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Functional Areas
- Principal Recipient Start-Up
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Legal Framework
- Overview
- Project Document
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The Grant Agreement
- UNDP-Global Fund Grant Regulations
- Grant Confirmation
- Grant Confirmation: Face Sheet
- Grant Confirmation: Conditions
- Grant Confirmation: Conditions Precedent (CP)
- Grant Confirmation: Special Conditions (SCs)
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Integrated Grant Description
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Performance Framework
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Summary Budget
- Implementation Letters and Performance Letters
- Agreements with Sub-recipients
- Agreements with Sub-sub-recipients
- Signing Legal Agreements and Requests for Disbursement
- Language of the Grant Agreement and other Legal Instruments
- Amending Legal Agreements
- Other Legal and Implementation Considerations
- Legal Framework for Other UNDP Support Roles
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Health Product Management
- Overview - Health Product Management
- UNDP Quality Assurance Policy
- Product Selection
- Quantification and Forecasting
- Supply Planning of Health Products
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Sourcing and regulatory aspects
- Global Health Procurement Center (GHPC)
- Development of List of Health Products
- Development of the Health Procurement Action Plan (HPAP)
- Health Procurement Architecture
- Local Procurement of health products
- Procurement of Pharmaceutical Products
- Procurement of non-pharmaceutical Health Products
- Other Elements of the UNDP Procurement Architecture
- Submission of GHPC CO Procurement Request Form
- Guidance on donations of health products
- International freight, transit requirements and use of INCOTERMS
- Inspection and Receipt
- Storage
- Inventory Management
- Distribution
- Quality monitoring of health products
- Waste management
- Rational use
- Pharmacovigilance
- Risk Management for PSM of health products
- Compliance with the Global Fund requirements
- UNDP Health PSM Roster
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Financial Management
- Overview
- Grant-Making and Signing
- Grant Implementation
- Sub-recipient Management
- Grant Reporting
- Grant Closure
- CCM Funding
- Import duties and VAT / sales tax
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Monitoring and Evaluation
- Overview
- Differentiation Approach
- Monitoring and Evaluation Components of Funding Request
- Monitoring and Evaluation Components of Grant Making
- M&E Components of Grant Implementation
- Sub-Recipient Management
- Grant Reporting
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Capacity development and transition, strengthening systems for health
- Overview
- Interim Principal Recipient of Global Fund Grants
- A Strategic Approach to Capacity Development
- Resilience and Sustainability
- Legal and Policy Enabling Environment
- Functional Capacities
- Capacity Development and Transition
- Transition
- Capacity Development Objectives and Transition Milestones
- Capacity Development Results - Evidence From Country Experiences
- Capacity development and Transition Planning Process
- Capacity Development and Transition - Lessons Learned
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Risk Management
- Overview
- Introduction to Risk Management
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Risk Management in the Global Fund
- Global Fund Risk Management Framework
- Local Fund Agent
- Challenging Operating Environment (COE) Policy
- Additional Safeguard Policy
- Global Fund Risk Management Requirements for PRs
- Global Fund Risk Management Requirements During Funding Request
- Global Fund Review of Risk Management During Grant Implementation
- Risk management in UNDP
- Risk Management in UNDP-managed Global Fund projects
- UNDP Risk Management Process
- Risk management in crisis settings
- Audit and Investigations
- Human rights, key populations and gender
- Human resources
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Grant closure
- Overview
- Terminology and Scenarios for Grant Closure Process
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Steps of Grant Closure Process
- 1. Global Fund Notification Letter 'Guidance on Grant Closure'
- 2. Preparation and Submission of Grant Close-Out Plan and Budget
- 3. Global Fund Approval of Grant Close-Out Plan
- 4. Implementation of Close-Out Plan and Completion of Final Global Fund Requirements (Grant Closure Period)
- 5. Operational Closure of Project
- 6. Financial Closure of Project
- 7. Documentation of Grant Closure with Global Fund Grant Closure Letter
Value for Money and Approval Process
Value for money assessment
As part of the approval process, it is mandatory for the UNDP Country Office (CO) to conduct a value for money (VfM) assessment of all potential CSO/NGO Sub-recipients (SRs) identified through Proposal Defined Engagement and for the non-competitive procurement modality referred to above (Note: this does not apply to governmental entities and UN agencies).
For potential civil society organization (CSO) SRs, the VfM assessment is undertaken by the CO using the UNDP Guidelines for Submission of VfM Assessments.
VfM analysis is the process of comparing the proposed total cost and benefits of the contract of several potential SRs, if there is more than one. If, as is often the case, there is only one proposed CSO SR, the VfM assessment looks at the proposed management fee, salaries and other costs, and compares them with national, regional and international standards to determine if the costs are reasonable. The VfM assessment should specifically determine whether the proposed SR management fee is in line with comparable Global Fund-implemented programmes or another appropriate benchmark, whether the personnel costs are in line with market rates for the specific country, and whether the final costs of the proposed activity/service per beneficiary are reasonable and justifiable. General fees/overhead costs of SRs should, as a rule, not exceed UNDP’s General Management Service (GMS) for third-party contributions [1].
International Non-Government Organizations (INGOs) may be permitted to include in the grant budget a percentage based Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) to compensate for services that are provided by their headquarters and /or regional offices. Local NGOs are generally expected to include all costs associated with the implementation of programme activities as direct charges to the grant. A percentage based ICR for local NGO is for exceptional cases and requires approval by the Global Fund. The local NGO cannot double charge for the same costs under percentage based ICR and direct support costs. The maximum ICR for UN agencies is 7%, INGOs it’s 5% (ASP countries 7%) and local NGOs it’s 3% (ASP countries 5%). (Refer to the Global Fund Operational Policy Note on Support Costs and Indirect Cost Recovery for Non-Government Organizations issued 13 March 2015). Where an international or local NGO chooses to charge ICR, the amount must be specified in the budget submitted for a Quality-Based Fixed Budget Selection process and the total amount of that budget (including the ICR) must not exceed the maximum allowable amount specified in UNDP’s Request for Proposals.
Where similar positions are included by several CSOs, there should be an opportunity to standardize (i.e. reduce downwards) the unit costs, so that there is some consistency among CSOs working in the same areas. The cost of an outreach worker targeting men who have sex with men (MSM) should be similar to the cost of an outreach worker targeting sex workers in the same geographic area.
VfM analysis does not replace the Global Fund review and approval of a detailed budget, as VfM represents a UNDP process for risk mitigation as mandated by the POPP. Information on unit costs, cost assumptions and other budgetary detail obtained through the development of the Global Fund budget may be useful for the VfM submission.
The threshold from which proposal defined engagement with VfM assessment for NGOs/CSOs applies is US$50,000 and above per the VfM submission, regardless of the duration of the proposed SR agreement.
The VfM assessment should specifically assess the programmatic and financial capacity, experience and reputation of the proposed CSO SR to consider whether the proposed SR engagement will deliver the required benefits. The VfM assessment should also determine whether the proposed SR management fee is in line with comparable Global Fund-implemented programmes or another appropriate benchmark, whether the personnel and other costs are in line with market rates for the specific country, and whether the final costs of the proposed activity/service per beneficiary are reasonable and justifiable. General fees/overhead costs of SRs should, as a rule, not exceed UNDP’s General Management Service (GMS) for third-party contributions [1].
SR contracting approval process
The Proposal Defined Engagement of SRs should be submitted for review to the Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC).
In the case of a government entity or United Nations agency, an LPAC review is sufficient before final approval by the Resident Representative (RR).
For CSO SRs engaged through proposal defined engagement modality, in addition to the LPAC review, the VfM assessment should be submitted to the UNDP Global Fund Partnership and Health Systems Team (GFPHST) for clearance. If the UNDP Global Fund Partnership and Health Systems Team (GFPHST) does not approve the VfM assessment, the UNDP CO can either request the SR to revise its proposal or use the procurement process to select an alternative SR.
The UNDP Global Fund Partnership and Health Systems Team (GFPHST) evaluates the VfM assessment in accordance with the evaluation principles detailed in the POPP, including undertaking a background check of the submitted proposal. This stage, sometimes referred to as due diligence/post-qualification, is the final and mandatory step. This process should be properly documented and completed prior to recommendation for an award. As per UNDP policy on evaluation of offers. “The extent of the background check will depend on the complexity, associated risk and budget for the procurement activity.”
Also, according to UNDP POPP, the following aspects and actions may be considered when conducting post-qualification:
- Verification and validation of accuracy, correctness and authenticity of legal, technical and financial documents submitted;
- Inquiry and reference checking with government entities with jurisdiction on the offeror, or any other entity that may have done business with the offeror;
- Physical inspection of headquarters, branches or other places where business transpires, with or without notice to the offeror; and
- Other means that UNDP may deem appropriate, at any stage within the selection process, prior to awarding the contract.
For contracts of $150,000 or more, at least three references for past contracts must be obtained and checked. Where UNDP is aware of other references outside of the list provided by the offeror, it may exercise its rights to conduct verification and checking with such entities.
In all cases, the proposed organization’s legal mandate (i.e. if it is authorized to be involved in the activity, etc.) and financial strength (i.e. does it have the resources to make advances (if any) and complete the contract) will be verified.
Moreover, for SR agreements of $1 million or more, it is mandatory to obtain third party reference checks from credit rating and reporting agencies. For such high-value contracts and/or in cases involving technically complex activities, the reports on the organization’s facilities, financial and management status from credit rating and reporting agencies (i.e. Dunn and Bradstreet, Moody’s Investor Services) are provided by the proposed SRs.
[1] Please note that per agreement between UNDP and the Global Fund (October 2014) a GMS rate of 7% applies to contributions from the Global Fund.