners. All audit reports will be shared with DFID. These will test whether funds have been spent as intended and that value for money is being delivered.
An inventory of all assets procured under the programme will be maintained by the SP. At the end of the programme period or once contracts have been completed, DFID will decide in consultation with key stakeholders how best to dispose of assets acquired with DFID funding.
Procurement
The SP will develop a procurement plan in line with DFID procurement guidelines, best practices, and value for money principles, for DFID’s approval.
On the procurement of goods, the SP will be required to work with the DFID dedicated procurement agent in Pakistan which is Crown Agents as costs will exceed the EU procurement threshold. The SP will be required to submit a detailed procurement plan including a description of the goods and the budget for these goods.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Given limited evidence in this field, SNG will be an investigative as well as implementing programme. The programme aims to build the evidence base at district level, to improve implementation and feed into other DFID programmes.
The SP should set out a plan for active management of the programme to inform the direction of the programme and influence decisions on whether to stop, redesign or scale up components of the programme at regular intervals.
The SP will be responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the programme, including establishing and operationalizing a full Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. The Monitoring and Evaluation of the programme will be two tiered:
Ongoing integrated monitoring and evaluation: Monitoring and evaluation will play a central role throughout the delivery of the SNG programme. Significant emphasis will be placed on frequent periodic monitoring of performance against SNG outputs, indicators and milestones, and associated risks and assumptions, as this will be used to adapt and improve interventions or to drop them if they are not working. This integrated “formative” approach will be key to steering the programme in the right direction.
The SP will be expected to establish a well-qualified and experienced M&E team and must have the capability to carry out or commission (and build partner capacity for) reliable primary data collection and qualitative research on the ground in Pakistan. Annual reviews, commissioned by DFID, and involving programme partners and stakeholders will be the principal mechanism for assessing progress to date and, if needed, redirecting or reprioritising activities and budget allocations, but decisions will also be taken between annual reviews where the evidence for redirection is available and compelling.
Independent SNG programme evaluation, including impact evaluation: The SNG programme will be evaluated independently across its life cycle - baseline, interim and final. The OBB/conditional grant component of the programme in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will receive a full impact evaluation. This will complement the integrated M&E and help assess the direct impact of the programme and DFID attribution.
The SP, by sub-contracting specialist research and evaluation expertise, will be responsible for delivering baseline data and completing the interim and final evaluations. Independence will be secured through DFID oversight, including selection, consultation with stakeholders, and if necessary further peer reviews.
The First Six Months
The SP will be required to complete the following tasks during the first six months of the programme:
- The SP will immediately following its establishment develop a plan for the first six months, defining activities and clear milestones;
- Establishment of an office in Lahore and Peshawar and sub-offices in the districts clusters of each province;
- Establishment of oversight mechanism including steering committees;
- Establishment of a system for coordinating with key stakeholders and with other DFID programmes;
- An implementation strategy for delivery of outputs and results across the life of the programme;
- A costed workplan (including a detailed budget) for the implementation phase, disaggregated by quarters;
- Development of the detailed operating procedures and systems necessary for the management of the programme in and disbursement of funds in line with value for money principles, including financial accounting and audit, and a procurement plan;
- A detailed logical framework for the programme, including confirmed baselines, indicators and milestones;
- Relevant situation analysis including specific district level corruption assessments;
- A robust Monitoring and Evaluation Framework;
- A detailed risk and mitigation matrix.
- DFID intend to manage the Provider’s performance through a suite of Key Performance Indicators which will be decided in consultation with the SP during the inception period.
It is expected that programme implementation will also begin during this period. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in particular the Government will require immediate support for Output Based Budgeting.
Timeframe
The contract will begin in December 2012 and be for a period of 4 and a half years. There may be an extension to the programme beyond the state timeframe, although this is not currently envisaged.
Duty of Care and Security
The Supplier is responsible for the safety and well-being of their Personnel (as defined in Section 2 of the Contract) and Third Parties affected by their activities under this contract, including appropriate security arrangements. They will also be responsible for the provision of suitable security arrangements for their domestic and business property.
DFID will share available information with the Supplier on security status and developments in-country where appropriate.
The Supplier is responsible for ensuring appropriate safety and security briefings for all of their Personnel working under this contract and ensuring that their Personnel register and receive briefing as outlined above. Travel advice is also available on the FCO website and the Supplier must ensure they (and their Personnel) are up to date with the latest position.
This Procurement will require the Supplier to operate in a seismically active zone and is considered at high risk of earthquakes. Minor tremors are not uncommon. Earthquakes are impossible to predict and can result in major devastation and loss of life.
There are several websites focusing on earthquakes, including http://geology.about.com/library/bl/maps/blworldindex.htm. The Supplier should be comfortable working in such an environment and should be capable of deploying to any areas required within the region in order to deliver the Contract (subject to travel clearance being granted).
This Procurement will require the Supplier to operate in conflict-affected areas and parts of it are highly insecure. Travel to many zones within the region will be subject to travel clearance from the UK government in advance. The security situation is volatile and subject to change at short notice. The Supplier should be comfortable working in such an environment and should be capable of deploying to any areas required within the region in order to deliver the Contract (subject to travel clearance being granted).
The Supplier is responsible for ensuring that appropriate arrangements, processes and procedures are in place for their Personnel, taking into account the environment they will be working in and the level of risk involved in delivery of the Contract (such as working in dangerous, fragile and hostile environments etc.). The Supplier must ensure their Personnel receive the required level of training prior to deployment
Tenderers must develop their Tender on the basis of being fully responsible for Duty of Care in line with the details provided above and the initial risk assessment matrix developed by DFID (see Annex 2 of this ToR). They must confirm in their Tender that:
- They fully accept responsibility for Security and Duty of Care.
- They understand the potential risks and have the knowledge and experience to develop an effective risk plan.
- They have the capability to manage their Duty of Care responsibilities throughout the life of the contract.
Acceptance of responsibility must be supported with evidence of capability (no more than [2] A4 pages and DFID reserves the right to clarify any aspect of this evidence. In providing evidence Tenderers should consider the following questions:
a) Have you completed an initial assessment of potential risks that demonstrates your knowledge and understanding, and are you satisfied that you understand the risk management implications (not solely relying on information provided by DFID)?
b) Have you prepared an outline plan that you consider appropriate to manage these risks at this stage (or will you do so if you are awarded the contract) and are you confident/comfortable that you can implement this effectively?
c) Have you ensured or will you ensure that your staff are appropriately trained (including specialist training where required) before they are deployed and will you ensure that on-going training is provided where necessary?
d) Have you an appropriate mechanism in place to monitor risk on a live / on-going basis (or will you put one in place if you are awarded the contract)?
e) Have you ensured or will you ensure that your staff are provided with and have access to suitable equipment and will you ensure that this is reviewed and provided on an on-going basis?
f) Have you appropriate systems in place to manage an emergency / incident if one arises?
Further information on Duty of Care is provided in the Supplier Instructions (Volume 1 of the Mini-Competition Invitation to Tender Pack).
Background
Pakistan faces a number of very significant social, economic and security challenges. Poverty is increasing and the gap between rich and the poor is widening. Provision of basic services falls far short of international norms and many groups, especially women, are excluded from access to services. As a result, over a third of Pakistanis remain poor, under-educated, and vulnerable to co-optation by radical extremists.
Governance lies at the heart of Pakistan’s deepest economic and social problems. The capture of the State by military, bureaucratic and political elites has long distorted governance, and weak social indicators reflect public sector mismanagement over many decades. Weak capability and low levels of government accountability are compounded by corruption. These shortfalls are undermining public confidence in the state. They hamper Pakistan’s progress towards the MDGs.
Reversing this requires government to deliver better services for poor people. This involves changing not only service delivery arrangements, but also public sector institutions, particularly the performance of district governments which manage and monitor local services, including education and health.
Experience in Pakistan over the past decade has shown that top-down governance reform programmes alone have struggled to produce concrete, positive benefits for citizens. So this programme will work directly with District Governments, improving their capability and delivery focus, by unblocking the governance constraints which hamper service delivery. While DFID’s health and education programmes improve delivery within those sectors, this programme will support them by tackling problems common across the sectors, such as weak planning, a lack of evidence on which to base policies and budgets, poor staff performance, corruption, and inadequate information available to citizens and legislatures for accountability purposes. Provincial governments will be key partners in this approach, helping solve problems which can’t be fixed locally and ensuring roll-out of successful reforms across each Province, giving the programme scale.
There is strong evidence that improving local government can deliver better – and more accountable – services for poor citizens. But evidence on how best to improve district governance is limited, especially in conflict affected states like Pakistan. There are some very promising initiatives already running, and the programme will immediately scale these up (eg. Output Based Budgeting and GIS). It will couple this with innovation, encouraging district officials to test ideas, learn and demonstrate what works in practice, build political support, and then, by working with Provinces, scale up. The programme will emphasise building an evidence base for this programme and others.
This programme will build on the lessons learnt from past and existing DFID and World Bank programmes in the two provinces. DFID currently supports the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial reforms programmes and capacity building of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Secretariat. It is a four and a half years investment of £8.9 million which comes to an end in September 2012. The focus of the reforms is to improve Public Financial Management by implementing Medium Term Budgetary Framework especially Output-Based Budgeting, Human Resource Management, Planning and Coordination and Monitoring and Evaluation. As a result of the programme the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa now has a Comprehensive Development Strategy, Budget Strategy Paper, M&E Framework, Output-based result oriented Job Descriptions for staff up to grade 20. The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has adopted OBB for all 32 of its department from the current budget cycle 2012-13. The budgets have now been prepared in consultations with the Civil Society through stakeholders workshops. Through a pilot in two districts the OBB has been rolled-out to lower tiers to test improvement in service delivery.
In Punjab, DFID provided £5.1 million in technical assistance to help the Government of Punjab (GoPb) implement the reform agenda. The technical assistance was delivered by the DFID-appointed Technical Assistance Management Agency (TAMA), which was set up to complement the Government’s ADB-funded Punjab Resource Management Programme (PRMP). PRMP-TAMA aimed to help achieve an ‘accountable, efficient, and effective government, which meets the needs of the population including the poor’. The central ambition of the programme was to bring about long term structural changes in core government policy and management functions. Currently, the World Bank is in the process of designing a governance programme for Punjab which will complement the DFID’s Sub-National Governance Programme by addressing some of the top-level governance issues in the province. The programme proposes to remove governance-related constraints to the improvement of service delivery performance of the Government of Punjab. In particular, the program aims to: (a) address structural and management related impediments to effective and transparent basic service delivery; and (b) improve fiscal and financial management.
In terms of security, economics and ethnic mix, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab are markedly different, but their governance environments are strikingly similar. Following the abolition of locally elected government bodies in 2010 and thorough-going devolution in mid-2011, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa face similar governance challenges. DFID therefore proposes a single sub-national governance programme, which can be flexibly tailored to each Province. This approach will enable comparative analysis and cross-learning.
The timing is right for this programme. Starting now will ensure the programme can present initial work to new governments and support the introduction of new local government structures after national elections, possibly including the re-introduction of elected local bodies.