The Procurement and Travel Section and other units should be encouraged to prepare procurement plans and the use of blanket contracts expanded.

The Committee was informed that the underlying problem was, in part, poor procurement planning in the requisitioning units, particularly in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Systems contracts are feasible when there is advance procurement planning and the cooperation of the requisitioning offices is given at all phases of procurement.

These include better procurement planning by requisitioning units, streamlining the procurement process in the Procurement Division and by the Headquarters Committee on Contracts and making necessary changes to the procurement framework, including regulations, rules and refinements in the Procurement Manual.

Procurement first purchase order

Procurement second purchase order

orders (in millions of

Unlike WFP where a separate food procurement unit and manual would seem justified by the highly specialized and even complex requirements of food procurement and delivery, specialized procurement units operating under different systems of accountability might not represent optimal use of procurement resources, particularly in cases of relatively low procurement volume.

22. The Advisory Committee recalls that the Board of Auditors has consistently found in the past an over dependence on suppliers recommended by the requisitioning units.10 The Committee shares with the Board the view that this practice undermines the principle of separation of responsibilities between requisitioning and procurement units.

(b) Purchase orders processed

As explained elsewhere in the present report, a number of initiatives are being taken to improve operations in the entire supply chain, that is, in the Procurement Division and other units involved in the procurement function.

I've put AlkaSeltzer down on my list.

Table 3. Cost effectiveness of procurement services in 2002

In December 2002, the General Legal Division proposed to the Procurement Service that a team composed of the requisitioner, the Procurement Service and the Office of Legal Affairs should be convened at an early stage in the procurement process so that major legal issues that were likely to arise could be addressed.

These cases were brought to the attention of the concerned organizational unit to ensure full compliance with the procurement procedures in the future.

The executive heads of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ITU and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) should bring their separate specialized procurement units under a single system of accountability for procurement operations, in particular in the case of relatively low procurement volumes (para.

The mission assets module provides the link to the procurement system and includes procurement information such as requisition and purchase order numbers, original purchase price and the length of serviceable life.

Goods and services were procured, and payments made, without following the established procedures for procurement and without issuing purchase orders

The management and staff of the Procurement and Logistics Division continue to focus on the reduction of procurement processing times for all functions, especially the processing times between the issuance of the purchase requisition and purchase order, the approval of purchase orders and the distribution of all documents to the suppliers.

In addition, process efficiency should be factored in to the analysis, especially with respect to procurement cycles, such as the time lag between issuance of a purchase authorization and release of a purchase order or between the latter and the actual delivery of goods and services to end users.

The new Chief Procurement Officer has introduced suitable and adequate measures that ensure the timely processing of requisitions.

Efforts have therefore been concentrated on training procurement and public works units, which are responsible for the bulk of bidding processes.

The table displays two staffing efficiency measures, the average value procured in 2002 by each staff member (Professional and General Service combined) of an organization's procurement unit, and procurement staff costs as a percentage of procurement spending.

According to UNPD, some functions pertaining to procurement, such as preparation of specifications, contract management, accounts payable, follow up on claims and litigation are performed outside the procurement units a fact to be considered in the benchmarking process.

UNICEF finds that merging procurement services of various agencies into a single procurement facility is not feasible.

The executive heads of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) should bring their separate specialized procurement units under a single system of accountability for procurement operations, in particular in the case of relatively low procurement volumes (para.

The list is limited to the procurement conducted by federal entities.

Some of the individual purchases involved amounts in excess of 100,000.

(c) Where requisitions are prepared by procurement staff they should be approved by project managers prior to processing and this approval should be formally evidenced (para. 31)

The Inspector however understands that substantive legal aspects of procurement are best handled by the legal counsel of the organization concerned, which would therefore call for improved coordination between the office of legal counsel and procurement units earlier in the procurement process, before contracts are concluded.

E and F (available at http www.eva.state.va.us dps Manuals docs VPPA.pdf).

We do not buy unit doses of radiopharmaceuticals.

31. For all purchases, the project manager is required to sign the requisition as authorization of the procurement process and to confirm that funds are available.

For example, despite its relatively small procurement expenditure, ITU has 4 separate units engaged in procurement one for in house administration (mostly office supplies and furniture), one for ICT products, one for development projects and yet another for ITU TELECOM exhibition activities, each reporting to a different head of department.

10. Simplified, generic, harmonized financial regulations for procurement have been developed by the Working Group on Procurement under the Task Force.

(xii) Procurement services posting of procurement plans and upcoming procurement opportunities on the Division's website preparation and issuance of tenders presentation of cases to the Headquarters Committee on Contracts, including review of procurement procedures being proposed and conducted by offices away from Headquarters and peacekeeping and other field missions award of purchase orders and contracts and negotiation and execution of contracts for the procurement of goods and services

The Tribunal has completed training for the individuals responsible for requisition in the procurement and contractual management processes.

In total, 64 per cent of expenditure related to country offices, with the remaining 36 per cent attributed to headquarters locations, including UNV and IAPSO.

Inter agency local procurement activities

Requests the Secretary General to ensure that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations communicates the information on vendor performance to all aviation offices involved and the Procurement Service.

Implementation should be as simple as possible, limited to procurement, distribution and monitoring.

3. The audit team found that, in several instances, the Mission s Procurement Section had interfered in the requisitioning process, resulting in splitting of requisitions and badly delaying the processing of requisitions.

The second purchase order was placed on 20 October 1993, and up to that date the procurement could have been withdrawn.

(a) Piecemeal purchases At ESCAP, 1,178 purchase orders were placed for nine categories of items in 1996 1997.

117. Notes with concern the lack of detail in the proposed programme budget of unit costs for the replacement or acquisition of information technology related equipment