2016 Annual Statistical Report on United Nations …...12 2016 Annual Statistical Report on United...

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Copyright © 2017

by the United Nations Office for Project Services

Marmorvej 51, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

2016 Annual Statistical Report on United Nations Procurement

Photo credits: Taghrid Mohammad, Khan Dunoun, Syria, 2016

Constantly working toward a decent educational environment for Palestine refugees, UNRWA operates one of the largest school systems in the Middle East, teaching over half a million children in over 700 schools and has been the main provider of primary education to Palestine refugees for more than 60 years. UNRWA’s total procurement spend on educational goods and services in 2016 was $36.5m.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

INTRODUCTION

Methodology United Nations reporting on sustainable procurement United Nations report on Global Compact

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Total procurement of goods and services for operational activities of the UN system

Countries of supply to the UN in 2016

Ten major countries of supply to the UN system in 2016

Procurement volume by region of supplier in 2016

Procurement from countries with economies in transition, developing countries and least developed countries

Top twenty countries with economies in transition, developing countries and least developed countries supplying UN organizations

Procurement by organizations of the UN system in 2015 and 2016

Procurement from countries with economies in transition, developing countries and least developed countries

Procurement by segment of goods and services

Sustainable procurement in the UN system

PROCUREMENT FROM COUNTRIES WITH ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, AND LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Total procurement by country groupings

Procurement from countries with economies in transition, developing countries and LDCs combined, by largest UN organizations

Country group procurement by category

LDCs supplying UN organizations

SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT IN THE UN SYSTEM

Introduction

Policy and strategy

SP integration in the procurement process

Internal capacity development

Supply chain development

UN procurement from Global Compact participants

Sustainable procurement outlook for 2017

41

31

16

11

8

23

25

26

27

32

42

34

43

44

46

47

48

50

35

38

29

22

20

19

18

17

15

14

12

Health sector

Transport

Consultancy, administration and operations

Construction and Engineering

Food and Farming

PROCUREMENT BY SECTORS AND CATEGORIES OF GOODS AND SERVICES

Total procurement by sectors of goods and services

Detailed procurement of the top five sectors by UNSPSC® family

64

70

51

53

53 60

56 62

58

66

67

52

65

65

Afghanistan

China

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ethiopia

India

Iraq

Jordan

Kenya

Lebanon

Pakistan

Panama

Peru

Republic of Korea

Russian Federation

South Africa

South Sudan

Sudan

Turkey

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

PROCUREMENT PROFILES OF THE DAC MEMBER COUNTRIES

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Canada

Czechia

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Luxembourg

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Republic of Korea

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United States of America

TOTAL PROCUREMENT OF GOODS AND SERVICES

Total procurement of goods and services (by supplier country or country of contractor)

Total procurement by UN organization125

121

120

101 111

100 110

99 109

119

98

76 83

108 118

97

7582 89

90

107 117

96

7481 88

106 116

95

80

105 115

94

73 79 86

104 114

93

72 78 85

103 113

92

91

71 77 84

102 112

COLLABORATIVE PROCUREMENT WITHIN THE UNITED NATIONS

Introduction to collaborative procurement

Reported collaborative procurement

Opportunities for collaboration

UN to UN procurement

87

PROCUREMENT PROFILES OF THE TOP TWENTY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND COUNTRIES WITH ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION

PROCUREMENT OF GOODS

Procurement of goods by UN organization and country of supplier

Procurement of goods by country of supplier and UN organization

PROCUREMENT OF SERVICES

Procurement of services by UN organization and country of contractor

Procurement of services by country of contractor and UN organization

PROCUREMENT PROFILES OF 39 UN ORGANIZATIONS

258

218

337

725

151

197

726

728

735

737

127

173

126

172

SHARE OF UN ORGANIZATION FOR EACH PROCUREMENT CATEGORY

MAJOR PURCHASE ORDERS AND CONTRACTS BY UN ORGANIZATION

ANNEXES

Annex I Abbreviations

Annex II

728 Distribution of countries and territories

729 Developing countries and territories

732 Least developed countries

733 Countries with economies in transition

734 Developed Countries And Territories

Annex III Category names

Annex IV National Implementation Modality (NIM) – United Nations Development Programme

ECLAC

ESCAP

ESCWA

FAO

IAEA

IFAD

ILO

IMO

IOM

ITC

ITU

OPCW

PAHO

UN-ICTY/MICT

UN WOMEN

UNAIDS

UNAKRT

UNDP

UNECA

UNESCO

UNFCCC

UNFPA

UNHCR

UNICEF

UNIDO

UNOG

UNON

UNOPS

UNOV

UNPD

UNRWA

UNU

UNV

UNWTO

UPU

WFP

WHO

WIPO

WMO

219 232 245

220 233 246

221 234 247

222 235 248

223 236 249

224 237 250

225 238 251

226 239 252

228 241 254

230 243 256

231 244 257

229 242 255

227 240 253

GLOSSARY OF TERMS


GLOSSARY OF TERMS

GLOSSARY OF TERMSCountries: Throughout this report, the terminology “country” or “countries” refers to countries and

territories as defined by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat. In all, there are 240

countries and territories. The designations employed do not imply the expression of any opinion

whatsoever on the part of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory,

city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does

not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the

United Nations.

Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Member Countries: A key forum of major bilateral

donors, DAC Member Countries work together to increase the effectiveness of their common

efforts to support sustainable development. The DAC consists of 28 Member Countries, as well as

the European Union.

Developed countries; Developing countries; Economies in transition; and least developed

countries: For analytical purposes, this report adopts the United Nations classification of the world into

these broad categories. A composition of these groupings, provided in Annex 2, is intended to reflect

the countries for which the United Nations provides financial/technical assistance. Please note that

there is no established convention for the classification of countries within the United Nations system.

Goods: Objects of every kind and descriptions, including raw materials, products and equipment and

objects in solid, liquid or gaseous form, and electricity, as well as services incidental to the supply of

the goods if the value of those incidental services does not exceed that of the goods themselves.

Member States: In all, 193 sovereign states are recognized Members of the United Nations, and

the United Nations General Assembly. Membership in the United Nations is open to all peace-

loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgement

of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.

Organizations of the United Nations system: Throughout this report, the terminology “United

Nations organization(s)” refers to the United Nations, its subsidiary bodies – including separately

administered funds and programmes – specialized agencies, research and training institutes, and

other subsidiary entities.


GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Procurement: The acquisition through purchase or lease of real property, goods or other

products (including intellectual property), works or services.

Services: Work, duty or labour performed by a contractor pursuant to a contract. Rendering of

services may involve the associated provision of utilities or facilities if specified in the terms of

the contract. Typical examples of services include security, catering, cleaning, travel management,

event management, IT services, training, freight forwarding, and consulting.

Standard country and area code classification (M49): This report presents procurement statistics

from countries and territories that follow the United Nations standard country, area and region

classification as defined by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat for statistical

use. For more information on this classification, please visit:

https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/

Sustainable procurement: Sustainable procurement practices integrate requirements,

specifications and criteria that are compatible and in favour of the protection of the environment,

of social progress and in support of economic development, namely by seeking resource

efficiency, improving the quality of products and services and ultimately optimizing costs.

United Nations Global Compact: The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for

businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally

accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. By

doing so, business, as a primary driver of globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce,

technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere .

United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC): The UNSPSC is a publicly

available multi-sector standard for classification of goods and services. It is a four-level category

hierarchy presented as an eight-digit number; the four-levels are segment, family, class and

commodity. For the 2015 ASR, procurement of goods and services are reported on segment or

family level. The UNSPSC is available in 10 languages.

https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/

INTRODUCTION


INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The Annual Statistical Report on United Nations Procurement (ASR) provides an overview

of the procurement of the United Nations system in support of its operations, projects and

programmes. Procurement includes all acquisition through purchase or lease of real property,

goods or other products (including intellectual property), works or services1. The report provides a

range of information about the categories of goods and services procured by the United Nations

system, as well as the countries from which these goods and services were procured.

The 2016 version of the ASR is the 33rd edition of this publication, which was first presented in

1984. It was prepared by the Inter-Agency Procurement Services Office (IAPSO) of the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and submitted to the 39th session of the General

Assembly2. By Resolution 39/220, the General Assembly established a need for regular reporting

of this type of information and encouraged organizations of the United Nations system to

participate in this important exercise. Since 2008, the report has been compiled by the United

Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

The Report includes statistics on procurement by UN organizations and by supplier/contractor

country, including major purchase orders and contracts3 of United Nations organizations. This

year, a new section on collaborative procurement has been incorporated into the report to

highlight inter-agency procurement activities.

In the context of the UN’s continued focus on sustainable development, the information conveyed

by the ASR is also supplemented by sustainable procurement (SP) indicators. This is the 9th year

that such information is reported in the ASR. The reporting framework, providing a baseline on

which progress regarding the integration of SP in the UN system can be measured, has been

continuously improved each year based on feedback from reporting organizations.

Since 2007, the ASR has examined procurement by UN organizations from suppliers that support

the United Nations Global Compact4. This section of the report measures procurement by the

UN system from suppliers that are United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) participants, and, as

such, embrace universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-

1 As defined by the UN Procurement Practitioner’s Handbook.

2 Doc. A/39/417.

3 Combined value of purchase order or contract above $30,000.

4 See: www.unglobalcompact.org/

http://www.unglobalcompact.org/


INTRODUCTION

corruption. The UN system does not give preferential treatment to UNGC signatories, but strongly

encourage suppliers to subscribe and support its underpinning principles.

This publication has been produced by UNOPS on behalf of the organizations of the UN system.

UNOPS is grateful to UN organizations for their continuous support and contributions that make

this publication possible. UNOPS hopes that this report provides useful information on the broad

spectrum of procurement by the UN system, and continually strives to improve and refine the

report to better meet the expectations and objectives of the UN Member States, donors, the

business community and UN organizations5.

Methodology

UNOPS relies on participating UN organizations in the compilation and reporting of the statistics.

The 2016 report compiles information supplied by 39 United Nations organizations in total,

which is an increase from 36 organizations that provided data for the 2015 report. This year, the

ASR welcomes the first submissions from the International Organization for Migration (IOM),

the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT), and the United Nations

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (UNICTY/MICT). IOM is not just new to

the ASR but new to the UN System, as resolution 70/263 led to a decision in July 2016 making the

organization a related organization of the UN.

The statistical data on procurement of goods and services for operational activities are requested

from UN organizations in the form of data on purchase orders raised in 2016. The 2016 ASR uses

an online data upload tool, which was deployed last year, to help simplify, optimize, and automate

the data collection and compilation process from the data available in the information systems of

the participating UN organizations. To facilitate the online submission of data, UNOPS provided

templates, together with instructions and guidelines to complete the reporting requirements.

The country data in the category ‘goods’ is based on the country of supplier; the data in the

category ‘services’ is based on the country of contractor. Moreover, purchase orders and contracts

for services are reported by contract amount and not by expenditures incurred. Due to the

technical limitation of the procurement systems in use, many UN organizations cannot report

data based on country of origin of goods, or on actual expenditures at the present time.

5 The 2016 Annual Statistical Report is available online at: https://www.ungm.org/public/asr and at https://www.unops.org/english/News/Publications/Pages/ASR.aspx

https://www.ungm.org/public/asrhttps://www.unops.org/english/News/Publications/Pages/ASR.aspx


INTRODUCTION

To enable reporting on categories of goods and services across all UN organizations, the

participating organizations are requested to provide procurement data based on the United

Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC®)6, or to provide mapping tables of their

own internal category codes to the corresponding UNSPSC® code. To continue facilitating a

more detailed reporting on categories, the participating organizations are encouraged to provide

category data on UNSPSC® family level7. Further levels of details are available on ungm.org.

The categorization of countries and territories used in the ASR adhere to those used by the

Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The report uses the following

designations: developing countries, countries with economies in transition, developed countries

and least developed countries. The designations ‘developing,’ ‘in transition,’ ‘least developed’ and

‘developed’ are intended for statistical convenience and do not express judgement about the level

of development reached by a particular country or area in the development process.

In the past year, a number of UN organizations have completed the implementation of a new

enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, named UMOJA, leading to improved capture of

procurement data, which consequently affects reported procurement in certain categories8.

The UN Procurement Division (UNPD) extracted and submitted procurement data on behalf of

its affiliate agencies that implemented UMOJA. Each affiliate agency validated their data and

is individually represented in the report. The agencies that are using UMOJA are the following:

UNPD, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the UN

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the UN Economic and Social

Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the International Trade Centre (ITC), UNAKRT, UNICTY/

MICT, the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG), the UN Office at Nairobi (UNON), and the UN Office at

Vienna (UNOV), which as in previous years also includes procurement for the UN Office on Drugs

and Crime (UNODC). Furthermore, IOM was not able to provide vendor country information this

year with their current ERP system and, as such, procurement from IOM’s vendor countries are all

reported under ‘Unspecified’ country/region/etc.

Finally, in addition to purchase order data, the ASR has in previous years reported the National

Implementation Modality (NIM) – a distinct activity of UNDP. Starting with the ASR 2016, the

6 See: www.unspsc.org

7 More information on UNSPSC® and UNSPSC® levels are available on www.unspsc.org

8 For ITC, travel was not included this year, as it does not go through UMOJA.

https://www.ungm.org/http://www.unspsc.orghttp://www.unspsc.org


INTRODUCTION

ASR will no longer be including NIM data in the report in order to improve the quality and

comparability of the procurement data across all organizations. The impacts of the removal of

NIM data in the report can be seen in certain analyses regarding non-developed countries where

the NIM was used predominantly, as well as in the unspecified goods and services UNSPSC®

categories where in both cases one will notice a drop in volume between 2015 and 2016. It is also

important to note that the removal of the NIM data does not mean that UNDP has decreased its

procurement volume between 2015 and 2016. In fact, if a comparison is done between the two

years of non-NIM engagements, the organization increased its procurement volume by 16.6 per

cent in 2016. More information on the NIM can be found in Annex IV.

United Nations reporting on sustainable procurement

As in previous years, to enable reporting on the extent to which UN organizations have begun

to integrate sustainability considerations into their procurement processes, a voluntary online

survey with 23 questions was also conducted in parallel with the data collection process for the

Annual Statistical Report.

Recognizing some of the existing limitations in capturing sustainable procurement (SP) data9, the

survey included both qualitative and quantitative metrics on SP, across the following key themes.

1. Policy and strategy

2. Integration in procurement processes

3. Internal capacity development

4. Supplier engagement

5. UN Global Compact (UNGC)

Following the inputs received from several organizations at the end of the previous reporting

cycle, several questions in this year’s survey were modified, while others were removed and new

ones were added.

In total, 28 UN organizations responded to the SP survey, collectively representing 91 per cent of

the total UN procurement spend for 201610.

9 The internal ERP systems of many organizations are not set up to track the amount of SP conducted by their offices. As a result, the numbers provided in the report are estimates.

10 This does not imply that 91 per cent of all UN procurement included SP considerations in their processes.


INTRODUCTION

The analysis presented in the SP section does not reflect any judgements on any individual

organization’s progress on SP. Rather it provides a snapshot of noteworthy trends within the UN

system.

United Nations report on Global Compact

For the analysis of procurement from UNGC participants, purchase order (PO) data, organized

by supplier name and country from all UN organizations that submitted data for the ASR, was

cross-referenced with the list of UNGC participants, as of 31 December 2016. For the purpose of

consistency with previous years reports, POs under $30,000 as well as POs for which the supplier’s

name was removed (e.g. for security reasons), were excluded from the analysis.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Total procurement of goods and services for operational activities of

the UN system

The overall procurement volume (goods and services combined) of UN organizations in 2016

increased to $17.7 billion, from $17.6 billion in 2015 – an increase of 0.8 per cent 11 (Figure 1).

The increase in the overall procurement volume from 2015 to 2016 is attributable to a rise in

volume from mainly four agencies12, WFP, UNDP13, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR) and UNOPS – together with the new addition to the UN system IOM, who reported

11 This year, 39 UN organizations reported procurement statistics compared to 36 in 2015. This change in participating agencies represents a net value change of $537.8 million of the total UN procurement volume, whereof IOM’s volume was $522.5 million, placing the new UN agency among the top ten UN organizations in procurement volume. At the same time, the extraction of UNDP NIM data, as explained in the methodology section, caused a decrease of $1.1 billion this year. The adjusted increase (excluding the new agencies and UNDP NIM data from both 2015 and 2016) of total procurement for the UN system in 2016, was 5.4 per cent, or $880 million.

12 WFP had an increase of $332.4 million, UNDP had an increase of $241.2 million if you exclude the NIM procurement. UNHCR had an increase of $198.2 million and UNOPS increase was $183.2 million.

13 UNDP had an increase of $241.2 million if you disregard the NIM procurement in both 2015 and 2016. The reported value in 2016 dropped by $1 billion if you compare to the reported value in 2015, which includes the NIM.

Figure 1. Total procurement of goods and services, 2009-2016

(in millions of US dollars and percentage)

6,394(46.3%)

7,075(48.6%)

7,066(49.5%)

6,808(44.3%)

7,634(47.5%)

8,525(49.5%)

8,620(49.0%)

8,709(49.2%)

7,403(53.7%)

7,469(51.4%)

7,210(50.5%)

8,564(55.7%)

8,449(52,5%)

8,713(50,5%)

8,955(51.0%)

13,79714,544 14,276

15,37216,083

17,237 17,575

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Services

Goods

17,713

9,004(50.8%)

6,394(46.3%)

7,075(48.6%)

7,066(49.5%)

6,808(44.3%)

7,634(47.5%)

8,525(49.5%)

8,620(49.0%)

8,709(49.2%)

7,403(53.7%)

7,469(51.4%)

7,210(50.5%)

8,564(55.7%)

8,449(52,5%)

8,713(50,5%)

8,955(51.0%)

13,79714,544 14,276

15,37216,083

17,237 17,575

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Services

Goods

17,713

9,004(50.8%)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

for the first time to the ASR this year. At the same time, some agencies experienced a drop in

procurement compared to last year, with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the

World Health Organization (WHO) having the biggest impact on the overall procurement volume14.

The increase in procurement for WFP is entirely driven by an increase in food procurement

related to level 3 (L3)15 emergencies. Particularly the increase in deliveries to Southern Africa as a

result of the El Niño induced drought and the activation of the L3 emergency in Nigeria16. UNDP

experienced a more general increase, with management and administrative services increasing

slightly more than other categories. For UNHCR the increase is mainly attributable to the refugee

crisis and an increase in purchases of tents, healthcare services, construction services and

materials. For UNOPS the main drivers were an infrastructure project in Peru, security and safety

services (peacekeeping and disarmament) and pharmaceuticals.

In 2016, the total procurement of goods increased by $88.9 million, an increase of 1.0 per cent17,

while total procurement of services increased by $48.4 million, a raise of 0.5 per cent18. Just like

in the previous two years, the share of goods of total procurement is 51 per cent and the share

of services is 49 per cent, indicating a stabilization in the distribution between goods and services

over the last years19.

Countries of supply to the UN in 2016

In 2016, the UN system procured goods and services from 221 different countries and territories, of

which 122 had an annual procurement volume of more than $10 million. The following sections of the

ASR summarize the UN system’s procurement by region and development status of supplier country.

In particular, the UN system’s performance in increasing opportunities for suppliers in least developed

countries, developing countries and countries with economies in transition is highlighted.

14 ILO’s volume was exceptionally high last year due to HQ renovations on Geneva, and therefore it may correlate as a drop in volume this year with a total of $162.7 million. WHO experienced a drop of 14 per cent in their procurement volume, bringing down the UN total with $124.3 million in 2016.

15 Level 3 is the UN classification for the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. More information can be found here: https://www.wfpusa.org/articles/understanding-l3-emergencies/.

16 Input provided by WFP.

17 The adjusted increase (removing NIM from the 2015 data as well) was 4.6 per cent, $384.7 million.

18 The adjusted increase (removing NIM from the 2015 data as well) was 13.0 per cent, $1.033 billion.

19 Source: 2009 ASR onwards.

https://www.wfpusa.org/articles/understanding-l3-emergencies/


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Ten major countries of supply to the UN system in 2016

The 10 major countries supplying UN organizations included three developing countries (India,

United Arab Emirates and Turkey) in 2016, with a joint procurement of $2.58 billion, accounting

for 32.7 per cent of the top ten countries total procurement (Table 1). The three countries

procurement represented 14.6 per cent of the UN total procurement, which is a decrease from

last year when there were 4 developing and least developed countries in the top ten, accounting

for 18.0 per cent of total UN procurement20.

In 2016, Turkey, for the first time, joined the top ten supplier countries, with a procurement

volume of $649.0 million, representing 3.7 per cent of total UN procurement. The UN system

more than doubled its procurement from Turkey in 2016 compared to 2015, with an increase

of 105 per cent, primarily driven by the procurement of WFP and UNHCR. Eighty-three per cent

of the increase is due to higher food purchases from WFP, and thirteen per cent of the increase

can be explained by procurement in management and administration services, and shelter

equipment, by UNHCR. Turkey provides up to 76 per cent of UN food procurement. Other

categories procured from Turkey are management and administrative services, clothing and

footwear, and shelter equipment.

20 Due to the NIM extraction this year.

Countries Goods Services Total % of total

United States of America 700.63 885.36 1,585.99 8.95%

India 902.59 161.97 1,064.55 6.01%

Belgium 833.20 72.77 905.97 5.11%

United Arab Emirates 725.00 143.83 868.83 4.91%

Denmark 247.92 490.70 738.62 4.17%

Turkey 574.49 74.55 649.04 3.66%

France 407.84 201.63 609.48 3.44%

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 185.29 420.20 605.49 3.42%

Switzerland 98.25 342.37 440.61 2.49%

Netherlands 338.22 90.03 428.25 2.42%

Top 10 total 5,013.42 2,883.41 7,896.83 44.58%

Grand total 8,708.92 9,003.61 17,712.53 100%

Table 1 – Top ten countries supplying the UN system in 2016 (in millions of US dollars and

percentage of overall procurement volume)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The United Arab Emirates has featured as a top ten supplier country since 2013 and despite

an increase in procurement volume of $63.7 million in 2016, it has dropped from the third in

2015 to the fourth largest country to supply the UN. The share of total procurement for United

Arab Emirates increased from 4.6 per cent in 2015 to 4.9 per cent in 2016. The main categories

procured from the United Arab Emirates are: food products, fuel, shelter equipment and

construction services. Goods and services from the United Arab Emirates were primarily procured

by UNPD, UNHCR, WFP, UNDP and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Most of the increase in 2016

can be explained by an increase in purchases of shelter equipment by UNHCR.

India has been a top ten supplier country since 2000, and maintains its position as the second

largest country to supply the UN in 2016, as has been the case since 2012. The procurement

volume and share of total UN procurement, however, has dropped from $1.3 billion and 7.3 per

cent in 2015 to $1.1 billion and 6.0 per cent of total UN procurement in 2016. The decrease in

procurement can be attributed to a decrease in pharmaceuticals, which explains 97 per cent of

the drop. India continues to be the main supplier in health to the UN system with $803.79 million

within the health sector in 2016, with pharmaceuticals continuing to be the main procurement

category for India. Procurement from India also included food, management services and medical

equipment and supplies. Goods and services from India were procured primarily by UNICEF, the

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), UNDP and WFP.

It is also worth mentioning that Afghanistan for the first time since 2004 is not among the top

ten countries supplying the UN system in 2016, which is explained almost entirely (98%) by the

exclusion of the UNDP NIM engagements.

Procurement volume by region of supplier in 2016

Figure 2 shows the distribution of the supplier countries per region, which clearly shows that most

of the UN procurement is supplied by suppliers from Asia and Europe. These two regions have

also shown the largest growth in the past four years.

In Asia, the increase is mainly driven by procurement from Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, the

Republic of Korea, and Jordan. The countries that contributed the most to the growth in 2016 was

Turkey and Jordan, while half of the total increase for the Asia region in 2016 can be explained by

an increase in procurement by the WFP from unspecified Asian countries.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There has been a general increase of procurement from suppliers in Europe over the last 4 years

with a slightly larger increase in countries in Northern Europe. The increase in 2016 is entirely driven

by procurement by UNPD from suppliers in Denmark and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and

Northern Ireland (UK). The increase in Denmark was mainly in the category of security and safety

services and in the UK, it was in the categories of office machines and specialized trade construction.

The third largest region of supply is Africa, which had an increase in 2014 and 2015, but showed

a decrease in its supply to the UN system in 201621. Forty-four per cent of that decrease was

due to a drop in procurement from Sudan, mainly from WFP, who stopped all their food and

transportation procurement in the country. Another contributing factor is a decrease in fuels

procurement from UNPD. A decrease in procurement from Ethiopia accounted for 27 per cent

of the total decrease in the region, again due to a decrease from WFP and UNPD, both in the

transportation category. The same agencies also had a decrease in procurement from Liberia and

Kenya contributing to the overall drop in 2016.

Procurement from Northern American suppliers has been stable at just under $2 billion annually

over the last 4 years and procurement from Latin American and the Caribbean suppliers has been

fluctuating around the $1 billion mark annually during the same period. Arab country suppliers

and Oceanian suppliers have been stable with a volume between $100 and $200 million.

21 36.8 per cent of the decrease in 2016 is attributable to the changes in reporting methodology, where UNDP NIM data is no longer included. Even without that change in reporting, the decrease in the Africa region brings the 2016 procurement volume for Africa down below the initial volume in 2013.

Figure 2. United Nations procurement by region, 2013-2016 (in millions of US dollars)

$0.00

$1,000.00

$2,000.00

$3,000.00

$4,000.00

$5,000.00

$6,000.00

$7,000.00

2013 2014 2015 2016

Asia

Europe

Africa

Northern America

Latin America and theCaribbean

Arab countries

Oceania

Unspecified continent$0.00

$1,000.00

$2,000.00

$3,000.00

$4,000.00

$5,000.00

$6,000.00

$7,000.00

2013 2014 2015 2016

Asia

Europe

Africa

Northern America

Latin America and theCaribbean

Arab countries

Oceania

Unspecified countries


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The procurement volume of unspecified countries fluctuates depending on submitting agencies.

In 2016, IOM reported all their countries as unspecified, bringing the volume of unspecified

countries up to $544 million.

Procurement from countries with economies in transition, developing

countries and least developed countries

UN organizations have been working to increase procurement from developing countries and

economies in transition since the late nineties, an effort that was intensified by General Assembly

Resolution 57/279 (2003) on procurement reform, which encourages UN organizations to increase

opportunities for suppliers from developing countries and economies in transition. The request

was reiterated in 2007 by General Assembly Resolution 61/246 (2007), and UN organizations have

placed more orders with these countries year-on-year in response.

The procurement volume from countries with economies in transition, developing countries

and least developed countries continued to increase in 2016. If we look at the adjusted totals,

excluding UNDP NIM engagements data from the analysis, the actual increase from developing

economies was $706.5 million. The drop that can be seen in Figure 3, to $10.3 billion, can be

explained entirely by the exclusion of UNDP NIM engagements this year, as 92.2 per cent of the

NIM data is procured from economies in transition, developing and least developed countries.

Figure 3. United Nations procurement from countries with economies in transition, developing

countries and least developed countries, 2009-2016 (in millions of US dollars)

3,077.2 3,402.1 3,128.32,400.4

6,671.3

7,228.5 7,718.0

7,948.7

7,575.98,401.8 8,527.9

9,010.5

9,748.5

10,630.6 10,846.310,349.2

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

All developing countries

Transition anddeveloping countries

Least developedcountries


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The cumulative increase in procurement volume from developing countries since 200922 was

36.6 per cent. In comparison, the cumulative increase in procurement volume from developed

countries was 12.3 per cent for the same period.

In 2016, procurement from countries with economies in transition, developing countries and least

developed countries represented 58.5 per cent23 of the total procurement volume, a decrease from

61.7 per cent in 201524. Procurement volume from least developed countries was $2.4 billion in

2016, which means that almost $14 of every $100 of procurement by UN organizations is from a

least developed country. Procurement from unspecified countries increased significantly25 in 2016

to $544.0 million due to the new agency IOM not being able to report on vendor countries this year.

Top twenty countries with economies in transition, developing

countries and least developed countries supplying UN organizations

In total, procurement of goods and services from the top 20 countries with economies in

transition, developing countries and least developed countries represented 36.0 per cent of

overall UN procurement volume, a decrease of 2.9 percentage points from the previous year26.

Some countries in the top 20 countries with economies in transition, developing countries and

least developed countries have experienced a larger increase in procurement than others in 2016.

Turkey experienced an increase of 105 per cent over its 2015 procurement volume, driven by an

increase in food procurement by WFP, as previously explained.

Jordan, Peru and Iraq also had big increases (49.2, 48.2 and 33.4 per cent, respectively) over their

2015 volumes. The increase in Jordan is mainly due to an increase in procurement by UNICEF, WFP

and UNHCR, for which the main categories were building and construction services, management

and administration services, and food. Peru’s increase in 2016 is entirely dependent on an increase

in building and construction services by UNOPS, related to one infrastructure project. The increase in

Iraq is primarily related to an increase in building and construction services procured by UNDP.

22 Source: ASR 2009 to 2016.

23 13.6 percent and 44.9 per cent from least developed countries and developing countries respectively.

24 If we exclude the NIM from 2015 data, the share of developing countries was 59.2 per cent in 2015.

25 $35.8 million in 2015.

26 By excluding NIM from 2015 data, the share of the Top 20 was 37.8 per cent in 2015, and the decrease only 1.8 percentage points.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Some countries in the top 20 table have shown decreases in procurement in 2016. Due to

changes in reporting methodology27, Afghanistan is now ranked 15th, compared to 3rd in 2015.

Procurement from Sudan showed a decrease of 38 per cent in 201628, where the majority of this is

due to a decrease in procurement of transportation services and in food by WFP. Another contributing

factor is a decrease in fuels procurement by UNPD. Procurement from Ethiopia also showed a large

decrease in 2016, with a drop in procurement volume of 21.3 per cent since 201529, which was mainly

due to less procurement of transportation services from WFP and UNPD.

For a detailed overview of procurement volume trends, types of goods and services procured, as

well as the share of UN procurement for each of the countries listed in Table 2, please refer to the

procurement profiles of these countries available from page 72 onwards.

27 The removal of UNDP NIM as explained in the methodology.

28 Adjusting for the UNDP NIM by comparing with 2015 without NIM as well.


Countries Goods Services Total % of UN totalIndia 902.59 161.97 1,064.55 6.01%United Arab Emirates 725.00 143.83 868.83 4.91%Turkey 574.49 74.55 649.04 3.66%Kenya 139.32 255.28 394.60 2.23%Russian Federation 78.87 248.76 327.63 1.85%Jordan 103.73 209.85 313.58 1.77%Lebanon 95.33 195.25 290.57 1.64%Ethiopia 93.73 155.41 249.13 1.41%China 158.77 69.82 228.58 1.29%Republic of Korea 187.94 27.18 215.12 1.21%Iraq 90.98 115.29 206.27 1.16%Pakistan 88.64 106.72 195.36 1.10%South Africa 42.28 151.37 193.65 1.09%Peru 18.02 175.28 193.30 1.09%Afghanistan 60.80 128.36 189.16 1.07%South Sudan 54.60 124.07 178.66 1.01%Sudan 117.42 58.77 176.19 0.99%Ukraine 54.10 100.33 154.43 0.87%Democratic Republic of the Congo 39.30 105.40 144.69 0.82%Panama 121.38 22.19 143.57 0.81%

Top 20 3,747.26 2,629.67 6,376.93 36.00%Grand total 8,708.92 9,003.61 17,712.53 100%

Table 2. Top 20 countries with economies in transition, developing countries and least developed

countries supplying the UN in 2016 (in millions of US dollars and percentage)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Procurement by organizations of the UN system in 2015 and 2016

The total procurement volume of the UN system has increased by $137.2 million in 201630, but 1831

of the 39 reporting organizations reported a decline in their procurement volume. At the same time,

six organizations saw their procurement volume increase by more than 20 per cent over their 2015

volume32. WFP33 showed an increase of more than $300 million from 2015 to 2016 and, together with

30 The adjusted increase for 2016 was $880.0 million, and is calculated as total UN increase for 2016 excluding new agencies (IOM, UNAKRT, UNICTY/MICT) and UNDP NIM data in 2015 as the inclusion of these volumes will distort the comparison between the years.

31 Figure 4 shows that 19 agencies had a decrease in procurement, as it includes UNDP, who in fact had an increase of $241.2 million over 2015, when the NIM data is excluded in 2015 as well.

32 For a detailed list of procurement of goods and services by UN organization, please refer to table ‘Total procurement by UN organization’ available on page 125.

33 The increase in procurement volume for WFP is entirely attributable to an increase in food procurement due to Level 3 Emergencies particularly in Southern Africa and Nigeria.

Figure 4. Total procurement by UN organizations, and the share of procurement from countries

with economies in transition, developing countries and least developed countries, in 2015 and

2016 (in millions of US dollars and percentage)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNDP, UNHCR and UNOPS, they account for the majority of the adjusted increase in 201634. Figure 4

represents the procurement volume of individual UN organizations in 2015 and 2016. The figure

also includes the percentage share of procurement from countries with economies in transition,

developing countries and least developed countries for each organization35.


countries and least developed countries

Figure 5 displays the procurement volume of the ten largest UN organizations36, which as a group

represented 89.4 per cent of the overall procurement volume of the UN system37. The figure also

shows the 2015 and 2016 share of agency procurement in percentage terms coming from countries

with economies in transition, developing countries and least developed countries38. In total,

procurement by the top ten organizations from these countries increased by $565.7 million, excluding

UNDP, who had a decrease of $1.1 billion due to the removal of the NIM information39. Organizations

are listed in descending order by total procurement volume in 2016.

34 These four agencies accumulated an increase in procurement volume of $954.9 million from 2015 to 2016.

35 The right column in Figure 4 shows the percentage of the 2016 procurement volume from countries with economies in transition, developing countries and least developed countries.

36 In terms of procurement volume.

37 A slight decrease from 90.2 per cent in 2015.

38 IOM was not able to report on vendor countries this year, and therefore does not show any share of procurement coming from these countries.

39 UNDP had an increase of $241.2 million (17 per cent) in 2016, if NIM procurement is removed from 2015.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Procurement by segment of goods and services40

For the last 10 years, since 2006, the majority of the UN system’s procurement has come from

suppliers in countries with developing economies. The following category analysis provides an

overview of the distribution of categories of goods and services, indicating which categories are

predominantly procured from developed countries and which categories are predominantly procured

from the group of developing economies.

In 2016, 30 different segments of goods and services were widely procured from countries with

developing economies (Figure 6). For each of those 30 categories, at least 60 per cent of the procurement

volume came from suppliers in countries with economies in transition, developing countries and least

developed countries, which represented more than $5.8 billion of the 2016 procurement volume. Eleven

categories had more than 80 per cent of the procurement volume originating from countries with

economy in transition, developing countries and least developed countries.

In contrast, nine different categories of goods and services were largely procured from countries

with developed economies, representing more than $2.6 billion of the 2016 procurement volume

of the UN. For each of these nine categories, at least 60 per cent of the procurement volume was

from developed countries. For more detailed analysis on categories procurement by the UN system,

please see page 52.

40 Unspecified goods and services are excluded from this analysis.

2,100

344

-

881

668

717

982

2,737

2,630

3,089

3,428

1,869

317

522

757

790

900

1,180

1,697

2,962

3,233

3,485

2016 2015

39.6%

69.2%

55.0%

33.0%

65.0%

69.6%

80.0%

76.7%

61.6%

51.5%

47.4%

71.8%

55.4%

37.6%

63.5%

68.2%

66.0%

79.9%

55.2%

53.7%

Others

FAO

IOM

WHO

PAHO

UNOPS

UNHCR

UNDP

WFP

UNPD

UNICEF2.3%

-1.4%

-14.1%

3.1%

-6.4%

-1.5%

4.6%

0.5%

7.8%

2.6%

Share of procurement from developing countries (in percentage)

Total procurement volume by organization(in millions of US dollars)

Figure 5. Procurement by organizations of the UN system from countries with economies in

transition, developing countries and least developed countries, in 2015 and 2016


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Figure 6. Distribution of categories of goods and services between developed, transition, developing

and LDCs, including 2016 total procurement volume. (in per cent)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Timepieces and Jewelry and Gemstone Products

Information Technology Broadcasting and Telecommunications

Land and Buildings and Structures and Thoroughfares

Electronic Components and Supplies

Laboratory and Measuring and Observing and Testing Equipment

Motor Vehicles and their Accessories and Components

Electrical Systems and Lighting and Components and Accessories…

Pharmaceuticals incl. Contraceptives and Vaccines

Printing and Photographic and Audio and Visual Equipment and…

Public Order and Security and Safety Services

Engineering and Research and Technology Based Services

Office Equipment and Accessories and Supplies

Financial and Insurance Services

Medical Equipment and Accessories and Supplies

Law Enforcement and Security and Safety Equipment and Supplies

Personal and Domestic Services

Power Generation and Distribution Machinery and Accessories

Industrial Cleaning Services

Chemicals including Bio Chemicals and Gas Materials

Sports & Recreational Equipment, Supplies, Accessories (inc Shelters)

Public Utilities and Public Sector Related Services

Editorial and Design and Graphic and Fine Art Services

Management and Business Professionals and Administrative Services

Healthcare Services

Material Handling, Conditioning & Storage Machinery and their…

Cleaning Equipment and Supplies

Politics and Civic Affairs Services

Mining and Well Drilling Machinery and Accessories

Education and Training Services

Transportation and Storage and Mail Services

Travel and Food and Lodging and Entertainment Services

Live Plant and Animal Material and Accessories and Supplies

Farming and Fishing and Forestry and Wildlife Machinery and…

Building and Construction Machinery and Accessories

Distribution and Conditioning Systems and Equipment and…

Environmental Services

Manufacturing Components and Supplies

Industrial Manufacturing and Processing Machinery and Accessories

Paper Materials and Products

Building and Facility Construction and Maintenance Services

Furniture and Furnishings

Mineral and Textile and Inedible Plant and Animal Materials

Food and Beverage Products

Published Products

Industrial Production and Manufacturing Services

Organizations and Clubs

Service Industry Machinery and Equipment and Supplies

Domestic Appliances and Supplies and Consumer Electronic Products

Tools and General Machinery

Apparel and Luggage and Personal Care Products

Structures and Building and Construction and Manufacturing…

Farming and Fishing and Forestry and Wildlife Contracting Services

Musical Instruments, Games & Toys, Arts & Crafts, and Educational…

Financial Instruments, Products, Contracts and Agreements

Fuels and Fuel Additives and Lubricants and Anti corrosive Materials

Mining and oil and gas services

Resin and Rosin and Rubber and Foam and Film and Elastomeric…

Developed Developing and Transition LDCs Unspecified

0.08

458.9

179.99

3.51

117.37

113.92

130.12

13.84

17.94

53.12

90.53

0.38

2.39

589.86

2.77

96.29

31.76

197.26

11.75

92.15

1,891

1,185.

12.19

13.38

15.44

65.15

35.30

8.64

39.96

98.20

265.

2,407.9

174.73

4.66

240.7

28.31

73.55

478.3

1,667.

232.4

177.

170.46

6.12

96.21

121.01

2.03

71.57

615.7

202.4

157.3

998.

513.2

16.41

2,848.

73.2

373.7

113.0


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This year the report shows a larger percentage of procurement from suppliers where the country

was not specified. This is due to IOM reporting for the first time this year, as they are currently

unable to provide information on vendor country.

Sustainable procurement in the UN System

UN organizations, with their purchasing power of almost $18 billion per year, have the potential to

send an important signal to the market in favour of sustainable development.

As in previous years, this year’s Annual Statistic Report on UN procurement includes a section

on sustainable procurement(SP)41, which provides insights on the extent to which sustainability

considerations were integrated into the procurement processes of various UN organizations42.

This year’s data showed that sustainability considerations continued to play an important

role in procurement decisions conducted within the UN system. In 2016, the number of UN

organizations reporting on SP issues decreased from 32 to 28 over the previous year. However,

41 Sustainable Procurement is defined as “practices that integrate requirements, specifications and criteria that are compatible and in favor of the protection of the environment, of social progress and in support of economic development, namely by seeking resource efficiency, improving the quality of products and services and ultimately optimizing costs.” Source: UN High Level Committee on Management Procurement Network (HLCM, PN) and adopted in Vienna, February 2009.

42 The information for this section of the report was developed through the use of a voluntary survey that was conducted in parallel with the data collection process for the ASR.

13

2729

3228

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Number of organizations Share of total UN spend per year

Figure 7. Organizations reporting on sustainable procurement, 2012-2016 (In number of

organizations & share of total UN spend per year)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

the procurement spend of reporting organizations accounted for approximately 91 per cent of

the total 2016 UN spend, as compared to only 79 per cent in 2015.

In 2016, UN organizations continued to focus on formalizing their high-level commitment to

sustainable procurement. Sixty-four per cent of reporting organizations had either already adopted

or were planning to adopt a sustainable procurement policy, while 54 per cent of them had either

implemented or were planning to implement a sustainable procurement strategy.

In addition, the data for 2016 showed that all reporting organizations had implemented some sort

of SP initiative. The use of whole-life costing in financial evaluations remained the most commonly

used action. Sustainability criteria continued to be included to a large extent in tenders.

Interestingly, environmental and economic considerations were applied to the same extent in

tenders, while social considerations, despite a relative share increase of 7 per cent compared to

2015, continued to lag slightly behind.

With regard to internal capacity building initiatives, reporting organizations noted a slight decrease

in their focus on training personnel, favouring instead other types of investments, such as hiring

SP professionals or developing new tools. The data gathered also showed that the reporting

organizations continued to collaborate with suppliers, in order to enhance sustainability in their

supply chains. However, verification of supplier adherence to the UN Supplier Code of Conduct

(UNSOC)43 decreased over the previous year.

Procurement from UNGC participants increased slightly, both in relative and absolute terms,

reaching 22 per cent of the total procurement volume of the reporting organizations. As in

previous years, the change was not uniform across different regions. The most prominent

increase was observed in Africa, where the procurement from UNGC suppliers more than tripled,

reaching 16 per cent of the region’s total procurement volume.

Finally, it should be noted that measurement and reporting continued to be an important

challenge in assessing the application of sustainability criteria in tenders, especially for technical

procurement categories.

43 See: https://www.un.org/Depts/ptd/about-us/un-supplier-code-conduct

https://www.un.org/Depts/ptd/about-us/un-supplier-code-conduct

PROCUREMENT FROM COUNTRIES WITH ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES



Total procurement by country groupings

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the international community through

General Assembly Resolution A/RES/70/1 (2015) in New York in September 2015, sets out an

ambitious path through 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate poverty, fight

inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind44. Nearly half of the

population of the 48 LDCs remained in extreme poverty as the UN took on this global challenge in

2016. The ASR has reported an increase in procurement to the UN system from both developing

countries and countries with economies in transition since the 2005 report. Last year, the ASR begun

to report on an additional country grouping – least developed countries – where shortfalls identified

from SDG targets are the greatest.

Figure 8. United Nations procurement from developed countries, countries with economies in

transition and developing countries, and LDCs, 2013-2016 (in millions of US dollars)

54.9 321.5 35.83 544.0

6,280.0 6,285.4 6,693.06,819.3

6,671.37,228.5 7,718.2

7,948.7

3,077.23,402.1 3,128.3

2,400.4

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

2013 2014 2015 2016


Developed countries

Transitioning/developingcountries

Least developed countries

In 2016, procurement from countries with economies in transition, developing countries and

LDCs combined has increased by $706.5 million45, while procurement from LDCs decreased by

$176.9 million46 over the same period. In Figure 9, when looking at the proportion of procurement

for these groups combined as a proportion of the total procurement, the share of economies in

transition, developing economies and LDCs has decreased from 61.7 per cent to 58.5 per cent,

44 For more information on the UN SDGs, please visit www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs.



https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs



driven by the decrease for LDCs, from 17.8 per cent in 2015 to 13.6 per cent in 2016 (Figure 9)47.

It is important to note that the decrease of LDCs looks larger and the increase of transition and

developing countries looks smaller due to the UNDP NIM extraction. The share of developing

countries and economies in transition alone has been steadily increasing over the last three years,

from 41.5 per cent in 2013 to 44.9 per cent in 2016.

Figure 9. UN procurement from developed countries, countries with economies in transition and

developing countries, and LDCs, 2013-2016 (in percentage)

0.3% 1.9% 0.2% 3.1%

39.0% 36.5% 38.1%38.5%

41.5% 41.9% 43.9% 44.9%

19.1% 19.7% 17.8%13.6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2013 2014 2015 2016


Transition/developing countries

Developed countries


The distribution of goods and services procurement differs between the different country

groupings (Figure 10). For developed countries, developing countries and countries with

economies in transition, the distribution between goods and services has remained consistent

with a slight weight on goods at around 53 per cent over the last four years. For LDCs, the

distribution between services and goods has also been consistent at 70/30 per cent as the UN

procures significantly more services than goods from these countries. The drop in services in 2016

can be explained by the extraction of the UNDP NIM data, which is predominantly services.

47 If we adjust for the NIM in the 2015 data as well, we can see that the share of procurement from all developing economies decreased by 0.7 per cent, and the share of LDCs decreased by 2.3 per cent.



Figure 10. UN procurement of goods and services from developed countries, countries with

economies in transition and developing countries, and LDCs, 2013-2016 (in percentage)


countries and LDCs combined, by largest UN organizations

Figure 11 displays the top ten UN organizations in procurement volume in 201648, as well as their

share of UN LDCs procurement volume in 2015 and 2016. Organizations are listed in descending

order by total procurement volume in 2016.

Figure 11. Procurement by top ten organizations of the UN system from LDCs in 2016

48 Ranking is based on the individual organizations procurement volume in relation to the total UN procurement volume, 2016.

52% 52%30%

48% 48%70%

54% 55%

32%

46% 45%

68%

53% 54%

29%

47% 46%

71%

53% 51%35%

47% 49%65%

2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6

D E V E L O P E D C O U N TR I ES C O U N T R I E S W I T H E C O N O MI ES I N T R A N S I TI O N A N D D E V EL O P I NG

C O U N T R I E S

L E A S T D E V EL O P ED C O U N TR I E S

Goods Services

2,100

344

-

881

668

717

982

2,737

2,630

3,089

3,428

1,869

317

522

757

790

900

1,180

1,697

2,962

3,233

3,485

Others

FAO

IOM

WHO

PAHO

UNOPS

UNHCR

UNDP

WFP

UNPD

UNICEF

Total Procurement 2016Total Procurement 2015

5.0%

3.9%

4.9%

5.9%

4.5%

24.0%

27.7%

12.7%

11.5%

7.2%

4.4%

0.0%

6.3%

0.1%

6.3%

7.2%

10.6%

26.8%

14.5%

16.5%

LDCs Share of Total 2016LDCs Share of Total 2015

Share of procurement from LDCs by UN

organizations in percentage of LDC total 2016

Total procurement volume by organization

(in millions of US dollars)



Together, this top ten represented 89.4 per cent of the overall procurement volume of the UN system

in 2016 and 92.8 per cent of the UN system’s procurement from LDCs. Procurement from LDCs

decreased by $194.5 million from the top ten organizations compared to 2015 (excluding UNDP NIM).

Country group procurement by category

In 2016, UN organizations reported 29 per cent of their procurement volume on a UNSPSC®

segment level, with the remaining 71 per cent reported on family level or lower, which provides

further details into the categories of goods and services procured. This is an improvement in

granularity compared to last year when 66 per cent of the procurement data was reported at

a more detailed level and 34 per cent at UNSPSC® segment level. Overall, procurement was

reported against all 57 UNSPSC® segments and 380 families, out of a possible 486 families49.

Figure 1250 looks at the UN system’s procurement volume at a UNSPSC® segment level,

articulating procurement into five high-level segment groups. The figure shows that procurement

from developed countries is dominated by services and end-use products, with a combined

share of 92 per cent. Procurement from countries with economies in transition and developing

countries follow a similar distribution, where services and end-use products together made up 90

per cent of total volume, although these countries have a slightly larger share of raw materials (5

per cent versus 1 per cent) compared to developed countries. For LDCs, procurement of end-use

products have a significantly smaller share of the total volume (18 per cent) compared to both

the other country groups, whilst the share of procurement of raw material and services is higher

compared to the other country groups.

49 UNSPSC® ‘segment’ is the highest level of the category hierarchy, with ‘family’ representing the next highest level. In all, UNSPSC® has four hierarchy levels.

50 If we compare the figure to last year, we can see that for all groups, the share of unspecified goods and services is significantly lower, due to the extraction of the UNDP NIM this year.



Figure 12. Procurement from developed countries, countries with economies in transition and

developing countries and LDCs by UNSPSC® groups, in 2016. (in percentage)

Figure 13 shows the distribution of 48 UNSPSC® categories at a family level, each accounting for

$50 million or more in UN procurement volume in 2016. At this more detailed family level, a few

categories stand out with a particularly high share of procurement from developed countries or

countries with economies in transition and developing countries, and LDCs.

Of the 48 UNSPSC® categories displayed, 19 have more than 50 per cent of their total volume

originating from developed countries. Seventeen of the UNSPSC® categories have more than 50 per

cent of their procurement volume from both developing countries and countries with economies

in transition, and a total of 29 UNSPSC® family categories have more than half of their total

procurement volume coming from countries with economies in transition, developing countries and

LDCs combined.

1%

5%2%

44%48%

0.11%

DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

5%3%

2%

41%49%

0.06%

TRANSITION/DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

10%

5% 2%

18%65%

0.02%


Raw materials

Industrial equipment

Components and supplies

End use products

Services

Unspecified goods andservices



Figure 13. Distribution of procurement between developing countries, countries with economies in

transition and developing countries, and LDCs by UNSPSC® family categories51 sorted by share of

developed countries, smallest to largest (in percentage)

51 Volume above $50 million.

87.1%

85.8%

85.7%

79.6%

79.5%

79.5%

77.1%

75.5%

72.6%

71.1%

69.0%

67.0%

65.4%

65.3%

64.6%

60.6%

56.8%

53.4%

51.5%

48.8%

46.2%

46.1%

45.1%

44.4%

40.7%

38.0%

37.0%

36.3%

36.3%

31.8%

31.8%

27.6%

26.9%

25.8%

24.4%

24.2%

24.1%

23.5%

20.8%

20.5%

19.8%

13.9%

11.1%

9.0%

5.6%

5.2%

4.1%

3.2%

38.4%

9.6%

14.2%

7.3%

9.0%

14.3%

19.4%

14.4%

17.3%

23.2%

27.0%

29.2%

20.7%

20.3%

12.0%

24.1%

14.1%

39.0%

32.8%

47.4%

38.2%

27.3%

31.1%

31.8%

35.0%

53.6%

53.7%

48.1%

33.2%

44.3%

43.3%

52.7%

51.1%

42.0%

55.7%

54.5%

59.0%

35.0%

58.1%

38.3%

68.7%

66.3%

71.9%

63.1%

70.5%

89.5%

94.2%

70.4%

64.4%

44.7%

3.1%

3.7%

9.2%

4.4%

1.1%

5.8%

6.9%

1.9%

1.6%

9.6%

7.2%

22.1%

6.3%

22.8%

3.3%

13.8%

1.1%

13.0%

19.3%

22.1%

23.1%

19.4%

1.9%

8.3%

14.8%

12.3%

19.3%

24.8%

15.4%

21.3%

25.6%

18.6%

21.1%

13.2%

40.9%

13.7%

13.6%

9.3%

13.9%

14.1%

10.8%

11.5%

4.2%

0.6%

25.2%

32.0%

13.7%

Software

Estrogens and progestins and internal contraceptives

Data Voice or Multimedia Network Equipment or…

Information Technology Service Delivery

Computer services

Prefabricated buildings and structures

Office machines and their supplies and accessories

Specialized trade construction and maintenance services

Mobile medical services products

Military services and national defense

Immunomodulating drugs

Insurance and retirement services

Computer Equipment and Accessories

International relations

Motor vehicles

Security and personal safety

Writing and translations

Travel facilitation

Amebicides and trichomonacides and antiprotozoals

Human resources services

Real estate services

Cleaning and janitorial services

Clinical nutrition

Utilities

Camping, outdoor equipment, & accessories (inc shelter)

Marketing and distribution

Business administration services

Management advisory services

Comprehensive health services

Transport services

Vocational training

Professional engineering services

Reproduction services

Telecommunications media services

Mail and cargo transport

Passenger transport

Heavy construction services

Hotels and lodging and meeting facilities

Building and facility maintenance and repair services

Batteries and generators and kinetic power transmission

Storage

Humanitarian aid and relief

Accommodation furniture

Bedclothes and table and kitchen linen and towels

Structural materials

Prepared and preserved foods

Nonresidential building construction services

Fuels

OtherDeveloped Developing LDCs



LDCs supplying UN organizations

The classification of LDCs was officially established by the UN General Assembly in 1971 as the UN

began to focus on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the UN system. Special

measures were incorporated in favour of LDCs in the International Development Strategy for

the UN in the 1970s. The First United Nations Conference on the LDCs was held in Paris in 1981,

adopting a new programme of action for LDCs. Continuing on that decision, the Programme

of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 was adopted by the

Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul from 9 to 13 May 2011. The

current list of LDCs includes 48 countries52, and they comprise more than 880 million people

(approximately 12 per cent of world’s population), but account for less than 2 per cent of world’s

GDP and about 1 per cent of the global trade in goods.

In total, the UN system’s procurement of goods and services from LDCs represented 13.6 per cent

of the overall UN procurement volume in 2016 (Table 3). The largest countries in terms of supply

to the UN are Ethiopia, Afghanistan and South Sudan. For more information on what the UN

procured from these countries, please see the country profile pages for the respective country53.

The ten largest categories procured from LDCs represent 74 per cent of the total UN volume

procured from these countries. A further analysis of the ten largest categories of goods and

services procured from LDCs (Table 4), shows that the largest procurement volume for services

is: cargo and passenger transportation (18 per cent); building and maintenance services (13 per

cent): and management and admin services (10 per cent). Procurement of goods from LDCs is

mainly focused on fuels (8 per cent), food (7 per cent) and medical equipment (3 per cent).

52 For list of the 48 countries, please see annex II

53 Available at 74,71 and 86 respectively



Least Developed Countries Goods 2015 Services 2015 2015 Total % of Total 2015 Goods 2016 Services 2016 2016 Total % of Total 2016

Ethiopia 97.8 225.8 323.6 1.84% 93.7 155.4 249.1 1.41%

Afghanistan 47.8 580.2 628.0 3.57% 60.8 128.4 189.2 1.07%

South Sudan 39.7 159.3 199.0 1.13% 54.6 124.1 178.7 1.01%

Sudan 170.4 115.9 286.3 1.63% 117.4 58.8 176.2 0.99%

Democratic Republic of the Congo 37.0 79.2 116.2 0.66% 39.3 105.4 144.7 0.82%

Uganda 45.7 79.0 124.7 0.71% 36.6 85.6 122.2 0.69%

Mali 35.5 87.0 122.5 0.70% 21.2 90.6 111.8 0.63%

Yemen 24.6 60.1 84.6 0.48% 32.4 75.5 107.9 0.61%

Senegal 17.8 46.9 64.7 0.37% 20.3 74.7 95.1 0.54%

Malawi 23.5 27.7 51.2 0.29% 38.8 32.8 71.6 0.40%

Chad 15.9 50.7 66.6 0.38% 24.0 43.2 67.1 0.38%

Somalia 13.3 58.5 71.8 0.41% 9.1 54.7 63.7 0.36%

Haiti 15.6 40.7 56.2 0.32% 21.3 40.3 61.5 0.35%

United Republic of Tanzania 28.9 43.5 72.4 0.41% 21.5 36.0 57.5 0.32%

Myanmar 26.2 27.8 54.0 0.31% 24.0 33.5 57.5 0.32%

Niger 31.3 26.5 57.9 0.33% 29.3 24.3 53.7 0.30%

Mozambique 8.9 18.6 27.5 0.16% 18.6 30.5 49.1 0.28%

Zambia 20.0 16.1 36.2 0.21% 10.9 31.7 42.6 0.24%

Nepal 17.8 48.7 66.5 0.38% 9.3 33.3 42.6 0.24%

Bangladesh 15.9 39.6 55.6 0.32% 11.9 30.6 42.5 0.24%

Central African Republic 18.8 18.8 37.6 0.21% 16.5 24.9 41.3 0.23%

Madagascar 12.8 16.8 29.6 0.17% 20.5 18.6 39.2 0.22%

Liberia 39.7 56.9 96.6 0.55% 8.3 29.4 37.8 0.21%

Burkina Faso 16.5 22.8 39.2 0.22% 10.2 24.6 34.8 0.20%

Guinea 14.6 50.6 65.2 0.37% 7.2 25.0 32.2 0.18%

Rwanda 15.3 16.7 32.0 0.18% 16.6 15.0 31.6 0.18%

Sierra Leone 18.3 43.2 61.5 0.35% 5.8 23.8 29.5 0.17%

Burundi 11.3 17.3 28.7 0.16% 8.0 19.4 27.4 0.15%

Djibouti 2.5 23.1 25.7 0.15% 2.7 17.1 19.8 0.11%

Benin 6.2 14.6 20.8 0.12% 12.1 7.2 19.3 0.11%

Cambodia 3.6 15.2 18.9 0.11% 5.8 10.3 16.1 0.09%

Togo 1.5 8.1 9.6 0.05% 0.8 9.6 10.4 0.06%

Lao People's Democratic Republic 4.1 11.2 15.3 0.09% 3.1 7.3 10.3 0.06%

Mauritania 3.9 9.7 13.6 0.08% 3.5 6.7 10.2 0.06%

Angola 1.4 4.6 5.9 0.03% 1.8 7.5 9.2 0.05%

Timor-Leste 1.3 4.8 6.1 0.03% 1.3 7.1 8.4 0.05%

Guinea Bissau 2.5 7.8 10.4 0.06% 2.5 5.3 7.8 0.04%

Lesotho 1.4 5.5 6.8 0.04% 3.5 3.4 6.9 0.04%

Gambia 2.0 6.0 8.0 0.05% 2.1 3.9 6.0 0.03%

Solomon Islands 1.3 2.2 3.5 0.02% 2.5 2.0 4.5 0.03%

Comoros 1.5 4.3 5.9 0.03% 0.7 2.3 3.0 0.02%

Eritrea 2.1 5.8 8.0 0.05% 0.6 2.0 2.5 0.01%

Equatorial Guinea 1.4 2.8 4.2 0.02% 0.5 1.6 2.2 0.01%

Vanuatu 0.4 2.9 3.3 0.02% 0.4 1.5 1.9 0.01%

Sao Tome and Principe 0.5 1.9 2.5 0.01% 0.3 1.4 1.7 0.01%

Bhutan 1.5 1.3 2.9 0.02% 0.4 1.2 1.6 0.01%

Kiribati 0.1 0.7 0.7 0.00% 0.0 0.4 0.5 0.00%

Tuvalu 0.0 0.5 0.48 0.00% 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00%

Least Developed Countries 920.2 2,208.1 3,128.3 17.80% 832.8 1,567.6 2,400.4 13.55%

Grand Total 8,620.1 8,955.2 17,575.3 8,708.9 9,003.6 17,712.5

Table 3. LDCs supplying UN organizations in 2015 and 2016 (in millions of US dollars and percentage)



Procurement from LDCs

Top 10 Categories Total % of LDC total

Transportation and Storage and Mail Services 441.9 18.41%

Building and Facility Construction and Maintenance Services 301.5 12.56%

Management and Business Professionals and Administrative Services 232.0 9.66%

Fuels and Fuel Additives and Lubricants and Anti corrosive Materials 192.6 8.02%

Food and Beverage Products 174.7 7.28%

Engineering and Research and Technology Based Services 133.7 5.57%

Public Order and Security and Safety Services 93.2 3.88%

Healthcare Services 89.6 3.73%

Medical Equipment and Accessories and Supplies 63.3 2.64%

Travel and Food and Lodging and Entertainment Services 45.2 1.88%

Top 10 Total 1,767.6 73.64%

Grand Total LDC 2,400.4

Table 4. Top ten goods and services procured by the UN system from LDCs in 2016

(in percentage)



Sustainable Procurement practices integrate requirements, specifications and criteria that

are compatible and in favour of the protection of the environment, of social progress and in

support of economic development, namely by seeking resource efficiency, improving the quality

of products and services, and ultimately optimizing costs.54

UN organizations, with a purchasing power of almost $18 billion per year, have the potential to send a signal to the market in favour of sustainable development. In 2016, sustainability consideration continued to play an important role in procurement decisions conducted within the UN system. The following results were collected through a voluntary survey on Sustainable Procurement (SP), which was submitted by 28 UN organizations versus 32 in 2015. Of the 28 that submitted this year, 3 organizations reported for the first time, while 25 of the original 32 from 2015 continued to report55.

Figure 14. Organizations reporting on sustainable procurement (in number of organizations & share of total UN spend per year)

The procurement spend of reporting organizations in 2016 accounted for approximately 91 per cent of the total 2016 UN spend of $17.7 billion, as compared to 79 per cent in 201556 (Figure 14). In addition, 67 per cent of reporting organizations indicated at least one new development since the last survey in their efforts to implement SP. Examples provided included the development of new SP reporting tools, key performance

54 United Nations High-Level Committee on Management Procurement Network (HLCM-PN) (2009) – Sustainable Procurement Statement, Adopted by the HLCM Procurement Network meeting in Vienna, February 2009.

55 Organizations that chose not to report this year cited resource constraints and changes to their current ERP system as the main reasons for not submitting information.

56 The observed increase in the procurement spend of reporting organizations as a share of the total UN spend is mainly due to the fact that almost all UN organizations with large procurement spend responded to the SP survey this year.

13

2729

3228

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Number of organizations Share of total UN spend per year

Introduction



indicators, as well as other actions, such as the inclusion of environmental considerations in the evaluation criteria of tenders, and the use of standard sustainability specifications for categories such as Information and communication technology (ICT), lighting and furniture.57

Policy and strategy The inclusion of sustainability considerations into an organization’s procurement policy and strategy can enable personnel, suppliers and other stakeholders to achieve a high level of commitment to more sustainable procurement practices, by providing the foundations and frameworks for action.

In 2016, 64 per cent of reporting organizations noted having already adopted or planning to adopt a formal procurement policy that includes sustainability considerations, while 54 per cent noted having already adopted or planning to adopt a procurement strategy that includes sustainability considerations (Figure 15). This information was further reinforced by the sustainable procurement outlook for 201758, which showed that reporting organizations have placed a high priority on the development of SP policies and strategies for the coming year.

Lastly, more than 28 per cent of reporting organizations also noted establishing or planning to establish measurable sustainability targets or objectives in their procurement processes.

Figure 15. SP policy, strategy and sustainability targets (2016)59 (in percentage of reporting organizations)

57 In line with efforts to develop a clear understanding of the extent to which sustainable procurement practices are being implemented within the UN system, this year, several questions included in the voluntary survey were modified, while others were removed and new ones were added. These adjustments were made following inputs received from several organizations at the end of the previous reporting cycle. Where possible, comparisons to previous years’ data have been provided in the report.

58 The sustainable procurement outlook for 2017 is presented on page 50 of this report.

59 The question used to generate this graph was modified significantly from the previous year to enhance the clarity and accuracy of the responses, and to further probe the extent to which sustainability considerations were applied in the processes of reporting agencies. As a result, comparative information for previous years was not available.

35.7%46.4%

71.4%

32.1%

39.3%

14.3%32.1%

14.3% 14.3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

SP policy SP strategy Measurablesustainability targets

or objectives

Yes

Planned for 2017

No



SP integration in the procurement process Sustainability considerations can be integrated at different

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