1. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this ‘Guidance for Collaborative Procurement for Humanitarian Cash Transfers’ (this “Guidance”) is to support collaborative procurement options for humanitarian cash transfer services required by UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP, as per the Joint Statement issued on 5 December 2018 by the Principals of OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP (the “Principals Statement” included as Annex I).
This Guidance has been adopted by the Procurement – Finance Inter-Agency Working Group for Humanitarian Transfers established by UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP (the “Working Group”) and builds upon the “Harmonizing UN Procurement: Common UN Procurement at the Country Level” (the “Common UN Procurement at the Country Level Guidelines”6) issued by the High-Level Committee on Management Procurement Network in collaboration with the United Nations Development Group.
This Guidance does not replace existing policies, procedures and rules of the agencies, nor does it impede their independent decision-making powers.
This Guidance is intended for UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP staff in all country operations and presents an overview of collaborative procurement opportunities for cash transfer services. This Guidance aims to clarify the acceptability of and to encourage the agencies to pursue collaborative procurement in their respective operations for humanitarian cash transfers.
Collaborative procurement can:
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Reduce duplication of procurement actions and maximize potential benefits of one procurement action for all parties involved;
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Reduce human resource requirements and costs in the implementation of cash transfer programmes;
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Reduce lead time in implementing cash transfer programmes by any organization of the UN system when another UN organization has already carried out a procurement process for the selection of a Financial Service Provider (“FSP”);
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Leverage the joint purchasing power where applicable;
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Allow people of concern and beneficiaries to have a more simplified and harmonized solution in accessing their entitlements where possible; and
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Enhance FSP risk management, and sharing of common FSP risks assessments and risk mitigation measures.
In the spirit of the agreement among the participating agencies as set out in the Principals Statement, all participating agencies are required to mobilize relevant resources to ensure a successful country level collaboration. It is expected that this Guidance will also be of use in new humanitarian situations or in existing situations where the collaborative approach has not yet been developed, and this Guidance consequently informs the process required for the start of the inter-agency collaboration as needed.
Although this Guidance is focused on UNHCR/UNICEF/ WFP, as appropriate, it may also be consulted for collaborative opportunities with all other humanitarian actors.
