Doing business with the United Nations Office at Vienna
The procurement of goods and services for the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), the United Nations Office on Drugs (UNODC) and Crime, the Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the other Vienna-based Secretariat units is handled by the Procurement Unit of UNOV.
The major categories of goods procured comprise computer equipment, software and supplies, furniture, communication equipment, office equipment and supplies, security equipment and clothing, and paper products.
The major categories of services procured include software support, telecommunication services, printing services, mail services, equipment maintenance, lease of printing and photocopying machine, translation services, and computer and management training.
Contracts are awarded on the basis of the best value for money in terms of total life cycle costs, including responsiveness to specifications, technical acceptability, compliance with delivery schedules, local servicing capability and availability of spare parts.
Vendor Registration
It is the policy of the United Nations Secretariat to have as wide and diverse a database of vendors as possible from all Member States. Interested vendors should register at the United Nations Global Marketplace ( http://www.ungm.org), the single portal for vendor registration for the United Nations system.
Registration requirements for doing business with the United Nations Secretariat can be found here: https://www.un.org/Depts/ptd/vendors/vendor-registration-0
Competitive bidding
One of the fundamental tenets of United Nations procurement is achieving best value for money for the Organization. Bids and proposals are obtained through a competitive process. Three types of solicitation document are issued by the Secretariat to fulfil a procurement requirement. While each of the types of document referred to below contain the information necessary to submit a suitable offer, they vary in accordance with the nature of the requirement and the estimated monetary value.
- Request for Quotation (RFQ): An informal invitation to submit a quotation for requirements of relatively low monetary value. Prices and other commercial terms and conditions are requested and an award is usually made to the lowest priced technically compliant offer.
- Request for Proposal (RFP): A formal request to submit a proposal against requirements that have a monetary value above the RFQ threshold but are not fully definable at the time of solicitation and where the innovation and specific expertise of the proposer is sought to better meet the procurement requirement. Price is only one of several factors comprising the evaluation criteria, which are determined before the RFP is released. A two-envelope system is used with technical evaluation completed before commercial offers of technically compliant proposals are opened. Award is made to the offer that substantially conforms to the requirements set forth in the solicitation documents and is evaluated to be the best value to the UN.
- Invitation to Bid (ITB): A formal invitation to submit a bid usually associated with requirements that are clearly or concisely defined, and have a monetary value above the RFQ threshold. Award recommendations are based on the lowest cost technically compliant offer.
Expressions of interest
Requests for Expression of Interest are published periodically on both the United Nations Secretariat Procurement Division Website and on the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM) websites and give an opportunity for interested vendors to obtain information about relevant products and services that may shortly be solicited. In addition, the United Nations Global Marketplace offers a service for automatic notifications of Requests for Expression of Interest, more information about this service can be obtained on the UNGM website.
Requests for Expressions of Interest do not constitute a solicitation. The United Nations reserves the right to change or cancel the requirement at any time during the expressions of interest and/or solicitation process. Submitting a reply to an expressions of interest does not automatically guarantee that the firm will be considered for receipt of the solicitation when issued. Only prospective vendors that respond and are deemed qualified upon completion of an objective evaluation of their vendor application will receive the final solicitation document.
Contact
Procurement Unit
United Nations Office at Vienna
PO Box 500
1400 Vienna
Austria