Consultancy Opportunity at BRAC International: Public Finance Management (PFM) Study – Tanzania

Organisation: BRAC International
Programme: BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) – Tanzania
Assignment: Consultancy for the Public Finance Management (PFM) Study
Location: Tanzania
Assignment Duration: 30 Working Days
Application Deadline: 15th November 2026
Deadline for Questions: 9th November 2026
Email for Applications: bmtadmin@brac.or.tz

1. Organisation Background

BRAC International is a nonprofit organisation that works with communities and governments in Africa and Asia to reduce extreme poverty. The organisation draws 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. This approach involves a time-bound package of consumption support, productive assets or capital transfers, skills training, savings, and regular coaching to help the poorest households build stable and independent livelihoods.

UPGI works through government systems to ensure that the approach can be sustained by governments.

2. Programme Background

UPGI Tanzania is implementing 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 being undertaken 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 requires an understanding of current public expenditure, financing and financial management arrangements, as well as the potential costs of implementing the approach.

This Public Finance Management (PFM) study will provide evidence to inform the subsequent Design Stage.

3. Objective of the Assignment

The objective of the consultancy is to establish a focused understanding of existing public expenditure, financing and financial management arrangements relevant to a Government-led Graduation Approach in Tanzania.

The consultant will assess the practical implications of these arrangements for affordability and programme delivery and provide an evidence base and indicative fiscal scenarios to inform the subsequent Design Stage.

4. Scope of Services

The consultancy will cover 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.

• 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.

• Identify existing budget and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) locations where evidence permits.

• Avoid designing new institutional or fund-flow arrangements.

4.3 Budget Execution and Funding Predictability

• Assess issues affecting the predictability and timeliness of financing for relevant delivery functions.

• Examine releases, expenditure, payments, procurement bottlenecks, accounting and reporting.

• Distinguish formal procedures from observed or reported practices.

• The assignment will not constitute a comprehensive fiduciary audit or control-system assessment.

4.4 Financing of Core and Recurrent Graduation Delivery Functions

• Identify the principal resource requirements for key delivery functions, including coaching, supervision, productive support, training, transport, case management, MIS and follow-up.

• Distinguish existing funded capacity from likely incremental requirements.

• Identify the main recurrent-cost drivers.

4.5 Indicative Costing and Fiscal Feasibility

• Develop a limited set of scenarios using agreed provisional assumptions.

• Distinguish existing and incremental costs, as well as start-up and recurrent costs.

• Identify confirmed financing and material funding gaps.

• Test key sensitivities relating to cohort size, service intensity and geographical 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.

• Distinguish confirmed financing from prospective or uncertain financing.

• Identify material financing, execution, capacity and sustainability constraints.

• Provide findings to inform subsequent programme design without developing new financing mechanisms or detailed PFM reforms.

5. Deliverables and Indicative Timeline

The consultant will be expected to submit four key deliverables to the Programme Director.

Deliverable 1: Inception and Analytical Framework

Indicative Timeline: December 2026 – January 2027

Minimum content:

• Confirmed scope and study questions.

• Methodology.

• Priority evidence requirements.

• Consultation plan.

• Workplan.

• Coordination with other Discovery Phase activities.

Deliverable 2: Focused PFM and Public Expenditure Diagnostic

Indicative Timeline: February 2027

Minimum content:

• Selected expenditure and financing baseline.

• Existing institutional and financial responsibilities.

• Budgeting and fund-flow arrangements.

• Budget execution and funding-predictability findings.

• Principal recurrent-cost drivers.

• Material bottlenecks.

• Clear evidence limitations.

Deliverable 3: Indicative Financing and Fiscal Feasibility Scenarios Model

Indicative Timeline: March 2027

Minimum content:

• Editable and bounded financial model.

• Agreed financing scenarios.

• Existing and incremental costs.

• Start-up and recurrent costs.

• Confirmed financing and material funding gaps.

• Key delivery assumptions and sensitivities.

Deliverable 4: Final Report and Executive Decision Brief

Indicative Timeline: April 2027

Minimum content:

• Consolidated diagnostic findings.

• Fiscal-scenario implications.

• Key financing and implementation constraints.

• Evidence limitations.

• Priority issues requiring further consideration during the subsequent Design Stage.

6. Deliverable Standards

All deliverables must meet the following standards:

• Reports must be written in clear and concise English.

• Consultations should be conducted in Kiswahili where appropriate.

• Government-facing documents should be concise and practical, with technical details provided in annexes.

• Every figure must cite its source.

• Approved budgets, releases and actual expenditure must be presented separately.

• Assumptions and evidence limitations must be clearly stated.

• Options must not be presented as Government decisions.

• Final deliverables must be submitted in editable Microsoft Word and Excel formats, as well as clean PDF versions.

7. Qualifications and Experience

This section outlines the minimum eligibility requirements and technical qualification criteria for individual consultants or firms.

A. Eligibility Requirements (Pass or Fail)

The consultant must:

1. Be an individual or firm legally able to work and invoice in the United Republic of Tanzania, with a valid Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and VAT registration number. Firms must also have a BRELA certificate of registration and a valid business licence.

2. Hold an earned PhD in Economics, Public Finance or a closely related discipline with substantive economics and fiscal-analysis content.

3. Have at least 15 years of relevant experience in economic research, public finance or expenditure analysis, programme costing or related advisory work.

4. Have completed at least three budget or expenditure assignments examining financing sources, execution constraints or funding predictability.

5. Have completed at least two assignments in programme costing, unit-cost analysis, multi-year financing or financial/fiscal feasibility.

6. Have undertaken at least three relevant assignments in Tanzania, collectively covering national and local government financing or service delivery.

7. 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.

8. Have completed at least two relevant assignments as Lead Consultant, Team Leader, Principal Researcher or equivalent, with substantive analytical and reporting responsibility.

9. Have excellent written and spoken English and Kiswahili communication skills.

10. Confirm availability for 30 working days between November 2026 and March 2027.

11. 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.

B. Technical Qualification Criteria

In addition to meeting the eligibility requirements, applicants should demonstrate the following competencies:

1. Public Finance and Expenditure Analysis

• Ability to establish an expenditure and financing baseline.

• Ability to distinguish approved budgets, releases and actual expenditure.

• Knowledge of domestic, borrowing, grant and development-partner financing.

• Experience assessing budget execution, financing timeliness and predictability.

2. Tanzania PFM and Institutional Systems

• Working knowledge of the budget cycle and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

• Understanding of Local Government Authority (LGA) transfers and financing.

• Ability to map budgeting, authorisation, transfers, payments, procurement, accounting and reporting responsibilities.

• Experience with large-scale, Government-led national social safety net programmes.

3. Costing and Indicative Fiscal Feasibility

• Advanced Microsoft Excel or equivalent spreadsheet skills.

• Experience developing transparent and editable costing and scenario models.

• Ability to distinguish existing and incremental costs, as well as start-up and recurrent costs.

• Ability to document unit costs and assumptions, identify financing gaps and test different programme scenarios.

4. 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.

• Ability to distinguish existing funded capacity from incremental requirements and recurrent-cost pressures.

5. Research Methods and Comparative Judgement

• Experience in financial-data analysis, document review, consultations, reconciliation and triangulation.

• Ability to clearly present assumptions and evidence limitations.

• Ability to distinguish formal procedures from observed practices.

• Ability to apply international evidence appropriately and assess its relevance to Tanzania.

6. Leadership and Communication

• Experience ensuring technical quality and timely delivery of comparable assignments.

• Ability to prepare concise diagnostic reports and executive decision briefs.

• Ability to engage Government institutions and development partners, including the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission, PMO-RALG and relevant national social safety net programme institutions.

8. Management and Working Arrangements

• The assignment will be managed by the Programme Director, UPGI Tanzania, to whom the consultant will report.

• Day-to-day coordination will be undertaken through the Senior Programme Coordinator.

• The consultant will be fully responsible for identifying respondents, securing appointments, obtaining necessary permissions, and collecting, verifying and analysing data.

• UPGI will not make introductions, arrange meetings or obtain data on behalf of the consultant.

• The consultant is expected to use their own professional networks to engage the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission, PMO-RALG, LGAs, TASAF and development partners.

• Managing access to people and data is part of the assignment.

• Any access challenges must be reported to the Programme Director in writing as soon as they arise, together with a proposed solution.

• The consultant must coordinate with other Discovery Phase activities to avoid duplication and maintain consistent assumptions.

• The consultant must not speak for or make commitments on behalf of the Government or BRAC.

• UPGI will provide written comments within seven (7) working days of receiving each deliverable.

• Any significant changes to the scope, methodology or timeline require prior written approval from BRAC.

9. Level of Effort and Duration

The consultancy requires a total of 30 working days, distributed as follows:

The assignment is expected to be undertaken between December 2026 and April 2027.

10. Mandatory Administrative and Compliance Documentation

Applicants must submit the following documents:

1. An up-to-date, signed Curriculum Vitae (CV).

2. An assignment matrix listing relevant assignments against each eligibility requirement, including client, dates, role and outputs.

3. Copies of academic certificates, including the PhD certificate.

4. A copy of a national ID or passport.

5. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) certificate.

6. VAT registration certificate.

7. Contact details of at least three professional referees.

8. A signed declaration of availability for 30 working days between November 2026 and March 2027.

9. A signed conflict-of-interest declaration.

10. A signed declaration of compliance with applicable anti-terrorism laws, including the Anti-Terrorism Act of the United Republic of Tanzania.

11. Evaluation Criteria

11.1 Compliance and Eligibility Check

Applications will first be checked for the mandatory documents listed in Section 10 and the eligibility requirements outlined in Section 7A.

Incomplete, non-compliant or ineligible applications will not proceed to further evaluation.

11.2 Technical Evaluation

Eligible applicants will be assessed based on the relevance, analytical quality and demonstrated individual contribution evidenced in their CV, assignment matrix, work samples, model evidence and references.

Applications will be scored out of 100 points as follows:

Scoring Methodology

Applicants will receive 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the available points for each criterion, depending on whether the evidence is absent, limited, adequate, strong or exceptional.

Evaluators must provide a brief evidence-based justification for each score.

BRAC may invite shortlisted applicants for an interview to verify their experience, contribution or availability.

11.3 Financial Evaluation

Financial proposals will only be considered for applicants who achieve the minimum technical score.

The lowest evaluated financial proposal will receive 100 points. Other proposals will be scored using the following formula:

Financial Score = (Lowest Evaluated Price ÷ Price of the Proposal) × 100

11.4 Combined Score and Ranking

The applicant with the highest combined score will be ranked first and may be invited for negotiations before the award.

The combined score will be calculated as follows:

Combined Score = (Technical Score × 0.80) + (Financial Score × 0.20)

12. Payments and Financial Arrangements

Consultancy fees will be paid in instalments upon delivery and acceptance of the respective deliverables.

Additional Payment and Expense Provisions

• The consultant or firm will be responsible for obtaining personal health insurance at their own cost, covering all medical expenses, including those resulting from illness or injury, throughout the assignment.

• Any in-person meetings or travel required for the assignment will be covered by BRAC, together with suitable accommodation in accordance with BRAC policy.

• Travel expenses will be reimbursed based on actual costs.

• The consultant or firm must quote a daily fee in Tanzanian Shillings (TZS) for 30 working days, inclusive of applicable taxes.

• Payments will be subject to withholding tax in accordance with Tanzanian law.

13. How to Apply

Interested and qualified consultants or firms should submit their applications electronically via email.

Application Email: bmtadmin@brac.or.tz

Email Subject: UPGI Tanzania Discovery Phase – PFM Study

The application must contain two clearly labelled files:

1. Technical Proposal

The technical proposal must include:

• CV.

• Assignment matrix.

• At least one relevant work sample.

• Evidence of a costing or scenario model developed by the applicant.

• Professional referees.

• All mandatory administrative and compliance documents listed in Section 10.

2. Financial Proposal

The financial proposal must include:

• Proposed daily consultancy fee.

• Total consultancy fee for 30 working days.

• Any relevant financial assumptions.

Application Deadline: 15th November 2026

Late submissions may be rejected in accordance with BRAC procurement procedures.

Enquiries and Clarifications

Any questions or requests for clarification regarding this consultancy must be submitted in writing to:

Email: bmtadmin@brac.or.tz

Deadline for Questions: 9th November 2026

14. Confidentiality and Compliance

• Information and data supplied during the procurement process and consultancy assignment must remain confidential and may only be used for this assignment unless otherwise agreed in writing.

• All reports, models, datasets and other outputs produced under this assignment will belong to BRAC and may be shared with the Government, subject to the ownership and use provisions of the final consultancy agreement.

• The consultant or firm must comply with applicable BRAC policies and legal requirements, including safeguarding, ethical conduct, anti-fraud, anti-corruption and anti-terrorism obligations.

• The consultant must also comply with the Anti-Terrorism Act of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Application Summary

How to Apply: Send your Technical Proposal and Financial Proposal to bmtadmin@brac.or.tz using the specified email subject before the application deadline.