In accordance with UN’s Financial Regulations and Rules, the following general principles must be given due consideration while executing procurement on behalf of the organization:

Best Value for Money

Fairness, Integrity, Transparency

Effective International Competition

The Interest of the UN

In the context of the procurement process, obtaining “best value for money” means selection of the offer, which presents the optimum combination of life-cycle costs and benefits, which meet the UN Agency’s [programme] needs.

Best value for money should not be equated with the lowest initial price option rather requiring an integrated assessment of technical, organizational and pricing factors in light of their relative importance (i.e., reliability, quality, experience, reputation, past performance, cost/fee realism and reasonableness).

The Agency’s parameters can also include social, environmental and other strategic objectives defined in the procurement plan. The principle of best value for money is applied at the award stage to select the offer that effectively meets the stated requirement.

To ensure that best value for money is obtained, the process of soliciting offers and selecting a Contractor should:

maximize competition; minimize the complexity of the solicitation,

evaluation, and the selection process; ensure impartial and comprehensive

evaluation of solicited offers; and ensure selection of the Contractor whose offer

has the highest degree of realism and whose performance is expected to best meet the specs, statement of works/ terms of reference.

As competition is the basis for efficient, impartial and transparent procurement,UN Agencies are responsible for ensuring the integrity of the procurement process and maintaining fairness in the UN’s treatment of all offerors.

Sound procurement (i.e., openness of the process; probity; complete and accurate records; accountability; confidentiality) establishes and then maintains rules and procedures that are attainable and unambiguous.

The objective of competitive processes as described in these Guidelines is to provide all eligible prospective Offerors with timely and adequate notification of the procuring entity’s requirements and an equal opportunity to tender for the required goods, civil works and services.

Procurement Units should ensure that restrictions are not placed on the competitive processes limiting the pool of potential Offerors.

• In practice, the specific procurement rules and procedures established for the implementation of a programme are contingent upon the individual circumstances of the particular case; however the following four considerations generally guide the UNDP’s interest for the acquisition of inputs:

• The need for economy and efficiency in the implementation of the programme, including the procurement of goods, civil works and services involved.

• the access to procurement opportunities for all interested and qualified Offerors worldwide.

• giving all eligible Offerors the same information and equal opportunity to compete in providing goods, civil works or services; and

• the importance of transparency in the procurement process

As funds of UNDP are entrusted to the organization by the public at large, it is imperative that all transactions committing UNDP are carried to the highest degree of public trust and should be conducted with the highest degree of integrity.

The award of a contract shall be made after due consideration has been given to the general principles described in Regulation 21.02 and in accordance with the following:

When a formal invitation to bid has been issued, the procurement contract shall be awarded to the qualified bidder whose bid substantially conforms to requirements set forth in the solicitation documentation and offers the lowest cost to The UN;

When a formal request for proposals has been issued, the procurement contract shall be awarded to the qualified proposer whose proposal, all factors considered, is the most responsive to the requirements set forth in the solicitation documentation.

In selecting the members of the evaluation team, the type of procurement being carried out should be considered. In particularly complex procurement cases, an external expert may be included to assist in the evaluation process as one of the team members.

In these cases it is important to identify the need for an expert early in the process (i.e., during the planning stage) in order to avoid unnecessary delays and to ensure that proper funds are budgeted

The work of the evaluation team is strictly confidential and information about submissions or proposals shall not be publicly revealed

Representatives from the funding source, the client organization, or national representatives may participate in the evaluation process only as observers.

Evaluation Team members must be instructed to immediately indicate if they are in a potential conflict of interest situation with one of the suppliers (e.g., owing shares in the supplier’s company, familiar relationship with suppliers, etc)

All observers or participants in the evaluation team who are non-UN staff must sign confidentiality and no conflict of interest statements.

UNDP is committed to making information about their programmes and operations available to the public. UNDP considers public access to information a key component of effective participation of all stakeholders, including the public, in the human development process.

UNDP recognizes that there is a positive correlation between a high level of transparency through information sharing and public participation in UN-supported development activities

Public access to comprehensive and timely information held or generated by UNDP will continue to facilitate the transparency, accountability and national ownership of UNDP programmes and operations.

To the extent that much of UNDP information is already available to the public through various means, including through the UNDP corporate website and individual Country Office websites, this Policy codifies existing principles, practices and procedures.

Information under the following categories is deemed confidential and not available to the public:◦ Information received from or sent to third

parties, under an expectation of confidentiality.

◦ Information whose disclosure is likely to endanger the safety or security of any individual, violate his or her rights, or invade his or her privacy;

◦ Information whose disclosure is likely to endanger the security of Member States or prejudice the security or proper conduct of any operation or activity of UN;

◦ Information covered by legal privilege or related to access to internal audit reports;

◦ Internal inter-office or intra-office documents, including e-mails and draft documents;

◦ Internal inter-office or intra-office documents, including e-mails and draft documents;

◦ Commercial information where disclosure would harm either the financial interests of UN or those of other parties involved;

◦ Information which, if disclosed, in UN’s view would seriously undermine the policy dialogue with Member States or implementing partners.

Abusive, excessive or vexatious requests may be denied.

Based on the UN decentralized structure, consolidated procurement plans are developed at different levels, including Corporate, Business Unit and Country Office.

Procurement planning will also take place at the project level or even at the activity level, depending on the complexity of the activity and the number of interrelated procurement actions.

All procurement plans are based on the Annual Work Plans (AWP’s). AWP’s are agreed in consultation with Government.

Procurement plans are internal documents and under the confidentiality clause (e), are not for public disclosure.

Contracts are confidential. However, generally the UNDP makes public all its awarded contracts in excess of USD100,000 online on Country Office websites, by region and kind of services/goods (type, scope and amount of the contract).

However, for security reasons, UNDP Somalia Office has a waiver from posting this information on its website for public view. This is line with the confidentiality clause (b) & (c) cited above. The other UN Agencies have a similar policy.

Based on the procurement principles the UN should ensure that restrictions are not placed on the competitive processes limiting the pool of potential Offerors.

However, where possible local procurement is encouraged where it provides value for money, creates local employment, helps to build local capacity and is in the interests of the Organization. Local Long Term Agreements (LTA’s) are being developed resulting from a competitive process for regularly purchased goods and services.

Under the international agreements governing the procurement for country programmes four considerations consistently guide the UN’s interest for the acquisition of inputs:

the need for economy and efficiency in the implementation of the programme, including the procurement of goods, civil works and services involved;

the access to procurement opportunities for all interested and qualified Offerors worldwide, except where other criteria mandated by the Security Council or General Assembly prevails.

giving all eligible Offerors the same information and equal opportunity to compete in providing goods, civil works or services; and

the importance of transparency in the procurement process.

Contracts for rentals are granted based on the results of a competitive bidding exercise resulting in the development of Long Term Agreements (1 year) with multiple service providers who the Somaliland authorities registered companies with proof of liability coverage etc and who provide the most competitive rates that meet the safety and technical requirements of UN Agencies.

Consistent with the provisions contained in UNDP’s Regulation 21.02 and except as otherwise provided in Rule 121.05, procurement contracts shall be awarded on the basis of effective competition, and to this end, the competitive process will, as necessary, include:

Market research to identify potential Contractors

Competition on as wide a geographical basis as practicable and suited to market circumstances;

Consideration of prudent commercial practice;

If UN Agencies do not feel that market research has provided a pool of suitably qualified Consultants locally, such Consultants must then be sourced from elsewhere

UNDP projects in Somalia use the following principles when undertaking civil works projects:

Liaise with MOPW on preparation of all Bills of Quantity (BOQ), Scopes of Work (SOW), and Technical Drawings.

Ensure Signed approval of all BOQ’s and technical drawings by MOPW, recognizing that MOPW is the lead Ministry for all infra-structure works projects.

Certification of Land Titles on which proposed new constructions are to be built

Ensure that all pre-qualified Contractors are registered with the appropriate authorities and have current business licences

Reference check and capacity assessment of any Contractor recommended for award of contract.

For all GoSL buildings, mandatory testing of all construction materials will be undertaken in the MOPW’s laboratory.

Final endorsement of satisfactory completion and quality standards with MOPW for Government buildings before certification of final payment.

The UNDP Engineers welcome the involvement of MOPW Engineers in reviewing work progress during regular scheduled site visits and attesting to final satisfaction of completed works. However, The UNDP Engineers authority is the deciding factor in awarding final payment or retention of payments, as appropriate.

It should be noted however, that Agencies vary in their approach to Government interaction for civil works projects; some working specifically with their respective Line Ministry for approval of BOQ’s, Scopes of Work.