Request for Proposals: Financial and Risk Management Compliance Audits for Sub-Grantees

Background and context

Tiko engages various partners, including Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), Quality Assurance providers, SGBV service providers, and safe houses, through formal Sub-Grant Agreements to deliver community and health response services. These partnerships are critical for reaching adolescents and young women (AGYW). To ensure programmatic integrity, financial stewardship, robust risk management, and the highest standards of financial governance, Tiko requires periodic and comprehensive financial and risk management compliance audits of these entities.

The relevant locations for this scope are:

• Kenya: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Machakos, Nakuru, Migori, Kilifi, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Nyamira, Kisii, Busia and Kakamega counties.
• Uganda: Wakiso and Kampala districts.
• Ethiopia: Addis Ababa and Hawassa.
• South Africa: City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.
• Nigeria: Abuja FCT and Nasarawa.
• Burkina Faso: Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.

Firms can apply for one or more markets where they can demonstrate the ability to deliver the assignments. Firms must be registered in each country where they seek to provide the services.

Objective of the audit

The primary objective is to verify that sub-grantees are operating in full compliance with the financial, risk management, and statutory requirements of their signed grant agreements and relevant regulatory standards. The audit will assess:

• Financial accountability, internal controls, and complete expenditure documentation.
• Compliance with anti-fraud, anti-corruption, and financial risk governance mandates.
• Accuracy, integrity, and reconciliation of financial and transactional data across reporting frameworks.
• Adherence to statutory obligations, procurement guidelines, and budget line allocations.

Scope of audit

1. Expenditure verification: Reconcile transaction listings, general ledgers, and bank statements against approved budget lines and the project scope of work.
2. Milestone achievement: Verify that disbursements are linked to confirmed deliverables as per the signed agreements.
3. Expenditure verification and anti-double dipping: Verify that all incurred expenditures are legitimate, supported by adequate documentation, and that there is no “double dipping” or duplicate funding from other sources for the same activities.
4. External audit review: Review external audit management reports and prior audit findings for the last two financial years. Test to ensure that all recommendations arising from findings have been implemented.
5. Procurement compliance: Inspect procurement documentation to ensure competitive bidding policies were followed.
6. Internal controls: Evaluate sub-recipient internal controls, including segregation of duties, delegation of authority, and financial software controls. Conduct walkthroughs for various cycles, including payments, payroll and assets, ensuring they are in line with policy.
7. Statutory compliance: Confirm compliance with statutory obligations, including tax filings, labour laws, and anti-corruption policies.

Deliverables

1. Audit plan: Detailed timeline and 100% review for selected sub-grantees.
2. Individual audit reports: Comprehensive audit reports for each sub-grantee featuring granular findings, objective risk ratings (Compliant / Partially Compliant / Non-Compliant), root-cause analysis of compliance gaps, and actionable, time-bound Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) complete with clear implementation deadlines, designated responsible owners, and re-verification milestones to ensure full risk mitigation.
3. Summary consolidation: High-level overview of systemic compliance gaps and recommended training/capacity-building interventions.

Qualifications of firms and proposed personnel

The selected firm and its proposed personnel must demonstrate a comprehensive profile aligned with financial audit and risk compliance requirements. Mandatory qualifications include:

• Extensive experience in conducting financial, forensic, and risk compliance audits within the NGO and development sectors.
• Proven technical expertise in financial risk management, internal controls assessment, and fraud prevention/detection methodologies.
• Certified financial and risk audit professionals, such as CPA, ACCA, CFE, or equivalent certifications.
• Strong analytical skills in financial data reconciliation, transaction testing, and identifying systemic governance and control gaps.
• Experience in reviewing grant agreements, evaluating statutory compliance, and producing actionable financial audit reports.

Evaluation criteria

Proposals should:

• Be clear about the relevant skills, experience and capacity of the participant in respect of this particular scope of work.
• Contain details of the proposed approach to be adopted to deliver the service in accordance with the scope of work.
• Clearly indicate whether bid participants have the capacity to meet the requirements of the scope of work.
• Clearly indicate compliance with the appropriate data protection, privacy, legal, social, tax and ethical requirements applicable to each country applied for.

Bidders must be registered firms in the countries where they seek to provide the services. A firm can bid for one or more markets depending on capacity.

Proposals will be evaluated against the following criteria:

1. Experience, skills and ability of the service provider — 30%

• Past experience in similar work of this nature.
• Team member experience, accompanied by brief CVs.
• Ability of the bidder to fulfil Tiko’s requirements.

2. Technical approach and execution plan — 30%

Proposals must contain details of the proposed approach to be adopted to deliver the service in accordance with the scope of work.

3. Financial quotation — 10%

Proposals should clearly indicate whether bid participants have the financial capacity to meet the requirements of the scope of work, based on the previous value of similar work undertaken, for example by sharing copies of recent audited financial statements.

4. References — 10%

Submission of at least three relevant and contactable clients previously served.

5. Capacity — 20%

Proposals should clearly indicate whether bid participants have the capacity to meet the requirements of the scope of work.

Total: 100%

How to apply

Proposal submission guidelines

Registered firms are invited to submit proposals for this engagement. Firms may apply for one or more markets and must clearly identify the countries covered by their proposals.

Proposals should include the contents below and must not exceed 15 pages, excluding annexures comprising the budget and summary profiles of proposed personnel:

1. Cover page: Summary with basic information such as the firm’s name, address, contact information, proposed budget and countries applied for.
2. Capacity statement: A brief capacity statement explaining why your firm and proposed team are well positioned to undertake the engagement.
3. Qualifications to the scope of work: Any qualifications or reservations that you may have regarding the scope of work.
4. Proposed approach: Your proposed approach to delivering the scope of work requirements.
5. Proposed personnel: The qualifications and experience of the proposed personnel.
6. Work plan: Proposed work plan with tasks, responsible persons and timeline.
7. Financial proposal: Hourly rates in USD for each proposed role/position identified in the proposal.
8. References: At least three relevant and contactable references for similar engagements undertaken by the firm in the last five years.

The submission must be clear, concise, and complete. Applicants should submit only such information as is necessary to respond effectively to this request for proposals. Unless specifically requested, extraneous presentation materials are neither necessary nor desired.

Expression of interest and clarification questions

Interested firms are requested to express their interest and/or submit clarification questions by emailing [email protected] on or before Thursday, 22 October 2026 at 12h00 South African Standard Time (SAST, UTC+2).

Use the subject line:

Sub-Grantee Compliance Audits: [Firm name]

Tiko will circulate consolidated clarification responses to all firms that have registered their interest by Monday, 26 October 2026 at 12h00 SAST, whether or not they submitted questions.

Submission deadline

Submit technical and financial proposals by email to [email protected] no later than Friday, 30 October 2026 at 12h00 midday South African Standard Time (SAST, UTC+2 / 10h00 UTC).

Use the subject line:

RFP – Sub-Grantee Compliance Audits – [Country/Countries]: [Firm name]