Republic of Lebanon
 
Ministry of Public Health
 
Lebanon Health Resilience Project (P163476)
 
Consultancy Services for
Financial Auditor

 
 
The Lebanon Health Resilience Project (LHRP) is a five-year project funded by the World Bank. The project is designed to support the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) strategy to establish a pro-poor Universal Health Coverage program. The project aims to increase access to quality healthcare services to poor Lebanese identified by the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) through the National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP), based on a proxy-means testing targeting mechanism. All identified individuals will benefit from comprehensive packages of defined health services delivered at 204 Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs) selected from the MoPH PHCCs network. If the beneficiary requires further services as defined by MoPH referral criteria and clinical protocols, that are not provided at the PHCC level, he/she will be referred to one of the 31 MoPH contracted public hospital (listed in Annex I) for the delivery of outpatient clinical services.
 
The objective of this consultancy is to perform financial verification of services provided to beneficiaries at referral public hospitals. The work will include the following steps: (i) Verify the use of project funds in accordance with the Loan Agreement; (ii)Verify that procurement of goods and services financed have been made in accordance with the Loan Agreement and all goods purchased exist, are recorded in the fixed assets register with variances  identified and explained through a year-end physical count, and are being used for the project purposes; (iii) Verify all necessary supporting documents, records and accounts have been kept in respect of all project ventures, including expenditures reported via Statement of Expenditures (SOEs), Project Financial Statements (PFSs), and the Designated Account (DA), with clear linkages between the books of accounts and reports presented to the Bank; (iv) Verify that the transactions from designated accounts have been properly recorded, the account was used exclusively for eligible expenditures, and monthly reconciliation of the account was made and  the accuracy of account balances; (v) Identify whether Generally Accepted Accounting Principles have been consistently applied; and whether the project accounts and Project Financial Statements (PFSs) have been prepared in accordance with international standards, under the cash basis of accounting and give a true and fair view of the financial situation of the project and of resources and expenditures at the end of the period  under audit; (vi) Verify the eligibility of expenditures claimed under the SOEs against the accounting records, supporting documents, and physical inspection of the goods and services procured, and determine whether the expenditures included in the requests for replenishment are eligible for financing under the Loan Agreement; (vii) Evaluate and obtain a sufficient understanding of the project's internal control structure, risk, and reportable conditions; (viii) Provide a separate opinion on the accuracy and reliability of internal control procedures of the SOE's; (ix) Perform necessary tests to determine if the Ministry of Public Health has complied, in all material respects, with the terms of the Loan Agreement with the Bank; (x) Perform a special verification of the expenditures incurred for components 1 and 2 (Primary Healthcare Centers/ Public Hospitals) by calling a random sample of 20% (or as he/she deems needed as per the risk assessment; (xi) Verify registration of all fixed assets and ensure the availability of a comprehensive list that includes each fixed asset purchased under the project.
 
The MoPH hereby invites eligible Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the Services.
 
An Audit Firm will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank's Procurement in Investment Project Financing Goods, Works, Non-Consulting, and Consulting Services (dated July 2016 and revised in November 2017 and August 2018).
 
Interested Consultants are requested to provide the following information:

Expression of Interest must be delivered electronically or by hand to the address below not later than Friday, October 23, 2020 at 12:00 PM
 

Ministry of Public Health
Attention: Dr. Edmond Abboud
Title: Project Manager
3rd Floor, MoPH, Beer Hasan, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel: 961 1 830300 Ext: 274
E-mail: abbouded@gmail.com