Durham University is seeking to appoint a co-sourced internal auditor as part of its cycle of full market testing. On this occasion, the University intends to award the contract for an initial period of three years, i.e. until 31 July 2024, and renewable annually thereafter, for up to two further years.

The University wishes to establish a contract with a professional services firm to provide co-sourced internal audit services as required by the Director of University Assurance Service (UAS).

We would expect the incoming provider to have expertise in business strategy and capability as well as experience in supporting organisations through transformation and being a catalyst and enabler for change.

The core of the work is likely to be risk-based audit work, with an emphasis on the design and operation of controls and embedded assurance. The Supplier may also be asked to conduct independent review investigations where circumstances require this, and to support capacity gaps within the internal team.

The University wishes, however, to maintain a flexible approach to this arrangement to enable the UAS to respond in an agile way to the University's changing business priorities and risks. This may include providing advisory work, analytical support for audit work completed by the in-house team, developing embedded (continuous) audit procedures, project assurance for new system developments or support for forensic investigations (where required).