Provision of a Professional Evaluation of an Internal Audit Service

Tender description

Dumfries & Galloway Council wishes to appoint someone to undertake an independent External Quality Assessment (EQA) of its internal audit operation in accordance with current Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS). Parties who have the necessary professional standing, skills and experience in accordance with PSIAS are invited to communicate their interest in undertaking this work to the Council. In expressing such interest, parties are required to include their credentials and previous experience of undertaking public sector EQA work, which preferably will include the local authority setting. Depending on how many expressions of interest are received, a shortlist of parties may then be invited to submit a proposal and price for undertaking the assessment. The proposal should identify the evaluation model being used by the provider and the likely scope of the evaluation in terms of the people to be interviewed, the documentation to be provided, the facilities needed etc. For background information, the internal audit operation is a small, directly-employed team of three staff led by an officer with a CPFA qualification. It is part of the Governance and Assurance Service, which sits within the Communities Directorate of the Council. The size and organisational positioning of internal audit are relevant factors in performing the EQA. We are looking for someone to undertake an independent evaluation of our practices against the performance and attribute standards of PSIAS and to provide a report on local conformance and any improvement recommendations. Preferably the report will be ready towards the end of November 2022. For its part the Council does not require the provider to attend in person to undertake the assessment and remote delivery is acceptable. The successful provider will be asked to attend a meeting of the Council’s Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee to speak to their final report when it is ready (which also can be done remotely).