The
Ministry of Health (Minsa) has procured 10,339 units of refrigeration equipment, through the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), to enhance the cold chain system needed to transport and store COVID-19 vaccines across Peru.
The equipment —mainly electric and solar-powered refrigerators— will be used to preserve and transport the vaccines nationwide under appropriate cold-chain conditions and to ensure the quality of vaccines everywhere they go.
International procurement process
The units were acquired by Minsa through an international procurement process, which was managed by UNICEF to ensure its transparency.
The suppliers were selected by the international organization through a catalogue designed to identify the most appropriate supplies for its programs, which is available
here.
UNICEF and Minsa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2008 to provide procurement services covering strategic products through its headquarters in Denmark.
UNICEF's global procurement operations allow better quality control, shorter delivery times, and competitive prices due to the economic scale effect, by negotiating directly with manufacturers and placing orders on a large scale.
UNICEF suppliers are chosen through a competitive bidding process, which starts with a pre-qualification stage, on the basis of quality systems/organization, adherence to ethical standards, capacity, and financial soundness.
UNICEF continuously evaluates its suppliers. Samples of their products are approved before contracts are awarded.
In fact, within the framework of this process, the UNICEF headquarters in Denmark sent Peru a pro forma invoice indicating the price and delivery times, whose information was validated by the Department of Immunizations at Minsa.
UNICEF procurement services are available to governments, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies, international financial institutions, philanthropic organizations, and universities.
(END) NDP/LIT/RMB
Published: 1/24/2021