Summary: Consultancy for the Public Finance Management (PFM) Study

Job Details

  • Location: Dar es Salaam

Job Description

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

Consultancy for the Public Finance Management (PFM) Study

BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) – Tanzania | Discovery Phase

  • Organisation Background

BRAC International is a nonprofit organisation that works with communities and governments in Africa and Asia to reduce extreme poverty, drawing on more than five decades of programme experience and evidence from its roots in Bangladesh.

BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) helps governments adopt and scale the Graduation approach: a time-bound package of consumption support, a productive asset or capital transfer, skills training, savings and regular coaching that helps the poorest households build a stable, independent livelihood. UPGI works through government systems so that the approach can be sustained by the government.

  • Programme Background

UPGI Tanzania is running a Discovery Phase to establish whether, and how, Tanzania’s existing systems can deliver a Government-led Graduation approach in line with Dira 2050. The work is anchored in TAMISEMI, with TASAF as the main delivery platform, and is taken forward through the National Graduation Task Force appointed by the Minister of State, PMO-RALG, in June 2026.

A Government-led approach can only be adopted and sustained if it can be financed and delivered through public budgets and systems. The Discovery Phase therefore needs a focused understanding of current public expenditure, financing and financial-management arrangements, and of what the approach could cost. This PFM study provides that evidence for the subsequent Design Stage.

This is a consultancy, additional to ongoing assessments under the Discovery Phase. It will draw on, rather than repeat, other Discovery Phase work. The Government owns all decisions on financing. The consultant’s role is analytical and advisory.

  • Objective of the Assignment

To establish a focused understanding of the existing public expenditure, financing and financial-management arrangements relevant to a Government-led Graduation Approach in Tanzania; assess their practical implications for affordability and delivery; and provide an evidence base and indicative fiscal scenarios to inform the subsequent Design Stage.

  • Scope of Services

The consultancy will address the following key areas.

4.1 Existing public expenditure and financing

Establish a focused expenditure and financing baseline across PSSN/TASAF, PMO-RALG/LGAs and selected relevant programmes. Distinguish approved budgets, releases and actual expenditure, and identify the principal domestic, borrowing, grant and development-partner financing sources, subject to data availability.

4.2 Existing budgeting, institutional responsibilities and fund flows

Map how relevant functions are currently budgeted, financed, authorised, transferred, paid, accounted for and reported across national and subnational levels. Identify the principal institutional responsibilities and existing budget/MTEF locations where evidence permits, without designing new institutional or fund-flow arrangements.

4.3 Budget execution and funding predictability

Assess material issues affecting the predictability and timeliness of financing for relevant delivery functions, focusing on releases, expenditure, payments, procurement bottlenecks, accounting and reporting. Distinguish formal procedures from observed or reported practice; this is not a comprehensive fiduciary audit or control-system assessment.

4.4 Financing of core and recurrent Graduation delivery functions

Identify the principal resource implications of key delivery functions, including coaching, supervision, productive support, training, transport, case management, MIS and follow-up. Distinguish existing funded capacity from likely incremental requirements and identify the main recurrent-cost drivers.

4.5 Indicative costing and fiscal feasibility

Develop a limited set of bounded scenarios using agreed provisional assumptions. Distinguish existing versus incremental and start-up versus recurrent costs; identify confirmed financing and material gaps; and test key sensitivities relating to cohort size, service intensity and geographic coverage. The analysis will not constitute a final national programme budget.

4.6 Government-partner financing and key PFM constraints

Describe confirmed Government and development-partner financing relevant to the proposed approach and distinguish prospective or uncertain financing. Identify material financing, execution, capacity and sustainability constraints that should inform subsequent programme design, without developing new financing mechanisms, detailed PFM reforms or implementation arrangements.

  • Deliverables and Indicative Timing

The timetable may be refined at inception and confirmed in the Inception and Analytical Framework. All deliverables are submitted to the Programme Director.

Deliverable 1: Inception and Analytical Framework

Indicative timing

Dec 26-Jan 2027

Minimum content

Confirmed scope, study questions, methodology, priority evidence requirements, consultation plan, workplan and interface with other Discovery work.

Deliverable 2: Focused PFM and Public Expenditure Diagnostic

February 2027

Selected expenditure and financing baseline; existing institutional and financial responsibilities; budgeting and fund-flow arrangements; execution and funding-predictability findings; principal recurrent-cost drivers; material bottlenecks; and clear evidence limitations.

The diagnostic will not constitute a comprehensive public expenditure review, PEFA assessment or fiduciary audit.

Deliverable 3: Indicative Financing and Fiscal Feasibility Scenarios Model

March 2027

An editable, bounded model covering agreed scenarios for existing/incremental and start-up/recurrent costs, confirmed financing and material gaps, key delivery assumptions and sensitivities.

The model will not constitute a financing-mechanism design, funding commitment or final national programme budget.

Deliverable 4: Final Report and Executive Decision Brief

April 2027

A concise consolidation of the diagnostic findings and fiscal-scenario implications, including key constraints, limitations and priority evidence or analytical issues requiring further consideration during the subsequent Design Stage.

Detailed financing structures, fund-flow/payment options, fiduciary specifications, system adaptations, approval pathways and implementation design are excluded.

  • Deliverable Standards
  • Deliverables are written in clear, concise English. Consultations are conducted in Kiswahili where appropriate.
  • Government-facing products are concise and practical, with technical detail in annexes.
  • Every figure cites its source, and approved budgets, releases and actual expenditure are shown separately.
  • Assumptions and evidence limitations are stated clearly, and options are not presented as Government decisions.
  • Final deliverables are provided in editable Microsoft Word and Excel formats and as clean PDFs.
  • Qualifications

This section sets out the minimum eligibility requirements and scored qualification criteria for the individual consultant. Eligibility is assessed on a pass or fail basis. An application that does not meet every eligibility requirement will not proceed to technical evaluation.

  • Eligibility (pass or fail)

The consultant must

  • be an individual or firm legally able to work and invoice in the United Republic of Tanzania, with a valid Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN),VAT registration number and, for firms, a certificate of registration (BRELA) and valid business licence
  • Hold an earned PhD in Economics, Public Finance or a closely related discipline with substantive economics and fiscal-analysis content
  • Have at least 15 years of relevant experience in economic research, public-finance or expenditure analysis, programme costing or related advisory work
  • Must have completed at least three budget or expenditure assignments examining financing sources, execution constraints or funding predictability
  • Must have completed at least two assignments in programme costing, unit-cost analysis, multi-year financing or financial/fiscal feasibility
  • have undertaken at least three relevant assignments in Tanzania, collectively covering national and local government financing or service delivery
  • have undertaken at least two assignments concerning social protection, poverty reduction, livelihoods or financing of pro-poor services, including at least one directly concerning social protection, or livelihoods
  • have completed at least two relevant assignments as lead consultant, team leader, principal researcher or equivalent, with substantive analytical and reporting responsibility
  • have excellent written and spoken English and Kiswahili
  • confirm availability for 30 working days between November 2026 and March 2027; and
  • disclose actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest involving the commissioning organisation, institutions under review or related assignments. Any declared conflict must be assessed as satisfactorily manageable by the commissioning organisation before eligibility is confirmed.
  • Qualification criteria for the consultant

In addition to meeting eligibility requirements the consultant/firm should be able to demonstrate the following qualifications. These are scored under the technical evaluation in section 11.2.

  • Public finance and expenditure analysis

Ability to establish a focused expenditure and financing baseline; distinguish approved budgets, releases and actual expenditure; identify domestic, borrowing, grant and development-partner financing; and assess budget execution, financing timeliness and predictability.

  • Tanzania PFM and institutional systems

Working knowledge of the budget cycle, Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), LGA transfers and financing. Ability to map existing budgeting, authorization, transfers, payments, procurement bottlenecks, accounting and reporting responsibilities across national and subnational institutions, including at least one large-scale, government-led national social safety net programme.

  • Costing and indicative fiscal feasibility

Advanced Excel or equivalent spreadsheet skills and a record of transparent, editable costing/scenario models. Ability to separate existing/incremental and start-up/recurrent costs, participant support and delivery costs, and confirmed/prospective financing; document unit costs and assumptions; identify gaps; and test cohort size, service intensity and geographic coverage.

  • Social protection and economic inclusion

Relevant analytical or costing experience in social protection, livelihoods or economic inclusion. Understanding of coaching, supervision, productive support, training, transport, case management, MIS and follow-up costs, distinguishing existing funded capacity from incremental requirements and recurrent-cost pressures.

  • Research methods and comparative judgement

Financial-data analysis, document review, consultation, reconciliation and triangulation; clear treatment of assumptions and limitations; and distinction between formal procedures and observed practice. Ability to apply international evidence selectively, avoid double-counting and assess whether foreign costs and institutional assumptions are applicable to Tanzania.

  • Leadership and communication

Responsibility for technical quality and timely delivery of comparable assignments; and concise diagnostic reports and executive decision briefs. Ability to engage relevant government institutions and partners, including the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission, PMO-RALG and a large-scale, government-led national social safety net programme.

  • Management and Working Arrangements
  • The assignment is managed by the Programme Director, UPGI Tanzania, to whom the consultant reports. Day-to-day coordination is through the Senior Programme Coordinator.
  • The consultant is fully responsible for all ground work: identifying responde

How to Apply

Application link: Apply for this job