World Food Programme

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. 

As the international community has committed to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition by 2030, one in ten people worldwide still do not have enough to eat. Food and food-related assistance lie at the heart of the struggle to break the cycle of hunger and poverty. 

For its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. In 2022, WFP assisted 160 million people, a historic high.

The World Food Programme’s (WFP) Strategic Plan for 2022-2025 is grounded within renewed global commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Strategic Plan sets the organization’s course for the next four years. It outlines the many ways that WFP, working in partnership, can most efficiently save and change lives.

The vision for 2030 underlying WFP’s strategic plan is that:

• the world has eradicated food insecurity and malnutrition (SDG 2 – Zero Hunger)
• national and global actors have achieved the SDGs (SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals).

Far from the traditional image of humanitarian agencies flying in food from far-off lands, the World Food Programme (WFP) sources more than 60 percent of its US$4.5 billion in supply chain costs for food, goods, and services in locations where we operate.

Whether it is sorghum in Mali and Sudan, maize meal in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or large transport contracts in Darfur, WFP “buys local”, or at least regional, wherever possible. As the largest purchaser of staple crops in Africa, WFP also increasingly purchases from smallholder farmers (US$71 million in 2022). 

Even in the depth of crisis, we turn to local suppliers, thereby supporting local economies. In Syria, in spite of the conflict, we purchase 100% of the salt we need for our operations from national producers, whom we have helped raise quality to meet international procurement standards.

To fulfil its mandate to combat hunger, every year WFP buys more than 4 million metric tons of foodstuffs (4.2 million metric tons in 2022) – mainly cereals, pulses and specialized nutritious foods – for a value of over US$2 billion. For our cash-assistance operations, we purchase an annual value of US$3 billion in cash-based transfers, which is spent in local retail markets. 

But for this food to be transported and delivered, we also need to procure an array of goods and services, ranging from fuel to vehicles and spare parts, ICT equipment and services, temporary and permanent infrastructure, storage, insurance and others.

To secure the availability of quality food, achieve on-time deliveries and reduce costs, WFP commodity experts – who come from backgrounds including economics, business, procurement, and market intelligence analysis – design sourcing strategies that look at demand for the following 12 months and suggest how best to serve it.

Factors like seasonality, market intelligence and the choice of the best type of contract can produce important savings, allowing WFP to maximize the number of people it can assist. Buying specific foods right after the harvest season, when supply is highest and prices lowest; identifying opportunities for the purchase of large quantities of main commodities at favourable prices; and using contracts that allow WFP to obtain bulk purchase discounts – all result in the ability to obtain good quality products at competitive prices.

As well as supporting its own operations for the benefit of millions of people around the world, WFP’s experience and expertise in procurement can also be valuable to others, including governments – whose supply chains and social safety net programmes serve many more food insecure people than WFP alone – as well as the private sector and other humanitarian agencies.

No, and therefore the Express Interest button is grey. The user is required to carefully read the instructions of the procurement opportunity, which can be found under the Links/Documents tab of the actual procurement opportunity. 

If there is any doubt, contact the UN officer in charge, his/her contact details are included in the notice under the Contacts tab.

The majority of procurement opportunities related to food items are published as closed tenders. This means that suppliers are invited to respond to an expression of interest. Thereafter suppliers may be qualified and included in a roster. When opportunities arise, pre-qualified vendors are invited to participate in bidding processes. 

The registration process to the WFP roster includes the following:

1. Submission of registration request through UNGM up to Level 2 registration, specifying that the application is for the WFP vendor roster, which must be done by selecting relevant UNSPSC food codes. 

2. WFP requests companies to prepare an 'Initial Paper Assessment' form and provide certain technical documents (listed on the last page of the IPA). All these documents are additional to those provided on the UNGM portal and can be sent by email to WFP. To obtain the latest version of the IPA, kindly contact WFP at newsuppliers@wfp.org.  

3. The registration submitted through the UNGM portal, and the IPA will be reviewed by WFP. WFP will determine whether the potential supplier meets the criteria for inclusion on the WFP Roster. Once the review is completed, applicants will be informed of the outcome of their registration.

How to participate in procurement opportunities requiring hard copy or email submission?

If a procurement protest needs to be submitted, click on the Anti-fraud and anti-corruption policy by WFP. 

• Procurement value: 6.02B USD
• Number of countries the organization procured from: 159
• Percentage of total UN procurement: 20.36%
• Ranking by procurement value: 2nd
• Top category: Food and Beverage Products
• Top region: Asia

To learn more about the procurement volume of each UN organization, visit the Annual Statistical Report and use the interactive dashboard.