-
Functional Areas
- Audit and Investigations
-
Capacity development and transition, strengthening systems for health
- A Strategic Approach to Capacity Development
- Capacity Development and Transition - Lessons Learned
- Capacity development and Transition Planning Process
- Capacity Development and Transition
- Capacity Development Objectives and Transition Milestones
- Capacity Development Results - Evidence From Country Experiences
- Functional Capacities
- Interim Principal Recipient of Global Fund Grants
- Legal and Policy Enabling Environment
- Overview
- Resilience and Sustainability
- Transition
-
Financial Management
- CCM Funding
- Grant Closure
- Grant Implementation
- Grant-Making and Signing
- Grant Reporting
- Import duties and VAT / sales tax
- Overview
- Sub-recipient Management
-
Grant closure
- Overview
-
Steps of Grant Closure Process
- 1. Global Fund Notification Letter 'Guidance on Grant Closure'
- 2. Preparation and Submission of Grant Close-Out Plan and Budget
- 3. Global Fund Approval of Grant Close-Out Plan
- 4. Implementation of Close-Out Plan and Completion of Final Global Fund Requirements (Grant Closure Period)
- 5. Operational Closure of Project
- 6. Financial Closure of Project
- 7. Documentation of Grant Closure with Global Fund Grant Closure Letter
- Terminology and Scenarios for Grant Closure Process
- Human resources
- Human rights, key populations and gender
-
Legal Framework
- Agreements with Sub-recipients
- Agreements with Sub-sub-recipients
- Amending Legal Agreements
- Implementation Letters and Performance Letters
- Language of the Grant Agreement and other Legal Instruments
- Legal Framework for Other UNDP Support Roles
- Other Legal and Implementation Considerations
- Overview
- Project Document
- Signing Legal Agreements and Requests for Disbursement
-
The Grant Agreement
- Grant Confirmation: Conditions Precedent (CP)
- Grant Confirmation: Conditions
- Grant Confirmation: Face Sheet
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Integrated Grant Description
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Performance Framework
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Summary Budget
- Grant Confirmation: Special Conditions (SCs)
- Grant Confirmation
- UNDP-Global Fund Grant Regulations
-
Monitoring and Evaluation
- Differentiation Approach
- Monitoring and Evaluation Components of Funding Request
- M&E Components of Grant Implementation
- Monitoring and Evaluation Components of Grant Making
- Overview
- Principal Recipient Start-Up
-
Health Product Management
- UNDP Quality Assurance Policy
- Compliance with the Global Fund requirements
- Distribution
- Inspection and Receipt
- International freight, transit requirements and use of INCOTERMS
- Inventory Management
- Overview - Health Product Management
- Pharmacovigilance
- Product Selection
- Quality monitoring of health products
- Quantification and Forecasting
- Rational use
- Risk Management for PSM of health products
-
Sourcing and regulatory aspects
- Development of List of Health Products
- Development of the Health Procurement Action Plan (HPAP)
- Global Health Procurement Center (GHPC)
- Guidance on donations of health products
- Health Procurement Architecture
- Local Procurement of health products
- Other Elements of the UNDP Procurement Architecture
- Procurement of non-pharmaceutical Health Products
- Procurement of Pharmaceutical Products
- Submission of GHPC CO Procurement Request Form
- Storage
- Supply Planning of Health Products
- UNDP Health PSM Roster
- Waste management
- Grant Reporting
-
Risk Management
- Introduction to Risk Management
- Overview
- Risk management in crisis settings
-
Risk Management in the Global Fund
- Additional Safeguard Policy
- Challenging Operating Environment (COE) Policy
- Global Fund Review of Risk Management During Grant Implementation
- Global Fund Risk Management Framework
- Global Fund Risk Management Requirements During Funding Request
- Global Fund Risk Management Requirements for PRs
- Local Fund Agent
- Risk management in UNDP
- Risk Management in UNDP-managed Global Fund projects
- UNDP Risk Management Process
- Sub-Recipient Management
Supply Planning of Health Products
Supply planning is a critical process to avoid stock-outs and treatment disruption, overstocks and wastage. Accurate quantification, monitoring of consumption levels, establishment of minimum stock levels (the point at which re-ordering must happen) will minimize the risk of stock-outs and ensure continuity of treatment and value for money.
Once the quantification of needs is completed, it is necessary to determine when and in what quantities orders should be placed.
The quantification outputs should be broken down into monthly needs. If the coverage is expected to be equal throughout the year, the calculations can be made for one year then divided by 12 months. If, however, it is anticipated that coverage will increase as the programme scales up, then a new calculation will have to be made for each period in which coverage is expected to increase. Similarly, if, as is sometimes the case for malaria, there is a higher prevalence during certain months of the year, the calculations must reflect this.
It is also important that orders include some buffer stock in case of any unexpected delays in the supply chain, such as delayed arrival of subsequent orders, unexpected changes in consumption levels, or programmatic changes. Buffer stock should be expressed with time periods and calculated based on both the agility of the national supply chain and any programmatic constraints.
The most important factor in determining when orders should be placed is the lead time for a product or product category. The lead time is the length of time between confirming an order with a manufacturer/supplier and actually receiving the products at the service delivery point.
Lead time and buffer stock levels provide the basis for calculating the minimum and maximum stock levels; once stocks reach the minimum level, order should be initiated at the various levels of the supply chain.
Practice PointerThe procurement officer should always start with the date when the end user needs the product and work backwards to determine when the procurement process should commence.
The following factors must be taken into account during planning:
Lead times for the procurement process: This includes the time from the business unit creating a request up until the time the purchase order is issued to the manufacturer/supplier. The procurement process lead time will vary depending on the selected procurement method (such as open competitive bidding, limited competitive bidding among LTAs holders, direct contracting, request for quotation or micropurchasing). The procurement officer should determine, in advance, the appropriate procurement method for each product category and estimate the time it will take, according to the procurement policies and guidelines. This includes taking into account any necessary reviews by the local contracts committee, Regional Advisory Committee on Procurement (rACP), or the Advisory Committee on Procurement (ACP). The use of the UNDP Health procurement architecture noticeably reduces the processing lead time, while ensuring compliance with the QA Policy.
The manufacturer’s / supplier’s lead time: An average lead time of three to four months, from purchase order confirmation until products are made available to ship, is typical for health products purchased internationally. However, shortages (e.g., due to lack of availability of raw materials or production capacity) happen regularly, resulting in increased lead times. At the planning phase, procurement officers should obtain estimates of the current lead times for the different product categories to be procured to determine the time to launch the procurement and ensure that products will be received when needed. While initial orders will be based on these estimates, subsequent orders should consider prior experience.
Quality monitoring – pre-shipment inspection, sampling and testing: For most categories of products purchased through UNDP, pre-shipment inspection and testing is not recommended. For certain categories of products, the implementation of pre-shipment inspection and testing activities may be required, as a risk mitigation measure rather than as a quality assurance mechanism. Pre-shipment inspection with randomized sampling and testing is required for the following product categories: Finished Pharmaceuticals Products (FPPs) Recommended for Use by the WHO Expert Review Panel (ERP); In-vitro Diagnostic Products Recommended for Use by the WHO Expert Review Panel (ERP); Condoms, if the product selected is not listed in the UNFPA list; and all Vector Control products. The lead time for sampling and testing varies depending on the product category.
Shipping, delivery and logistics: It is also necessary to determine how long it will take for the various product categories to be available from the time the products are available “to ship” up to the “last mile” delivery point. This estimate includes the time for customs clearance, inspections, and transfer(s) from the central warehouse to the local facilities where the product will be issued to, or used by, the patient/client.
Practice PointerQuality monitoring – post-shipment inspection, sampling and testing: UNDP COs must perform post-shipment inspection at the time of the reception of the goods by visual inspection and review of import documentation that the products received are in line with the purchase order and the specifications. UNDP GFPHST does not advise conducting routine post-shipment quality control testing, except if the information collected, on transit and logistic conditions, during the post-shipment inspection indicates the likelihood of a risk on the quality or the performance of the products procured (e.g., temperature excursions during transit, extended periods at port without proper conditions).
Storage capacity: Some products, either due to their high volume (e.g., bednets, condoms) or particular storage conditions (e.g., cold chain products) may present challenges related to the available space/conditions in country and, therefore, the supply plan may need to be adjusted, such as through more frequent deliveries.
Shelf life of the product: Some products, particularly diagnostic products, have a short shelf-life (less than two years, or sometimes only one year) and therefore require more frequent deliveries.
When the above mentioned estimates are added together, the procurement officer has a good idea of when to begin the procurement process. The Health Procurement Action Plan (HPAP) is mandatory for all business units engaged in the procurement of health products, regardless of the funding source and the partner conducting health procurement (see Health Procurement Architecture). Using the relevant HPAP template (either Global Fund or non-Global Fund depending on the source of funding), the procurement officer should always initiate the procurement process based on the date when the end users need the products and calculate backwards based on the lead-time for each product or product. Guidelines for creating the HPAP are available here and here.
Additional guidance to support this area of work are also available through a number of resources listed below:
Loading resources
