Regulatory Impact Evaluation Expert - Pilot Implementation, Impact and Political Economy Assessment of CCoRR Approved Regulatory Reforms

Background

The Revenue Mobilisation, Investment and Trade (REMIT) Programme, funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and implemented by Adam Smith International (ASI), provides technical assistance to the Government of Pakistan to improve the business environment, strengthen regulatory governance, attract investment, and support sustainable economic growth.

Over the past two years, the Government of Pakistan has undertaken one of its most ambitious regulatory reform programmes through the Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Reforms (CCoRR), with strategic leadership from the Board of Investment (BoI) and the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), and technical support from the REMIT Programme and JC&A. Supported by the enactment of the Asaan Karobar Act, 2025, the programme has shifted Pakistan's regulatory reform agenda from incremental procedural improvements towards a comprehensive regulatory governance framework based on the Regulatory Guillotine methodology.

To date, more than 550 regulatory reforms have been approved through the CCoRR process, targeting the simplification or elimination of unnecessary regulatory requirements, streamlining approvals, modernising regulatory systems, reducing compliance costs, and improving the overall ease of doing business. While these reforms represent a major milestone, the long-term success depends on effective implementation by regulators and the extent to which they generate measurable benefits for businesses and government institutions.

Recognising the need to move beyond implementation monitoring towards implementation evaluation, the Government of Pakistan has requested REMIT's technical support to undertake a pilot implementation, impact, and political economy assessment of selected CCoRR-approved reforms. The assignment will apply the REMIT Regulatory Impact Evaluation (RIE) methodology to assess implementation effectiveness, business and regulator impacts, institutional capability, and political economy constraints. The findings will generate practical recommendations to strengthen reform delivery while establishing a repeatable evaluation methodology that can ultimately be institutionalised within the Asaan Karobar Technical Unit (AKTU).

To support this assignment, REMIT seeks to engage a Regulatory Impact Evaluation Expert to lead the design and implementation of the pilot assessment, oversee the analytical methodology, manage stakeholder engagement, and deliver evidence-based recommendations to Government.

Job Summary

The Expert will undertake the pilot implementation, impact, and political economy assessment of selected CCoRR-approved regulatory reforms. The assignment will support the Government of Pakistan in evaluating whether approved reforms have translated into operational improvements, reduced regulatory burdens for businesses, strengthened regulator performance, and generated sustainable institutional change.

Working closely with the Board of Investment (BoI), the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), and the REMIT Programme, the Expert will develop and apply a comprehensive evaluation framework based on the REMIT Regulatory Impact Evaluation (RIE) methodology. The Consultant will oversee the assessment of implementation effectiveness, business-level impacts, regulator performance, implementation constraints, and political economy factors affecting reform delivery across a representative sample of regulatory reforms.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Expert will be responsible for providing overall technical leadership for the assignment. Key duties and responsibilities include:

• Review CCoRR-approved reform packages, Cabinet decisions, implementation records, and related documentation to establish the analytical baseline for the assessment.

• Develop a comprehensive evaluation framework based on the REMIT Regulatory Impact Evaluation (RIE) methodology, including analytical protocols, evaluation tools, and implementation assessment criteria.

• In consultation with BoI, SIFC and REMIT, select a representative pilot sample of approximately 15–20 regulatory reforms covering different implementation stages, sectors, governance levels, and institutional contexts.

• Verify the implementation status of selected reforms by assessing legal notifications, operational procedures, staff awareness, digital readiness, business utilisation, and consistency of implementation across regulatory agencies.

• Lead ex-post assessments of business-level impacts by evaluating realised reductions in compliance costs, administrative burden, processing times, documentation requirements, regulatory uncertainty, inspection burden, and other regulatory costs using the REMIT RIE methodology and Standard Cost Model (SCM) where appropriate.

• Assess regulator-level impacts by analysing changes in administrative workload, processing efficiency, staff effort, digitalisation, enforcement practices, resource utilisation, and institutional capability arising from regulatory reforms.

• Identify implementation constraints affecting reforms that remain under implementation, including legal, institutional, financial, organisational, digital, coordination, and capacity-related barriers, and recommend practical actions to accelerate implementation.

• Undertake structured political economy assessments of reforms experiencing significant implementation delays, identifying institutional incentives, stakeholder interests, governance constraints, regulatory discretion, accountability arrangements, and sources of resistance to reform.

• Distinguish between genuine implementation capacity constraints and strategic resistance affecting reform delivery and develop evidence-based recommendations to address identified bottlenecks.

• Lead stakeholder consultations with federal and provincial ministries, regulatory authorities, private sector representatives, development partners, and other key stakeholders to validate findings and strengthen ownership of recommendations.

• Prepare high-quality analytical reports, policy briefs, presentations, and implementation roadmaps that clearly communicate findings, implementation risks, and priority reform actions for senior government decision-makers.

• Work closely with REMIT team and Government counterparts to refine the Regulatory Impact Evaluation methodology into a practical framework capable of being institutionalised within the Asaan Karobar Technical Unit (AKTU) for future implementation monitoring and evaluation.
  

Qualifications and Experience

• Advanced degree (Master's or higher) in Economics, Public Policy, Public Administration, Regulatory Governance, Political Economy, Law, Development Studies, or another closely related discipline.

• At least 8 years of professional experience in policy research, regulatory reform, governance, programme implementation, public sector reform, or related assignments.

• Demonstrated experience leading complex policy evaluation, regulatory reform, governance reform, or public sector modernisation assignments for governments, international organisations, or donor-funded programmes.

• Strong expertise in regulatory impact assessment, implementation evaluation, public sector reform, institutional analysis, or regulatory governance.

• Proven experience designing and applying evaluation methodologies combining quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches, including implementation assessments, stakeholder consultations, and policy analysis.

• Demonstrated knowledge of regulatory reform methodologies, including regulatory impact assessment, regulatory simplification, Regulatory Guillotine approaches, Standard Cost Model (SCM), or comparable analytical frameworks.

• Experience undertaking political economy analysis, institutional assessments, governance diagnostics, or implementation reviews within complex public sector environments.

• Strong understanding of business environment reforms, investment climate policy, regulatory governance, and institutional reform processes, preferably in developing or emerging economies.

• Demonstrated experience engaging with senior government officials, regulatory authorities, private sector stakeholders, and development partners, with the ability to facilitate consensus around complex reform agendas.

• Excellent analytical, report writing, policy advisory, and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex technical findings into clear, practical recommendations for senior policymakers.

• Excellent interpersonal, stakeholder coordination, and strategic communication skills, with the ability to manage multidisciplinary teams and deliver high-quality outputs within tight timelines.

Reporting line

• The Expert will work closely with BOI/SIFC and REMIT team and will report to REMIT Deputy Team Lead/Investment Climate Lead. The assignment will require close engagement with key governments stakeholders along with presentation and review of deliverables by REMIT team, FCDO and other key stakeholders.

• Closing Date: 17th July 2026