CL 129/INF/9

Council

1. This JIU Report is accompanied by the comments of the Director-General and of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).

2. Given the subject matter, it is suggested that this JIU Report be considered by the Finance Committee. The Committee is invited to endorse, in particular, the comments the Director-General made on the report.

Comments of the Director-General of FAO

It is worth stressing that the JIU had extensive contacts with FAO regarding this report, as well as review by the Inter-agency Procurement Working Group (IAPWG) . This has facilitated the formulation of a set of sound recommendations that are supported, including those not directly addressed to FAO.

Comprehensive system-wide comments have been prepared on this report under CEB auspices, which are also endorsed and are not, therefore, repeated in the reactions below.

Comments on recommendations

Recommendation 1:

The Secretary-General of the United Nations should continue to evaluate the results achieved to date by the Procurement Working Group of the Task Force on Common Services at Headquarters and other locations, including findings on procurement performance benchmarks and other best practices resulting from procurement reforms at Headquarters and other locations; the evaluation report should be discussed by HLCM and IAPWG members, which in turn should adopt recommendations for its procurement community as appropriate (para. 12).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: The recommended evaluation of the results achieved to date by the Procurement Working Group is to be addressed by the HLCM and the IAPWG of which FAO is a member. FAO will, therefore, participate in the process through these fora. It is noted that the Director, AFS is the IAPWG’s current Vice-Chairperson and its designated Chairperson.

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

x

No

Addressee of Recommendation:	Executive Head
	Legislative Body
	Other (specify): IAPWG	x

Recommendation 2:

IAPWG should adopt, approve and implement the concept of lead agency and promote a division of labour among the organizations, aimed at further rationalization of procurement practices by its members. The emphasis as may be applicable on increased consolidation of procurement overhead costs and structures within the United Nations system, in order to enhance division of labour among its members, reduce duplication in the procurement of common user items, and maximize the use of organizational core competencies, including the lead agency concept (para. 20).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: This recommendation on the lead agency concept is also addressed to the IAPWG. FAO has already registered its interest in being the lead agency for the procurement of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, animal vaccines, agricultural, forestry and fishery machinery.

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

x

No

Addressee of Recommendation:	Executive Head	x
	Legislative Body
	Other (specify):

Recommendation 4:

All executive heads should ensure that their respective procurement services have adequate and timely legal support, and that some of their existing staff receive training in the legal aspects of procurement (para. 31).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: This is already largely the case in FAO.

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

No

x

Addressee of Recommendation:	Executive Head	x
	Legislative Body
	Other (specify):

Recommendation 5:

Notwithstanding the agreement reached at the 29th IAPWG meeting to focus on the project proposal entitled “Common Procurement Training Initiative for the United Nations” on a certification system for procurement officers, active consideration should continue to be given to: (a) where applicable, further increasing the procurement training budgets of the organizations;

(b) integration, as far as practicable, of specialized procurement training initiatives and capacities available within the United Nations system; (c) expanded training in e-procurement methods in the context of recommendation 10(e) below; and (d) development of a technical assistance strategy supporting capacity-building in public procurement agencies in the recipient countries coupled with mobilization of resources to this end (para. 38).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: FAO already seeks to pursue these actions (subject to budgetary constraints).

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

No

x

Addressee of Recommendation:	Executive Head	x
	Legislative Body
	Other (specify): IAPWG

Recommendation 6:

(a) The executive heads of the organizations should ensure that procurement manuals exist in the working languages of the secretariats of the organizations in line with the relevant multilingual policies of the organizations concerned, in order to foster the integrity of the procurement process in all field offices (para. 43).

(b) IAPWG should arrange for the further development of its existing common procurement guidelines into a generic system-wide policy and procedures manual to serve as a benchmark which articulates common procurement principles and stages as well as standard quality outcomes, and significantly streamlines procurement procedures to be applied individually and collectively at all duty stations (para. 45).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: It may be noted that FAO and WFP are the only two agencies following the best practice of having their procurement manuals in English, French and Spanish.

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

No

x

Addressee of Recommendation:	Executive Head
	Legislative Body
	Other (specify): IAPWG	x

Recommendation 7:

(a) In view of the significant growth in procurement activities and the resultant need for more cost-effective arrangements and practices within the United Nations system, the General Assembly should request the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chairman of CEB, to negotiate the formalization of the mandate of the inter-agency cooperation and coordination role of IAPWG and require it to report annually to the General Assembly through HLCM and to make action-oriented proposals on continuous improvements in the management, performance measurement and coordination of procurement services, in the light of the findings and recommendations of the present report (para. 51).

(b) IAPWG should interact more regularly with other entities in the public and private procurement sector as well as with relevant academic bodies in order to keep abreast of practices, innovations and trends outside the United Nations system (para. 50(e)).

(c) Strengthening of common procurement services and other cooperative arrangements at different duty stations should be pursued more deliberately as a regular item on the agenda of IAPWG meetings (para. 50(f)).

(d) In conjunction with recommendation 1 above, the procurement reform experience of various organizations that have implemented reforms in recent years should be shared in detailed and systematic fashion with the other organizations (para. 56).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: While addressed formally to the IAPWG as a whole, this recommendation is fully supported from FAO’s perspective.

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

No

x

Addressee of Recommendation:	Executive Head	x
	Legislative Body
	Other (specify):

Recommendation 9:

The executive heads should ensure that the development of e-procurement solutions in their respective organizations is guided by the following basic principles, inter alia:

(a) The existence of a legal and procedural framework;

(b) Inter-agency cooperation and coordination;

(c) The promotion of an incremental approach to the establishment of e-procurement; and

(d) The development of a relevant new skill set through training and retraining programmes (para. 83).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: These principles are sound and fully supported.

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

No

x

Addressee of Recommendation:	Executive Head	x
	Legislative Body
	Other (specify):

Recommendation 10:

In view of the growing importance of the issue of government transparency in public procurement in the context of World Trade Organization agreements, as recently endorsed by General Assembly resolution 55/247 of 1 May 2001 on procurement reform, the executive heads of the organizations should, upon request, develop technical capacity-building support in their procurement portfolio programmes to support capacity-building in public procurement agencies in the recipient developing countries so that they can participate actively and strengthen their abilities to participate in procurement. The programmes in question should aim to complement ongoing activities in this area of the World Bank, OECD, ILO Turin Centre and IAPSO, among others (para. 91).

Is the recommendation of potential relevance to FAO?

Yes

x

No

Decision and/or Proposed Action:	Endorsed	x
	Endorsed as modified
	Rejected

Explanation and/or Proposed Action: The intent of this recommendation is also fully supported.

Include recommendation and action in annual monitoring report:

Yes

x

No