Provision of Professional Services for the United Nations Financial Disclosure Programme

A. Background 1. The United Nations Ethics Office was established by the Secretary General on 1 January 2006 in order to secure the highest standards of integrity within the Organization. As part of its mandate, the Ethics Office is entrusted with administering the United Nations’ Financial Disclosure Program (FDP), which is an important component of the Secretary General’s mission to maintain and enhance public trust in the United Nations. 2. The financial disclosure programme was promulgated by the Secretary General in 2006 by virtue of the Secretary General’s bulletin ST/SGB/2006/6. The United Nations General Assembly has underscored the importance of the financial disclosure programme as a means of identifying, managing and mitigating conflict of interest risks in order to strengthen public trust in the integrity of the Organization while protecting the confidentiality and privacy of personal information. B. Objectives 1. The United Nations seeks to procure the services of an experienced and widely recognized independent consulting/risk management services firm with demonstrated expertise, preferably with public-sector experience, in the administration of financial disclosure and/or declaration of interest programmes. 2. The objective of the financial disclosure program is to identify, manage and mitigate conflict of interests risk arising from personal holdings, outside interests, activities and affiliations of filers, their spouses and dependent children, taking into account the filer’s official duties and responsibilities particularly discretionary authority and information to which he or she may have access by virtue of his or her position. C. Responsibilities 1. Primarily responsible for: (a) conducting review of disclosure statements; (b) hosting of the Financial Disclosure application; and (c) maintaining the Financial Disclosure application, including the regular upgrade of the system's hardware and software as required. 2. Identify conflicts of interest by confidentially reviewing, analyzing and verifying (if/when required) all financial disclosure and declaration of interest statements. 3. Provide advice and recommend action to be taken by filers in order to resolve and manage identified conflicts of interest. 4. Provide timely responses to queries from filers on both technical and substantive matters arising under the financial disclosure programme. 5. Regularly meet with and provide periodical and on-demand reports and updates to the UN Ethics Office, including monthly status reports and a detailed annual report at the end of a filing cycle. 6. Adopt commercially reasonable measures to safeguard the confidentiality of UN Filers' information.