How to Write Terms of Reference for a Consultancy Assignment in Mauritius

Terms of reference for consultancy services in Mauritius do more than describe the job. Under the guidance issued for public procurement, they decide which selection method a public body may use, what the evaluation committee scores, and what the contract finally buys, because the agreed terms of reference become the contract’s description of services. The Evaluation Guide (Consultancy Services), issued by the Procurement Policy Office on 27 July 2012 under section 7(b) of the Public Procurement Act 2006 and read on 1 October 2026, says outright that cost may only be a selection factor when “the TOR are well specified and clear”. A vague document narrows your options before a single proposal arrives.

Where we sit. B Hub Consulting is a management consultancy that responds to requests for proposals like the ones this article describes. That is an interest, and it is disclosed here. Everything below can be checked against the guidance and the documents linked, and it applies whichever firm you end up engaging.

What terms of reference have to contain

Mauritian requests for proposals carry the terms of reference as a section of their own. A Request for Proposals issued by Landscope (Mauritius) Ltd on 15 October 2025, procurement reference LM/PLW/OC25/37, uses the definition the format carries: the document “which explains the objectives, scope of work, activities, tasks to be performed, respective responsibilities of the Client and the Consultant, and expected results and deliverables of the assignment”. Every heading below maps to a phrase in that sentence.

The selection method depends on how precise the terms can be

The PPO Evaluation Guide lists the selection methods and ties each one to how well the work can be defined. Quality and Cost Based Selection, which it calls “the commonly recommended method”, is appropriate only when “the scope of work of the assignment can be precisely defined and the TOR are well specified and clear”, and when the staff time and costs can be estimated “with reasonable precision”.

• Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS). Quality and price both scored. Needs precise terms of reference.
• Quality Based Selection (QBS). Quality alone, then negotiation with the highest ranked. The guide reserves it for “complex or highly specialized assignments for which it is difficult to define precise Terms of Reference”, assignments with very large downstream impact, and work that can be done in substantially different ways.
• Fixed Budget Selection (FBS). Only when the assignment “is simple and can be precisely defined and when the budget is fixed”.
• Least Cost Selection (LCS). For assignments “of a standard or routine nature”, the guide’s examples being audits and engineering design of non-complex works.

The practical consequence is that the drafting decides the method, not the other way round. A strategy, institutional reform or AI governance assignment usually cannot be precisely defined at the outset, which points to QBS; forcing it into QCBS with thin terms of reference produces proposals priced on different assumptions. How public bodies buy complex systems, as opposed to advice, is set out in buying a complex system under the Public Procurement Act.

How the proposals will be scored

The evaluation criteria are written into the request for proposals, and the guide is specific about the usual ranges. It also says where most of the weight should go: “to (c) qualifications and competence of staff, or (b) adequacy of methodology and work plan, rather than to the fame or reputation of the consultant.”

Two further numbers belong in your plan. The guide recommends a minimum technical score “in the range of 70 to 80 points out of 100”, fixed in the RFP and not changed during evaluation. And under QCBS the weight for cost “shall normally be 20%”. Both are only meaningful if the terms of reference tell bidders what quality looks like; a methodology cannot be scored out of 50 against a scope that fits on half a page.

Six checks before the terms of reference go out

1. 01Name the decision the work supports. If the objective does not name a decision, a board paper or a policy, firms will each invent one.
2. 02Write the exclusions. What is out of scope is the sentence that prevents the variation order.
3. 03Date every deliverable. Payment milestones should attach to something you can hold in your hand.
4. 04List your own inputs. Data, access, counterpart staff and approvals, with who provides each. The RFP format asks bidders to comment on these, so state them first.
5. 05Describe the team you expect, not a headcount. The guide puts most weight on staff competence; tell bidders which competences matter.
6. 06Pick the selection method last. Once the document is written, ask honestly whether it is precise enough for QCBS. If not, it is a QBS assignment.

The format also gives bidders a formal route to improve the document: proposals carry “comments and suggestions on the Terms of Reference”, and in negotiation “the Client and the Consultants will finalise the Terms of Reference”, which then become the contract’s “Description of Services”. Read those comments carefully. They are the cheapest review your terms of reference will get.

The author of the terms of reference should not bid

Some public bodies hire a consultant to write the terms of reference. The conflict of interest clause in the same October 2025 RFP is direct about what follows: “a Consultant hired to prepare Terms of Reference for an assignment should not be hired for the assignment in question.” It sits beside the same rule for engineering design and independent environmental assessment, and for privatisation advice and the purchase of the assets.

Where it is the wrong choice: if you want help drafting terms of reference, we can do that, but we will then not bid for the assignment they describe, and you should expect the same of any firm. If what you need is a statutory audit, a tax return or company administration, we are the wrong call. And if the selection will be decided on the lowest hourly rate, we are not the cheapest firm in Port Louis. Before you appoint anyone, the checks in how to check a consultancy in Mauritius apply whoever writes the document.

For the buying decision that follows, read consulting firms against corporate services in Mauritius. To compare the financial proposals, use our guide to consulting fees in Mauritius. For a mandate crossing public institutions, read the sovereign advisory buyer’s test. Our practice areas set out the mandates we take on, and you are welcome to put the question to us in confidence.