IDENTIFICATION OF QUALIFIED

VENDORS
FOR
UNHCR BANGLADESH
SUBMITTED TO:

UNHCR BANGLADESH

SUBMITTED BY:

GLOBAL RESEARCH AND MARKETING (GRM)

House 17/4, 3rd Floor (unit-3A/3C) Tolarbagh, Mirpur-1, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh

Phone: (02) 58052813, Email: info@grm-bd.com

Web: www.grm-bd.com

July 26, 2020

STUDY TEAM

Sl. Name Role of the Study

1. Md. Abdul Hamid Principal Researcher

2. M. Tajvir Abbas Associate Researcher

3. Omor Faruque Research Executive

4. Shamit Ahmed Chowdhury Research Executive

5. Tanvir Hossain Data Analyst

6. Moazzem Hossain Operation Coordinator

7. Azmira Khatun Data Management Officer

ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to express our profound gratitude to all those who have been instrumental in
the preparation of this report.

We would also like to show our utmost gratitude to UNHCR Bangladesh team that we have
worked with while preparing this report, especially to Mr. Razwan Siddique for his
collaboration. We would like to thank Mohammed Masud Rana - Admin Associate, Colin Price -
Shelter Officer, Minhaj Uddin Ahmed - Assistant WASH Officer, Sarah Jabin - Assistant Field
Officer, Dewan Mowdudur Rahmann - Energy Associate

Special thanks to Mr. Ujol, Dhaka Chamber Commerce for his valuable time and opinion

We are grateful to current and potential vendors of UNHCR who participated in the surveys.

Help that we got from UN partners of UNHCR is instrumental to prepare this report. We are
thankful to Mohammed Keramot Ali - Programme Manager, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society,
Mr. Gujan Baura - Finance and Admin Manager, NGO Forum, Shah Alam - Head of Technical
Team, BRAC, Emran Hossain -Logistics Officer, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society,
Thowhidul Alam - Logistic & Procurement – Manager, NGO Forum, Delwar Hossain - Lead
Shelter Project, BRAC, Nurul Alam - WAH Project Manager, BRAC.

On behalf of the Study Team Members

Md. Abdul Hamid (Managing Director & CEO of GRM)

Principal Researcher

July 26, 2020

iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgment ...................................................................................................................................................... iii
List of Tables: .............................................................................................................................................................. v
List of Figures: ........................................................................................................................................................... vi
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Title of the Study ................................................................................................................................................1
2.2 Background of the Study ...................................................................................................................................1
1.3 Objectives of the Study ......................................................................................................................................2
1.3.1 Broad Objectives .........................................................................................................................................2
1.3.2 specific Objectives .......................................................................................................................................3
1.4 Scope of the Study ..............................................................................................................................................3
1.5 Limitation of the Study ......................................................................................................................................4
2. Methodology ...........................................................................................................................................................4
3. Desk Review ...........................................................................................................................................................6
4. Qualitative Research: ............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Key Informant Interviews (KII): .......................................................................................................................9
4.1.1 KII of UNHCR Partners: ..............................................................................................................................9
4.1.2 KII of UNHCR Employees: .........................................................................................................................11
4.2 Focus Group Discussion (FGD) .......................................................................................................................12
4.2.1 FGD of UNHCR Partners: ..........................................................................................................................12
4.2.2 FGD of UNHCR Employees:.......................................................................................................................14
5. Quantitative Research: .......................................................................................................................................16
5.1 Vendor’s tenure of business: .............................................................................................................................16
5.2 Media Preference for searching UNHCR Tender: ..............................................................................................16
5.3 Frequency of Searching UNHCR Tender by Vendors: ........................................................................................17
5.4 Frequency of Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors: ...............................................................................18
5.5 Reasons of Regular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors: .....................................................................19
5. 6 Reasons of Irregular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors: ...................................................................20
5.7 Capacity of vendors to fulfill demand of a single tender of UNHCR: .................................................................21
5.8 Business Volume Offered by UNHCR Compared to Vendor’s Capacity: ............................................................22
5.9 Business Volume Offered by UNHCR Compare to Vendor’s Business Volume: ................................................23
5.10 Frequency of requests made by UNHCR within Vendors’ Capacity:................................................................23
5.11 Frequency of Winning Bid of UNHCR:..............................................................................................................24

iv
 5.12 Competitiveness Terms in Winning Bid of UNHCR: .........................................................................................25
5.13 Bid Submission Time provided by UNHCR: ......................................................................................................26
5.14 Difficulty level to meet UNHCR Requirement by Vendors:..............................................................................26
5.15 Convenience level to Participate in UNHCR Bidding Process: .........................................................................27
5.16 Delivery Time to provide requested goods/services: ......................................................................................27
5.17 Attractiveness of the scope of the work offered by UNHCR. ..........................................................................28
6. Recommendation: ...............................................................................................................................................29
6.1 Managing vendors: ............................................................................................................................................29
6.2 invitation to participate in bid: ..........................................................................................................................29
6.3 Preparing Tender/TOR and vendor screening process: .....................................................................................30
6.4 Procurement of goods and services from vendors: ...........................................................................................30
6.5 Categorization of goods and services: ...............................................................................................................31
6.6 Specification of goods and services: ..................................................................................................................31
6.7 Invitation to selected manufacturers and service providers: ............................................................................31
6.8 Sample collection:..............................................................................................................................................32
6.9 Performance Assessment after delivery: ...........................................................................................................32
7. Conclusion:............................................................................................................................................................32

LIST OF TABLES:

Table 3. 1: Goods and Services Categories of UNHCR. ..................................................................................................6

Table 5. 1: Media preference for Searching Tender of UNHCR. ..................................................................................16

Table 5. 2: Frequency of Searching UNHCR Tender by Vendors. ................................................................................17
Table 5. 3: Frequency of Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors. .......................................................................18
Table 5. 4: Reasons of Regular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors. ..............................................................19
Table 5. 5: Reasons of Irregular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors. ............................................................20
Table 5. 6: Capacity of vendors to fulfill demand of a single tender of UNHCR. .........................................................22
Table 5. 7: Business Volume Offered by UNHCR Compared to Vendor’s Capacity. ....................................................22
Table 5. 8: Business Volume Offered by UNHCR Compare to Vendor’s Business Volume. .........................................23
Table 5. 9: Frequency of requests made by UNHCR within Vendors’ Capacity. ..........................................................24
Table 5. 10: Frequency of Winning Bid of UNHCR. ......................................................................................................24

v
Table 5. 11: Competitiveness Terms in Winning Bid of UNHCR. .................................................................................25
Table 5. 12: Bid Submission Time provided by UNHCR. ..............................................................................................26
Table 5. 13: Difficulty level to meet UNHCR Requirement by Vendors. ......................................................................26
Table 5. 14: Convenience level to Participate in UNHCR Bidding Process. ..................................................................27
Table 5. 15: Delivery Time to provide requested goods and services .........................................................................28
Table 5. 16: Contract Management by UNHCR. ..........................................................................................................28
Table 5. 17: Attractiveness of the scope of the work offered by UNHCR. ...................................................................29

Table 5.5. 1: Other Reasons of Irregular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors. ...............................................21

Table 5.4. 1: Other Reasons of Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors...............................................................20

Table 5.5. 1: Other Reasons of Irregular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors. ...............................................21

LIST OF FIGURES:

Figure 2. 1: Research Framework ..................................................................................................................................5

Figure 3. 1: Value of Categories of Goods and Services of UNHCR. ..............................................................................8

Figure 5. 1: Percentage of Vendors look for UNHCR Tender. ......................................................................................18

vi
1. INTRODUCTION

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are working in Cox’s Bazar form
the start of Rohingya crisis. But its operation started to increase since Rohingya Emergency. To
provide shelter, food, safety to about 1.1 million Rohingya refugees, UNHCR has to procure
many goods and services from different local and international vendors. In the period of
emergency, UNHCR procurement requirements became humongous and UNHCR had to source
goods and services within short period of time form qualified and unqualified vendors. Through
this experience of huge procurement, UNHCR faced different challenges and learnt dealing with
various odds. Now UNHCR wants to make vendor management process more manageable and
smoother by selecting qualified vendors.

1.1 TITLE OF THE STUDY

The title of the study is “Identification of qualified vendors for UNHCR Bangladesh”. This study
mainly aims to find out different product and service categories that UNHCR needs and local
manufactures and major wholesalers.

2.2 BACKGROUND OF TH E STUDY

The local procurement component of the UNHCR in Bangladesh has been constantly increasing
since the onset of the Rohingya Emergency in the middle of 2017. Since then, the procurement
component has evolved with the type of the purchased commodity groups expanding from
simple to more complex items. The needs of the UNHCR-Bangladesh Operation range from
standard market-available products to specialized and tailor-made items, kits and products.
Similarly, the local market in Bangladesh is evolving and expanding with visible increase in the
number of local vendors at the Dhaka, Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. The variety of commodities
available to procure locally has also widened.

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In consideration of procuring the products in the local market, UNHCR has been and continues
pursuing the “Go Local” approach with the aim to support the local economy of the country
dealing with the massive refugee influx as well as to capacitate the local vendors.

In meeting the agency's operational needs, UNHCR has been inviting the bidders to partake in
the agency's local tenders by advertising in local newspapers. Besides, UNHCR SO Cox's Bazar
maintains a database of pre-qualified vendors who are also invited to submit their bids in
response to the UNHCR calls for solicitations.

Notwithstanding the above, the information on local vendors needs to be constantly updated
and expanded. Furthermore, there is a requirement to visit the selected vendors in order to
verify authenticity of their profiles.

Pre-qualification of vendors as part of market survey will ensure that UNHCR continues dealing
with reputable, registered and well-established vendors which are able to comply with the
agency's requirements. Apart, enabling UNHCR with the ability to engage strong and capable
commercial actors in the forthcoming tenders will undoubtedly help achieving greater "value
for money" for the organization. In view of the above, the decision was made to contract a
commercial entity for carrying out a country-wide market survey.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

We divide objectives of this study into two parts:

1.3.1 BROAD OBJECTI VES

The broad objective of this is as follow:

 To identify and pre-qualify reputable local manufacturers and major wholesalers1

with transparent and traceable history, sound capacity and experience in
particular field(s) specializing in the selected areas;

1
Traders shall be considered only if there is no manufacturing base for the selected products in Bangladesh.

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1.3.2 SPECIFIC OBJEC TIVES

The specific objectives of this study are as follows:

 To establish the main categories of the commodities, services and works being in
frequent demand by the UNHCR Operation in Bangladesh

 To produce a database of the local pre-qualified suppliers broken down by the

type of the goods, services and works.

 To find out important criterion for vendor selection

 To rank vendors in the same category based on pre-defined criteria

 To find out products or services of future demand

 To find out challenges of vendor management

 To find out ways to mitigate the difference between vendor’s offers and actual
performance

 To find out any differences in vendors from different location in providing goods
and services

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STU DY

The scope of the study includes only local procurement operation and local vendors. This study
considers only procurement of UNHCR not its partners’. This study includes existing vendors as
well as potential vendors comprising vendor selection, product or service category (frequently
demanded by UNHCR) selection.

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1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study does not include potential new vendors who did not participate in the Expression of
Interest process.

2. METHODOLOGY

The report was prepared in a 3-step process. The steps are as follows:

1. Information collection through interview, review of relevant historical data provided by

UNHCR

2. Information filtration to take the relevant information only

3. Compilation of the information and report preparation

Data was collected from primary sources which are:

1. Historical data:

 Frame Agreement with existing vendors from 2017 -2019,

 Procurement Plan 2018,
 Procurement Plan 2019

2. Interviews:

 Interviews with UNHCR Employees

 Interviews with representatives of UNHCR partners
 Interviews with Existing Vendors
 Interviews with Potential Vendors who express of interest to register with
UNHCR as a vendor

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Interviews were done under Qualitative and Quantitative research methodologies. Under
qualitative and quantitative, data collection instruments were developed with collaboration of
UNHCR staffs.

For quantitative research, stratified sampling method was used to collect data from existing
and potential vendors. Vendors were grouped into different strata according to product or
service categories. The vendors are sampled from each stratum.

For qualitative research, Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were
conducted. 3 KII of UNHCR partners and 2 KII of UNHCR employees were done along with 1 FGD
with UNHCR employees and 1 FGD with UNHCR partners to attain qualitative data.

Goods and Service

Desk Review
Category List

Quantitative Business Opportinity in

Vendor Interview
Research UNHCR
Primary
Research Challanges in Vendor
management
KII

Vendor Selection Criteria

Qualitative
Research
Challanges in Vendor
Management
FGD
Projection of New Goods
and Services

Figure 2. 1: Research Framework

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3. DESK REVIEW

After reviewing Frame Agreement List, Procurement Planning 2018 and Procurement Planning
2019, we have established 77 main categories of the commodities, services and works being in
frequent demand by the UNHCR Operation in Bangladesh.

Table 3. 1: Goods and Services Categories of UNHCR.

SI Category SI Category
1 Livestock or CSB 41 Logistics services
2 Non-Food Items (NFI) 42 Customs clearance

3 Home textile 43 Freight Forwarding

4 Household Items 44 Insurance Services

5 Refreshment Item 45 Legal Services

6 Hygiene Items 46 Courier Services

7 Fuel 47 Passenger Transportation services

8 LPG 48 Road cargo transportation services

9 Power & Energy 49 Transport Services

10 Solar Energy 50 Travel Services

11 Electrical & Electronics Appliances 51 Vehicle Accessories

12 Office Supplies 52 Repair & Maintenance- Vehicle

13 Office furniture 53 Repair & Maintenance- AC

14 Office Stationery 54 Repair & Maintenance- Building

15 Information & Communication Technology (ICT) 55 Repair & Maintenance- Compound

16 ICT accessories 56 Repair & Maintenance- Shelter

17 Telecommunication Technology 57 Repair & Maintenance- Printer

18 Communication & Advertising 58 Repair & Maintenance- Prefab Unit

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19 Audit Services 59 Repair & Maintenance- IT Equipment

20 Cleaning and Janitorial Services 60 Rental Services- Warehouse

21 Cleaning Items 61 Rental Services-Vehicle

22 Conference Service 62 Rental/Lease- Property

23 Construction Services 63 Demolition Work

24 Site Development 64 Renovation Work

25 Construction Materials 65 Casual Labor Provider

26 Generator Installation &Relocation Service 66 Disaster Risk Management Equipment

27 Heavy Machinery 67 Safety Equipment

28 Inspection Service 68 Drinking Water

29 Information Management Service 69 Water Transportation

30 Internet Service 70 Water Container
31 Telecommunication Services 71 Packaging Items

32 Printing Services 72 Medicine & Medical Equipment

33 Research Services 73 Health/Safety

34 Consultancy Services 74 Visibility Item

35 Training & Development 75 Awareness Building Items
36 Seminars 76 Relief Item
37 Translation Service 77 Shelter Item
38 Security Services

39 Security Accessories

40 Fire Fighting Equipment

The following figure shows top 15 categories (in terms of cost) which are under frame
agreement. According to the 80-20 rule (Pareto Principle), UNHCR might as well focus on top
20% categories to control the cost and manage the 80% procurement process more efficiently.

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 Household Items 34
Heavy Machinery 35
Appliances, Electrical & ICT 43
Goods and Service Categories

Construction Consultancy Service 46

Conference Services 55
Shelter Accessories 101
Customs clearance 117
Freight Forwarding 125
Hometextile 143
Disaster Risk Management Equipment 164
Packaging Items 366
Fuel 914
Construction Services 2,094
LPG 4,015
Hygiene Kits 9,141

- 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000

Value in Million BDT

Figure 3. 1: Value of Categories of Goods and Services of UNHCR.

Hygiene Items have the lion share of the all the categories in terms of cost. This may remain the
same or might increase higher considering the pandemic for the coming years. LPG is the
second top category which may also remain the same for the coming years. The construction
service is the third most demanded category, its demand might fall in the coming years. Fuel is
the next important category demand of which remain stable. Though Packaging item is the 5 th
position, its future demand might fall a little.

4. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:

Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were used as tools for
qualitative research

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4.1 KEY INFORMANT INTERV IEWS (KII):

To find out challenges with vendor management, important criterion for vendor selection, ways
to mitigate the difference between vendor’s offers and actual performance and differences in
vendors from different location in providing goods and services, we used Key Informant
Interviews (KII) among UNHCR staff and representative of partner organizations.

4.1.1 KII OF UNHCR PARTNERS:

The KII of partners were held among representatives of UNHCR partner organizations to discuss
on the issues faced in managing UNHCR vendors while working with them. Although the
partners do not have any direct control or mechanism to communicate but they have been
doing it through UNHCR and have been well supported by UNHCR to carry out their
assignments.

According to the participants of the KII, the administrative aspect of UNHCR procurement
process is well defined and UNHCR has clear rules and regulations in the procurement process.
Participants observed that generally vendors are responsive but at the time of crisis of goods
and emergency delivery they lack enough responsiveness.

One of the participants stated that sometimes vendors deliver goods at last working day when
it is difficult for logistics officer to receive the goods due to unavailability of labors. Other
participants flagged that some vendors are deploying unskilled manpower and on rare occasion
vendors deliver lower quality goods and try to influence through local influential persons in
order to reduce rejection of faulty products.

One of the participants faced problems of subcontracting by the vendor where required goods
(bamboo) were subcontracted and the subcontractors failed to meet the specification of
bamboo. As a result, this subcontractor tried to exert local influence requesting to accept goods
whose specification was different from that mentioned in purchase order. Participants shared
their observation that in case of some seasonal goods like bamboo, bricks at the rainy season,
vendors cannot meet the requirement.

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Also, representatives of the partners faced some problems with quality issues related to
supplied goods and services. According to them vendors are prone to provide low quality goods
related to emergency projects taking chance to make some easy earning. In such situations due
to rejection of service or goods the vendors are requested to redeliver the products which
hamper their work and leads to missing the project completion deadline. Quality issues like
water mixed with LPG, bamboo with smaller diameter is observed sometime. Although as per
the participants, quality is met by the vendors in more than 90% cases, and major deviation
from specified quality is observed in shelter materials, bamboo, construction materials. On the
same note the delivery lead time compliance rate of vendors is 85%-90% cases.

As they face problems in terms of product specification and delivery lead time, inexperienced
workforce, they think that these factors should be given emphasis on the selection of vendors.
Security money for big projects can also play vital role in ensuring quality delivery from
vendors.

Participants suggested that vendors should use skilled workforce, do proper planning for
executing their work and may take help from UNHCR or partners to understand terms and
conditions of the contract thoroughly. One of the participants suggested that as a proactive
approach, post bidding meeting with the vendors can be arrange where every detail of the
work will be conveyed to the vendors, success factors for the work would be identified.
Procurement plan, delivery plan, present inventory stock of the vendors should be asked for
and closely monitored to prevent poor performance by vendors.

The participants also suggested that penalty can mitigate the gap between expected and actual
performance; to do so a special team can be formed to determine the gravity of the poor
performance and calculate the penalty. A system of performance assessment form for the
partners as a report of gap between expected and actual performance by the vendors should
be in place to provide guidance in future vendor selection.

Another issue identified by a participant was, UNHCR representatives who closely work with
partners in the field to monitor cannot give instant decision if any problem arises. UNHCR
should delegate more decision-making authority to UNHCR representatives so that
communication between partners and UNHCR accelerates and partners get prompt instruction
from UNHCR.

When asked about changes in the quality of vendors in comparison; partners stated that
vendors who are up for long term business, did show significant improvement in performance
compared to performance in 2017/2018. Vendors which had short term perspective, could not
continue relationship with UNHCR in the long run.

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With regards to geographical factors, participants mentioned that vendors of Cox’s Bazar being
local they can provide fast delivery and are good at construction work due to their local reach.
Vendors in Dhaka and Chittagong are very much committed to their work. Also, quality of goods
and services provided by vendors in Dhaka is better and they are much more experienced.

4.1.2 KII OF UNHCR EMPLOYEES:

Representative form admin unit and shelter unit have participated in the KIIs conducted among
employees of UNHCR.

According to the participants administrative aspect of UNHCR’s procurement process is well

structured and role of each person is well defined. UNHCR’s procurement process is a team
approach and the team are very professional and efficient at all aspects.

Participant believe that at UNHCR good vendor selection process is in place to ensure work
standard and they feel company profile, legal status, relevant experience, financial capacity are
the critical vendor selection criteria and these criteria can help select right vendor for UNHCR.
Rules and regulations which are created based on the practical situation for procurement
process and vendor selection are good enough to efficiently deal with the regulatory aspect of
procurement process. Since UNHCR sticks to its rules and regulations as an international
organization hence, local vendors cannot create influence the procurement process of UNHCR.

According to the participants, most of the vendors working with UNHCR also have the
experience of working with other International organizations like IMO, WFO etc. Also a team is
in place to assess the financial capability of vendors resulting in selection of financially sound
vendors. In addition, UNHCR has appropriate policies to ensure after sales services has been
properly met. For example, in the construction service UNHCR mentions in the PO that it will
retain 10% of the payment for 6 months to repair any defect that might happen; hence, in most
of the cases vendors do the after sales service/ repair work after completion of the work to
earn the retained amount.

The participants expressed their satisfaction to the responsiveness of vendors they work with
as according to them vendors keep pushing their boundaries to provide better services and
goods. Although, vendors tend to deviate from terms and conditions if strong monitoring is not
in place and in 5% -10% cases, deviation from the required quality of goods and services is
observed by them, especially when goods and services are procured locally (Cox’s Bazar). In the
past years several incidents of quality and product specification issues like supply of

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construction materials, bamboo of different specification was vigilant which in recent years
have become nil in most cases.

Participants suggested that if any deviation from offered performance occurs, UNHCR should
discuss with vendors to find out the gap mitigate the differences at the earliest. Issuing warning
and in extreme case cancellation of order can be a reactive approach. Alongside, experience of
vendors not delivering goods and services on time has always been a point of concern yet late
delivery is still observed issue in some categories. Some departments such as UNHCR admin
which needs goods and services on very urgent basis sometimes face challenges due to it.

With regards to geographical factors while dealing with vendors, it was suggested that when
quick delivery is needed, it is better to procurement from Cox’s Bazar as it is difficult to get on
time delivery of goods from Dhaka, Chittagong because of transportation and traffic issues.
Apart from it there is no prominent difference among the vendors in Dhaka, Chittagong and
Cox’s Bazar.

4.2 FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION (FGD)

Two Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) have been conducted with the participation of UNHCR
employees in one FGD and the other FGD was with UNHCR partners’ representatives.
Objectives of the FGDs were to find out challenges in UNHCRs’ vendor management process,
intensity of the challenges and probable solutions. In addition, information about future
demand of new goods and services and probable ways to deal with emergency procurement
situation.

4.2.1 FGD OF UNHCR PARTNERS:

Representatives of UNHCR partners from Wash, Logistics, and Procurement and Shelter units
were the participants who provided their valuable time and insights.

According to the participants, UNHCR partners do not face any significant challenges in the
procurement process under supervision of UNHCR. But they mentioned some minor problems
related to on time delivery, quality issues and local influence.

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Minor delay in receiving the goods and services is a said to be one of the challenges that can be
identified by all the partners. However, the partners do follow up continuously with the
vendors to get timely delivery for the locally available goods and services. On the other hand, in
case of imported goods, this problem is a matter of concern as these items are not readily
available in local market and does contribute to the challenges UNHCR partners face at work.

In addition to above, about maximum of 10% cases in some specific goods (like Bamboo)
partners find discrepancy in required quality which in some cases are due to some differences
in the product specification requested as in the tender by UNHCR and the standard product
specification of partners. However, this is generally mitigated through the strong
communication procedure of UNHCR. Apart from the goods made available through vendors
participant mentioned that quality of imported item “tarpaulin” that have always been
provided by UNHCR has deteriorated in quality in recent time when comparing to the quality of
5 years back.

Though not remarkable, yet partners face issues of vendors trying to use local influence once a
while to request adjusting minor discrepancies of their provided product. But this influence has
never been able to establish itself over the strong procurement norms of UNHCR that the
partners enjoy while working with UNHCR.

The participants also gave their opinion on predicting future demand of new goods and services
and even suggested to have further discussion among UNHCR and partners to handle urgent
procurement issues which might create minor barriers to smooth operation of projects. One of
the participants opine that it will be convenient for partners to handle emergency situation, if
they get written permission from UNHCR to procure the goods and services by themselves
when urgent demand of goods and services arises.

According to the projection of a participant from wash unit; materials required to keep water
network functional, water testing DPT1 tablet, submersible pump, deep meter, water network
tank, and liner will be needed in greater number in the coming years. He also projected that
requirement of BOD, COD testing for waste water of fecal sludge management treatment plant,
disinfecting tube well, solid waste management projects may slop upward in near future.

They also feel that in the coming year repair and maintenance of building, shelter structure will
be increased as there is nothing concrete on re-habitation of Rohinga refugees back to
Myanmar soon. Hence replacing temporary shelters through permanent construction of
building may increase, or the cost of maintenance for temporary shelters are to raise
accordingly.

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4.2.2 FGD OF UNHCR EMPLOYEES:

The FGD with UNHCR employees was very fruitful and due to the participants being closer to
the system various issues were identified that could enhance the operation fluency of UNHCR.
The FGD comprised of participants from WASH, sanitation, field operation and energy sector
discussing about challenges the participants explored to the maximum to discuss on any minor
hindrance that might look challenging to them.

Firstly, regarding Financial challenges while managing operations that includes vendor
management it was identified that, to meet certain emergency needs participants sometime
needs to procure goods or services that might have a major impact if procured through regular
procurement process consuming days and weeks. These procurements are generally done
through Spot quotation/ Non-PO procurement process; though recent increase in its limit to
USD 4,000 has been very helpful but further increase would enable them to have greater
control over the situation during those periods of emergency. On contrary at the vendor part
the financial capacity of the vendor has been sensed to be forged and boosted but is hard to
prove. This leading to vendor being unable to meet the requirement on a timely manner
resulting in operational and vendor management complicacy.

To provide insight about the administrative challenges the issue of changing Purchase Order has
been identified to be one of the most significant challenges they encounter. The process
requires attention of several people and often takes days to get revised, thus attention from
policy makers of UNHCR was requested so as to make this process faster. It was also identified
that some units dose not generally handle vendors for their requested goods or services hence
during spot quotation they find it difficult to reach out to vendors who are under frame
agreement for the same and can meet the emergency need more efficiently.

In tendering and vendor selection process, technical evaluation sometimes participation of

technical units who is to ultimately implement the projects in the field is insignificant or
members of the technical evaluation are not from team preparing the TOR. As a result, at the
time of implementing the project difficulty in attaining requisite specific goods/services are
mismatched. Direct communication to vendors can raise conflict of interest and hamper the
situation. In many cases like pre bid situation, technical unit and field units gets queries from
vendors. But as procurement process of UNHCR is very rigorous and technical; they technical
unit needs to respond to those queries through different units which sometime creates certain
gap in understanding among vendors. Tender of energy, WASH, shelters are generally very
much technical. Lot of renounced vendors too lack required technical skills to deal with the
issue that is not identical. Since procurement unit orient vendors regarding the process of

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UNHCR some gap of understanding on the technical aspects remains unattended. As a result,
field unit sometimes receive goods and services which is differs the requirement. Hence,
inclusion of technical personnel directly involved with the project would contribute to a greater
extent in smooth vendor management process.

It has been stated that during tender number of technically qualified vendors are limited as lots
are screened out due to lack of understanding on UNHCR process and proper document
submission. In addition, regulatory rigidness of certain screening criteria that might not be very
significant in procurement of that specific goods/services adds to the screened-out pile. Thus,
requesting vendor to revise their proposal or relaxation of certain screening criteria would help
have greater vendor poll for tenders and avoid tenders being cancelled at the end of bidding
process.

With regards to regulatory challenges, the process of procurement regulates under

confirmation from several units which at times consumes ample time to attain required goods
or services on time. On similar note in the selection process, vendors should be given higher
weightage on technical qualification so that technical difference between vendors can be
quantified and vendor can be categorized based on technical qualification over financial
proposal. Deviation from specific technical quality or technical qualification of vendors should
be highly focused so that technical knowledge is not suppressed by the financial proposal for
the tender.

Last but most significantly, it was identified that UNHCR cannot attract giant manufacturers of
goods and services in spite of the fact that the business opportunity for the giants is huge.
Rather agents of these giant and reputed companies are participating in the bidding. Hence
reaching out to them from UNHCR for bulk procurement over the year might provide a soothing
experience to UNHCR.

Inquiring about noticeable differences in vendors compared to 2017/2018, it was

acknowledged that the performance of the vendors in terms of delivery, goods and service
quality, communication a significant improvement has been noticed. However when asked to
differentiate the performance of vendors from different part of the country the participants
were not able to distinctively identify the vendor’s origin as most of the vendors have their
office at Cox’s bazar and they also are not aware about the details of the vendor. However the
Vendors having local office at cox’s bazar are generally stated to b e more responsive in
comparison.

Finally, regarding future change in goods or service pattern it was stated that requirement of
core relief Items (household items and nonfood item) may grow uphill curve the coming year as
per the understanding of the participants.

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5. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH:

Stratified sampling has been used as a tool for sampling method so that vendors from all
category are selected. Total 181 vendors participated in the quantitative survey. 147 vendors
of Dhaka, 25 vendors of Cox’s Bazar and 9 vendors of Chittagong have represented as the
sample for the survey. Among these there were 44 new vendors and 137 old vendors who have
agreed and been able to participate in this study.

Below are the findings of the quantitative part conducted on existing and potential vendors:

5.1 VENDOR’S TENURE OF BUSINESS:

The vendors participated in the quantitative survey holds an average business operation of 10
years with some over 40 years into business. Majority of the existing vendors have 2 to 3 years
of working experience with UNHCR.

5.2 MEDIA PREFERENCE FOR SEARCHING UNHCR TENDER:

The blow table depicts the media behavior of vendors for searching UNHCR tender where
greater half of the vendors prefers direct mail from UNHCR to them inviting to participate in the
tender. Whereas handful of the vendors suggested traditional print media and other digital
platform like BD jobs. A small portion also preferred it to be on UN or UNHCR website for them
to avail the ToR to participate in tender

Table 5. 1: Media preference for Searching Tender of UNHCR.

Media Number of Vendors

Email from UNHCR 95
Newspaper 49
BD Jobs.com 30

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 UNHCR Website 14
UN Website 14
E-Tender 9
Tender Bazar 8
Personal Network 6
BD Tender 6
All Tender BD 5
From Other Supplier 3
Tender Mela 2

5.3 FREQUENCY OF SEARCHING UNHCR TENDER BY VENDORS:

Vendors which are aware of UNHCR operation in Bangladesh are interested to do business with
UNHCR and checks for tender of UNHCR on regular basis. With 45% of total sample stated to
check for tender always and 30% has identified it to be frequent.

Below table provides a detail breakdown of both new and old vendors’ frequency of searching
for UNHCR tender.

Table 5. 2: Frequency of Searching UNHCR Tender by Vendors.

Frequency Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

Always 56 25 81 45%

Frequently 44 11 55 30%

Sometimes 30 5 35 19%

Never 7 3 10 6%

Grand Total 137 44 181 100%

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 Never 5% 7%

Sometimes 22% 11%

Old Vendor
Frequently 32% 25% New Vendor

Always 41% 57%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Figure 5. 1: searching of UNHCR vendor among existing and new vendors.

Major percentage of the new vendors too look for UNHCR Tenders regularly. indicating
potential vendors which are interested in UNHCR closely follow UNHCR Tender notification. It
has been also stated by vendors during interview that most of the vendors want to do business
with UNHCR in multiple categories of goods and services. This indicates that UNHCR is not
dealing with vendors which are specialized or the manufacturers of goods and services in
specific category. For example: vendors who is office stationery suppliers, is also interested to
supply hygiene items.

5.4 FREQUENCY OF PARTICIPATING IN UNHCR BIDDING BY VENDORS:

Though majority of the vendors submit bid regularly; 43%, a significant percentage of vendors
do not submit bid regularly. Reason being they find it difficult to win the tender and have
generally not been awarded indicating winning a tender in UNHCR is competitive and UNHCR.

Table 5. 3: Frequency of Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors.

Frequency Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

Always 39 11 50 28%
Frequently 43 11 54 30%

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Sometimes 17 6 23 13%

Rarely 10 3 13 7%

Never 28 13 41 23%
Grand Total 137 44 181 100%

5.5 REASONS OF REGULAR PARTI CIPATING IN UNHCR BI DDING BY VENDORS :

56% vendors regularly participate in bidding mostly because they found the business with
UNHCR as profitable and prestigious. A big portion of vendors also do so as it helps them to
build their credentials for other UN bodies. This indicates that a large portion of UNHCR
vendors are also keen to work with other UN bodies through the platform of UNHCR. 10% of
these vendors submit bid for other reasons* including ‘good payment system’, ‘financial
security’, ‘standard work’ and ‘incorruptibility’. Below table and figure depicts the detail.

Table 5. 4: Reasons of Regular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors.

Reason Number of Vendors Percentage

The business is profitable 70 28%

The business is prestigious 69 28%

Helps me build credentials for other UN bodies 48 19%

Other* 25 10%

Good vendor relation 10 4%

The process of bid submission is easy 8 3%

Within my operational capacity 8 3%

Within my financial capacity 7 3%

Tender documents understandable with ease 4 2%

Grand Total 249 100%

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 Table 5.4. 1: Other Reasons of Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors.

Other* Reason Number of Vendors Percentage

Good Payment System 8 32%

Financially Secure 6 24%

Standard Work 3 12%

No Corruption 3 12%

Fair System 2 8%

Good support from UNHCR Engineering team 1 4%

Reputation 1 4%

Worldwide company for Refuge 1 4%

Grand Total 25 100%

5. 6 REASONS OF IRREGULAR PARTICIPATING IN UNHCR BIDDING BY VENDORS:

Apart from the other reasons mentioned vendors do not participate in bidding frequently
mainly because of insufficient time for bidding preparation and delivery, strict payment terms
(No advance payment, credit letter etc.). The other reasons stated are Mismatch in product and
business category for which vendors do not regularly participate in tender of UNHCR.

Table 5. 5: Reasons of Irregular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors.

Reason Number of Vendors Percentage

Other 7 24%
Insufficient time to prepare for biding and
7 24%
deliver
Strict payment terms 5 17%
Difficult process of bid submission / language
3 10%
barrier
The business is not very prestigious 2 7%

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 Not much suitable payment process (Slow
2 7%
turnover)
Doesn’t help to build credential with other UN
1 3%
bodies
Not so good vendor relation 1 3%

The business is not profitable 1 3%

Grand Total 29 100%

Table 5.5. 1: Other Reasons of Irregular Participating in UNHCR Bidding by Vendors.

Other Reason Number of Vendors Percentage

Always not matching product 2 29%

Not in the business category 2 29%

Management issue 1 14%

Tender not available 1 14%

Wants low price products 1 14%

Grand Total 7 100%

5.7 CAPACITY OF VENDORS TO FULFILL DEMAND OF A SINGLE TENDER OF UNHCR :

According to the survey responses, both type of vendors which are doing business and which
are interested to do business have sufficient operational and financial capacity to handle an
entire demand of a single tender.

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 Table 5. 6: Capacity of vendors to fulfill demand of a single tender of UNHCR.

Vendor’s Capacity Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

More than sufficient 44 23 67 37%

Sufficient enough 89 21 110 61%

Sometimes beyond capacity 4 0 4 2%

Grand Total 137 44 181 100%

5.8 BUSINESS VOLUME OFFE RED BY UNHCR COMPARE D TO VENDOR’S CAPACI TY:

About 80% vendors think that the overall volume of business offered by UNHCR in comparison
to their capacity is substantial. This means that business with UNHCR is important to vendors
giving UNHCR a bargaining power over its vendors. Although a noticeable percentage thinks the
offering is very small considering the few/only sector/category he is enlisted with UNHCR and
plans to participate in the bidding of other sectors he is capable of to make the overall offering
substantial for his company.

Table 5. 7: Business Volume Offered by UNHCR Compared to Vendor’s Capacity.

Offered Volume Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

Very substantial 68 28 96 54%

Substantial 34 8 42 24%

Moderate 21 3 24 13%

Small 3 0 3 2%

Very small 10 3 13 7%

Grand Total 136 42 178 100%

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5.9 BUSINESS VOLUME OFFE RED BY UNHCR COMPARE TO VENDOR’S BUSINESS VOLUME:

The overall volume of business offered by UNHCR in comparison to a vendor’s volume of

business is significant for 74% vendors. We can say that UNHCR purchase order is bulk size
which is attractive to vendors in business perspective.

Table 5. 8: Business Volume Offered by UNHCR Compare to Vendor’s Business Volume.

Offered Volume Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

Very substantial 46 23 69 39%
Substantial 50 12 62 35%

Moderate 22 3 25 14%

Small 8 1 9 5%

Very small 10 3 13 7%
Grand Total 136 42 178 100%

5.10 FREQUENCY OF REQUEST S MADE BY UNHCR WITHIN VENDORS’ CAPACITY :

According to 66% vendors’ opinion, the requests made by UNHCR that they have capacity to
participate in bidding are frequent. Since the data indicates UNHCR’s frequent request of goods
and services. Therefore, UNHCR may think of reducing the frequency of ordering and place
orders in bulk to be delivered sequentially in timely manner. According to Economic Order
quantity model, UNHCR might be able to reduce cost by reducing number of time orders been
made/ tendering process is initiated for similar product.

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 Table 5. 9: Frequency of requests made by UNHCR within Vendors’ Capacity.

Tender Frequency Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

Very frequent 32 13 45 30%

Frequent 43 11 54 36%

Moderate 24 5 29 19%
Scarce 11 3 14 9%

Very scarce 7 3 10 6%

Grand Total 117 35 152 100%

5.11 FREQUENCY OF WINNING BID OF UNHCR:

36% vendors are winning bid regularly, 35% vendors are getting purchase order rarely, and 28%
vendors sometimes wins the bid. This data shows that winning UNHCR bid is very competitive
and fair portion of vendors holds sound capacity to repeatedly provide their goods and services.
It is also evident that UNHCR switching vendors for a good portion of its purchase order.
UNHCR should try to establish long term relationship with its vendor so that vendors get used
to working with UNHCR.

Table 5. 10: Frequency of Winning Bid of UNHCR.

Bid Winning Frequency Number of Vendor Percentage

Very frequent 13 10%

Frequent 36 26%

Moderate 39 28%

Scarce 21 15%
Very scarce 28 20%

Grand Total 137 100%

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5.12 COMPETITIVENESS TERMS IN WINNING BID OF UNHCR:

Above 60% vendors feel that significant number of participating vendors is creating intense
competition in UNHCR bidding. About 60% vendors opine that it is competitive to winning
UNHCR bid in terms of credential their company hold, though most of the vendors has 5 year
work experience. Past work experience in similar field, reference of past business done with
UNHCR, overall quality of submission and adherence to the submission manners of the offer
(timeline, procedure, quality of presenting the offer, etc.) are competitive terms according to
40%-50% vendors. It is evident from this data that UNHCR have the option to select vendors
form a good pool of qualified vendors.

Table 5. 11: Competitiveness Terms in Winning Bid of UNHCR.

Competitiveness Number of Work Past Business Submission

Credential
competitors Experience with UNHCR Rules
Not competitive 3% 2% 3% 8% 2%
at all
2 1% 4% 2% 5% 2%

3 2% 2% 3% 5% 2%

4 3% 2% 3% 3% 4%

5 5% 4% 3% 6% 5%

6 2% 2% 4% 5% 5%

7 12% 9% 12% 9% 8%

8 9% 19% 21% 19% 18%

9 19% 18% 21% 22% 22%

Very competitive 43% 38% 28% 19% 32%

Grand Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

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5.13 BID SUBMISSION TIME PROVIDED BY UNHCR:

Although there is some evidence of vendors finding the time provided to prepare and submit
the bid is not adequate but around 85% of the vendors feel the time provided to submit a bid
request is sufficient enough as provided by UNHCR.

Table 5. 12: Bid Submission Time provided by UNHCR.

Bid Submission Time Old New Total Percentage

More than adequate 3 0 3 2%
Adequate enough 91 33 124 83%

Not adequate enough 21 2 23 15%

Grand Total 115 35 150 100%

5.14 DIFFICULTY LEVEL TO MEET UNHCR REQUIREME NT BY VENDORS:

Though more than 50% vendors think that it is not difficult to fulfill/meet the bidding
requirement, but close to 50% vendors also think otherwise. We may say that UNHCR demands
stringent condition to meet its goods and services need which might be relaxed and made
convenient for the bidder to encourage more frequent participation with greater ease.

Table 5. 13: Difficulty level to meet UNHCR Requirement by Vendors.

Difficulty Level Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

Not difficult 63 22 85 57%

Difficult 51 13 64 43%

Very Difficult 1 0 1 1%

Grand Total 115 35 150 100%

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5.15 CONVENIENCE LEVEL TO PARTICIPATE IN UNHCR BIDDING PROCESS :

About 60% vendors find it very convenient to understand the requirement mentioned in the
bid, produce all the required supportive documents, strictly follow the procedure to submit the
bid for the request and properly understand the language of the bidding. Hence UNHCR might
look into the matter and further investigate the doable to encourage greater participation
through maximize the convenience level to participate in a bid request.

Table 5. 14: Convenience level to Participate in UNHCR Bidding Process.

Producing
Convenience Requirement
Required Bid Submission Bidding Language
Level Understanding
Documents
Very convenient 60% 55% 72% 71%

Convenient 33% 38% 22% 27%

Moderate 5% 5% 4% 2%

Inconvenient 0% 2% 2% 0%
Very Inconvenient 1% 0% 0% 0%

Grand Total 100% 100% 100% 100%

5.16 DELIVERY TIME TO PROVIDE REQUESTED GOODS /SERVICES:

Most of the vendors state that the time provided to provide goods and services are just
adequate enough to deliver requested goods and services and it gets very challenging to meet
the contract deadline if the process is even a little barred with some hindrance. Considering
UNHCR deals with emergency situation most of the time and providing time is a luxury in most
cases. Therefore, UNHCR may try to project before hand by reviewing monthly projection on
the demand of the goods and services it might require to provide some breathing time or time
to cover up in case of any mishap that may arise.

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 Table 5. 15: Delivery Time to provide requested goods and services

Given Delivery Time Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage

More than enough 0 1 1 1%

Just enough 98 31 129 87%

Not enough 17 2 19 13%

Grand Total 115 34 149 100%

Being satisfied with the procedure to carry out the assignment awarded by UNHCR, vendors
bares positive mindset about UNHCR and are happy about its billing process and on time
payment. UNHCR is following well defined and clear procedure to execute vendors work,
though the procedure is very challenging to implement at times.

Table 5. 16: Contract Management by UNHCR.

Procedure to Carrying out

Convenience Level Billing process Payment Time
the contract
Very convenient 67% 55% 59%

Convenient 25% 38% 30%

Moderate 5% 3% 8%
Inconvenient 3% 2% 0%

Very inconvenient 0% 1% 3%
Grand Total 100% 100% 100%

5.17 ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE SCOPE OF THE WORK OFFERED BY UNHCR.

Both the existing and potential vendors (summing up to 92% of the total sample) feel that the
scope of work UNHCR provides is good to consider as fruitful business in comparison to their
other clients. Indicating lucrativeness of UNHCR bid requests and vendors higher level of
importance to UNHCR requests.

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 Table 5. 17: Attractiveness of the scope of the work offered by UNHCR.

Business
Old Vendor New Vendor Total Percentage
Attractiveness
No 11 3 14 8%
Yes 124 40 164 92%

Grand Total 135 36 178 100%

6. RECOMMENDATION :

6.1 MANAGING VENDORS :

UNHCR has a well define and rigid vendor selection process. Its tender process is fair and
unbiased. In spite of that UNHCR cannot attract big manufactures or the dealers of goods and
services. UNHCR should find out renowned manufacturers or dealers for each category of
goods and service and proactively send these companies invitation for participation in the open
tender.

From KII and FGD, it is evident that all the units of UNHCR and UNHCR partners are facing
problem some sort of delay in delivery of goods and services. Purchase Requisition (PR)
submission time line, delivery lead time, time when the good and services are needed must be
identified clearly. There should be a minimum time gap between purchase requisition
submission time and time when the goods and service are needed. Procurement unit should
have minimum processing time of the purchase requisition. Identification of causes of delay
must be identified and mitigated with priority. If PR is not submitted with the minimum time,
user unit may have to accept the delay. On the other hand, if vendor causes the delay,
procurement unit may consult the vendor and figure out reason.

6.2 INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN BID :

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Invitation to participate in bidding needs to be prepared in a way which is understandable to all
type of vendors. There should be two version of the invitation both English and Bangla. This will
help vendors which do not understand requirements English language.

Requirements mentioned in the invitation should be very clear and specific not generic. Generic
word like all registration document should be replaced with TIN certificate, VAT Registration
certificate, Certificate of Incorporation in RJSC, trade license in case sole proprietorship.

Different vendors provide information in different format as response to providing profile of

the company. UNHCR may ask its vendors to provide their company profile in a uniform format
to make the assessment easier.

6.3 PREPARING TENDER /TOR AND VENDOR SCRE ENING PROCESS:

Technical team members in the vendor evaluation process of UNHCR are selected randomly. As
a result, the technical team may not be representative of the owner unit which is going to use
the goods and services. UNHCR must ensure that a representative from the owner unit is in the
technical team. It will reflect the technical issues as per the actual need of the owner unit.

In the selection process Instead of rejecting a vendor for failing to submit proper documents,
UNHCR can reach out to that vendor and clarify the document requirement so no capable
vendors are screened out due to lack of knowledge about formal paperwork.

6.4 PROCUREMENT OF G OODS AND SERVICES FR OM VENDORS:

To deal issues with frequently purchased goods which are non-perishable UNHCR can make a
call to procure beforehand or it can go for long term contract with vendors so that vendors are
certain on their sales and can make arrangements of the goods as and when UNHCR needs
them. Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model can help to minimize the incidence of shortage of
goods and thus indirectly reduce the problem arises from delay in delivery of goods. EOQ model
is applicable for goods whose demand is constant and is consumed at a fixed rate. To
implement EOQ, UNHCR should identify the goods for which EOQ model is applicable.

UNHCR must inquire and ensure that a vendor who wins a bid for is capability of supplying
goods and services, they should be asked to submit a copy of the similar volume purchase order

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or project they have done. This will help assess their capability of successfully accomplishing
UNHCR’s purchase order or project. In case no vendor is found to capable of taking the
purchase order or project, UNHCR may split the purchase order or project among few top
vendors according to their capacity. This can help UNHCR to prevent vendors from
subcontracting and ensure consistency in product/service standard.

6.5 CATEGORIZATION OF GO ODS AND SERVICES:

UNHCR may categorize all goods and services and list vendors under these different categories
of goods and services. After dividing all the goods and services into different individual
category, these should be categorized into two broad categories as general and specialized
goods and services. For the general goods and services manufacturers and dealers should be
targeted. Existing vendors which have been working with UNHCR for long time in specialized
category should be targeted for the later as they have already gathered the experience of
dealing with specialized goods and services.

6.6 SPECIFICATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES:

About 10% cases deviation from the required quality and specification issues are found in the
goods and services UNHCR and partners are getting. Procurement unit of UNHCR should ask all
the working units to submit the goods and services specifications they regularly deal with along
with specifications which are not fulfilled by the vendors. UNHCR procurement unit can address
these problematic specifications to the vendors and check whether vendors are capable of
fulfilling these specifications.

6.7 INVITATION TO SELECTED MANUFACTURE RS AND SERVICE PROVI DERS:

Under each category of goods and services, procurement unit of UNHCR proactively should
search and find out the renowned manufacturers and dealers. Omera LPG, Bashundhara LP Gas
Ltd for LPG, Bangla CAT for generator, Ryans Computers, B-Trac Technologies Limited for ICT,
ACI, AQUARE for female sanitary kits, and Sindabad.com for office stationery are renowned and

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big companies. After listing vendors like these under each category, UNHCR can send invitation
to these companies for registering with UNHCR as a vendor.

6.8 SAMPLE COLLECTION :

UNHCR may ask the vendors to submit sample as per the specifications of goods and services
required in the bidding process where possible. In case of any project, the vendor may be asked
to submit detailed plan how they deal with critical aspect of the project. This sample collection
and written plan will help to determine whether the vendor will be able to provide required
output.

6.9 PERFORMANCE ASSESSME NT AFTER DELIVERY:

UNHCR procurement unit may develop a written assessment format. This form may be used
after completing of the work done by vendors to gain feedback from the user unit. How well
the vendors performed in terms of specifications of goods and services, quality, timely delivery
issues can be addressed in the assessment. This feedback will act as the input in the next
vendor selection and the identified issues can be conveyed to vendors to ensure that they don’t
repeat the issues previously identified.

7. CONCLUSION:

UNHCR has a good procurement process that is built over robust system of vendor
management. Although at its best there are certain areas where there is still scope of
improvement. It would be beneficiary for the operation of UNHCR if these issues are given
enough concern before they accelerate to a challenging height.

The business with UNHCR has been identified as profitable and prestigious among the vendors
and these vendors have acknowledged to have a substantial business over the year with
UNHCR. Attracting reputed vendors, making the procurement process more flexible, ensuring
participation of user units in the process, assessing the problems and taking action to solve

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these with the participation of vendors can help UNHCR to execute their activities with greater
success.

With the passage of time performance of existing vendors and UNHCR team have improved
which need to be continuously reinforced to assure standard working procedure, proper vendor
management, identification of credible vendors to assist UNHCRs’ operation in Bangladesh and
most importantly continue to add more and more vendors to the existing list over the year.

If these minor but significant issues can be well taken care of UNHCR should be well equipped
with qualified vendors to meet its operational requirements over the years to come.

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