Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures

Accountability & Delegation of Authority

1. Accountability

UNDP staff, including contractors working for UNDP, are expected to comply with standards of conduct appropriate for their relationship with UNDP. Staff members are expected to uphold the highest standards of conduct for international civil servants. Similar expectations are made for experts, contractors, and other non UN officials. The fundamental base for this legislation begins with the Staff Regulations that embody broad principles of personnel policy for the staffing and administration of the UN staff, including UNDP. Fundamental conditions of service and the basic rights, duties, and obligations of UN staff are also covered in the Staff Rules.

In order to implement this legislation known as the regulations, a detailed set of rules has been developed. These are known as Staff Rules and they are approved by the Secretary - General, who provides specific guidance on how to implement the broad principles as defined in the Staff Regulations. Further guidance is available to staff from the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), which has issued a guide that explains in detail how the code of conduct should be enacted in the working environment of staff. This guide is known as the Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service Commission.

For contractors, there are similar expectations of behaviour that can be found in the Regulations Governing the Status, Basic Rights and Duties of non UN Secretariat Officials, and Experts on Mission (ST/SGB/2002/9/ 18 June 2002).

In addition to the above UN rules and regulations, there are two important prescriptive documents related to accountability within UNDP:

• Accountability, Disciplinary Measures and Procedures, which define misconduct and explains the process by which staff members will be held accountable for their actions if they breach regulations and rules.
• the Internal Control Framework which describes staff member accountabilities with reference to their “role” in the office, including project roles.

2. Delegated Authority to Country Offices

The UNDP Administrator is accountable to the UNDP Executive Board for UNDP programming results including those of Associated Funds and Programmes in line with the decisions of applicable governing bodies.

In exercising his accountability to the Executive Board, the Administrator delegates authority to enter into an execution agreement with the programme country Government through the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) once the Executive Board has approved the Country Programme. This authority is delegated to the UNDP Resident Representative (RR – also referred to as Programme Manager), through the Director of the Regional Bureau. The RR together with the programme country Government also has authority to adjust the CPAP to changing circumstances within the country providing this is within the overall framework of the Country Programme as approved by the Executive Board. The Director of the Regional Bureau may, however, withhold, withdraw, or limit this authority also if an Executive Board decision or other circumstances so require.

Each UNDP project is implemented by a single Implementing Partner which is accountable to UNDP for the use of UNDP resources and achievement of identified project outputs.

2.1 Project Approval authority

The authority to approve projects at the country level will be specifically delegated to the resident representative by the director of the regional bureau when a country programme document has been approved by the Executive Board.

In exercising this authority, the resident representative will be guided by the recommendation of the local Project Appraisal Ccommittee (PAC). The resident representative is accountable to the Administrator through the director of the regional bureau for the quality and sustainability of UNDP interventions and for ensuring that UNDP policies and procedures have been fully complied with. Any divergence between the recommendations of the PAC and the decision of the resident representative should be recorded on file.

Exceptions. The resident representative does not have authority to approve a project document in the following cases, unless he/she has received specific authorization from the regional bureau director:

• When a project document includes personnel who would be supervised by the resident representative or another member of the UNDP office staff;
• When support to an infrastructure project (This refers to construction or other major infrastructure development or large equipment components) is proposed;
• When the amount to be spent on micro-capital grants, out of TRAC funds, would increase the overall amount spent on micro-capital grants beyond 10 per cent of the country’s TRAC allocation for the CPD period;
• When direct implementation by UNDP is proposed (see Selecting an Implementing )

The authority to approve project documents applies to TRAC 1 & TRAC 2; approvals may not exceed the funds released by headquarters for those funds for the given year/s. The authority also applies to cost-sharing funds when a standard cost-sharing agreement is used. For government cost-sharing, the standard project document with a payment schedule constitutes the legal basis for cost-sharing. The authority to approve projects financed from TRAC-3, trust funds and other sources of funds may be delegated on a case-by-case basis.

No UNDP official may sign a project document that singles out by name a private company or NGO to carry out activities and receive funds from UNDP, unless a waiver of competitive bidding has first been obtained.

For projects funded with GEF resources, final accountability for project management rests with the GEF. In this regard, project work plans, key management decisions, budget revisions, progress reports, annual reports and project evaluations require oversight of the GEF regional coordinator in addition to the role played by the designated institution and UNDP country office.

2.2 Approval of projects with large equipment components

In cases where the equipment component exceeds 50 per cent (including cost-sharing) of the budget or costs more than $1 million, the country office must make a critical assessment of the component. The procedures below also apply where equipment is procured under the contract component.

The country office shall prepare a report that outlines:

• Conformity with UNDP policies, and the comparative advantages of UNDP;
• The capacity of national authorities to use the equipment, maintain the equipment, and replenish equipment and sustain activities, for which the equipment was purchased, after the termination of UNDP intervention;

If capacity gaps are identified, an explanation should be provided as to i) the role UNDP will play during the lifetime of the project to cover the gaps, and ii) how and when these responsibilities will be handed over to the national authorities. The resident representative is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the capacity-building measures and the transferring of responsibilities to national authorities. The resident representative is also responsible for ensuring that the annual reviews address these matters.

The PAC shall review the report. The resident representative should communicate the results of the review and send the project document or substantive revisions, together with the report, to the regional bureau.

The Director of the regional bureau must report to the Associate Administrator quarterly on all the large equipment approvals. The report should be brief (two pages maximum) and provide both statistical and analytical information on:

• The number of project documents with large equipment components that have been approved during the quarter;
• Assessment of the capacity of the national authorities to use, maintain and replenish the equipment, as well as to sustain the activities for which the equipment was purchased, once UNDP intervention has ended.

Advance authorization

• Advance authorizations permit designated institutions to enter into commitments and incur expenditures without delay in accordance with a project document or revision document that has been finalized but has not yet been signed by all the parties. This may be due to bureaucratic delays in securing such signatures.
• An advance authorization is valid for 60 days only. It must be replaced with a fully signed project document or revision within 60 days.
• The resident representative signs the advance authorization after ascertaining that the government and the designated institution agree to it;