Ad-hoc services may be required or requested in certain circumstances, for instance the provision of legal advice or representation on an agreement or case,1 enhanced local security services for movement of cash in countries without banking facilities, or other services such as advisory support. Ad-hoc services are not included in the UPL and should be managed based on a Local Price List (LPL) or other locally negotiated prices using transparent, prevailing market rates or on the existing guiding costing methodology (Annex 1) and set out in a local price list and agreed locally between the parties.
A financial authorization issued by the Administrator to an official or to a unit to incur commitments for specific purposes relating to the institutional budget and within specified limits, during a definite period;
A subdivision of the appropriations for which a specific amount is shown in the appropriate decision and within which the Administrator is authorized to make transfers without prior approval;
The total amount approved by the Executive Board for specified purposes for the current institutional budget against which commitments may be incurred for those purposes up to the amounts so approved. The appropriations are divided into “appropriations lines”, for each of which a specific amount is shown in the appropriate decision adopted for each budget period by the Executive Board and within which the Administrator is authorized to make transfers without prior approval.
According to Rule 121.01 paragraph (a) of the UNDP Financial regulations and Rules (as amended on January 1, 2012), the Chief Procurement Officer of UNDP is accountable to the Administrator for all procurement functions of UNDP for all its locations, except for those procurement actions governed by paragraph (c). The Chief Procurement Officer may further delegate authority to staff at headquarters and other locations, as may be appropriate in fulfilling the purposes of these rules.
A legal obligation arising from a contract, agreement or other form of undertaking by UNDP or based on a liability recognized by UNDP, either against the resources of the current year in respect to UNDP programme activities or against the current budget period in respect to the institutional budget
Common services are provided to several UN agencies resident in a given country, on the basis of mutual agreement between resident UN agencies on which agency will manage the common services. Example of services includes provision of office space, janitorial, travel, ICT, security, administration of UN clinic and related services.
Cash or in-kind resources (the latter being in the form of goods, services, or real property) provided to UNDP. Contributions are used to cover UNDP programme activities as well as programme support, management and administration, and support to operational activities of the United Nations, including costs associated with the administration of contributions received for special purposes; costsharing - a co-financing modality under which contributions from Other resources can be received as a supplement to Regular resources for specific UNDP programme activities, under the relevant cooperation framework.
Cost recovery refers to the requirement for the organization to recover costs from other resources that are not directly linked to providing the required organizational structures for projects and programmes. The fundamental aim of cost recovery is to achieve a proportional funding of organizational costs between regular and other resources. This demands that UNDP must avoid using regular resources to subsidize activities funded from other resources, including the use of regular resources to cover costs related to the management and support of programme activities funded by other resources. The fundamental principle and benefits of the application of the cost recovery methodology contribute to a more equitable sharing of costs of management activities between regular and other resources. By funding qualified development effectiveness activities, where appropriate,
When a project activity entails functions which require UNDP staff or other personnel for execution, but full-time contracting is not warranted, the project may source UNDP personnel indirectly employed for the project, who are located in the Country Office or any other UNDP location. Such service requirements, referred to as “delivery enabling services”, must be budgeted within each applicable project activity or function.
Category of costs associated with “programmes” and “development effectiveness” activities which contribute to the effective delivery of development results, as follows:
a) programmes: category of costs associated with specific programme components or projects that contribute to delivery of development results contained in country/regional/global programme documents or other programming arrangements;
b) development effectiveness: category of costs associated with activities of a policy, advisory, technical and implementation nature that are needed for achievement of the objectives of programmes and projects in the focus areas of the organizations. These inputs are essential to the delivery of development results, and are not included in specific programme components or projects in country, regional or global programme documents.
A method of financing the budget of a partner country through a transfer of resources from an external financing agency to the national treasury of the partner government. The funds thus transferred are managed in accordance with the recipient’s budgetary procedures. This includes using the national regulatory framework for financial allocations, procurement and accounting systems.
Direct Project Costing includes programme implementation and implementation support activities, costs incurred by UNDP to support project implementation. The pricing of inputs to UNDP projects & programmes should be based on actual costs for clearly identifiable services. There are three main options for implementing DPC: • Application of the CO workload study results, combined with multiple funding lines for posts • Application of the Universal Price Lists (UPL) or Local Price List (LPL) for transactional costs recovery • Creation and management of a stand-alone DPC project.
Includes disbursements and accruals for goods and services received, and the use or impairment of assets, dependent on the implementation arrangement and in accordance with administrative instructions issued by the Comptroller for a financial period.
Costs that are in addition to direct project costs, and are incurred by an organization as a function and in support of its other resources funded activities, projects and programmes, and cannot be traced unequivocally to specific activities, project or programmes.
Global Services refer to services provided at the global level including Headquarters and Global Shared Service Centres. Costing is determined based on existing guiding costing methodology, in principle and should include additional direct costs in providing the services.
Fee to recover costs to UNDP that are in addition to direct project costs associated with managing the implementation of programmes. The GMS fee encompasses costs incurred in providing general management and oversight functions of the organization as a whole. These costs are incurred in support of its activities, projects & programmes, and services provided, that cannot be traced unequivocally to specific activities, project or programmes. Furthermore, these costs are incurred throughout and at all levels of the organization. Effective collection of cost recovery income is a major component of overall compliance with UNDP’s cost recovery policy. Furthermore, it ensures that the right capacities to manage the non-core resources are sustainably funded. The process starts with the proper negotiation of each donor agreement to reflect the correct cost recovery rate (see POPP Cost Recovery from Other Resources - General Management Support (GMS) and continues with the appropriate project set up and the GMS fee to enable UNDP to collect the cost recovery income accurately, transparently, in a timely manner, and in full adherence to the terms stipulated in the donor agreement.
A joint decision of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA, UNICEF and UNWOMEN approved a new harmonized conceptual framework for defining and attributing all costs, both programme costs and organizational costs (DP-FPA/2012/1), and a new harmonized methodology for calculating cost-recovery rates on other resources (non-core) (DP-FPA/2013/1; DP/2013/9).
The costs incurred by the organization in support of programmes or projects that cannot be directly attributed to such specific programmes or projects.
Covers the estimates as approved by the Executive Board relating to the activities and associated costs in the cost categories of development effectiveness, United Nations Development Coordination, management and special purpose.
The difference between current assets and current liabilities. In the specific context of UNDP, this shall normally be taken to mean the sum of working capital and reserves.
A.K.A. Non-standard ad-hoc services. Type of service for which cost recovery is required. Those services specific to a CO and requested by a UN Agency on an ad-hoc basis (not included in the UPL). Because the type and scope of service differ each time, these services cannot be standardized and need to be agreed on individually between the CO and the requesting UN Agency. The cost of these services is determined by the CO based on the True Hourly Cost Methodology. Costed locally based on local hour rates. The service fee for any non-standard services is be negotiated on an ad-hoc basis between each concerned UNDP country Office and the Agency receiving the service.
In addition to the standard services contained within the UPL, UNDP is often requested to provide additional services that are not standardized across different country offices or included in the UPL. As in the past the provision of ad hoc or non-standard services should be agreed upon locally, subject to capacity and pricing considerations in-country prior to the provision of services. To recover the full costs of these services, the UNDP Office can establish a Local Price List (LPL) for recurrent services, to be negotiated and agreed to locally by participating Agencies in advance of the service provision. A separate tool is available to facilitate local price formulation, the negotiation of which is the responsibility of the concerned UNDP office with the requesting agencies/UNCT. The cost drivers, as indicated under UPL above, should be reflected in the LPLs.
Management activities are activities and costs whose primary function is the promotion of the identity, executive direction, representation, accountability and well-being of the UNDP Country Office.
Categories of costs in which the primary function is the promotion of the identity, direction and well-being of an organization. These include executive direction, representation, external relations and partnerships, corporate communications, legal, oversight, audit, corporate evaluation, information technology, finance, administration, security and human resources. This includes both activities and associated costs of a recurring and non-recurring nature.
The financial assistance provided to an intermediary which includes
nongovernmental or grass roots organizations in an amount not exceeding$150,000 for each individual grant.
Operations Management & Administration: Activities related to overall staff/office management and the provision of workplace and support services (ICT, Finance, OHR, UNDP security, travel, assets and general services) which permit UNDP to carry out the mission of the organization (but excluding direct project implementation support). Activities related to the harmonization and simplification of UN operational processes and business practices should also be included here.
UNDP staff and other persons engaged by UNDP under other contractual arrangements to perform services for UNDP programme activities or for programme support.
Activities related to overall managerial responsibility and accountability for achieving UNDP’s role in supporting programme countries in achieving development results; ensuring continuous and simultaneous alignment (or re-alignment) of Country Programme results with national planning goals and UNDP Strategic Plan results, including responding to emerging needs mid-cycle; UNDP leadership role(s) in the UNCT programming processes and UNCT strategic meetings; strategic partnership management; and overall partnering and positioning of the programmatic work of the organization within the country.
The document approved by the Executive Board that describes the framework for UNDP programme activities, and indicates the proposed UNDP resources to achieve results during a specified period. Programme documents are prepared at the country level in cooperation with the Government of that country, as well as at regional and global levels.
UNDP Financial Regulations and Rules document defines 'property, plant and equipment' as tangible assets held for use in the activities of UNDP or for administrative purposes and expected to be used during more than one financial period. The Property, Plant and Equipment (PP&E) policy document provides further details of the term 'property, plant and equipment' as a tangible or physically verifiable item that meets ALL the following five criteria: a) Provides future economic or service benefits to UNDP – i.e. the PP&E item is held for use in the implementation of UNDP Programmes or for administrative purposes; b) Is expected to be used during more than one reporting period, which, is 12 months; c) Has a value of US$5,000 (US$5,000 for UNCDF too) or more (New Capitalization Threshold effective as of 01.01.2020); d) Is used and controlled by UNDP; and e) Has a cost that can be reliably determined.
The resources of UNDP that are comingled and untied. These will include voluntary
contributions, contributions from other governmental, intergovernmental or nongovernmental sources and related interest earnings and miscellaneous revenue.
Refers to the financial contribution to a government budget, managed in a national account by a government entity for a specific set of sector or programme results.
For UN Agencies who do not use Quantum (the “non-Quantum Agencies”), a dedicated Service Clearing Account (SCA) is established for each Agency. Through the SCA, all global prefunding received from UN Agencies are recorded, and all services provided by UNDP Offices to these UN Agencies are recorded. A dedicated Service Clearing Account is not applicable to Quantum Agencies (UNFPA, UN Women, UNU, UNCDF, UNV, UNITAR).
Categories of costs of a cross-cutting nature that (a) involve material capital
investments, or (b) do not represent a cost related to the management activities of the organization.
Standard services are those that are provided in the same way each time they are requested, and following the standard procedures in more or less the same fashion across UNDP offices. A list of standard services is included in the Universal Price List (Annex 2 - UPL). All costs are computed using the existing guiding costing methodology (Annex 1). If a UNDP office assesses that the UPL does not fully cover the total costs for providing services, they can establish locally negotiated prices using transparent, prevailing market rates. These rates should be communicated to the UN entities prior to implementation.
The order of magnitude of the Regular Resources expected to be available from UNDP during a specified period for the financing of UNDP programme activities at the country level.
Consistent with the mandate to provide services to entities of the UN system on request by a UN Entity, UNDP has an underlying responsibility to provide such services as long as the requested services and their provision are (i) consistent with the regulations, rules, policies and procedures1, and aims of UNDP, such as progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and (ii) the requesting UN Entity agrees to pay the related costs for the provision of the services and remain financially responsible for such services.
Resources credited to the UNDP Regular Resources Account or Other Resources Account and therefore excludes resources credited to the UNDP Funds Account.
The Universal Price List contains a menu of standardized services available to UN entities from all UNDP’s Offices. The UPL is updated by BMS/OFM on an annual basis. The UPL rates represent a summary of the standard list of services offered to partner agencies and their corresponding costs. Offices wishing to provide feedback on services and fees, or requiring further clarifications, should contact their BMS/OFM Financial Business Partnering focal point.
Contributions to UNDP Regular Resources from Governments of States Members of the United Nations, of the specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency;