How to become a UN Women vendor
As of 2023, UN Women has vendors from 185 countries, and the procurement value grew by 2.1 per cent from the previous year (“2023 annual statistical report on UN procurement”). UN Women endeavours to continually expand its vendor pool and source from a diverse range of suppliers in order to promote competition and sustainability, with greater emphasis on gender-responsive procurement practices.
Prospective vendors interested in doing business with UN Women are expected to:
- Regularly check for new procurement notices on the “Current procurement opportunities” feed, as well as on the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM) and the Quantum ERP (Oracle) platform.
- Align with the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5 (gender equality) and Goal 8 (decent work and economic growth).
- Familiarize themselves with and adhere to UN Women’s standard contract templates and general conditions of contract.
- Understand UN Women’s procurement procedures.
- Carefully review the contents of the UN Women solicitation documents and instructions at the time of preparing the proposal/bid/quote.
- Respond promptly to inquiries or requests for offers from UN Women.
- Abide by the “UN supplier code of conduct”, which outlines the expectations for all vendors doing business with UN Women and other UN agencies.
UN Women also strongly encourages vendors to sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles.
To participate in UN Women procurement processes all suppliers need to register in our new ERP system. For more information, see the “UN Women Quantum supplier guideline” (PDF, 2.6MB).
Registered suppliers may access the system at supplier.quantum.partneragencies.org.
Vendor sanctions
Effective governance and integrity are central to UN Women’s mandate. UN Women requires its vendors to comply with the highest ethical standards and report to UN Women all suspected acts of fraud and corruption.
UN Women has banned a series of practices in its procurement process. These behaviours, also known as proscribed practices, include corruption, fraud, coercion, collusion, unethical practices, and obstruction.
Vendors shall not be considered eligible if:
- they are included in the Ineligibility List, hosted by UNGM, which aggregates information disclosed by agencies, funds or programmes of the UN system;
- they are included in the Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List, including the UN Security Council resolution 1267/1989 list;
- they are included in the World Bank Corporate Procurement Listing of Non-Responsible Vendors and World Bank Listing of Ineligible Firms and Individuals; or
- they fail to satisfy the requirements defined in the solicitation documents.