VI.5.2 Headquarters CRC

 

​​Composition

10   The CRC shall be composed of the following three members:

• the Comptroller;
• the Legal Counsel;
• Director Planning, Resource Coordination and Performance Monitoring (PRP);
  

20   The CRC shall be chaired by the Comptroller or the Legal Counsel, on a rotating basis, for periods of one year each, with the other designated as Vice-Chair and acting as Chair in case of absence of the then current Chair.

30   Each member shall have one or more alternates designated by that member as a replacement, including in case of absence or of a personal or administrative conflict of interest. However, in the case of an administrative conflict of interest of a member which is not removed by the participation of the alternate, neither the member nor the alternate concerned shall participate in the decision-making process. A case of personal conflict of interest would arise when a member has a financial interest in the contractual arrangement, which may affect his/her independence and objectivity. An administrative conflict of interest would arise where the procurement in question concerns the same department, or equivalent, where the member or alternate works.

Attendance of other persons

40   A unit having made a submission to the CRC may be invited to have a representative attend a meeting of the CRC in a non-voting capacity when its submission is under discussion, to provide information to the CRC concerning the submission.

50   The CRC may decide to invite to its meetings resource persons for technical advice, concerning issues under discussion.

Secretary of the CRC

60  The Assistant Director-General, Business Operations Services (ADG/BOS) shall designate a Secretary of the CRC, who shall be responsible for coordinating the CRC meetings and performing other administrative tasks to serve the CRC. The Secretary shall, among other things, liaise with the submitting unit, verify the completeness of the submission to allow the review by the CRC, summarize for the CRC the salient issues of the submission including a recommendation, ensure the distribution of the submission and relevant documentation to the CRC members, prepare and convene the meetings, enquire on any aspect raised by the CRC in respect of the submission and arrange for the conveyance of the CRC recommendations to the relevant Budget Centre Manager[1] and of the relevant Budget Centre Manager's decision to the unit submitting the original request.

70   The Secretary shall maintain a record of all CRC proceedings and recommendations and of all related decisions of Budget Centre Managers, record the reasons for the CRC's decisions where required in accordance with paragraph 150 below,  keep statistics of the workload and activities of the CRC and make an annual written report thereon to the Chair.

Terms of reference

80   The CRC shall review the following contractual arrangements:

• any proposed procurement of goods and services with an expected value exceeding US$ 300,000, as well as any proposed procurement below such amount which the responsible procurement officer decides to submit to the CRC;
• all proposed contractual arrangements in the field of insurance​^​​​​ - except for insurance contracts established by FNM/TS/INS below the CRC threshold - and for concessions to engage in commercial transactions on WHO premises;
  
• any proposed procurement of products or services for which a waiver of the normal competitive bidding requirements; and/or
• any other requirement set forth in Part VI of the eManual.

90   The CRC shall also review all contractual arrangements in the following circumstances:

• amendment, modification, or renewal of a contractual arrangement previously recommended by the CRC, when the amendment increases the approved amount either by more than 20%, or by an amount equal to the applicable CRC threshold at HQ or in the Regions (regardless of the percentage of the increase); or
• where it can be reasonably expected that the work to be contracted is part of a larger piece of work to be performed, which will require a total contractual expenditure that may exceed US$ 300,000; or
• amendment, modification, or renewal of a contractual arrangement not previously submitted to the CRC, when the amount now exceeds US$ 300,000.

100   The CRC is responsible for verifying:

• that the selection process has been carried out in accordance with the relevant procurement procedures, as referred to in eManual VI.5.1, and that it has been based on fairness, integrity and transparency; and
• that the proposed selection of a contractor is in the best interest of the Organization. Generally, the lowest responsive bid is presumed to be in the best interest of the Organization, but other conditions or circumstances, relating in particular to quality, time or to the financial implications of the proposed arrangement for the Organization as a whole, could make it desirable to choose a bid other than the lowest. A responsive bid is one which conforms to the terms, conditions and specifications set forth in the invitation to bid.

110 The CRC may decide to assess the financial viability of a proposed contractor, if it finds this to be in the interest of the Organization, and if the circumstances appear to warrant such assessment.

120   The CRC decides whether to recommend the selection of a contractor, or whether to recommend a different one, or make another recommendation within its Terms of Reference. Through the Secretary of the CRC, the CRC conveys its recommendation to the Budget Centre Manager of the division to which the expenditure relates, or in the case of procurement to the ADG/BOS (who may delegate this authority to Director, SUP), for approval.

130   The CRC may decide to recommend the selection of contractors for umbrella agreements covering the procurement of goods or services for a defined period.

140   For any contracts above USD 50,000, the CRC may waive the normal competitive bidding requirements, when it considers that competitive bidding will not be in the best interest of the Organization. Situations in which this exception could apply include but are not limited to the following:

• previous competitive bidding for a procurement action has failed to produce responsive bid; or
• for goods or services in scarce supply, where an immediate procurement from a contractor with available supplies at convenient prices, that are not likely to be maintained, appears to be advantageous to the Organization; or
• a contract was concluded with the lowest bidder, for the same or similar goods and services, in a recent bidding exercise within the past 12 months.

150   In every case where a contract is recommended to be awarded under an exception allowed under section VI.1.3 - Waivers, the CRC must record the reasons for its decision.

160   The CRC has the authority to recommend to the relevant Budget Centre Manager in accordance with section VI.1.3 – Waivers, the waiver of any of the procurement rules if the CRC finds that such waiver is in the interest of the Organization.

Method of work

170  The Chair shall decide the need for a meeting, in which case three members of the CRC are required, or to circulate the submissions for clearance, in which case the participation of a technical director is not required. The CRC shall also meet when any of its members so requests.

180 Three members of the CRC shall constitute a quorum for any meeting of the CRC.

190  In its meetings, the CRC normally takes its decisions by consensus. If this is not possible, it takes its decisions by majority vote. In case of a tie, the Chair's vote is decisive.

200  If the Chair so decides, for example, in cases he/she deems to be straight forward or urgent the CRC may take a decision through circulation of submissions. In these circumstances, the decision should be taken unanimously and be recorded and signed by all three members of the CRC.

210  The Chair shall administer the process of direct review by the CRC Secretary. Direct Review is when the CRC Secretary has been authorized by the CRC to undertake the review and issue a recommendation without the need to convene the members of the CRC and communicates the recommendations directly to the applicable Director for final decision.

220  The CRC Secretary is authorized to conduct a direct review of the procurement action, without the need for review by the CRC. A direct review may be conducted for the following:

1. contracts up to $100K; or
2. lease agreement extensions that have been previously reviewed by the CRC; or  
3. amendment to a contract previously approved by the CRC:
• based only on additional quantities for the same type of goods/services at the same unit price in the contract, following prior consultation and concurrence of the Chair; or
• to extend license fees or other services where the service provider is the sole supplier, i.e. product owner or distributor.  
4. interim contractual measures for the essential provision or goods or services while the full RFP is in progress (see paragraph 230 below), following prior consultation and concurrence of the Chair; or
5. procurement actions within the delegated procurement authority of the business units that have been escalated or rerouted to the CRC; or  

6. any other special circumstances following prior consultation and concurrence of the Chair.
   

230  The CRC Secretary also provides 'pre-approval' recommendations for interim contractual arrangements for the essential provision or goods or services while the full RFP is in progress. This provides time-bound and short-term conditional authorization to technical units to extend contractual arrangements on a temporary basis. This process may be applied where services cannot be interrupted or must commence immediately, providing time-limited authorization to conclude negotiations and avoid fait accompli situations, and help guide technical units in concluding the contacting process. Any short-term contracts issued under these arrangements cannot be used as advantageous justification for the selection of the vendor in the subsequent competitive process.

240  The decision to undertake a direct review rests with the CRC Secretary, in consultation with the Chair as necessary. If the CRC Secretary determines that the submission requires the involvement of the CRC, or that the procurement process was undertaken over a lengthy period with no justification for an urgent review, the CRC Secretary may decide not to conduct a direct review and refer the submission to the CRC.

Submissions to the CRC

250   The submitting unit shall be responsible and accountable for the following:

• ensuring that the selection process is undertaken in accordance with the WHO procurement procedures and that the selection process has been based on fairness, integrity, and transparency. This will include ensuring that submissions are made of all proposals to select contractors to carry out work for which there are expected to be follow-up stages, if there is a likelihood that the totality of the work will exceed the threshold for CRC review (even if it is not known at the time whether the same contractor will be used for such follow-up work, but there is at least a possibility thereof); and
• ensuring that the requested contractual arrangement is duly authorized within the Organization and that the envisaged contractual amount is covered by funds available within an appropriate work plan; and
• ensuring that the submission is complete and supported by written documentation, including information on the criteria on which the decision has been made. All the bids that have been submitted and all information pertaining to the conditions of the contract to be concluded should be made available on request; and
  
• providing clarification and additional information in connection with a submission, when so requested by a CRC member, the CRC, the Secretary or the relevant Budget Centre Manager before, during or subsequent to the taking of the decision by the CRC or the approval by the relevant Budget Centre Manager.   
  

 
260  The submitting unit shall also be responsible for ensuring that all proposals for waivers of competitive bidding above $50,000, and all fait accompli situations[2], are first cleared by the Budget Centre Manager prior to submission to the CRC for its review.