Provision of External Audit Services

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1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

The Irish Red Cross Society (the "Contracting Authority") seeks external audit services to conduct a comprehensive annual audit of its financial records and accounting practices. The selected tenderer will be responsible for ensuring the robustness of financial management, processes, and controls, and for recommending improvements where gaps are identified.

Key activities include:

• Annual Audit: Conducting a comprehensive annual audit of the Contracting Authority’s books and accounting practices. This will involve a combination of substantive testing and tests of controls, with the utilisation of data analytics methodologies for large-scale batch testing where feasible.
• Financial Management & Controls: Assessing the robustness of financial management, processes, and controls. This includes determining compliance with established policies and procedures and recommending new or revised policies where gaps are identified.
• Financial Statement Production: Producing consolidated financial statements that are fully compliant with the current 2026 Charities SORP (FRS 102), any future iterations of the SORP, and all relevant statutory and professional requirements.
• Onsite Attendance: Attending onsite as necessary to perform audit duties.
• Audit and Risk Committee Engagement: Engaging with the Audit and Risk Committee on at least two occasions per audit cycle. This includes a pre-audit meeting to present the audit approach and a post-audit meeting to report findings and discuss the management letter. Short update reports will be provided throughout the process as agreed.
• Additional Meetings: Attending any other meetings as reasonably requested by the Audit and Risk Committee.
• Presentation of Findings: Presenting audit outcomes and the management letter to the following bodies of the Contracting Authority following the completion of the audit:
• The Audit and Risk Committee
• The Board
• The General Assembly

The contract is for an initial term of 36 months, subject to annual reappointment, with a potential extension of up to 12 months.

3. Background & buyer context

This procurement is being conducted by the Irish Red Cross Society, a recognised humanitarian organisation. The requirement for external audit services is a standard governance and financial accountability measure. The procurement follows an open procedure under Irish and EU regulations. The contract term is 36 months, with the possibility of a 12-month extension. The Contracting Authority aims to encourage participation from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and encourages larger enterprises to include SMEs in their proposals.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Tenderers must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered for evaluation:

• Turnover requirement: The tendering party's turnover must have exceeded €1,000,000 in each of the last three years (2023-2025). For firms established more recently, a pro-rata figure is acceptable, provided the firm has been in existence for at least 6 months.
• Insurance: The successful tenderer must hold the following insurances for the term of the contract:
• Employer’s Liability: €6.5 million
• Public Liability: €13 million
• Professional Indemnity: €2.5 million
• Certifications: Not specified for this tender.
• Past experience: Not specified as a distinct criterion in the provided extract, but technical and professional ability will be assessed.
• Personnel: Not specified as a distinct criterion in the provided extract, but technical and professional ability will be assessed.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified for this tender.

Tenderers must also confirm they are fully tax compliant and that no mandatory grounds for exclusion apply, or if they do, that sufficient measures demonstrate reliability.

5. Award criteria & scoring

Criterion Weight (%) Sub-criteria