10 All procurement contractual agreements that commit WHO to pay for goods and services require an approved obligating document (Purchase Order (PO)) to be created within the GSM Procurement Module to reserve (encumber) the required funds before work commences. The approved GSM PO serves as the basis against which invoices are paid.
20 Certain agreements (such as Tailor-Made Agreements, Long Term Agreements and Letters of Agreement) are processed in GSM by using an internal GSM obligating document (Letters of Agreement – Grant (GLOA), Non-Grant (LOA Non-grant) and General External Services (GES) etc.). In these cases, the GSM PO is completed before the non-GSM committal contract is finalized. Other agreements, such as Agreements for Performance of Work (APW) and Technical Services Agreements (TSA), are processed through GSM and result in a GSM document countersigned by the supplier. In all cases, the GSM PO and the non-GSM committal contract, where applicable, must be completed before work commences. No work shall be undertaken or formally agreed to by WHO, before completing the relevant obligating documents (GSM PO and non-GSM committal contract, where applicable).
30 In the very exceptional and operationally justified case where work commences or the contract is issued before the relevant GSM PO is completed, formal approval must be obtained from the Comptroller in Headquarters or the Director of Administration and Finance in Regional Offices for the retroactive issuance of the GSM PO. At HQ, the Budget Center Manager must first clear all retroactive PO requests before submission to the Comptroller.
40 A schematic overview of all agreement types and GSM obligating documents/POs is found below:
For a detailed description on when to use which GSM obligating document, please refer to the procurement section of this eManual ( Part 2 – GSM obligating documents):
https://emanual.who.int/p06/s02/Pages/VI23ServiceagreementtypeandGSMobligatingdocuments.aspx
