The United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) was established on 1 January 1980 as the third United Nations Headquarters after New York and Geneva (and before Nairobi). It performs representation and liaison functions with permanent missions to the United Nations (Vienna), the host Government and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in Vienna.
UNOV manages and implements the United Nations programme on the peaceful uses of outer space and provides common services, such as conference services, information services, security and safety services, procurement services and general support services, for the organizations located at the Vienna International Centre.
UNOV is closely associated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). A shared Division for Management, in addition to the common services listed above, supports both organizations with financial resources management services, human resources management services and information technology and communications services.
The Director-General of UNOV is Mr. Yury Fedotov (Russian Federation), who was appointed in July 2010. Mr. Fedotov also serves as the Executive Director of UNODC.
Doing business with the United Nations Office at Vienna
The procurement of goods and services for the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Office for Outer Space Affairs and the other Vienna-based Secretariat units is handled by the Procurement Section of UNOV.
The major categories of goods procured comprise computer equipment, software and supplies, furniture, communication equipment, office equipment and supplies, security equipment and clothing, and paper products.
The major categories of services procured include software support, telecommunication services, printing services, mail services, equipment maintenance, photocopying machine rental, translation services, and computer and management training.
Registration requirements
It is the policy of the United Nations Secretariat to have as wide and diverse a database of suppliers as possible, from all Member States. Interested suppliers should register at the United Nations Global Marketplace (http://www.ungm.org), the single portal for procurement for the United Nations system.
Vendors should sign up in the registration section and select the level of business activity that they wish to participate in that best matches their capacity, financial strength, business scope and commercial strategy.
Competitive bidding
One of the fundamental tenets of United Nations procurement is achieving the best value for money for the Organization. Bids and proposals are obtained through a competitive process. Three types of solicitation document are issued by the Secretariat to fulfil a procurement requirement. While each of the types of document referred to below contain the information necessary to submit a suitable offer, they vary in accordance with the nature of the requirement and the estimated monetary value. All solicitation documents normally provide for generic specifications.
Expressions of interest
Requests for expressions of interest are published periodically on both the UNOV and the United Nations Global Marketplace websites and give an opportunity for interested companies to obtain information about relevant products and services that may shortly be solicited. In addition, the United Nations Global Marketplace offers a service for automatic delivery of expressions of interest.
