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23 April, 2008 - UNDP and Zimbabwe: Retraction by Baroness Park Personal Statement: Baroness Park of Monmouth Baroness Park of Monmouth: My Lords, with the leave of the House, I wish to make a personal statement. During the discussion on the Statement on Zimbabwe on 3 April, I said: “Unless the present head of the UNDP is withdrawn, there will not be I do not resile from my reservations about the UNDP’s relations with the Government of Zimbabwe. However, I said in good faith and believing it to be fact that one of the two heads of the UNDP in Zimbabwe had accepted favours of, I thought, land. I now recognise that I was wrong in believing what I said to be a generally accepted fact. I have and had no evidence to support my statement. I therefore wish to apologise, first, to the House for making a statement that I should not have made and, secondly, to Mr Angelo and Mr Zacarias for the unfavourable imputations that I have made against their reputations. 21 April, 2008 – Response to Fox News on UNDP Procurement II In three consecutive articles Mr. Russell has failed to produce any evidence to back up his claims that UNDP’s procurement of the airport scanners was somehow irregular, and that they may not even have been shipped to Venezuela. UNDP would welcome seeing any such evidence, and has already extended an invitation to Mr. Russell and his colleagues to visit UNDP to pursue this and any other questions they might have about UNDP’s procurement policies and practices. Finally, UNDP notes that Mr. Russell has still not acknowledged nor corrected errors in his reporting on the Venezuela procurement, or in a related piece on UNDP’s global purchasing activities. In his latest piece on UNDP (“UNDP Procurement: Exceptions are the Rule”) George Russell of Fox News gets key facts wrong.
Mr. Russell appears to have confused total UNDP procurement with total contracts approved by the ACP. And even on ACP-approved contracts, Mr. Russell’s numbers are incorrect. Of the $1.5 billion in ACP-approved contracts in 2005 - 2007, $297 million or roughly 20% were granted exceptions to formal competitive bidding. The most common reason for granting exceptions were exigency (to get goods in quickly, mostly crisis in countries), standardization (to ensure new goods work with existing plant, can use the same spare parts, etc), monopoly (only one supplier available) and existence of Long Term Arrangements (supplier and value-for-money pre-vetted). Of the exceptions granted, nearly 50% related to crisis countries. Mr. Russell suggests that his numbers represent “requests for UNDP procurement cash” by “countries with questionable track records”. He cites in particular DRC, Sudan and Iraq, and goes on to list DRC’s score on Transparency International’s “Corruption Perception Index”. Here Mr. Russell shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how procurement works. Procurement is not about “requests for cash” from corrupt regimes: it is about UNDP helping national authorities, often those struggling with conflict or fragile national systems, to purchase vital goods and services more quickly, transparently and cost effectively than they could on their own. UNDP’s $142 million of procurement for DRC in 2006 is a case in point: over 60% of this purchasing directly supported that country’s first-ever democratic elections; most of the remaining 40% supported the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis’s efforts to combat disease in DRC. In both examples international donors chose UNDP precisely because of its effectiveness. Mr. Russell refers throughout his article to “confidential UNDP procurement documents obtained by Fox.” The documents to which he refers are posted on UNDP’s Intranet, freely available to over 20,000 UNDP staff, consultants and partners (NGOs, government counterparts) around the world. We would certainly have sent them directly to Mr. Russell had he asked. To view UNDP’s full answers to Mr. Russell’s questions, as well as our invitation for him and his Fox News colleagues to receive a full briefing on UNDP’s procurement policies and practices, please click here. Finally, Mr. Russell’s latest article repeats errors in his two previous articles on UNDP’s procurement of airport scanners for a project in Venezuela. To see UNDP’s responses to Mr. Russell’s reporting the Venezuelan procurement, please refer to the 1 April and 16 April rebuttals. To see a letter to Mr. Russell in which the Venezuelan company concerned points out some of his errors, please click here. 16 April, 2008 - UNDP's procurement of walk-through airport scanners for Venezuela project
UNDP also notes that:
Director of Communications UNDP 1 April, 2008 - Fox News - UNDP in Venezuela Additionally, Point No. 5 of the very document cited by Mr. Russell actually confirms that the contact was competitively bid. Mr. Russell also suggests that a shipment of scanning equipment never occurred and claims the company in question, L3 Communications, has no record of the transaction. UNDP would have gladly shown copies of these documents to Mr. Russell had he expressed any doubt about whether the shipment had taken place. Mr. Russell’s claim that “financial payments listings are normally not made public by UNDP’s top management” is also inaccurate. All UNDP contracts valued at more than $100,000 are part of the public record. Mr. Russell is correct in asserting that UNDP Venezuela added material to its website in response to questions posed by Fox News: as the existing information on its website was intended for a general audience and did not have full details of the project in question, it posted full project documentation to dispel any misperceptions and to be as transparent as possible. UNDP has been working to improve the lives of Venezuelans since 1965 at the express wish of its 36 country Executive Board, of which the United States is a member. For more information about UNDP please visit our global website at www.undp.org. For more information about UNDP’s activities in Venezuela please visit www.pnud.org.ve. For full documentation on any particular aspect of UNDP’s programme in Venezuela, please contact UNDP’s communications office at 212-906-5382. 26 February, 2008 - Allegations Ad Melkert lobbied Dutch government on Herfkens housing subsidy Inner City Press claims that “UNDP Associate Administrator Ad Melkert attended numerous social events in Herfkens' posh Dag Hammarskjold Towers apartment,” citing unnamed sources. Further, it implies impropriety or negligence on the part of Mr. Melkert by stating: “Apparently it never occurred to him to wonder, or ask, how this apartment was being paid for”. As Ms. Herfkens gave up the apartment in question in December 2005 and Mr. Melkert did not become UNDP Associate Administrator until March 2006, Mr. Melkert could not have visited the apartment as Associate Administrator. Mr. Melkert has never visited the apartment, not as Associate Administrator or prior to becoming Associate Administrator. The piece also claims that “UNDP's Associate Administrator Ad Melkert has lobbied for Herfkens to not have to pay back the housing subsidy, on the theory that she did not know the rules.” This is false. Mr. Melkert has not lobbied the Dutch government on this issue. On the related information on Ms. Herfkens, UNDP has made many public statements on this issue. They are available below.
19 February, 2008 - Response to GAP news release and Heritage Memo A February 15th news release from the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington-based non-governmental organization, contains a number of errors of fact and interpretation about the protections UNDP offers to whistleblowers. This latest update is intended to set the record straight on a host of rumors that continue to circulate concerning UNDP. Read the full article UNDP’s support to the electoral process in Kenya did not include vote counting or verification of results. Contrary to recent reports, neither UNDP nor the United Nations observed or monitored Kenya’s elections. UNDP’s 2007 Elections Assistance Programme for Kenya, which provided support in the preparation of the recent presidential elections, was designed in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Political Affairs. The programme focused on the following areas:
UNDP also supported the set-up of the media centre through procurement of equipment such as photocopiers, computers to enable journalists to access the Electoral Commission of Kenya website and prepare and send their reports. Eveline Herfkens was appointed by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the Executive Coordinator of the Millennium Campaign in October 2002, nearly four years before Associate Administrator Ad Melkert joined UNDP. At the time of her appointment, UNDP was requested to ‘host’ the contractual arrangements. She was hired under an Appointment of Limited Duration (ALD) and received a salary at the Assistant Secretary-General level. This level was commensurate with her experience and previous role as the Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation. She worked on this contract for three years full time. In her fourth year (1 November 2005 – 31 October 2006), at her own request, she worked at 75 percent of full time, and her salary was pro-rated accordingly. As with all UN staff at the Assistant Secretary-General level, the appointment included business class travel and a UN gold grounds pass. A gold pass facilitates visual recognition of the bearer as senior staff, and allows the individual to enter the UN Secretariat by the Delegates Entrance. Ms. Herfkens reached the maximum number of years allowed under an ALD contract (four years) on 1 November 2006. Upon completion of this contract, and on the basis of her performance record, the UNDP Office of Human Resources issued Ms. Herfkens what is called a “200 series fixed term appointment” at the equivalent level (L-7 step 6), for a period of one year, effective 1 November 2006. The contract was again pro-rated at Ms. Herfken’s request, this time at 90 percent of full time. In March 2007, Ms. Herfkens informed the UNDP Office of Human Resources that she had started the process of obtaining U.S. permanent resident (“green card”) status. Under UNDP rules and regulations, holders of a green card are not allowed to have an L contract and Ms. Herfkens was requested to resign, which she did. As all parties wished for Ms. Herfkens to continue her work for the Millennium Campaign, however, the Office of Human resources recommended that a Special Services Agreement (SSA) contract be issued after her L contract was terminated. The latter is the contractual agreement through which UNDP procures goods and services, including from individuals. Individuals on SSA contracts are not considered UNDP staff members. Whereas ALD and L contracts are tax exempt, SSA holders must pay income tax directly to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, i.e. no deductions are made at source. Two different oversight panels reviewed this case to ensure all UNDP rules and regulations were followed and to give their recommendations. The initial proposal recommended the issuance of an SSA contract lasting a year, a daily rate of $750.00, and a lump sum for travel expenses. In early October 2007 the second oversight committee (the “ACP”) supported the terms of the contract but withheld approval, pending reaffirmation that UNDP’s normal competitive process should be waived because of the strategic nature of the post. This reaffirmation is currently being sought from the current UN Secretary General, who is a strong supporter of the Millennium Development Goals and the UN’s championing of them. Given that this approval process was likely to take some time, and that Ms. Herfkens had continued working even though she had resigned her existing contract, in mid-October 2007 the UNDP Partnerships Bureau issued a 6 month SSA contract to bridge the period 1 July – 31 December 2007. The SSA contract is completely standard and contains no special provisions. The gold grounds pass held by Ms. Herfkens expired 31 October 2007, per the earlier authorization that had come with her L contract. She currently does not hold a grounds pass. The Millennium Campaign does not receive any UN or UNDP core resources, but is funded by targeted donor contributions. Ms. Herfkens’ salary and her expenses are covered by these resources. UNDP deeply appreciates the leadership and performance of Eveline Herfkens as the Executive Co-coordinator of the United Nations Millennium Campaign. She has built a worldwide campaign to help eradicate poverty that has touched millions of people. As a result of UN Millennium Campaign activities, under her leadership the Millennium Campaign was able to mobilize contributions specifically for campaigning purposes from a large number of donor governments. The recent article in Vrij Nederland is inaccurate. It misconstrues facts and the documents it cites are in some cases part of the kind of internal deliberative process that all organizations undergo when considering contracts. These documents do not reflect the final position of UNDP management, nor the final outcome regarding Ms. Herfkens’s contract. UNDP is not aware of ANY rules Ms. Herfkens has knowingly broken to further her own interests. (Subsequent to issuing this statement, the UNDP Spokesperson became aware of the details of the housing subsidy received by Ms. Herfkens. UNDP is looking into this issue, including whether receipt of the subsidy violated the applicable UNDP staff rules, and whether Ms. Herfkens was aware of the rules. UNDP is also looking into Ms. Herfkens’s U.S. green card application, the applicable rules, and whether she was aware of them.) The moment she found out that her application for permanent residency in the U.S. was inconsistent with the terms of her contract, she immediately informed the appropriate UNDP officials and resigned from that contract. The allegation that this caused a ‘labor conflict’ or performance issue, is simply not correct. All concerned wanted to find a way to have her continue with her responsibilities to the Campaign. As such, and after a lengthy process to ensure that all relevant rules and procedures would be followed, it was agreed that Ms. Herfkens would be given a standard SSA contract, with no special provisions i.e. no business class travel or any other special privileges. Ms. Herfkens has abided by this contract. Again, the suggestion that somehow Ms. Herfkens knowingly bent UN rules for personal gain is simply not correct. On the contrary, since January 2006 she was paid for a part time contract although she de facto continued to work fulltime. In the course of 2007, and until her SSA contract was approved, she actually continued to work in her position without pay pending the approval of her contract. Since January 2006 she has been working from home as the day-to-day responsibilities for managing the Campaign from the outset were done by the Director of the Campaign. Moreover, the bulk of her responsibilities involved political guidance to the National Campaigns including writing articles and Campaign material as well as participation in international meetings resulting in her traveling almost five months per year. The five trips abroad in 2007 cited by the article lasted on average a month each. The reference to an internal UNDP memo which allegedly suggests that somebody else be found to lead the campaign is misconstrued. The memo solely suggested an SSA contract may be incompatible with a managerial position (i.e. is not a staff contract and therefore does not allow for financial approval authority, supervisory responsibility, etc). The leadership of UNDP at no stage suggested or supported the idea that Ms. Herfkens should not continue in her crucial role with the Campaign. David Morrison did not at any stage say that Ms. Herfkens is without a contract at home in Maryland. In fact, what David Morrison made clear was that Ms. Herfkens had continued to work from home even while awaiting the approval of her SSA contract. The article is also inaccurate in its representation of the decision to move the Millennium Campaign to another department within the UN. In fact this decision was made for practical reasons. At the inception of the Campaign, it was decided that UNDP would ‘host’ the Campaign, and this remains the case today. Due to a natural internal evolution within UNDP over the past several years, it made sense to shift the Millennium Campaign from one bureau within UNDP to a sister bureau. The decision to make this internal bureaucratic change had nothing at all to do with Ms. Herfkens position or contract. A 12 December story by Fox News asks “Did the United Nations Development Program use an American charitable organization to secretly funnel nearly $2 million, and perhaps much more, to North Korea …?” The answer is no. From 2002 until mid-2007 UNDP and Seattle-based Mercy Corps International operated a project in support of vulnerable populations on the Chinese side of the China – North Korea border. None of the money went to North Korea or the North Korean government. Mercy Corps International’s work was part of its ongoing program “Poverty Alleviation and Humanitarian Assistance in the Tumen River Area”. UNDP’s support for this work began in 2002, in the form of a UNDP project called “Assistance on the China-DPRK Border”. The short name of the project, used to identify it within internal UNDP systems, was “MCI-DPRK”. “MCI” stands for “Mercy Corps International”. “DPRK” stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (North Korea). The project number and financial code was “00012432 (INT/02/H02)”. UNDP communicated extensively with Fox News in advance of the recent story, supplying documents and written answers to questions posed (click here to see an example). At no time did Fox News ask about a project called “MCI-DPRK” or identified by the number “00012432”. Had Fox News done so, UNDP would have readily clarified that these were simply shorthand ways of referring to the project with Mercy Corps International about which UNDP had already supplied extensive information. UNDP could also have readily supplied documents that use all three ways to refer to the same project. Click here to view an example. As UNDP conveyed to Fox News, total funding for the project from 2002 to 2007 amounted to $4, 523,792.21. The money came from a UNDP trust fund supported by the governments of the United States and Germany. The project was comprehensively evaluated near the end of 2006. Click here to see the evaluation and project details. UNDP is proud that its support of this project helped to improve the lives of vulnerable populations along the China – North Korea border. UNDP categorically rejects the suggestion that the project somehow escaped “normal UNDP oversight” and that it had never been “formally evaluated through conventional UNDP mechanisms”. The latter statement is particularly curious given UNDP sent Fox News the full 2006 evaluation report. Finally, the Fox News story repeatedly states that UNDP “funneled millions in hard currency” to the regime of Kim Jong Il. UNDP did no such thing. From 1981 until March 2007 UNDP operated a series of modest development programs in North Korea. These programs were approved by its Executive Board, which includes the government of the United States and 35 other countries. Over the past 10 years total UNDP spending in North Korea averaged $2.5 million per year. This includes all spending by UNDP on behalf of itself and all other UN agencies for all purposes. Per UNDP rules and procedures worldwide, these disbursements are backed up by receipts, activity reports, project visit reports, and so on, which show that the money was used for legitimate development activities. Several formal enquiries are currently underway into UNDP’s former operations in North Korea. UNDP is fully cooperating with these enquiries, and has recently brought all of its backup documentation from North Korea to New York to help facilitate them. UNDP urges all parties to await the results of the various enquiries before reaching conclusions about its former operations in North Korea. 14 December, 2007 - UNDP and Identyx A 19 November 2007 posting by Matthew Lee on his website (www.innercitypress.com) raised questions about UNDP’s selection of a company called “Identyx” to help it implement an automated open-source identity management software called Velo. UNDP decided to implement Velo in order to increase the security of its information systems. In full accordance with its procurement regulations and rules, UNDP requested a waiver of competitive bidding for this contract because Identyx, as the original developer of the Velo software, was uniquely placed to integrate the product with UNDP’s existing systems, and to execute the overall project. 14 December, 2007 - Allegations of tampering with DPRK evidence
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