UNDP

Procurement

Sustainable Procurement

Procurement touches everything from buying office vehicles, health commodities and election materials to procuring energy systems as well as consultancy services. All these activities combined form a strategic function that is, not only due to its large share of our yearly expenditures, an extremely important part of our work. In our efforts to help countries end poverty and significantly reduce inequalities and exclusion – in parallel with measures to combat climate change – UNDP is striving to adopt more sustainable production and consumption practices.

Sustainable procurement means making sure that the products and services we buy are as sustainable as possible, with the lowest environmental impact and most positive social results.

The 2015-17 UNDP Procurement Strategy represents a commitment by the organization to realize the benefits sustainable procurement offers. As part of the strategy, UNDP procurement will focus on:

  • Incorporating sustainability criteria in the organization’s purchasing evaluations;
  • Developing monitoring mechanisms and assessments to promote vendor compliance in the UNDP supply chain;
  • Stimulating innovation through crowd-sourcing, functional specifications and piloting other innovative technologies;
  • Better Integration of procurement at the project design stage;
  • Promoting and utilizing public-private partnerships with companies that focus on innovation and sustainability; and
  • Enhancing the already high transparency standards in UNDP’s procurement activities. 

UNDP Procurement Strategy 2015-2017

The 2015-2017 Procurement Strategy represents a meaningful commitment to UNDP’s mission of helping countries achieve the simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion, as articulated in its Strategic Plan. 

Download strategy here (English)