04 Aug 2020

United Nations (UN) procures all its goods and services through competitive procedures as guided by specified procurement requirements.

Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Dr Unity Dow said this when answering a parliamentary question on Monday.

She indicated that the United Nations used similar procurement processes and practices employed by Botswana.

The Minister said available UN procurement opportunities were advertised and opened to all Member States and their citizens, including Botswana.

She said, however, in order to access information for tenders or bids, suppliers and service providers were required to be registered and vetted or pre-qualified to do business with UN for categories of goods and services they were deemed most suitable for.

Dr  Dow pointed out that all potential suppliers and service providers could access the UN Global Market place (UNGM) online portal at: www.ungm.org for more information and details.

She said UNGM portal was the main platform for registration and access to tenders advertised by the UN system organisations.

She further said the participation by the UN system organisation ensured that it was a one stop  shop and provided wider accessibility for potential suppliers and service providers.

She highlighted that as of  July 31, there were 429 suppliers and service providers in the UNGM portal registered and operating from Botswana, adding that a total of 323 Botswana companies supplied the United Nations and its agencies and programmes in the last year, that is between June 2019 and June 2020.

The Minister further indicated that according to the annual Statistical Report on UN Procurement (June 2020), several suppliers and service providers registered and operating in Botswana had provided goods and services to some key UN system organisations.

She said they included UNDP at US$2 million, FAO at US$712 000, UNFPA US$371 100, UNHCR at US$286 400 respectively.

Dr Dow indicated that there were currently 18 UN organisations procuring from Botswana.

She said as a result of the joint outreach and awareness raising seminars, there had been a steady growth in the registration of Botswana from 325 to 429 between September 2019  and July 2020.

 Member of Parliament for Ghanzi North, Mr John Thite had asked the minister how a citizen of Botswana could qualify to be a product or service provider for UN and also wanted to know if there were any Batswana currently benefiting as service or product providers for UN. Ends