| Travel Management Services | ||
|---|---|---|
| Procurement Process : | RFP - Request for proposal | |
| Office : | UNDP Multi-Country Office - FIJI | |
| Deadline : | 05-Nov-12 | |
| Posted on : | 11-Oct-12 | |
| Development Area : | SERVICES |  |
| Reference Number : | 9944 | |
|
Documents :
Invitation Letter RFP-Travel Tender | ||
| Overview :
The
United Nations (UN) Agencies in Fiji in its efforts to harmonize common
services among the UN Agencies in Fiji, intends to appoint three (3) Common Travel Services Provider [two (2) to be based locally and one (1) to be based off-shore]
for the United Nations Agencies based in Fiji, which include, but not
limited to, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA), United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
(UNWOMEN), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United
Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR),
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health
Organization (WHO), The United Nations Department of Safety and Security
(UNDSS), and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UNISDR).
The estimated value of the travel business for the UN Agencies in the past two years was in excess of F$7 million per annum. | ||
1. Who approved SyriaTel as vendor ?2. Who approved Syrian Computer Society as vendor and granted them a non-bid contract to supply local UN/UNDP offices in Damascus with Internet access?3. Did the Legal Office of UNDP do due diligence and ask from UN/OLA and Host Country Committee and EU Brussels clearance on Syrian vendors ?4. Who approved the decision NOT TO INCLUDE the UN Offices in Syria under VSat (Satellite) services, but rather rely on Bashar Al-Assad infrastructure (i.e. Syrian Computer Society and SyriaTel)?5. Who approved the programme outline for Syria that called for partnership with SyriaTel, knowing far well that SyriaTel was blacklisted by US Treasury and European Union since 2008 ?6. Was this a deliberate action from UNDP to undermine US/EU sanctions against al-Assad Regime?
Why is the Cash-for-Work project needed?
· Poverty is chronic throughout the West Bank; the continuous conflict has had a severe impact on the Palestinian economy, despite some easing of movement restrictions from mid-2009, in September 2009 the World Bank affirmed this had not led to sustainable economic growth.
· Studies show that the unemployment levels are particularly high amongst refugees, at 26 percent, the highest being amongst the youth, at 54 percent.
· 29 percent of refugees both in and outside camps are food insecure, meaning they find it difficult to cover basic needs such as food.
· Households spend an average of 49 percent of their income on food, meaning they have very little left to spend on other essentials such as shelter and education, essentially further entrenching poverty through a cycle of debt.
· Due to debts, once a household has fallen into deep-poverty, it is more difficult to lift the family above the poverty line, which means they need more cash-for-work in order to feel a positive impact on their livelihood. CaWP has adapted its Programme to allow for such refugees to obtain work opportunities.
Who benefits?
· The programme helps all vulnerable refugees, especially the most vulnerable to food insecurity such as female-headed households, herders and the disabled.
· CaWP provides an income and basic security to help refugees cope with conflict-related economic hardship, such as land confiscation, destruction of homes and shops and loss of employment in Israel.
· CaWP currently provides 4,365 jobs per month, about 35 percent of which are carried out by women, 20 percent by youth aged 18-24 yrs, Three percent by herders and 0.5 percent by disabled.
· Between April 2010 and March 2011, JCP will create 80,000 short-term job opportunities (directly helping 40,000 households or 230,000 people), of which 28,000 jobs will be for women (35 percent of total), 2,400 for herders (3 percent of total) and 400 for people with disabilities (0.5 percent of total).
· JCP also caters for the specific needs of refugees living in Areas C and the Seam Zone by providing resources to help them resist forced displacement and better cope with land confiscations and settler harassment.
CaWP opportunities help to build health and educational facilities, maintain traditional handicrafts and backyard farming, and generates income for the poorest refugees.
How many beneficiaries are women?
· The project actively targets female beneficiaries by providing work opportunities which suit social values and are physically accessible to women.
· Female participation in CaWP has increased over 2009 to a steady 35 percent per month by the third quarter of the year. This is a rise of 15 percent from our current target of 20 percent, and will be our new minimum target for next year.
· To hire more women, JCP has provided special materials and tools for herding women (such as sewing machines and other materials for carpet weaving and handicraft) as well as for gender-sensitive jobs such as clerical work, assistance in nurseries, schools and libraries, and social work.
· Many female labourers have been hired by municipalities and village councils to help plan and implement JCP's CaWP activities.
How is the project implemented?
· JCP implements CaWP in close cooperation with stake-holders in all 19 refugee camps in the West Bank, including 34 UNRWA installations, and in over 160 municipalities and villages.
· The Programme relies on municipalities, heads of village councils, mukhtars and members of the refugee community in camps to draw-up action plans to absorb JCP labourers on a monthly or quarterly basis.
· JCP provides capacity-building workshops to ehance partners' awareness of the Programme and improve their ability to make use of the programme's services.
· JCP approves action plans and signs contracts with implementing partners.
· Beneficiaries receive a subsidy for their work, paid at the end of every working month by cheque.
· To verify beneficiary attendance and progress of work, JCP monitors regularly visit implementation sites.
Does the project make a difference?
· Yes. Families most often report using their subsidies from the project to purchase food or to repay debts; therefore, the project contributes to food security and allows beneficiaries to become viable creditors again.
· An evaluation of CaWP completed in April 2009 reported that on average 83 percent of respondents were satisfied with the project, with higher percentages amongst women and sanitation labourers. Some 68 percent reported to have improved family relations, and 66 percent had better self-esteem, suggesting the programme contributes to the wider well-being of the community.
· Residents of communities where the project is implemented enjoy better public services and infrastructure. Project beneficiaries have worked on schools, health centers, sewage systems, streets, parks, retaining walls, rehabilitation centers and even a zoo.
Who funds the Cash-for-Work Project?
· The project is made possible through the generous contributions of several donors as it is a multi-donor project.
· In 2008, its biggest donor was ECHO, the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department. Since 1992 the European Commission's Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) has funded relief to millions of victims of both natural disasters and man-made crises outside the EU. Aid is channelled impartially, straight to victims, regardless of their race, religion and political beliefs. http://ec.europa.eu/ec ho
· Since the start of CaWP in 2004, ECHO has contributed about half of the project's overall costs.
· Other donors such as the governments of Australia, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the United States, have also contributed generously.
Current challenges and measures to address them
2. For the 2006-2007 biennium the Board of Auditors had issued a modified audit opinion, in which, among other concerns, there were three matters of emphasis, namely, the unreconciled inter-fund account mainly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), deferred revenue and non-expendable assets. The financial situation of the organization has improved significantly over the course of the last three biennia. This has occurred despite the fact that in the last five years, in addition to a number of significant write-offs, UNOPS made exceptionally high bad-debt provisions, covering sizeable losses from prior periods, and made full accrual for all end-of-service liabilities, including after-service health insurance. As at December 2009, UNOPS reserves were fully replenished at $42.7 million, representing an addition of some $38.4 million since December 2005.
Issues to watch and risks to mitigate
In paragraph 45, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s reiterated prior recommendation to review its accounting policies regarding revenue recognition, as part of its preparation for IPSAS implementation.
1. UNOPS has established an IPSAS project board to drive the organization-wide
transition from UNSAS to IPSAS by January 2012. UNOPS is presently reviewing
and drafting its revenue recognition policy for project revenue. The policy will be
based on the percentage completion method.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In progress
Priority: High
Target date: December 2010
In paragraph 48, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to establish procedures to review the reasonableness of the interest income received from the UNDP Treasury.
2. UNOPS has conceptualized a methodology to review the interest received
from the UNDP Treasury for reasonableness on a quarterly basis.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In progress
Priority: High
Target date: December 2010
In paragraph 51, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to regularly monitor administrative budgets on a line-by-line basis to ensure that budgets are not exceeded.
3. UNOPS follows a rigorous half-yearly budget review process of administrative
expenditures throughout its country offices, regional offices and headquarters.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In progress
Priority: Medium
Target date: December 2010
In paragraph 57, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to address instances of obligations raised that are not supported with valid and appropriate obligating documents.
4. UNOPS retired the imprest modality in April 2010, and further occurrences of
the instances noted by the Board have been prevented. UNOPS monitors purchase
orders on its financial dashboard, and random purchase orders are selected for
review at headquarters. In addition, quarterly certification of obligating documents
is requested from regional directors.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: Completed
Priority: High
Target date: Fully implemented
In paragraph 64, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to implement controls and reports to accurately differentiate between project receivable and payable balances and project balances that represent over-expenditure.
5. UNOPS has implemented a quarterly project quality assurance review process
for all projects. Any project over-expenditure is highlighted for action through the
quality assurance process. Furthermore, reports will be prepared for the next audit to
clearly differentiate project receivable and project payable balances.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In progress
Priority: High
Target date: December 2010 & April 2011
In paragraph 65, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s further recommendation to improve its system controls to prevent and detect any classification errors in financial reporting in a timely manner.
6. UNOPS will implement monitoring and review controls to detect
misclassifications in a timely manner and prior to financial reporting.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In Progress
Priority: High
Target date: December 2010
In paragraph 69, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to account for the funds received in advance from donors as a liability upon receipt of the funds and not as a credit entry within the accounts receivable accounts.
7. UNOPS will implement an annual review process to identify credit balances in
accounts receivable and to reclassify these as accounts payable.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In Progress
Priority: Medium
In paragraph 72, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to (a) follow-up and clear the credit balances in the accounts receivable, and (b) reclassify credit balances in accounts receivable and account for them as payable.
8. UNOPS will implement an annual review process to identify credit balances in
accounts receivable and to reclassify these as accounts payable.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In Progress
Priority: Medium
Target date: December 2010
In paragraph 83, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to resolve the disputed inter-fund differences in its accounts with UNDP.
9. Resolution of the historic UNOPS-UNDP inter-fund differences is sought and
is currently under discussion at the Executive Director level. These negotiations are
expected to be finalized by the end of 2010.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In progress
Priority: High
Target date: December 2010
In paragraph 86, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to (a) follow-up the rejected project expenditures and make appropriate accounting entries, (b) improve the validation of information captured on its system to ensure that the incidents of rejections are minimized, and (c) consider alternate arrangements with UNDP to further improve the acceptance rate.
10. UNOPS continues to submit project expenditures to UNDP on a quarterly
basis. In late 2009, UNOPS developed a project expenditure validation system to
detect possible rejections and correction of data prior to submission to UNDP.
Overall, the validation process has reduced the rate of rejections to below 1 per cent
for the 2009 year. In addition, UNOPS is also in the process of implementing new
controls to prevent incorrect posting of project expenditures to the chart of accounts.
Department responsible : Finance
Status : In Progress
Priority : High
Target date : December 2010
In paragraph 91, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to (a) continue to follow-up on the unreconciled inter-fund differences in its accounts, and (b) engage with the relevant United Nations agencies in order to resolve the old inter-fund differences.
11. As part of the UNOPS project closure phase 2 initiative, meetings will be set
up with the relevant UN agencies to negotiate a resolution of the old inter-fund
differences.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In Progress
Priority: High
Target date: March 2011
In paragraph 111, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to consider a revision of its policy for the valuation of the annual leave liability in its implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
12. UNOPS selection of policies for the valuation of the annual leave liability is
based on decisions made for the entire United Nations system. At the United
Nations IPSAS task force meeting, which was held in late August through early
September 2010, further guidance on the accounting and disclosure of all end-ofservice-
liabilities in compliance with IPSAS was requested.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In progress
Priority: High
Target date: December 2010
In paragraph 116, UNOPS agreed with the Board’s recommendation to take appropriate measures to ensure the validity, accuracy and completeness of the data used in the computation of all post-retirement and end-of-service liabilities in future financial periods by ensuring that the information pertains to the correct reporting period.
13. UNOPS selection of policies for the valuation of all end-of-service liabilities is
based on decisions made for the entire United Nations system. An expected outcome
of the aforementioned UN IPSAS task force meeting has been further guidance on
the accounting and disclosure of all end-of-service-liabilities in compliance with
IPSAS.
Department responsible: Finance
Status: In progress
Priority: Medium
Target date: December 2010
