National Short-term Consultant to conduct Audit for RESET Project 14 views0 applications

National Short-term Consultant to conduct Audit for RESET Project.

IUCN Tanzania – Resilient Soybean for Empowerment (RESET) Project

RfP Reference: IUCN-2026-02- P05042

Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit a Proposal. Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your Proposal from this Procurement.

1. REQUIREMENTS
   1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1
2. CONTACT DETAILS
   1. During this procurement, i.e., from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your proposal.

IUCN Contact: [email protected]

1. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE
   1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will publish this on our website and contact you directly if you have indicated your interest in this procurement (see Section 3.2).

DATE ACTIVITY

9 Feb 2026 Publication of the Request for Proposals

12 Feb 2026 Submission of questions

13 Feb 2026 Publication of responses to questions

27 February 2026 Deadline for submission of proposals to IUCN (“Submission Deadline”)

4 March 2026 Clarification on proposals

6 March 2026 Planned date for contract award

9 March 2026 Expected contract start date

1. Please email the IUCN contact to express your interest in submitting a proposal by the deadline stated above. This will help IUCN to keep you updated regarding the procurement.
2. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
   1. Your Proposal must consist of the following four separate documents:
3. Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)
4. Pre-Qualification Information (see Section 4.3 below)
5. Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)
6. Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)
7. Proposals must be prepared in English.
8. Your Proposal must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be [RfP Reference – bidder name]. The bidder’s name is the name of the company/organisation on whose behalf you are submitting the proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g., Email 1 of 3, if attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a file-sharing tool.

   IMPORTANT: Submitted documents must be password-protected so that they cannot be opened and read before the submission deadline. Please use the same password for all submitted documents. After the deadline has passed and within 12 hours, please send the password to the IUCN Contact. This will ensure a secure bid submission and opening process. Please DO NOT email the password before the deadline for Proposal submission.

   1. Pre-Qualification Criteria

   IUCN will use the following Pre-Qualification Criteria to determine whether you have the capacity to provide the required goods and/or services to IUCN. Please provide the necessary information in a single, separate document.

9. Pre-Qualification Criteria
10. 2 reference letters from NGOs addressed to IUCN
11. Confirm and submit all the necessary legal registrations to perform the work including:
12. Certificate of incorporation
13. Tax clearance certificate
14. TIN Certificate
15. NBAA Certification
16. Technical Proposal

    The technical proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column).

    Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion.

    Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval.

    IUCN will evaluate technical proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:

    Quality of technical approach 30%

    Conceptual and methodological approach 30%

    Relevant competencies and experience 40%

    TOTAL 100%

17. Financial Proposal
    1. The financial proposal must be a fixed and firm price for the provision of the goods/services stated in the RfP in their entirety.
       1. Prices include all costs. This includes applicable withholding taxes and similar. Submitted rates and prices are deemed to include all costs, insurances, fees, expenses, liabilities, obligations, risk, and other things necessary for the performance of the Terms of Reference or Specification of Requirements. IUCN will not accept charges beyond those clearly stated in the Financial Proposal. IUCN will withhold 5% of the professional fee charged as withholding tax payment.
       2. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes
       3. Currency of proposed rates and prices

       Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.

       All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in TZS.

18. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be considered in the evaluation.
19. Your proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.
    1. Withdrawals and Changes

    You may freely withdraw or change your proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline by written notice to the IUCN Contact. However, to reduce the risk of fraud, no changes or withdrawals will be accepted after the submission deadline.

20. EVALUATION of PROPOSALS
    1. Completeness
    2. Pre-Qualification Criteria
    3. Technical Evaluation
       1. Scoring Method

    IUCN will firstly check your proposal for completeness. Incomplete proposals will not be considered further.

    Only proposals that meet all the pre-qualification criteria will be evaluated.

21. Your proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.
22. Minimum Quality Thresholds
23. Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.
24. Technical Score
25. Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your proposal’s overall technical score.
26. Financial Evaluation and Financial Scores

    The financial evaluation will be based upon the full total price you submit. Your financial proposal will receive a score calculated by dividing the lowest financial proposal that has passed the minimum quality thresholds (see Section 5.3.2) by the total price of your financial proposal.

    Thus, for example, if your financial proposal is for a total of CHF 100 and the lowest financial proposal is CHF 80, you will receive a financial score of 80/100 = 80%

    1. Total Score

    Your proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.

    The relative weights will be:

    Technical: 70%

    Financial: 30%

    Thus, for example, if your technical score is 83% and your financial score is 77%, you will receive a total score of 83 * 70% + 77 * 30% = 58.1% + 23.1% = 81.2%.

    Subject to the requirements in Sections 4 and 7, IUCN will award the contract to the bidder whose proposal achieves the highest total score.

27. Explanation of procurement procedure
    1. IUCN is using the Open Procedure for this procurement. This means that the contracting opportunity is published on IUCN’s website and open to all interested parties to take part, subject to the conditions in Section 7 below.
    2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.
    3. All proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.2 above. Late proposals will not be considered. All proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of three or more evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.
    4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of proposals takes.
28. Conditions for participation in this procurement
    1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.
       1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant proposal.
       2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed proposal submission may be deemed non-compliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.
       3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.
    2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:
29. Free of conflicts of interest
30. Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)
31. In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes
32. Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection.
33. Not bankrupt or being wound up
34. Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct.
35. Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.
    1. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2).
    2. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using sub-contractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.
    3. Each bidder shall submit only one proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.
    4. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:
36. It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.
37. Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.
38. Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.
39. Confidentiality and data protection
    1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.
    2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your proposal.
40. Complaints procedure
41. If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact [email protected]. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).
42. Contract
43. The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect requirements from the donor funding this procurement.
44. About IUCN
45. IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private, and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
46. Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries.
47. Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
48. IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous people’s organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
49. Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
50. www.iucn.org
51. https://twitter.com/IUCN/
52. ATTACHMENTS
53. Attachment 1 Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference

Annex 6B: Template Terms of Reference for the DGBP Audit

Audit for the period 1st April 2025 to 31 December 2025 of the Danida Green Business Partnerships (DGBP) grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark to

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

1. Introduction

These Terms of References (ToR) cover the audit of the financial statements for the DGBP project Resilient Soybeans for Empowerment in Tanzania (RESET). The audit includes both the financial audit as well as the compliance and performance audit of the project.

The audit will cover the financial statements for the period 01-04-2025 to 31-12-2025 presented as per the financial statements template applicable to DGBP projects.

1. Background

The Danida Green Business Partnerships (DGBP) supports partnerships between commercial and non-commercial partners based on an innovative business case with an impact in developing countries and works in coherence with Danish strategic priorities in the partner countries. Each partnership contributes to green transition, inclusive growth, job creation and improved livelihoods. The programme is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DMFA) and administered by an external DGBP Secretariat, hereinafter the Secretariat. The administrative requirements are described in the DGBP Administrative Guidelines with the latest version being available at https://danida-business-partnerships.dk/resources.

In view of the above IUCN is implementing the Resilient Soybean for Empowerment in Tanzania (RESET) project consortium that delivers market-driven climate-resilient solutions and improvement in soybean that will lead to improved productivity, technology transfer, value addition, and efficiency of all actors along the chain. The project targets farmer organisations, processors and MSMEs in the supply chain through a partnership that will address supply related constraints and markets. It supports investments that effectively mainstream responsible business practices and green growth.

The project consortium is composed of IUCN, TANFEEDS, Andritz Feed & Biofuel and E-Soko and is focused on TANFEED’s business case in soybean and animal feed.

The overall project objective is to develop and implement sustainable, climate-adaptive smallholder farmers practices across soybean value chain, enhancing the resilience of production systems and market access while promoting the commercialization with the private sector and MSMEs to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

This will be achieved through development of a vibrant deforestation-free soy value chain that will attract more investments and promotion of scalable climate smart agriculture solutions, human capital development and inclusive business that boost employment and agency for smallholder farmers, women, and youth. In turn this is expected drive market system aggregation to reduce inefficiency and costs.

Project Outcomes:

The RESET partnership focuses on three main interlinked outcomes that will enhance commercialisation of soy in target regions while mainstreaming ecosystem and biodiversity management to reduce vulnerability of smallholder farmers, women and youth.

Outcome 1:

Improved adaptive capacity and resilience of smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.

This outcome focuses on scaling uptake of climate smart technologies and innovation through technical assistance of smallholder farmers and expanding their access to timely market information through interaction with downstream actor i.e. TANFEEDS and others including farmer associations. This will help reduce vulnerability of smallholder farmers, youth and women to shocks and climate related hazards.

In Tanzania, agriculture suffers estimated average annual losses of around USD 200 million due to weather, pests and disease, which have increased in severity and frequency over the past four decades. Smallholder farmers who are the main targeted people in the RESET project are as well highly vulnerable to these negative trends especially those caused by climate variability and change low application of technology and market failures.

Outcome 2:

Enhanced land health by use of agro-ecological farm management strategies in the farming system.

This outcome will support initiatives that foster sustainable use of land, water and other natural resources in the target ecosystems and districts within the project regions. This will focus on activities that will target addressing challenges related loss of ecosystems, land degradation, low productivity and environmental pollution.

Being a legume crop, soy can sequester nitrogen in the soil, with that reducing the need for chemical fertilizers in the follow up crop and benefiting soil quality in the long run. Furthermore, increasing the soy area in the target regions can have a positive impact on biodiversity.

Outcome 3:

Improved technology uptake leading to increased business efficiency, turnover and job creation for youth and women.

Under this outcome, the aim is to establish functional and tailor-made business linkages with market actors which are core in improving business performance and market access for women, men, youth and MSMEs. The project understand that both farmers and businesses require assistance to identify potential partners and to manage risks related to such linkages. The intervention will involve an initial mapping of the current state to determine the required capacity building trajectory and support. The areas of focus include human capital development, access to market and provisioning of technology. This will further include a more detailed assessment on responsible business conduct.

1. Objectives

The overall objective of the audit is to provide the DMFA with confidence in financial information provided to the DMFA by IUCN. By providing an opinion on the financial statements, and by reporting findings and observations, the audit company provides part of the basis on which the DMFA will assess the compliance of relevant legislative and regulatory requirements.

The objective of the financial audit is to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements regarding funds granted through the DMFA are free from material misstatements. The objective of the compliance audit is to obtain reasonable assurance whether transactions covered by the financial statements comply with the appropriations granted, statutes, other regulations, agreements, and usual practice. Similarly, the objective of the performance audit is to make an assessment to obtain reasonable assurance whether the systems, processes, or transactions examined support the exercise of sound financial management in the administration of the funds granted through the DMFA.

The audit will also aim to provide IUCN with an external assessment of the financial capacity and established business processes. This includes providing observations and recommendations as part of the audit.

1. Scope

The scope of the audit includes a financial audit as well as a compliance and performance audit.

The financial audit must be carried out in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). Other frameworks of auditing than ISAs are accepted as a basis for the audit provided these frameworks result in an audit equivalent to an audit planned and performed according to the ISAs and International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI). This will require the audit company to plan and perform procedures based on risk assessment and materiality. Therefore, the audit company must:

• Identify and assess risks of material misstatements of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. Based on the risks identified, the auditor must design and perform relevant audit procedures to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to serve as the basis for the auditor’s opinion.
• Obtain an understanding of the internal controls relevant to the audit, in order to design appropriate audit procedures. The purpose is not to express an opinion on the effectiveness of the internal controls, but whether these controls pertain to the project costs.
• Evaluate the appropriateness of the accounting policies used in the financial statements, including the reasonableness of estimates and related disclosures. In relation to funds granted through the DMFA, this is particularly relevant for accounting policies regarding project costs.

The specific audit procedures that may be relevant for the financial audit are specified further below in section 5.

The performance and compliance audit must be carried out in accordance with relevant ISSAIs. Therefore, the audit company must:

• Examine and evaluate the functioning of management systems and business processes with special consideration to compliance and the principle of economy.
• Gain an understanding of the audited entity and its environment to identify relevant regulation and legislation.
• Consider the necessity and relevance to perform test of details regarding compliance and the principle of economy, effectiveness, efficiency.
• Evaluate and conclude on audit findings and prepare communication.

The specific audit procedures that may be relevant for the performance and compliance audit are specified further below in section 5.

The audit must be planned in order to facilitate the timely submission of audited financial statements in accordance with the latest version of the DGBP Administrative Guidelines.

1. Specific procedures

The audit company must plan the audit in accordance with their risk assessment. The extent and nature of planned procedures will therefore be subject to the professional judgement of the audit company. It is the audit company’s responsibility to plan the necessary procedures to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to form the opinion of the audit. However, the procedures listed below are considered a minimum to form an opinion for the audit.

1. General procedures to be performed in regard to the audit process

The audit company must:

1. Submit detailed specified requirements for the audit 5 days ahead of the audit to ensure the timely preparation of accounting material necessary for the audit.
2. Based on the knowledge obtained in the planning phase, determine the materiality level.
3. Perform interviews, observations, inspections of documents, and walk-throughs of processes to assess the internal control capacity, including:
4. Control environment
5. Design and implementation of key controls
6. Operational effectiveness of key controls, if tested
7. Perform walk-through of processes and routines as well as interviews to assess accounting and financial capacity, including:
8. Employed accounting system
9. Use of manual spreadsheets to record entries
10. Mapping the applied chart of accounts to the approved budgets
11. Underlying documentation to support recorded entries
12. Identify, evaluate and report on all material observations and findings using management letter. Please refer to the Deliverables sections of these ToR.
    1. Specific procedures to be performed in regard to financial audit

The audit company must:

1. Request bank confirmation letter mailed directly to the implementing partner required to open a separate bank account
2. Confirm and reconcile amounts received from the DMFA
3. Perform substantive testing on a sample basis of expenditure to verify proper allocation to the appropriate budget lines against the approved budget
4. Perform procedures to test appropriate application of a transparent cost allocation mechanism for allocating shared costs (e.g. programme support cost) to the project
5. Perform procedures to verify documentation of staff costs (hourly staff rate calculations) covered directly by the project
6. Perform substantive testing on a sample basis to verify the existence of valid supporting documents relating to reported expenditure.
7. The sample size shall be based on the audit company’s professional judgement and should be stated in the methodology description related to the audit
8. All instances of any missing supporting documents must be reported, including the amounts in question
9. Perform substantive testing on a sample basis of the fixed asset list included in the financial statements as part of the reporting requirements to verify the existence and valuation of assets.
10. Perform procedures to verify the occurrence of transactions related to:
11. Any interest earned during the financial period
12. Any exchange gain/losses recorded in the accounts
13. Perform procedures to ensure that the financial information for the own contribution to the project by any consortium partner is submitted and recorded in accordance with the DGBP Administrative Guidelines. The own contribution is not subject to this audit.
    1. Specific procedures to be performed in regard to performance audit

The audit company must:

1. Test of controls related to performance audit
2. Perform interviews and walk-throughs to gain an understanding of the business processes.
3. Identify key controls related to performance. These controls may include:
4. Authorisation in connection with the procurement of goods and services
5. Budget reviews and follow up on costs
6. Managements review of finalised procurement processes
7. Monitoring reviews including evaluation of progress compared to activity description
8. Perform test of design and implementation of identified key controls
9. Substantive testing on a sample basis
   1. Determine relevant audit criteria for the audit in relation to economy, effectiveness or efficiency. The audit criteria can be qualitative, quantitative, focusing on what is expected, or best practice. These may include:
10. The quality in which the activity is delivered or completed compared to the description of the activity
11. The quantity of items completed or delivered compared to the description of the activity
12. Cost of procured goods or services compared to expected prices
13. Compliance with established procedures for procurement of goods and services, for instance the number of quotations received
14. The level of entertainment costs and travel costs compared to expected levels or levels with peers
15. Proper handling of assets, including liquid assets and fixed assets.
    1. Perform tests on selected audit criteria and evaluate on findings and conclusion.
16. To ensure economy in salary levels, perform test on a sample basis of established policies and procedures for compliance, specifically regarding allowances, advances, staff recruitment/salary scales, and other accounting routines.
    1. Specific procedures to be performed in regard to compliance audit

The audit company must:

1. Examine, assess, and report on compliance with the terms and conditions of the agreement with the DMFA.
2. Gain an understanding of the legislative and regulative environment in which the entity exist, including the compliance with applicable laws and regulation with a special attention to legislation regarding accounting and taxes.
3. Gain an understanding of the processes established to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations regarding employment of staff. This includes relevant labour legislation as well as regulation regarding social fees, pension, holiday, sick leave, and maternity leave.
4. Reconcile budget amounts included in the financial statements against the approved budget.
5. Test on a sample basis that activity funded by grants through the DMFA is not funded from other sources as well.
6. Deliverables
   1. The independent auditor’s opinion

Conclusions of the financial audit must be presented in the independent auditor’s opinion. The independent auditor’s opinion should be prepared in English in accordance with applicable ISA and must refer to these ToR. The auditor’s opinion shall include the following elements:

• The auditor’s opinion on the financial statements and whether these are prepared in all material respect in accordance with financial provisions applicable
• Identification of the financial statements audited, including title of the activity and the financial period
• Reference to the applied accounting policies used in preparing the financial statements
• Reference to these terms of reference for the audit

Any qualifications should be clear and stated with correct headlines in accordance with relevant ISAs.

1. The audit report

Conclusions on the compliance and performance audit must be presented in the audit report. The audit report should be prepared in accordance with applicable ISAs/ISSAIs and must refer to these ToR. The audit report shall include the following elements:

• Conclusions in relevance to specific audit questions or procedures
• Identification of the financial statements audited, including title of the activity and the financial period
• Description of scope of the audit (and possible limitations), including key procedures performed.

Depending on the chosen report method, the audit company can choose to include management letter content in the audit report or issue a separate management letter. If the former is chosen, the audit report shall contain the following elements as well:

• Findings and observations made from the audit with indication of severity or risk level
• Description of the effect or risk derived from the finding or observation
• Recommendations to address the findings or observations and management’s comments to findings and observations.
  1. Management letter

Findings or observations that are not material to financial statements as a whole but considered to be of relevance to either management or the DMFA, must be reported in a management letter. Such findings or observations may include, but are not limited to:

• Deficiencies or weaknesses in internal control or business processes
• Lack of compliance with applicable laws or regulation
• Lack in financial capacity or financial systems
• Identified reconciliation items
• Budget overruns

The management letter must be prepared in English as part of the audit and submitted together with the audited financial statements.

The management letter shall, for each finding or observation, include:

• A description of the finding or observation with indication of severity or risk level
• Description of the effect or risk derived from the finding or observation
• Recommendations to address the finding or observation
• Management’s comments to the effect or risk as well as the recommendations.
  1. Audit methodology
• Summary of the audit approach and applied audit strategy, including the considerations made to the control environment
• Significant risks identified
• Description of tested controls
• Materiality level
• Issues related to fraud (if applicable)
• Sample sizes relative to population (% of tested expenditure (Expenditure Coverage Ratio))
• Distribution of samples on different sites, activities, offices, or other locations
• Conclusions from interim and other visits
• Identified bias or accounting estimates
  1. Closing meeting

As a conclusion of the on-site visit, the audit company must participate in a closing meeting with IUCN. The objective of the meeting is to discuss any relevant findings and observations with management to settle details or open items.

1. Timetable for the audit

Time Activity

9 February 2026 Publication of the Request for Proposals

27 February 2026 Deadline for proposal submission

13 March 2026 Planned date for contract award

16 March 2026 Start-up meeting with IUCN Tanzania

23 March 2026 Submission of the Inception Report

26 March 2026 Presentation and feedback on Inception Report

9 April 2026 1st Draft Audit Report and Management Letters to IUCN from Auditors

14 April 2026 Comments from IUCN to Auditors

20 April 2026 2nd Draft Audit Report and Management Letters to IUCN from Auditors

22 April 2026 Comments from IUCN to Auditors

27 April 2026 Final Audit Reports and Management Letters for signature

29 April 2026 Closing meeting with IUCN Tanzania

30 April 2026 Final signed and bound Audit Reports and Management Letters for dispatch to IUCN

1. Payment Schedule

The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant.

Deliverable Milestone payment

Submission of the Inception Report 30%

Submission of the Draft Reports 30%

Submission of the Final Reports 40%