General management consultancy services

Tender description

The NIAO is seeking to appoint consultants to provide assurance to NIAO that Land and Property Services has the professional skills, expertise etc. to act as management's expert in accordance with International Standard on Auditing (UK and Ireland) 500 — Audit Evidence (ISA 500) in providing: A valuation service to Northern Ireland public sector bodies for property assets disclosed in their financial statements which complies with: (a) Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) Valuation Standards (the Red Book) and (b) International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as applied to the UK public sector and Department of Finance (DoF) Northern Ireland; and Indices to revalue property assets annually between professional valuations. The work for which a proposal is invited is confined to providing assurance to the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) that LPS has the professional skills and expertise to act as management's expert in accordance with International Standard on Auditing (UK and Ireland) 500 — Audit Evidence (ISA 500) in providing: — a valuation service to public sector bodies for property assets disclosed in their financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as applied to the United Kingdom public sector in accordance with Department of Finance (NI) guidance and International Valuation Standards and the RICS's Valuation Standards (the Red Book); and — indices to revalue assets annually between professional valuations. ISA 500 paragraph 8 requires: — An evaluation of the competence, capability and objectivity of the expert; — Obtaining an understanding of the work of the expert; and — An evaluation of the appropriateness of the work of the expert as audit evidence. Consequently the selected firm will need to consider these requirements as part of their reviews and, inter alia, their report on their findings should provide assurance that: — LPS Valuation is staffed by appropriately qualified and experienced professionals; — LPS staff are sufficiently objective; — The terms of reference for work on valuations for financial statements undertaken by LPS Valuation Services are clearly documented; — Valuations for financial statements are carried out in accordance with IFRS and RICS Valuation Standards; — Reasonable and appropriate assumptions have been made by LPS Valuation Services in carrying out financial standards valuations; and — Source data used by LPS Valuation Services is materially complete, relevant and accurate. The successful contractor will also be expected to take account of the potential impact on the valuations for financial statements and indices provided by LPS, ensuring that they take account of any regional or other variations. It is envisaged that the successful contractor will ensure that appropriate procedures and standards have been adhered to for a sample of valuations provided by LPS Valuation Services. At the conclusion of the review, the successful contractor shall submit a report of its preliminary findings and conclusions. The report should confirm that the review has been completed in accordance with the agreed approach (or if not, provide a summary of departures from the agreed approach) and confirmation that an overall review has been completed by the Partner/Head of Firm. The report should be signed by the Partner/Head of Firm. On receipt of the report an overall scrutiny will be carried out by NIAO. This scrutiny may also involve the examination of detailed working papers.