Increased volume of goods offered for export Reduced waiting times in duration of procurement and import management

10. The Advisory Committee believes that the staffing levels of the Procurement and Transportation Division, in proportion to the volume of procurement orders, are within an acceptable range.

Unlike WFP where a separate food procurement unit and manual would seem justified by the highly specialized and even complex requirements of food procurement and delivery, specialized procurement units operating under different systems of accountability might not represent optimal use of procurement resources, particularly in cases of relatively low procurement volume.

As indicated in annex VI to the report, the volume of procurement orders processed by the Procurement and Transportation Division was 396.4 million in 1995, with 24 Professional and 37 General Service staff in the Commodity Procurement Section.

Bearing in mind the reduction in the total volume of procurement, the available staff resources within the Division are adequate.

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Also, with the increasing volume of work at the Geneva office, duties should be segregated for more effective control over payments. 2. Procurement

Further, in view of the absence of staffing benchmarks to date, it is difficult to establish which procurement volume would justify full time specialist procurement staff in the field offices, and perhaps even at Headquarters.

With regard to the establishment of a supplier review committee, it is the position of the Administration that, given the volume of procurement activities at ESCWA and the fact that the procurement team consists of only four staff members, section 5.03 of the Procurement Manual, which applies to offices at which procurement activities are carried out by several procurement sections, cannot be implemented.

In addition to these comments on the recommendations of the report, on the issue of procurement volume, the comparison appears to be too linear.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General would like to inform the General Assembly of the results of a comparison of operating costs within the Procurement Division (salaries, equipment and supplies) with the volume of procurement undertaken against those costs.

As these operations stabilize over the medium to long term, the volume of procurement is likely to remain more or less constant or to decline.

In spite of a further significant increase in the volume of procurement during 2004, the Procurement Service has worked hard to reduce the lead times for goods and services being provided to peacekeeping missions during the reporting period.

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The report indicates that the total volume of procurement by United Nations organizations amounted to 2,895 million, with 1,197 million, or 41 per cent from developing countries.

For organizations with centralized procurement services, the low procurement volume per staff member and relatively high overhead costs can be attributed to the fragmentation of the procurement function at different duty stations so much so that organizations located together in New York, Geneva, Vienna or Copenhagen are still to begin sharing procurement overhead services and costs, for example through common service arrangements discussed later in this report.

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a. Yearbook of the International Law Commission (General Assembly resolution 174 II). Volume II, part I, 1996 volume II, part II, 1996 volume I, 1997 volume II, part I, 1997 volume II, part II, 1997

Indeed, UNDP has over the years subsidized IAPSO's operations (up to 2001) and has been its most important client, accounting in 2002 for 35 per cent of its procurement volume.

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