THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES

Collaborating Departments:

DMAPSS DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS PLANNING, AND SUPPORT SERVICES

DPMS DEPARTMENT OF PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES

DFS DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

SCM SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

Prepared by: MATS – Management Analysis, Training and Support Services Team of DMAPSS

THE SECRETARIAT FOR

CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS OASES PURCHASING

PROCEDURES

Published in March 2004 Secretariat for Management

Organization of American States

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TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Overview............................................................................................................................................4

A. PURPOSE ..............................................................................................................................................................................................4

B. SCM STRUCTURE AND SERVICES.....................................................................................................................................................4

C. FUNDING PROJECTS FOR CONFERENCE AND MEETINGS............................................................................................................5

D. SERVICES PROVIDED TO CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS...........................................................................................................6

E. FLOW OF FUNDS FOR PAYMENT OF CONFERENCE SERVICES....................................................................................................6

F. TYPES OF CONFERENCE AND MEETING SERVICES AND FUNDING.............................................................................................8

II. Meetings for the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI (10G).................................................9 A. BUDGETING ..........................................................................................................................................................................................9 B. PURCHASE ORDERS ...........................................................................................................................................................................9 C. RECEIVING ..........................................................................................................................................................................................10 D. PAYMENT ............................................................................................................................................................................................11

III. Meetings for the OAS Specialized Conferences (10W), CIDI, Ministerial Meetings, and the Inter-American Committees (10K)....................................................................................12

A. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MEETING...............................................................................................................................................12 B. BUDGETING ........................................................................................................................................................................................13 C. PURCHASE ORDERS AND TRAVEL REQUISITIONS.......................................................................................................................13 D. RECEIVING ..........................................................................................................................................................................................14 E. PAYMENT ............................................................................................................................................................................................15

IV. The General Assembly (10A)...................................................................................................16 A. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MEETING...............................................................................................................................................16 B. BUDGETING ........................................................................................................................................................................................17 C. PURCHASE ORDERS .........................................................................................................................................................................17 D. RECEIVING AND PAYMENT ...............................................................................................................................................................17

V. Meetings of the Areas of the General Secretariat.............................................................19 A. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MEETING...............................................................................................................................................19 B. BUDGETING ........................................................................................................................................................................................19 C. REQUISITIONS AND PURCHASE ORDERS ......................................................................................................................................19 D. INVOICING THE AREAS......................................................................................................................................................................20 E. RECEIVING AND PAYMENT ...............................................................................................................................................................20

VI. Meetings of the Non-OAS Institutions and Unforseen Support Meetings................22 A. AGREEMENT AND BUDGET ..............................................................................................................................................................22 B. CREATION OF AWARDS AND PROJECTS........................................................................................................................................22 C. REQUISITIONS AND PURCHASE ORDERS ......................................................................................................................................22 D. RECEIVING AND PAYMENT ...............................................................................................................................................................23

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VII. Operational and Security Provisions.....................................................................................24 A. PRINTING AND SIGNING PURCHASE ORDERS ..............................................................................................................................24 B. ACCOUNT RESTRICTIONS AND SECURITY ....................................................................................................................................24 C. PURCHASING MODULE OWNERSHIP ..............................................................................................................................................24

VIII. APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................25 A. FLOWCHART FOR THE PROCEDURES FOR THE MEETINGS OF THE PERMANENT COUNCIL AND CEPCIDI (10G)..............25 B. FLOWCHART FOR THE PROCEDURES FOR THE SPECIFIC MEETINGS FOR THE OAS SPECIALIZED CONFERENCES (10W),

CIDI, MINISTERIAL MEETINGS, AND THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMITTEES (10K)......................................................................25 C. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - HISTORICAL COST ANALYSIS AND OBLIGATION PROJECTION FOR SERVICES PROVIDED BY

THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS (“SCM”) TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL AND CEPCID...............25 D. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - CREATING PURCHASE ORDERS FOR THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND

MEETINGS (“SCM”) .............................................................................................................................................................................25 E. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - PURCHASE ORDER APPROVAL FOR THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS .............................................................................................................................................................................................................25 F. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - PRINTING PURCHASE ORDERS SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS.............25 G. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - QUERY OF PURCHASE ORDERS.......................................................................................................25 H. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - CANCELING PURCHASE ORDERS.....................................................................................................25 I. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - ENTERING AND VIEWING RECEIPTS FOR THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND

MEETINGS ...........................................................................................................................................................................................25 J. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - PURCHASING RETURNS.....................................................................................................................25 K. DESKTOP PROCEDURE - OUTSTANDING OBLIGATION AND AGING REPORT SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND

MEETINGS ..........................................................................................................................................................................................25

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I. OVERVIEW

A. PURPOSE The purpose of the document is to implement in the Secretariat of Conferences and Meetings

(“SCM”) administrative procedures for the purchasing of goods and services related to conferences

and meetings in the OAS Enterprise System (“OASES”) as delegated by the following documents, which empowers SCM to become an autonomous buyer of conference and meeting services.

Administrative Memorandum 82, Article 2.1. “Pursuant to Executive Order 97-2, SCM is the

dependency of the General Secretariat responsible for the identification, contracting, evaluation, and

coordination of persons providing conference-related services under a TCSC (Temporary Conference

Service Contract).”

Procurement Contract Rules, Section 3.5. “By delegation from the Assistant Secretary for

Management, the Director of the Secretariat for Meetings and Conferences may negotiate and/or

award and execute all procurement contracts related to the holding of conferences and meetings. All

such contracts are subject to legal review, where applicable, under these Rules1.”

Performance Contract Rules, Section 10.1.1. “The contracting of free-lance interpreters, translators,

and other specialized conference staff by the Secretariat to the General Assembly, the Meeting of

Consultation, the Permanent Council and Conferences, in accordance with Administrative

Memorandum No. 82, dated December 8, 1997, shall be exempt from the provisions in these Rules.”

B. SCM STRUCTURE AND SERVICES The Secretariat for Conferences and Meetings (“SCM”) is composed of the four organizational units

that offer the following services:

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Services

1. Office of the Director Policy formulation and management of the Secretariat for Conferences and Meetings

2. Conference Services Division Conferences and meetings management

3. Language Services Division Language interpretation, translation and transcription

4. Document Services Division Document printing and distribution

1 Purchase orders created by SCM are related only to language and conference services, and to transfer funds to SCM’s project in the Services and Overhead Fund to pay for document printing and distribution and common services.

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C. FUNDING PROJECTS FOR CONFERENCE AND MEETINGS The SCM creates projects in the OASES Grants/Projects module to manage its conferences and

meetings. Conference projects are used to record all of the financial transactions and keep track of

the budget, commitments and expenditures of its meetings.

Conference projects are funded by various sources depending on the nature of the meeting. Most

projects for the meetings of the OAS Governing Bodies are financed by the Regular Fund

appropriated for SCM. However, very often, a member state hosting a meeting that is financed by the

Regular Fund, contributes money to cover part of the meeting (Specific Funds). In that case, a

written agreement is established between the General Secretariat of the OAS (“GS/OAS”) and the

member state specifying which expenditures will be financed by the member state and which

expenditures will be financed by the General Secretariat.

In the beginning of the year, and after appropriations and allotments have been recorded in the

Regular Fund, SCM requests the Department of Management Planning and Support Services

(“DMAPSS”) to transfer monies from the Subfund 111 of the Regular Fund to Subfund 115 to finance

the conferences and meetings of the OAS Governing Bodies. After the funds have been transferred,

the monies that remain in Subfund 111 are used to pay for SCM’s administrative expenses whereas

the money transferred to Subfund 115 is allocated to the various conference projects managed by

SCM. See the example in the chart below:

Chart-1 Flow of Funds for Conference Projects

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D. SERVICES PROVIDED TO CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS When carrying out a conference or meeting SCM provides services as shown on the chart below. The

services provided for each meeting are divided five categories and twenty types of expenditure:

E. FLOW OF FUNDS FOR PAYMENT OF CONFERENCE SERVICES It is important to understand how SCM pays for the services shown on the chart above. In order to

provide document and common services, SCM purchases supplies in the beginning of the year and

replenishes its stock throughout the year as inventory runs low. Items such as, paper, toner, binding

supplies, coffee supplies, etc. are purchased in bulk to service all meetings provided by SCM

regardless of the source financing the meeting.

The Office of the Director creates and approves requisitions from the Services and Overhead Fund

(605) Project, and then the Department of Procurement Management Services creates purchase

orders from the requisition and procures the goods. SCM pays for these items from funds

accumulated in the Services and Overhead Fund (605) Project from prior services provided. The

Services and Overhead Fund (605) also finances the purchase, rental, and servicing of conference

related equipment according to the GS/OAS inventory policy through requisitions created by SCM.

The SCM is authorized to contract and pay suppliers directly for conference and language services

provided. SCM does this by finding, negotiating and contracting free lance language services and

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conference services contractors for a meeting or a group of meetings. In order to pay for their

services, SCM itself creates purchase orders using funds allocated to the conference projects. The

DFS issues checks or electronic fund transfers to pay the contractors after the services are provided.

If the meeting requires staff travel, SCM creates requisitions using monies from the conference

projects to advance funds to the traveler and to pay the travel agency for the tickets. The DPMS

issues purchase orders and DFS issues the checks.

The flow of funds can be easily visualized in the chart 3 below:

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F. TYPES OF CONFERENCE AND MEETING SERVICES AND FUNDING The SCM provides services for the following types of conferences and meetings:

1. Meetings for the Permanent Council and Executive Permanent Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CEPCIDI) (10G).

2. Meetings of the OAS Specialized Conferences (10W); Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI); and Ministerial meetings (10K).

3. The General Assembly (10A).

4. Meetings for the Areas of the General Secretariat.

5. Meetings of the Non-OAS Institutions and Unforeseen Support meetings.

The procedures for these meetings are explained in detail in the following sections of this

document.

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II. MEETINGS FOR THE PERMANENT COUNCIL AND CEPCIDI (10G)

The Permanent Council and CEPCIDI are two OAS Governing Bodies that meet on a regular basis.

Their numerous subcommittees and working groups meet almost every day of the year and

demand the greatest part of SCM’s resources. These meetings are financed by the Regular Fund,

but in few occasions they receive contributions from host member states for meetings taking place

away from Headquarters. Following are the procedures to record and pay for these meetings:

A. BUDGETING

At the beginning of the year, the Divisions of SCM estimate the costs needed to carry out the

meetings of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI as follows:

The Office of the Director makes a historical analysis of the common costs incurred in the prior year

for the meetings of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI in order to create purchase orders to

reimburse the Services and Overhead Fund (605) and cover these costs for first six months of the

year. For document printing and distribution services no analysis is needed because the total

budgeted amount is used each year. Therefore, the Office of the Director creates a purchase order

to transfer funds to Services and Overhead Fund (605) for the total allotment available for printing

and distribution of documents for the first six months of the meetings of the Permanent Council and

CEPCIDI.

The Divisions of Language and Conference Services use a combination of data obtained from the

Document Management Information System (IDMS), the historical cost analysis from OASES, and

the knowledge of the suppliers availability, to select a list of names for interpreters, translators,

room attendants, and control operators that will have purchase orders obligated for the first six

months of Permanent Council and CEPCIDI meetings.

B. PURCHASE ORDERS

Document and Common Services for PC and CEPCIDI

The Office of the Director of SCM creates purchase orders to transfer funds to the Services and

Overhead Fund (605) to pay for the costs of printing and distributing documents and common

services (i.e., conference supplies, coffee services, Internet services, etc.) for the recurrent

meetings of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI.

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Purchase orders for each of Governing Body are created based on estimates derived from a

historical analysis of the documents and common services provided in the past year to estimate

how much they will pay in the current year.

Language and Conference services for PC and CEPCIDI

The Division of Language Services creates purchase orders to pay for interpreters, translators, and

transcribers. The Division of Conference Services creates purchase orders to pay for Conference

room supervisor, control operator, audiovisual operator, conference room attendant, and

registration clerk.

Using the information from their Planning Spreadsheet, the divisions create and approve purchase

orders to encumber funds to cover these costs for period of time determined by SCM. When these

purchase orders are fully paid, the divisions may create additional purchase orders as needed.

C. RECEIVING Document and Common Services for PC and CEPCIDI

The Division of Document Services creates paper invoices based on reports prepared by the

Printing Shop of documents that have been printed and distributed for the meetings of the

Permanent Council and CEPCIDI. The Office of the Director prepares paper invoices to pay for

common services.

Using the information from the invoices, the division of Document Services enters receipts in

OASES for documents services provided, while the Office of the Director enters receipts in OASES

for common services provided.

When creating a receipt, SCM enters in the descriptive flex fields on the receipt form, the name of

the committee or working group belonging to the Permanent Council and/or CEPCIDI and the

meeting starting dates.

Language and Conference Services for PC and CEPCIDI

After language and conference services are provided to the meetings of the Permanent Council

and CEPCIDI, these divisions create invoices from the Information Document Management System

(“IDMS”) based on the contracts signed by the suppliers for the meetings.

Using the information from the invoices, the Divisions of Language and Conference Services

receives the services in OASES recording in the descriptive flexfields in the receipt form the name

of the working group or committee and the date for which conferences services were provided.

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D. PAYMENT

Document and Common Services for PC and CEPCIDI

After receiving the services in OASES, the invoices are sent to the Department of Financial

Services (“DFS”) for payment. The DFS processes the invoices recording the expenses in SCM’s

project tasks and recording revenue in the SCM’s Services and Overhead Fund (605) Project.

If the meetings demand more documents or common services than what has been obligated, then

the Office of the Director of SCM may create additional purchase orders to transfer additional funds

from the SCM conference projects to reimburse the Services and Overhead Fund (605).

At the beginning of the last quarter of the fiscal year, balances of Regular Fund allotments

transferred from the projects of the meetings of the Governing Bodies to the Services and

Overhead Fund (605) project should be reviewed to reimburse the conference’s projects if their

project balances are not negligible or zero at the year end.

Language and Conference Services for PC and CEPCIDI

After making the receipts, SCM sends the invoices to the Department of Financial Services for

payment. DFS matches the invoices to the purchase orders and payments are created.

When the purchase orders are paid expenditures are recorded in their corresponding tasks in the

projects of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI and checks are issued or electronic funds

transfers are made to the suppliers of language and conference services.

Execution Control for PC and CEPCIDI

In order to verify if all purchase orders for PC and CEPCIDI have been created, as well as to know

the balances remaining on each purchase order, a staff member from the Office of the Director and

Divisions may print an “Outstanding Obligation and Aging Obligation Report.”

This report will show the PO numbers and amounts, supplier names, and remaining balances by

organization number, project and award.

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III. MEETINGS FOR THE OAS SPECIALIZED CONFERENCES (10W), CIDI, MINISTERIAL MEETINGS, AND THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMITTEES

(10K) Unlike the meetings of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI that are recurrent in nature, the

meetings of the OAS Specialized Conferences, the Inter-American Council for Integral Development

(CIDI), Ministerial meetings, and the General Assembly are mandated by the Governing Bodies to

take place at specific times during the year. The theme, frequency and venue of these meetings

usually change from year to year.

Consequently, SCM resources are used only at the time a meeting is to take place. Purchase orders

are created for each meeting instead of being created based on a historical analysis to cover several

meetings as it is done for the meetings of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI.

Most of these meetings take place in the member states and are financed by a combination of the

Regular Fund and Specific Fund contribution from the hosting member state.

There are certain conditions that must be met before a Specific Meeting can take place:

A. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MEETING

The meeting must be mandated by an OAS Governing Body.

The dates and venue of the meeting must be official and confirmed by an OAS Governing Body or

by the country hosting the meeting through its Permanent Mission to the OAS if the meeting is

taking place in a member state.

If the meeting is in a member state, the country must be current with its quota payment to the OAS.

An agreement between General Secretariat and the member state hosting the meeting must be

signed at least 61 days prior to the event, and the meeting must be obligated in the OASES at least

60 days prior to the meeting according to Resolve 2 of CP/RES.807 (1307/02)2.

After the above conditions are met, SCM processes the meeting as follows:

2 CP/RES.807 (1307/02) To instruct the General Secretariat to duly specify in every agreement into which it enters with governments of countries interested in hosting meetings of the Organization the financial commitments to be assumed by the Organization, those which the host country agrees to cover, and those which will be covered by external funds. Specific external funds for the meeting and those deposited with the General Secretariat by the host country, in keeping with the agreement concluded, shall be administered by the General Secretariat and must be deposited with the General Secretariat at least 60 days before the beginning of the meeting. Should such resources not be deposited with the General Secretariat by the above deadline, the meeting shall be held at headquarters.

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B. BUDGETING

The Office of the Director of SCM prepares a memorandum delegating authority to a Conference

Specialist to manage the meeting.

Then, staff in the Office of the Director and the Conference Specialist work together to create a

budget and a Conference Planning Spreadsheet template for the meeting, which is reviewed and

approved by the Director.

Based on the budget, the Conference Service Specialist enters in the Conference Planning

Spreadsheet template the supplier names and amounts in the section on travel, conference

services and common services.

Then the Conference Specialist emails the planning spreadsheet template sections on language

and document services to be filled out by the Divisions of Language and Document Services. The

budget is also emailed to the Divisions to be used as the basis for the preparation of the planning

spreadsheet.

C. PURCHASE ORDERS AND TRAVEL REQUISITIONS

Conference, Document, Common Services and Travel for the Specific Meetings

Using the planning spreadsheet, the purchase order preparers for the Conference Service Division

create purchase orders to pay for conference services (ex.: room attendant, control operator, etc.)

made in the name of the suppliers. The preparers also create purchase orders to transfer funds to

the Services and Overhead Fund (605) to pay for document and common services (ex.: conference

supplies, coffee services, Internet services, etc). The numbers of the purchase orders are entered

in the Conference Planning Spreadsheet.

A requisition preparer creates requisitions to advance funds to staff for per diem, terminal, and other

travel expenses, and to pay the travel agency for the ticket, which is converted into purchase orders

by the Department of Procurement Management Services.

Language and Document Services for the Specific Meetings

Based on the budget of the meeting, the Language Service Division enters in the Conference

Planning Spreadsheet template the supplier names and amounts for the meeting. The purchase

order preparers from the Language Service Division use the information from the planning

spreadsheet to create purchase orders for language services contracts (i.e., interpreters,

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translators, editors and transcribers) and enter the purchase order numbers in the planning

spreadsheet when they are created.

Approval

All preparers reserve and forward the travel requisitions and purchase orders for the approval of the

Conference Specialist in charge of the meeting. In the capacity of approver, the Conference

Management Specialist approves in OASES the travel requisitions (to be converted to purchase

orders by DPMS) and purchase orders created by the SCM Preparers, and signs the hard copies of

the purchase orders after they are printed.

Additional purchase orders may be created if the meeting demands more documents and common

services than what has been planned.

Obligation Control for the Specific Meetings

After the POs are created and approved, the purchase order preparers of each Division emails the

filled out Conference Planning Spreadsheet back to the Conference Specialist.

After receiving the information, the Conference Specialist, in order to ensure that all funds have

been obligated before the start of the meeting, runs an “Open Obligation and Aging Report” that

shows all PO numbers and corresponding supplier names created for the meeting and attaches it to

the master Conference Planning Spreadsheet and the budget of the meeting.

D. RECEIVING

All Services for the Specific Meetings

After the meeting has taken place, the Division of Conferences creates hard copies of the invoices

for all services provided during the meeting and requests the interpreters and translators to fill them

out and sign.

Then the Conference Specialist gathers all invoices, signs them, and receives them in OASES

recording in descriptive flexfields on the receipt the name of the working group or committee and

the date for which services were provided. The receipt numbers are written on the hard copy of the

invoices, and along with the invoice numbers they are logged on the master Conference Planning

Spreadsheet. After receiving, the Conference Specialist sends the invoices to the Office of the

Director for review before sending them to DFS for payment.

The Conference Specialist invoices should be marked “Final Payment” so that DFS will release any

left over balance form the purchase order back to the project of the meeting.

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E. PAYMENT

Document and Common Services for the Specific Meetings

After reviewing and preparing an invoice batch and a transmittal memorandum, the Office of the

Director sends the invoices to the Department of Financial Services for payment.

The Department of Financial Services matches the invoice to the purchase order and creates a

payment. When the purchase orders for document and common services are paid, the expenditures

are recorded in their corresponding tasks in the projects of the meetings, and the payment is

recorded in the SCM’s Services and Overhead Fund (605) as revenue.

Language, Conference Services, and Travel for Specific Meetings

DFS creates a payment and matches the invoice to the purchase order for language and

conference services, and travel.

When the purchase orders are paid, the expenditures are recorded in their corresponding tasks in

the projects of the meetings, and checks or electronic transfers are issued to the suppliers and/or

travelers.

During the meeting, additional purchase orders may be created if the meeting demands more

language and conference services than what has been planned.

In the case of meetings in member states, where there is not a Office of the General Secretariat

available, the receiving is done prior to the meeting and a disbursing officer takes the checks to the

meeting to pay for the language service suppliers.

Expenditure Control

After all invoices have been sent to DFS and paid, the Conference Specialist, in order to ensure

that all payments have been made, should create an “OASES Expenditure Detail by Project and

Task” that shows all invoice numbers, invoice amounts, supplier names, and their corresponding

PO numbers by account, project, and task.

In order to know what the balances are remaining on each purchase order, the Conference

Specialist may print a new “Outstanding Obligation and Aging Report”, which will show the PO

numbers, supplier names, and remaining balances by project and award.

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IV. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY (10A) The purchasing procedures for the General Assembly are similar to the OAS Specialized

Conferences, the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), Ministerial meetings

because it is mandated by the Governing Bodies to take place at specific time during the year. The

theme and venue of the General Assembly also changes from year to year.

Consequently, like the specific meetings, SCM resources are used only at the time the General

Assembly is to take place. Requisitions and purchase orders are created for the General Assembly

based on a budget created by the Office of the Director.

According to Resolve 1 of CP/RES.807 (1307/02) the member state hosting the General Assembly

must contribute all necessary funding to pay for the expenditures that the General Secretariat will

incur because the meeting is taking place away from Headquarters. This contribution, which is

established in the agreement between the General Secretariat and the Government of the host

country, must be received by the GS/OAS at least 90 days prior to the General Assembly. When

received, the contribution is recorded in a Specific Fund and is used according to the budget for the

General Assembly. As established by the resolution on this matter, if the funds contributed by the

host country are not received in the GS/OAS at least 90 days before the date of the meeting, the

General Assembly will take place at Headquarters.

Certain conditions that must be met before a General Assembly can take place as follows:

A. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MEETING

There must be an existing mandate approved by the General Assembly or the Permanent Council.

The dates and venue of the meeting are officially confirmed by the Governing Body and by the host

country through its Permanent Mission to the OAS if the meeting is taking place in a member state.

If the meeting is held away from Headquarters the host member state must be current with its quota

payment to the OAS at least 60 days before the General Assembly as per resolve 1, Annex A,

section B, paragraph 2 of AG/RES.1757 (XXX-0/00).

An agreement between General Secretariat and the member state hosting the meeting must be

signed at least 91 days prior to the event, or at any other date prior to the deadline for the deposit of

the funds.

When all necessary conditions are met, the SCM performs the following administrative procedures:

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B. BUDGETING

The Office of the Director creates for the meeting and a Conference Planning Spreadsheet template

according to the budget for the General Assembly.

In the event that SCM makes a decision to contract with an airline company to provide the travel

service to the General Assembly, and the amount of the contract is greater then $30,000, the

Department of Procurement Management Services initiates a bidding process to procure airline

services according to Chapter V of the Procurement Contract Rules of the General Secretariat of

the OAS. If applicable, DPMS also initiates a completive pricing to procure shipping services from

cargo companies for the shipment of equipment and supplies to the site of the General Assembly.

C. PURCHASE ORDERS

Once the bidding process is concluded, and the airline company is selected, the Office of the

Director of SCM is then responsible for creating the travel requisitions according to the Conference

Planning Spreadsheet, and the purchase orders to provide services to the General Assembly.

The Director of SCM approves the travel and other requisitions and the conference purchase

orders.

The Office of the Director notifies the Division of Language Services to confirm the contracts with

the interpreters and translators as needed.

D. RECEIVING AND PAYMENT

The Office of the Director of SCM creates invoices to pay for the services that will be provided at the

General Assembly. Invoices for services that require immediate payment are received in OASES at

Headquarters prior to the meeting.

The Department of Financial Services issues the travel advances for the staff traveling from

Headquarters. Purchase orders granting travel advances to participants located in member states

are faxed to the Offices of the General Secretariat located in those countries.

If the General Assembly is taking place in a location where the GS/OAS has an Office, then the

purchase orders and received invoices are faxed to that Office for the preparation of checks for

payment of services to be provided at the General Assembly.

If the GS/OAS does not have an Office at the location of the General Assembly, then Department of

Financial Services issues checks for services that must be paid immediately at the conclusion of the

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meeting. These checks are entrusted to a disbursing officer designated by the Director of SCM. If there are any changes in the supplier name or in the payment method, those payments would have

to be processed by SCM at Headquarters after the meeting.

The invoices are taken to the General Assembly to be signed by the service suppliers. After the

invoices are signed, the disbursing officer delivers the checks to the suppliers that receive

immediate payment at the conclusion of the meeting. The invoices that are not to be paid

immediately (i.e., extra shift for interpreters) are signed and returned to Headquarters for receiving

and payment after the meeting.

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V. MEETINGS OF THE AREAS OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT

The Secretariat for Conferences and Meetings also provides services for the meetings of the

Areas of the General Secretariat, which are completely financed with resources managed by the

Areas. For these meetings the following procedures apply:

A. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MEETING

To request services from SCM for a given meeting, the Areas of the General Secretariat must ask

in writing at least 45 days before the date of the meeting using the IDMS system established for

this purpose.

B. BUDGETING

The SCM will prepare a budget showing in detail estimated costs for the event (at Headquarters

or in a member state) and will send the cost estimate to the requesting area together with a draft

memorandum of understanding between SCM and the Area.

A Conference Specialist designated by the Director of SCM will provide a budget to be signed by

the Director and a “Conference Planning Spreadsheet” containing the names and contact

information of the language service suppliers (interpreters, translators, transcribers, and editors)

and conference service suppliers (room attendants and control operators) to be paid directly by

the Area.

The spreadsheet will also contain the estimated detail costs for documents and common services

required for the meeting. The common services may include the cost of providing meeting rooms,

rental of audiovisual and interpretation equipment, internet services, coffee supplies, as well as

any operational fee as applicable.

C. REQUISITIONS AND PURCHASE ORDERS

The Area creates and approves requisitions for their meetings to be converted into purchase

orders by DPMS to contract the language service suppliers indicated by SCM, and to transfer

funds to SCM’s Services and Overhead Fund (605) for document and common services.

When creating requisitions the Areas should use the following Item Categories and Expenditure

types:

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ITEM CATEGORY EXPENDITURE TYPE SCM-Conference Services • Room supervisor

• Control operator, • Audiovisual operator • Room attendant • Registration clerk

SCM-Language Services • Interpreter • Translator • Transcriber • Editor

SCM-Document services • Document Reproduction/Distribution

SCM-Common services • Meeting Room • Conference equipment/supplies rental • Internet services • Coffee Services • Administrative Costs

D. INVOICING THE AREAS

The SCM creates invoices charging the Areas for document printing and distribution and

common services and sends them to the Area for receiving prior to the date of the meeting.

Funds to pay for common services must be transferred to SCM’s Service Fund prior to the

beginning of the meeting.

During the meeting, SCM creates invoices from the IDMS to be signed by the language and

conference service suppliers on the last day of the meeting. After the invoices are signed by

the supplier and Conference Specialist, the invoices are sent to the Office the Director of

SCM for batching and preparation of a transmittal memorandum, which is signed by the

Director. The invoices for document services provided are also sent to the Office of the

Director.

After the invoice batch and transmittal memorandum are ready, SCM sends the original

invoices to the Area and copies of the invoices to DPMS as support documents for the

purchase orders.

E. RECEIVING AND PAYMENT

The Area enters the receipts in OASES using the descriptive flexfields to indicate the

meeting name and date of the meeting. After receiving the services the Area writes the

receipt numbers on the invoices and sends them to DFS for payment.

The Department of Financial Services processes the invoices and pays suppliers of

conference and language services. When the invoices are paid expenditures are recorded in

their corresponding tasks in the projects of the Area and checks or electronic transfers are

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issued to the suppliers. When the invoices for document and common services are paid,

funds are transferred from the project of the Area to the Services and Overhead Fund (605).

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VI. MEETINGS OF THE NON-OAS INSTITUTIONS AND UNFORESEEN SUPPORT MEETINGS

The Secretariat for Conferences and Meetings provides services to institutions other than the OAS

that are usually related to the Inter-American system. These institutions must finance these

meetings by providing funds to the General Secretariat at least 60 days prior to the meeting. SCM

also provides conferences services to unforeseen support meetings called by the Secretary

General or the member states, usually in support of topics being addressed by the Organization.

Due to the fact that these meetings are unforeseen and do not have any earmarked funds, the

financing for these meetings is usually identified at the time of the meeting.

A. AGREEMENT AND BUDGET

The Director of SCM assigns a Conference Specialist to be responsible for the meeting and to

assist with the preparation of an agreement and budget showing the estimated costs in detail for

the event at Headquarters or in a member state, which is then sent to the requesting organ or

institution.

Once the agreement is reviewed and signed by the representatives of the requesting institution

and the General Secretariat, the institution must send the funds to the General Secretariat at

least 60 days prior to the event.

In the case of Unforeseen Support Meetings, SCM prepares a budget and a memorandum of

understanding to be signed by the SCM and the requesting Area of the General Secretariat as

applicable.

B. CREATION OF AWARDS AND PROJECTS

After SCM has a memorandum of understanding signed by the requesting non-OAS institution,

SCM requests DFS, through an OASES customer service ticket, the opening of an award and a

project for the SCM’s External Conference Fund (Fund 520) for the meeting.

C. REQUISITIONS AND PURCHASE ORDERS

After the funds have been recorded in the revolving fund project, SCM creates purchase orders

to pay for language and conference services in the name of the individual suppliers

(interpreters, translators, control operators, room attendants, etc). SCM also creates purchase

orders to transfer funds from the External Conference Fund 520 to its Services and Overhead

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Fund (605) to pay for document and common services. SCM also creates requisitions to

purchase conference supplies and travel.

In the case of Unforeseen Support Meetings, the procedure will depend on the terms of the

Memorandum of understanding. The SCM may request that the requesting Area create

requisitions (to be converted to POs by DPMS) to transfer monies to SCM’s External

Conference Fund (520), or request that the Area create requisitions (to be converted to POs by

DPMS) to pay for the conference service suppliers directly.

D. RECEIVING AND PAYMENT

In the case of Unforeseen Support Meetings, the SCM creates invoices for payment of services.

If the purchase orders were created by SCM, then the Office of the Director of SCM will do the

receiving and send the invoices to DFS for payment. If the Area created the purchase orders,

then SCM sends the invoices to the requesting Area for receiving. The Area enters the receipts

in OASES using the descriptive flexfields to indicate the meeting name and date of the meeting.

After receiving the services the receiver writes the receipt numbers on the invoices and sends

them to DFS for payment dully signed by the Director or by his/her delegate.

In the case of services provided to non-OAS Institutions, the Office of the Director of SCM

creates the invoices, receives them in OASES, and sends them to DFS for payment.

The Department of Financial Services processes the invoices and pays the suppliers of

conference and language services. When the invoices are paid expenditures are recorded in the

projects of the non-OAS institutions in SCM’s External Conference Fund (520) and checks or

electronic transfers are issued to the suppliers.

When the invoices for document and common services are paid, funds are transferred from the

project in SCM’s Conference Services Fund (520) to the SCM’s Services and Overhead Fund

(605).

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VII. OPERATIONAL AND SECURITY PROVISIONS

A. PRINTING AND SIGNING PURCHASE ORDERS

The purchase order Approvers of SCM must manually sign the original purchase orders that are

printed from an OASES online printer. Even though SCM purchase orders share the same

numerical sequence as the purchase orders created by DPMS, the SCM purchase orders are

linked to SCM Organization numbers to separate them from the purchase orders generated and

printed by DPMS.

B. ACCOUNT RESTRICTIONS AND SECURITY

The Secretariat for Conference and Meetings is restricted to creating and approving purchase

orders from accounts of the Subfund 115 of the Regular Fund and the Services and Overhead

Fund (605) from subprograms 10G (Organization # 24055 – Permanent Council Meetings and #

24045 – CEPCIDI meetings), 10A (Organization # 24041 – General Assembly) 10K

(Organization # 24042 – CIDI and Ministerial meetings) and 10W (Organization # 24043 – OAS

Conferences). SCM may also create purchase orders from the External Conferences Services

project in Fund 520 to pay for services provided to Non-OAS Institutions and Unforeseen

Support Meetings.

C. PURCHASING MODULE OWNERSHIP

The ownership of the OASES purchasing module resides with the Department of Procurement

Management Service (“DPMS”). The module purchasing manager and superuser rights remain

in the DPMS, and that department is responsible for the compliance of the procurement rules

and procedures of the General Secretariat.

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VIII. APPENDIX

A. FLOWCHART FOR THE PROCEDURES FOR THE MEETINGS OF THE PERMANENT COUNCIL AND CEPCIDI (10G)

B. FLOWCHART FOR THE PROCEDURES FOR THE SPECIFIC MEETINGS FOR THE OAS SPECIALIZED CONFERENCES (10W), CIDI, MINISTERIAL MEETINGS, AND THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMITTEES (10K)

C. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - HISTORICAL COST ANALYSIS AND OBLIGATION PROJECTION FOR SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS (“SCM”) TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL AND CEPCID

D. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - CREATING PURCHASE ORDERS FOR THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS (“SCM”)

E. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - PURCHASE ORDER APPROVAL FOR THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

F. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - PRINTING PURCHASE ORDERS SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

G. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - QUERY OF PURCHASE ORDERS

H. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - CANCELING PURCHASE ORDERS

I. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - ENTERING AND VIEWING RECEIPTS FOR THE SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

J. DESKTOP PROCEDURES - PURCHASING RETURNS

K. DESKTOP PROCEDURE - OUTSTANDING OBLIGATION AND AGING REPORT SECRETARIAT FOR CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

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