FAQs

The PFRC is an FCDO-funded Technical Assistance programme. ASI is the Managing Supplier for PFRC (the ‘PFRC MS’). It is part of the FCDO Centre of Expertise for Public Finance within the Public Finance and Tax Department (PFTD). It works to enable public financial management (PFM) and revenue reform in ODA-eligible countries. It is a demand driven programme in which the PFTD receives intervention requests from FCDO Posts. Short term interventions (6 months or less) are implemented by the PFRC Managing Supplier. For medium and long-term interventions, the Managing Supplier administers competitive procurement processes to select and engage a supplier to implement the intervention on behalf of the Managing Supplier.

PFRC funds only technical assistance interventions that support PFM and revenue reform in ODA-eligible countries.

PFRC delivers interventions only in Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) eligible countries.

PFRC is a demand-driven programme, meaning its work is driven by requests made from FCDO Posts across all ODA-eligible countries. Posts submit concept notes for approval by a team within the FCDO’s central Public Finance and Tax Department. Once approved the Managing Supplier then supports the development of terms of reference for the intervention. For short-term interventions the Managing Supplier develops a costed proposal to deliver the intervention. For medium- and long-term interventions the Managing Supplier designs the procurement process and develops an Invitation to Bid pack which are then reviewed by the FCDO prior to the start of a competitive procurement process.

ASI was selected by the FCDO to manage the PFRC programme, following a procurement process using the Open Procedure. ASI’s core team for PFRC comprises dedicated staff and advisers with expertise in public financial management, revenue reform, procurement and contract management.

ASI implements all short-term interventions (less than 6 months) and runs competitive procurement processes to identify sub-contractors to deliver medium- and long-term interventions.

Yes, ASI can bid for medium and long-term interventions. However, this is subject to strict controls to mitigate any conflict of interest. Ethical walls are in place to ensure that no member of ASI’s core team for PFRC, or anyone with any involvement in the development of the Terms of Reference or the Invitation to Bid, can be involved in developing ASI’s bids for PFRC interventions. Strict controls prevent anyone at ASI other than the core PFRC team from accessing any privileged information regarding live or upcoming opportunities. Furthermore, under the terms of its contract with FCDO, ASI must deliver at least 80% of the of the total value of medium and long-duration interventions through sub-contractors.

ASI has set up strict Conflict of Interest management controls, which have been approved by the FCDO Public Finance and Tax Department as part of the PFRC Conflict of Interest Management Framework.

These include:

• All ASI staff and associates who work on the PFRC must sign a Conflict of Interest declaration for each intervention
• Any ASI staff or associates who are involved with development of Terms of Reference for a PFRC intervention cannot be in any way involved in the development of an ASI bid for such interventions
• Any ASI staff or associates who work on the development or implementation of a short term PFRC intervention within a specific country cannot subsequently work on the development of a bid for a PFRC opportunity within that country for at least one year
• All technical proposals are assessed by a technical evaluation panel which will generally include one representative from the FCDO. Where ASI has submitted a bid, moderation sessions are used to ensure a consensus score from all panel members for each of the technical evaluation criteria.
• All commercial proposals are evaluated in line with a strictly mathematical scoring system, with the results verified by the Managing Supplier’s Commercial Lead.

To view and bid for live opportunities, your organisation must first register an account on the PFRC Opportunities Portal and complete the Supplier Experience form. Once you have registered an account, navigate to ‘Open Opportunities’ page where you will find instructions on how to complete and submit the Supplier Experience form. These steps are outlined in a separate page on the website – How to Register & Bid – PFRC.

All technical proposals are assessed by technical evaluation panels comprising representatives from the PFRC core team. Panel members from the PFRC core team will always comprise a majority of the panel, though FCDO staff often have a representative on panels.

All commercial proposals are evaluated in line with a strictly mathematical scoring system, with the results verified by the Managing Supplier’s Commercial Lead.

An Invitation to Bid (ITB) is released for each opportunity. The ITB discloses the technical and commercial evaluation criteria, the weightings for each section and the scorecard used by the technical evaluators.

Technical evaluators score the technical sections of the bid individually, strictly in line with the process described in the Invitation to Bid and submit their scores to the Managing Supplier’s commercial team. Moderation sessions are then conducted to ensure there is consensus on the scoring of the bids. Where ASI has submitted a bid, the technical evaluations moderation sessions must ensure a consensus score from all panel members for each of the evaluation criteria. These moderation sessions are chaired by a commercial advisor from the Managing Supplier.

Commercial proposals are evaluated in line a strictly mathematical scoring system, with the results verified by the Managing Supplier’s Commercial Lead.

The combined scores for the technical and commercial proposals are compiled to identify the bid with the highest score. The PFRC core team then submits details of the evaluation process and results to the FCDO’s Senior Responsible Owner for the PFRC programme for no objection.

Once no objection has been received, the PFRC core team circulates results letters by email to all bidders. Detailed scoring information and feedback for bidders on their proposals are circulated only once the winning bidder has been contracted.

No, the Managing Supplier directly implements short-term interventions.

We will post Procurement Notices for all live opportunities on the UK Government Contracts Finder website, as well as on the PFRC LinkedIn page. We will simultaneously distribute these Procurement Notices via email to all registered members of the PFRC supplier network.

We work continuously with the FCDO to try to ensure that the market has as much forewarning as possible regarding upcoming opportunities. To be amongst the first to hear about upcoming opportunities, please register to join the PFRC Supplier Network. We email all registered members of the PFRC Supplier Network whenever we can provide updates about new opportunities. Please register here: www.pfrc.metricsled.com.

If your organisation is part of a group of entities, separate user accounts on the PFRC Opportunities Portal should be created for each potential bidding entity. You should only register one user account for each organisation.

If you wish to submit a bid which draws on the resources or experience of more than one entity in a group of entities, just one of the entities must act as the primary bidder, with other entities included as subcontractors/delivery partners within the bid.

If in doubt, please feel free contact us at commercial@pfrc.uk.

You can contact us at commercial@pfrc.uk.

The PFRC Expert Pool comprises experts interested in working on PFRC short-term opportunities. If you’re interested in joining our talent pool, please submit your CV here. Qualified female applicants and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to express their interest.

You can read our Safeguarding Policy here. If you have any concerns, please reach out to safeguarding@adamsmithinternational.com for support. You can also reach out to your direct point of contact at ASI to report any issue.