Procurement Reform

A/RES/62/269No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 126Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, published in 2008.

What other versions does this mandate have?

7 versions · 1997–2008

2008A/RES/62/269Procurement reformLatestCompare with previous version
2007A/RES/61/246Procurement reformCompare with previous version
2005A/RES/59/288Procurement reformCompare with previous version
2003A/RES/57/279Procurement reformCompare with previous version
2001A/RES/55/247Procurement reformCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2009.

2009A/64/284/Add.2Comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities report of the Secretary-General : addendum

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

45 operative paragraphs

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions3 subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Reaffirms the need for the procurement system to be transparent, open, impartial and cost-effective, based on competitive bidding and fully reflecting the international character of the United Nations;

Notes the ongoing improvements made by the Secretary-General in procurement reform at Headquarters and in the field missions, including those set out in paragraph 8 of the report of the Advisory Committee;

Recalls its resolutions 52/226 A of 31 March 1998, 54/14, 55/247, and 62/232 of 22 December 2007, regarding the need for the Secretary-General to take steps to ensure that specifications are not deliberately tailored to predetermine the choice of supplier and that the principle of separation of responsibilities of the requisitioning and approving officers is maintained;

Requests the Secretary-General to implement all of the requests included in its previous procurement reform resolutions, in particular resolution 61/246;

Governance

Reiterates its regret for the delay in the response of the Secretary-General to its outstanding requests in its resolutions 59/288, 61/246 and 61/276, and urges him as a matter of priority to submit a report on procurement governance and other issues as requested in resolutions 61/246 and 61/276, with full justification of the reasons for the delay;

Internal controls

Notes with concern the possible weaknesses in the internal control environment with regard to procurement activities owing, inter alia, to the splitting of responsibilities between the Department of Management, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support of the Secretariat, and requests the Secretary-General to take concrete steps to avoid any such weaknesses and to report thereon in the context of the report on the governance of United Nations procurement activities;

Encourages the Secretary-General to strengthen further the internal control framework within the Procurement Division of the Department of Management by developing a more robust regime for the oversight of vendors, including subcontractors, at the Secretariat, as well as effectively addressing vendor misconduct and suspension;

Accountability

Reaffirms paragraph 3 of its resolution 61/246, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure proper accountability and training of all those involved in the procurement process at Headquarters and in the field;

Ethics

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to consider a proper mechanism for monitoring compliance of United Nations staff and vendors with ethical behaviour norms;

Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that ethics guidelines for procurement staff are issued as a matter of priority;

Notes that conflict of interest is not officially defined under current United Nations regulations and rules, and reiterates its request contained in its resolutions 52/226 A, 54/14, 60/266, 61/246 and 61/276 that the Secretary-General submit proposals on possible amendments to the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations1 and the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations to address issues of potential conflict of interest, such as the employment of former United Nations procurement officers by United Nations suppliers and vice versa;

Vendors

Endorses paragraph 14 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, in the context of the next comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities, on the implementation of the simplified vendor registration process;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to simplify and streamline the vendor registration process, to share responsibilities among the various United Nations organizations, to take into account the different circumstances and varying levels of Internet access in countries and to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, in the context of the next comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities, on the results achieved;

Also requests the Secretary-General to restore on the website of the Procurement Division without delay information on the Division’s focal points providing advice on the vendor registration process in the six official languages of the United Nations and the Division’s brochure in the six official languages on a cost-neutral basis;

Independent bid protest system

Regrets the lack of information in the report of the Secretary-General2 in response to paragraph 13 of its resolution 61/246, and in this context requests the Secretary-General to launch the pilot project for the independent bid protest system and to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, in the context of the next comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities, on the experience gained, as part of the comprehensive proposal concerning the implementation of the system, which shall be subject to the prior consideration and approval of the Assembly;

Procurement opportunities for vendors from developing countries and countries with economies in transition

Reaffirms paragraphs 6 and 20 to 24 of its resolution 61/246;

Notes the efforts made by the Secretary-General to promote procurement opportunities for vendors from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, including business seminars, and also notes the increased participation of those countries in United Nations procurement activities, reaching 53 per cent in 2006 as compared to an average of 45 per cent over the preceding four years;

Encourages the Secretary-General to continue to promote and to conduct business seminars and to follow up on their outcome as a means of sensitizing the business community in developing countries to procurement opportunities in the United Nations;

Endorses paragraph 32 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and requests the Secretary-General to continue and intensify the exploration of additional innovative ways to promote procurement from developing countries and countries with economies in transition and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session in the context of the next comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities;

Recalls section XIX, paragraph 4, of its resolution 61/276, in which it requested the Secretary-General to identify obstacles preventing the participation of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in United Nations procurement contracts, including through seeking and analysing feedback from vendors who had attended United Nations business seminars in recent years, and requests the Secretary-General to report fully on those obstacles to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session in the context of the next comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities, including on proposals to obviate such obstacles;

Requests the Secretary-General to increase the number of business seminars in developing countries and countries with economies in transition in order to increase procurement opportunities in those countries;

Stresses the need for business seminars to be more results-oriented and tailored to include adequate information on how to access business opportunities in the field of procurement with the United Nations;

Best value for money

Takes note of the recommendations of the Office of Internal Oversight Services4 and the comments of the Secretary-General thereon,5 and requests the Secretary-General to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session in the context of the next comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities;

Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General contained in paragraph 33 of its resolution 61/246, and requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session on clear guidelines for the implementation of the best value for money methodology in United Nations procurement, including all specifics of the weighted evaluation techniques;

Awarding of contracts and competitive bidding process

Requests the Secretary-General to entrust the Office of Internal Oversight Services to include in its annual reports all cases of application of exigency it considered, as well as the high-risk cases referred to the Headquarters Committee on Contracts on which it decided to provide comments;

Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure that the utilization of systems contracts is subject to prior full analysis of all costs, in accordance with current practice;

Further requests the Secretary-General to prepare a report on his proposal contained in paragraph 129 of his report relating to bidding by joint ventures, inter alia, on its justification, its legal regulation, the registration of joint ventures in the United Nations vendor roster and safeguards against possible limitations of competition in United Nations procurement for consideration by the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session;

Decides that contract bundling shall not be used as a tool to restrict international competition in United Nations procurement;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that requirements with regard to goods and services being procured as set forth in the solicitation documents are formulated subject to established limitations on the number of United Nations commodity codes per vendor;

Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that in scheduling bidders’ conferences and defining their venues, visa-processing timelines are taken fully into account and such alternatives as videoconferences are fully explored to avoid any impact of visa-related policies of different countries on the results of United Nations competitive bidding;

Performance and bid bonds

Further requests the Secretary-General to further enhance transparency in the procurement decision-making process and, in this regard, to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, in the context of the next comprehensive report on United Nations procurement activities, on clear guidelines and criteria for the request of bid bonds and performance bonds by procurement officers in the United Nations, as well as on exploring alternative means of ensuring the protection of the interests of the Organization throughout the term of the contractual obligation without restricting access to United Nations procurement of small and medium-sized enterprises, including those from developing countries and countries with economies in transition;

Sustainable procurement

Recalls paragraphs 137 to 140 of the report of the Secretary-General, and also recalls that the General Assembly has not considered for approval the concept of environmentally friendly and sustainable procurement, and requests the Secretary-General to prepare a comprehensive report on the content of and criteria for such a concept, including detailed information on its possible impact on the diversification of the origin of vendors and on international competition, including for developing countries and countries with economies in transition, for consideration and decision by the Assembly at its sixty-fourth session;

Delegation of authority

Reiterates its request in paragraph 20 of its resolution 59/288, and requests the Secretary-General to report on all the issues related to the levels of delegation of procurement authority, including mechanisms used to strengthen effective monitoring, oversight and accountability, in the context of his report on the governance of United Nations procurement activities;

Outsourcing practices

Recalls its resolutions 55/232 of 23 December 2000 and 59/289 of 13 April 2005 on outsourcing practices, and stresses that the procurement staff certification programme should be in line with the provisions of those resolutions;

Subcontracting

Notes with concern the risks that may be presented by the lack of disclosure regarding the issue of subcontracting;

Also notes with concern that subcontractors have not been required to comply with the relevant rules of the Organization, and requests the Secretary-General to address this lacuna in internal control associated with subcontractors as a matter of priority and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session;

Human resources management

Reaffirms sections X and XI of its resolution 61/244 of 22 December 2006;

Also reaffirms paragraph 100 of its resolution 52/220 of 22 December 1997 and paragraph 21 of resolution 52/226 A;

Training

Stresses the need for all procurement staff to receive the mandatory training in United Nations procurement techniques and ethics, and requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts in this regard;

Enterprise resource planning

Requests the Secretary-General to develop requirements for procurement management as a part of the new enterprise resource planning system, taking into account the need to allay concern that the use of different procurement-related information technology support systems in different departments is having a negative impact on the Organization’s ability to exercise comprehensive procurement oversight;

Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the enterprise resource planning requirements related to procurement reflect its decisions on procurement governance and to provide a comprehensive and concrete explanation as to how the new enterprise resource planning system will improve procurement-related internal control and oversight;

Other issues

Stresses the importance of efficiency in the acquisition process in the United Nations, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to improve the efficiency of the procurement process;

Recalls its request in its resolution 59/288 to review without delay options to better safeguard the independence of the Headquarters Committee on Contracts, and encourages the Secretary-General to develop further measures to mitigate higher exposure to financial risk;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that, on matters relating to procurement in the field, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support follow the principles of objectivity and impartiality in advising the Procurement Division.

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