FINANCIAL AUDIT OF THE DESERT-TO-POWER INITIATIVE WEST AFRICA REGIONAL ENERGY PROGRAM

The African Development Bank Group (the Bank) has been supporting the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) in its developmental efforts since 2014. The Bank’s Desert-to-Power (DtP) Initiative is designed to harness the abundant solar energy in the Sahel to generate an additional 10 GW of capacity to provide clean electricity to 250 million people. Phase 1 of the initiative is the West Africa Regional Energy Program (WAREP), which seeks to catalyse growth in access to electricity by addressing primarily financial barriers to private sector-led distributed power generation and mini-grid development from renewable energy. The development objective of the Program is “accelerated regional-scale development of solar generation, transmission, and decentralized energy projects across the Sahel Region.”

WAREP Phase 1 has three components – (i) pre-feasibility studies for the Sahel Backbone and associated solar parks to improve regional energy trade; (ii)preparation activities for the ECREEE Rural Electrification and Mini-Grids Program to expand mini-grid investments and generate economies of scale, and (iii) project management to ensure quality control and supervision of the project. Component 1 is being implemented by the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP), Component 2 by ECREEE, and Component 3 is project management activities by both WAPP and ECREEE.

A Grant of UA1.39 million was approved in December 2021 to finance the DtP WAREP–Phase 1. Subsequently, a Program Implementation Unit (PIU) was established within the Directorate of Operations, and it comprises a Program Coordinator, an Accountant, a Procurement Officer, a Clean Mini-Grid Specialist, and a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. The PIU’s responsibilities include, among other things, planning and implementing the technical activities under the two sub-components as well as tasks related to administration, financial management, procurement, quality control, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting.

The African Development Bank entirely finances the project. The first disbursement occurred on September 29, 2022. As of February 14, 2023, two disbursements totaling UA 102,266.82 had been received. This represents 7.36% of the total Grant amount of UA1.39 million.

Based on of the above, ECREEE is seeking to recruit an eligible Audit Firm to provide consultancy services per the following criteria:

1. The auditing firm should be registered and have a license from a national or regional professional Accountancy Body (Maximum score: 10);
2. The firm should have relevant experience in accounting and auditing development programs or projects, especially donor-funded operations (Maximum score: 42);
3. Experience in auditing development programs or projects in the ECOWAS region (Maximum score: 15); and
4. The firm should confirm the availability of the following key personnel:

1. An Audit Manager (Maximum score: 10),
2. Audit Supervisor (Maximum score: 8),
3. Audit Senior (Maximum score: 5),
4. Technical Audit Senior (Maximum score: 5) and
5. Procurement Auditor (Maximum score: 5)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF EOI

1. The expression of interest must be submitted by email to ONLY warep@ecreee.org.
2. Clearly state in the subject line “FINANCIAL AUDIT OF THE DESERT-TO-POWER INITIATIVE WEST AFRICA REGIONAL ENERGY PROGRAM.”
3. The deadline for submission is no later than 23:59 GMT-1 (Cabo Verde time) on the 14^th December 2023.
4. Further information/clarification can be obtained at the following email addresses: adeoliveira@ecreee.org and eetim@ecreee.org.  Please do not copy any of these two email addresses when submitting your documents.