Become International: UN and EU Tenders

Great opportunities, small risks: in addition to the development banks, Supranational Organisations such as the United Nations and the European Union also repeatedly put services and goods out to tender. Where to find the tenders and what you need to know about them.

European Union
United Nations
Other organisations

European Union (EU)

Within the European Commission, the Department for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) is responsible for implementing EU policy on development and international aid. It formulates the European Development Strategy and manages the European Union's (EU) programmes and projects in all developing countries. It works with numerous partners, including member states, and aims to pool responsibilities in European development policy as much as is reasonable.

The EU also provides financing instruments for countries outside the EU with the so-called third country programmes. The overarching goal is to combat poverty through sustainable development in the long term, and they also support foreign policy goals. In the financial period 2014 to 2020, the EU has made around 97 billion euros available for all third-country programmes. An overview of the different funding instruments and their share of the total budget can be found at the European Commission.

The EU promotes sustainable development even outside of its borders. The long-term goal is to eradicate poverty in the world. Other goals include protecting future generations from environmental degradation, prosperity in harmony with nature, and peaceful, just, inclusive societies. Global partnerships are to strengthen development work. Important benchmarks are high effectiveness, performance incentives and a shift away from general funding in favour of priority sectors.

The EU works with a total of 150 partner countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. In addition to grants and dialogue with these partner countries, the EU also undertakes research and evaluation - to ensure that aid is used effectively.
The EU has various procedures in its calls for tenders; for example, there are open, restricted or negotiated procedures. You can find an overview here.

In addition to projects within the EU and in candidate countries, projects in other countries are also regularly tendered, from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Mali, Malawi and Vanuatu. Tenders relate to IT support for a transport registry in Botswana, the renewal of wastewater supply in Tajikistan, logistics systems for Swaziland and solar heat and power supply for court buildings in Chad.

All EU project tenders and public procurement tenders are available on the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) portal or from the GTAI , which also provides an abstract in German.

United Nations (UN)

As the world's largest purchaser, the United Nations (UN) buys more than US$ 15 billion worth of goods and services annually. The largest share of these purchases was recently made by UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), the Procurement Division (UN/PD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Securing world peace, upholding international law, protecting human rights and promoting international cooperation: according to its Charter, these are the main tasks of the United Nations. In addition, the focus is on economic, social, humanitarian and ecological support.
The UN's demand for goods and services is high and varied, much of it concentrated in a few organisations. The sub-organisations handle their own purchases, so there is no central office for this at the UN. The procurement practices of the individual sub-organisations are also not uniform. According to their tasks, each of the UN organisations has different funding priorities and thus also different procurement priorities.

The joint procurement portal United Nations Global Market Place provides a good overview. Most organisations publish their information here. Tender and project notifications can also be found at GTAI , which also provides an abstract in German.

Which UN organisation is right for me?

We recommend doing some kind of market research first, starting with the UN organisation that is most likely to demand your product or service. Across all organisations, in terms of purchasing volume, these have most recently been the most important tendered goods and services:

Pharmaceuticals (including contraceptives and vaccines)
Transport, storage and postal services
Food and beverages
Management and administrative services
Building construction and maintenance
Engineering, science and technology-based services

Other Organisations

The EU and the UN are certainly the best-known Supranational Organisations - and they are also the largest in terms of the volume of contracts. However, two other organisations are also to be considered.

- Who? International organisation of Southeast Asian states.
- Focus? Economic, political and social cooperation
- Objective? deals mainly with security, cultural and environmental issues
Further information at asean.org.
- Who? Most important association of African states with 55 members.
- Focus? Promoting and maintaining peace, security and stability in Africa
- Goal? Implement its own Agenda 2063: "Create an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own people and a dynamic force on the global stage."
For more information, please visit the website of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH or GTAI , which also offers an abstract in German.

Become International: UN and EU Tenders

European Union (EU)

United Nations (UN)

Which UN organisation is right for me?

Other Organisations

Carolin Welzel

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