13.09 Maintenance of files


A procurement/contract registry file must be established by staff conducting procurement for all actions involving purchasing, lease, rental, hire-purchase or any other legal means of contracting.

In addition to information documenting the procurement process, the file must include all information required to successfully administer the contract.

The procurement/contract registry file is created and kept by the staff conducting procurement, except in the case of services, where it is passed to the requestor after the approval of the award for administration and closing of the contact.

Document retention

Document retention requirements are described in the World Health Organization (WHO) Records retention schedule and are applicable to UNAIDS.
Of particular relevance to procurement are schedules 005, 006, 017 and 018.

The WHO Records retention schedule is available on the WHO intranet. 

It is important to carefully document contract performance in order to:
  • provide evidence of the performance of the supplier in the event of disputes
  • form an institutional memory
  • comply with audit processes.
It may be useful to organize the registry file in sections to ease retrieval of information. At the very least, the files should include the documents listed below.

 Preparatory
Registry
File 
RMS / ERP 
 All pre-tender documentation (e.g. drafting of requirements or vendor sourcing)  ✓  
 Tenders    
 Finalized Invitation to Bid (ITB)   ✓  
 Finalized Request for Proposal (RFP)   ✓  
 Clarifications requested/received   ✓  
 Evaluation, review and award    
 Bids received   ✓  
 Evaluation of bids   ✓  
 Award of contract   ✓   ✓
 Contract documents    
 Contract(s) issued (including budget, TOR)   ✓   ✓
 Contract amendments (if any)   ✓   ✓
 Contract management    
 Day-to-day correspondence   ✓  
 Progress/final reports or other milestone documents   ✓   ✓
 Contract closure    
 Invoices/payment requests   ✓   ✓
 Payment issues   ✓  
 Receive and Inspection Report (RIR)   ✓   ✓
 Supplier evaluation   ✓   ✓