How to bid on UN tenders in Africa: UNGM, UNOPS and UNDP

Where UN agencies publish their tenders

The United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM, ungm.org) calls itself "the official procurement platform of the United Nations". Its home page, consulted on 26 October 2026, refers to "the 32 organizations in UNGM". UNGM's supplier guidance (UNGM, Supplying the UN System) states: "To become a potential supplier for the United Nations, vendors have to register on UNGM." Procurement notices and contract awards are listed under Business Opportunities.

The same UNGM page notes that "some organizations do have their own supplier database". You cannot select these organizations during UNGM sign-up, so UNGM advises contacting them directly and registering with them as well.

The two agencies behind the related searches publish in different places:

• UNOPS tells suppliers to "view all open tender notices on the UNGM" on its How we procure page.
• UNDP runs a public notices site, procurement-notices.undp.org. For each notice it lists the title, reference, UNDP office or country, process type, deadline and posting date. You can filter by region and by procurement process.

A search such as "ungm tenders africa" starts in UNGM's Business Opportunities section. Then check whether the agency you target also publishes on its own site.

Register on UNGM: Basic, Level 1 and Level 2

UNGM's home page invites suppliers to "Register at no cost". The UNGM page on the UNOPS site says registration "is free of charge and available to any incorporated company" and calls it "the first step to doing business with the United Nations".

Registration has levels. The UN Secretariat publishes its own requirements on its vendor page (UN Procurement Division, Information for New Vendors):

• Basic: "Registration at Basic Level is mandatory to participate in UN Secretariat tender exercises." It covers an "Estimated Contract Award less than USD 150,000". The online form asks for company details, contacts, UNSPSC codes and a declaration of eligibility.
• Level 1: "Estimated Contract Award from USD 150,000 and up to USD 500,000". It adds at least three references, ownership details and a "Current certificate of incorporation or equivalent document verifying legal status/capacity". The page adds: "The vendor must be in business for a minimum of three years."
• Level 2: "Estimated Contract Award over USD 500,000". It adds financial documents, "including Income Statement and Balance Sheet", for the last three years, with a report from an auditor or external accountant.

According to the same page, a vendor registered at Basic level can upgrade to Level 1 or Level 2 "at any time". These thresholds are set by the UN Procurement Division for UN Secretariat tenders. Other organizations on UNGM may set different requirements: check the registration requirements of the agency you target before you assemble Level 2 documents.

UNOPS tenders: UNGM and eSourcing

UNGM's page on the UNOPS system (UNGM, UNOPS eSourcing) describes eSourcing as the UNOPS e-procurement system. It covers sourcing, solicitation, bid opening, evaluation and award. The page states that "you must be registered as a UNOPS vendor in UNGM in order to submit vendor responses". If you already have a UNGM account, check that UNOPS is listed among the organizations in your profile. The page also warns that "you cannot submit a vendor response after the Deadline has passed". It advises saving drafts early and clicking Submit only when everything is complete.

On its How we procure page, UNOPS sets out the value range of each method and what it asks of bidders. These ranges are UNOPS's own; other UN organizations set theirs in their own rules:

• Shopping, for purchases of less than USD 10,000: "You will be asked to provide price quotes."
• Request for Quotation, from USD 10,000 to less than USD 250,000: "You will need to provide a quotation."
• Invitation to Bid, for USD 250,000 or more: "You will need to submit a bid based on clearly defined requirements."
• Request for Proposal, for "high-value, complex procurement" of USD 250,000 or more: "You will need to submit both a technical and financial proposal."

According to the same page, each notice specifies "the format, language and specific information you need to include in your bid". UNOPS also points to its Procurement Plans dashboard, which shows what it plans to buy, and to the UNGM Tender Alert Service, a paid service that sends notices by email. Its Procurement Manual, "available in English, French and Spanish", covers "the rules and procedures that guide our procurement". After the outcome, an unsuccessful bidder can request a debrief "within 10 calendar days of being notified". UNOPS makes this request a prerequisite for filing a bid protest.

UNDP tenders in Africa

On procurement-notices.undp.org, notices from UNDP offices in Africa appear alongside those from other regions. For a search such as "undp tenders africa", the region filter narrows the list, and the office or country column shows which country a notice concerns. Check the deadline shown in the list against the notice itself and its documents.

For online submission, UNDP publishes a page titled Quantum eTendering Guidance. Follow the submission instructions in the notice itself.

Before you submit

The UN Procurement Division's page on the UN Supplier Code of Conduct states that companies doing business with the United Nations "are required to accept and comply with" this Code. Its current revision, Rev.07, was issued in September 2024 by the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) Procurement Network. These are rules of the UN system: they apply to UN vendors whatever their country. According to that page, the Code informs vendors that:

• they are expected not to engage in corrupt practices;
• they must disclose any situation that may appear to present a conflict of interest;
• the UN has a zero-tolerance policy and does not accept any gift or offer of hospitality;
• they should not offer employment to current or former UN staff who took part in the procurement process and had prior professional dealings with them, under the Secretary-General's bulletin ST/SGB/2006/15.

According to the same page, a vendor that offers employment to, hires or otherwise compensates staff members in violation of that bulletin may have its registration "barred, suspended or terminated".

For each notice, check these points before you commit time:

• the buying agency and its submission channel: eSourcing for UNOPS, according to UNGM's UNOPS eSourcing page; for UNDP, the notice's own instructions and UNDP's Quantum eTendering Guidance;
• the deadline, time and time zone, as written in the official notice;
• the registration level required and the documents to attach (for UN Secretariat tenders, see the UN Procurement Division's Information for New Vendors);
• the language and format required by the notice, which UNOPS says each of its notices specifies on its How we procure page.

Bidanga collects public tenders from official portals and other public sources across African countries, with coverage that varies widely by country. For government tenders, see the country pages, for example Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana or Senegal, and the list of official procurement websites by country. For development bank tenders, read the World Bank tenders in Africa guide and the other organization guides. To organize several bids at once, see bid management software.