Consultant to Develop Budget Planning Concept

TERMS OF REFERENCE
“Development of a Concept Paper on Budget Planning for the Counties”

1. Background and Context:
The Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) is the umbrella body of professional associations and societies in Kenya, with a corporate membership of thirty (30) professional associations from diverse professional disciplines. The corporate member associations have a total membership of nearly 50,000 individual professionals in Kenya alone. Professionalism and professionalism is embedded within the Constitution of Kenya and as such, as the umbrella body of all professionals in Kenya, APSEA has a stake in the implementation of the constitution. A major area of importance in the constitution is leadership values
APSEA, in conjunction with The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA) and other partners want to engage in the area of Fiscal elements of the Transition process namely the support the process of Budget planning f the counties. The Transitional Authority is to coordinate with relevant state organs and other public bodies to facilitate development of the phase 1 transitional period budget for county governments.
APSEA and its partners would like to develop tools and models to assist the Transitional Authority in their mandate in the preparation of model budget that will be used by counties. This budgeting process need to align with national government, county requirements, recurrent expenditure and professional and public participation.

Objectives:
The objectives for the development of the Budget Planning Concept :
I. Explanation as to why this process is important
II. Identify the Gaps that need to be addressed
III. To review the relevant laws i.e. Public Financial Management Act, 2012, County Government Act 2012, CRM Act and any other relevant law on budgeting to develop a framework to guide APSEA on this process.
IV. To ensure that budget planning process is in line with the constitution.
V. Analyse the current situation and the planned situation
VI. Analyse the risks that counties could encounter in formulating and developing their budgets
VII. Transition to Devolved Government Act 2012, Fourth schedule provides for the preparation of initial county budgets; Issues of Transition need to come out clearly.
VIII. Include aspects of public participation and accountability with regard to implementation of budgets;
IX. Budgets vis a vis urban areas as provided in the UACA, 2012
X. To recommend what activities APSEA can do to support the budget planning
XI. To present to the committee the findings and concept to enable further interrogation

The following are the goals specific to this project:
A. To develop a Concept paper that will guide the team in the process of development of a model budget

B. To develop criteria that captures the spirit and letter Article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya.

2. Description of Tasks to be Carried Out:
In order to meet the above objectives, APSEA is seeking the services of a consultant who will responsible for the design and development of the Concept note on Budget planning.

I. Time frame:
The consultant shall begin their mandate on Sept 19th and complete it on Sept 21st, 2012

II. Framework Description and Areas of Consideration:
The consultant shall develop a Concept Note in line with the stated project objectives.
1. Article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya. This article provides for Economic and Social rights for the citizens of Kenya so the budget prepared should ensure enough funding for service delivery.
2. Chapter 12 on Public Finance, with emphasis on part 4 on Revenue Allocation and Part 5 on Budgets and Spending.
III. Deliverables and other provisions:
The consultant will at the end of his/ her contract provide APSEA with the following tangibles:
• A completed Concept Note
• Work plan on activities APSEA will undertake to engage in the budget planning.

IV. Qualifications
The consultant will have the following basic qualifications:

• Possess a Bachelors Degree in Economics, Finance.
• Proven experience in the Public Finance, Budgeting, Budget Tracking and Financial Management
• A keen understanding of constitutional matters with emphasis on devolution and transition
• Documented research and published works on the constitution and Fiscal matters will be an added advantage.
• Must be a professional of good standing within their respective associations
• Highly developed Quantitative, Analytical and Presentation skills

Applications should be sent by Sept 17th to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it