Project

Project Management
Manual
Management
Manual
Part II: Requirements
Guidance and requirements

Version1.0
Revision 1.1
February 2018
December 2018
Series: Management Standards
3

UNOPS Project Management Manual

Version 1.1 - 2018

Part II: Requirements

Issue for print: 12 February 2019

© UNOPS 2019

Published and maintained by the Infrastructure and Project Management Group

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Contact
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Trademarks
PRINCE2©

UNOPS | Project Management Manual Version 1.1 - December 2018

4

Contents
Contents........................................................................................................ 4
Conventions.........................................................................................................8
Acknowledgments..............................................................................................9
Changes..............................................................................................................11

Part II: Requirements

Introduction............................................................................................... 15

 0  General activities

 0.1  Ensure UNOPS personnel are assigned........................................................................18
 0.1.1  Assign interim replacement...............................................................................18
 0.2  Ensure hand overs are carried out................................................................................19
 0.3  Ensure management of risks, issues and lessons........................................................19
 0.4  Ensure creation, update and archival of records.........................................................20
 0.5  Ensure usage of UNOPS systems and mandatory templates....................................20
 0.5.1  Use Project Management Manual templates..................................................21
 0.6  Provide evidence for audit..............................................................................................21
 0.7  Request exemption approval.........................................................................................22

 1  Opportunity Stage

Inputs ................................................................................................................24
Activities............................................................................................................24
 1.1  Determine project category............................................................................................24
 1.2  Assign Project Executive role..........................................................................................26
 1.3  Assign Business Developer role.....................................................................................26
 1.4  Develop opportunity........................................................................................................27
 1.4.1  Complete Proposal.............................................................................................28
 1.4.2  Complete engagement risk assessment..........................................................28
 1.4.2.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee...........................29
 1.5  Approve stage completion..............................................................................................29
Outputs..............................................................................................................30

 2  Pre-engagement Stage

Inputs.................................................................................................................32
Activities............................................................................................................32
 2.1  Ensure pre-engagement activities.................................................................................32
 2.1.1  Consult lessons learned.....................................................................................32
 2.1.2  Obtain support and advice................................................................................33
 2.1.3  Complete stakeholder analysis.........................................................................33
 2.1.3.A  Identify potential Project Board members......................................34
 2.1.4  Complete gender screening..............................................................................34
 2.1.5  Complete Social and Environmental Screening..............................................35
 2.1.6  Conduct project definition workshop...............................................................35
 2.1.7  Approve final project category..........................................................................36
 2.1.8  Create Project Initiation Documentation [Draft]...................................................36
 2.1.8.A  Create Problem and Solution Tree...................................................38
 2.1.8.B  Create Logical Framework.................................................................38
 2.1.8.C  Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements................38
 2.1.9  Create Legal Agreement(s) [Draft].............................................................................39
 2.1.10  Complete Pre-engagement details...................................................................40
 2.1.11  Complete engagement risk assessment..........................................................40
 2.1.11.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee...........................41
 2.1.12  Create Initiation Stage Plan...............................................................................41
 2.2  Approve stage completion..............................................................................................42
Outputs..............................................................................................................42

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 3  Initiation Stage

Inputs.................................................................................................................44
Activities............................................................................................................44
Engagement formalization .............................................................................................44
 3.1  Ensure engagement formalization activities................................................................44
 3.1.1  Complete Project Initiation Documentation [Final].............................................44
 3.1.2  Create Implementation Plan [Draft].........................................................................45
 3.1.2.A  Include infrastructure implementation work packages.................46
 3.1.2.B  Create sub-plans.................................................................................46
 3.1.3  Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final]........................................................................47
 3.1.4  Complete engagement risk assessment..........................................................48
 3.1.4.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee...........................48
 3.1.5  Complete engagement budget.........................................................................49
 3.1.6  Approve engagement.........................................................................................49
 3.1.7  Sign Legal Agreement(s).....................................................................................49
 3.1.7.A  Coordinate official signing ceremony...............................................50
 3.1.7.B  Upload signed Legal Agreement(s) ..................................................50

Project initiation ..............................................................................................................51

 3.2  Ensure project initiation activities..................................................................................51
 3.2.1  Assign Project Manager role..............................................................................51
 3.2.1.A  Recruit Project Manager....................................................................52
 3.2.2  Complete project budget...................................................................................52
 3.2.3  Approve project budget.....................................................................................53
 3.2.4  Assign Project Board members.........................................................................53
 3.2.5  Complete Project Board initial meeting...........................................................54
 3.3  Approve stage completion..............................................................................................54
Outputs..............................................................................................................54

 4  Implementation Stage

Planning activities............................................................................................56
Inputs ................................................................................................................57
Implementation planning................................................................................................57
 4.1  Conduct implementation planning workshops............................................................57
 4.2  Complete Implementation Plan [Baseline]............................................................................58
 4.2.1  Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements................................59
 4.2.1.A  Include Design Brief(s)........................................................................59
 4.2.1.B  Include design development work packages..................................60
 4.2.1.C  Include design review work packages..............................................61
 4.2.1.D  Include construction work packages................................................62
 4.2.1.E  Include works contracts administration..........................................62
 4.2.1.F  Include construction supervision work packages...........................63
 4.2.1.G  Include post-completion assessment work packages....................64
 4.2.2  Complete Sub-Plans...........................................................................................65
 4.2.2.A  Complete Monitoring and Evaluation Plan......................................65
 4.2.2.B  Complete Gender Action Plan...........................................................66
 4.2.2.C  Complete Capacity Building Plan......................................................66
 4.2.2.D  Complete Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans.....67
 4.2.2.E  Complete Closure Plan.......................................................................67
 4.3  Approve Implementation Plan [Baseline]..............................................................................68

Quarterly planning ..........................................................................................................69

 4.4  Update Implementation Plan [Baseline]................................................................................69
 4.4.1  Update Cash Flow Forecast...............................................................................69
 4.4.2  Complete Quarterly Plan...................................................................................70
 4.5  Approve Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline].............................................................70
 4.6  Ensure Delivery Teams planning activities....................................................................71
 4.6.1  Complete Delivery Team Plan...........................................................................71
 4.6.2  Approve Delivery Team Plan.............................................................................72
Outputs [Planning]............................................................................................................... 72

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Delivery activities.............................................................................................73
 4.7  Direct project....................................................................................................................74
 4.7.1  Lead Project Board.............................................................................................74
 4.7.1.A  Facilitate quarterly Project Board meetings ...................................74
 4.7.1.B  Represent Senior Users and Senior Suppliers................................75
 4.7.2  Liaise with media................................................................................................76
 4.7.3  Provide direction.................................................................................................76
 4.7.4  Report engagement status................................................................................77
 4.7.4.A  Complete project quarterly assurance.............................................77
 4.8  Manage project.................................................................................................................78
 4.8.1  Assign Technical Coordinator roles..................................................................78
 4.8.1.A  Assign work packages........................................................................78
 4.8.2  Manage sustainable results...............................................................................79
 4.8.3  Manage finances.................................................................................................80
 4.8.4  Manage stakeholders.........................................................................................80
 4.8.5  Manage risk and issues......................................................................................81
 4.8.5.A  Manage health, safety, social and environmental risks.................81
 4.8.6  Manage resources..............................................................................................82
 4.8.7  Manage quality....................................................................................................82
 4.8.8  Manage reporting obligations...........................................................................82
 4.8.9  Report project status..........................................................................................83
 4.8.9.A  Submit Quarterly Status Report........................................................83
 4.9  Deliver work packages.....................................................................................................84
 4.9.1  Accept work packages........................................................................................84
 4.9.2  Execute work packages......................................................................................85
 4.9.3  Report work package status..............................................................................85
 4.9.4  Handover work packages..................................................................................86
 4.10  Handover project output(s)............................................................................................86
 4.10.1  Coordinate official handover ceremony..........................................................87
 4.10.2  Complete lessons learned workshop(s)...........................................................87
Outputs [Delivery activities]............................................................................................... 88

Monitoring and control activities...................................................................89

 4.11  Monitor project progress................................................................................................90
 4.11.1  Report health, safety, social or environmental incident................................90
 4.11.2  Monitor infrastructure implementation work packages................................91
 4.11.3  Approve work package completion..................................................................92
 4.12  Control work package changes......................................................................................92
 4.12.1  Report work package tolerance exception......................................................92
 4.12.2  Request work package change..........................................................................93
 4.12.3  Approve work package change.........................................................................93
 4.13  Control project changes..................................................................................................94
 4.13.1  Report project tolerance exception..................................................................94
 4.13.2  Approve corrective actions................................................................................95
 4.13.3  Submit Exception Plan.......................................................................................95
 4.13.4  Authorize Project Manager to be Technical Coordinator..............................96
 4.13.5  Approve project change.....................................................................................96
 4.14  Control Legal Agreement(s) changes.............................................................................97
 4.14.1  Request Legal Agreement(s) amendment.......................................................97
 4.14.1.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee...........................98
 4.14.2  Approve Legal Agreement(s) amendment.......................................................98
 4.14.2.A  Upload approved Legal Agreement(s) amendment.......................99
 4.14.2.B  Complete budget amendments........................................................99
 4.15  Approve project output(s) handover completion......................................................100
 4.16  Approve stage completion............................................................................................100
 4.17  Release Project Board members..................................................................................101
Outputs [Monitoring and control]..................................................................................101

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 5  Closure Stage

Inputs...............................................................................................................104
Activities..........................................................................................................104
 5.1  Ensure operational closure...........................................................................................104
 5.1.1  Start operational closure activities.................................................................104
 5.1.1.A  Facilitate impact evaluation.............................................................105
 5.1.2  Submit Final Report..........................................................................................105
 5.1.3  Obtain No-Objection Letter.............................................................................106
 5.1.4  Assign Closure Manager role...........................................................................106
 5.1.5  Complete operational closure checklist.........................................................106
 5.1.6  Approve operational closure completion......................................................107
 5.2  Ensure financial closure................................................................................................107
 5.2.1  Start financial closure activities ......................................................................107
 5.2.2  Complete clearance of balance sheet account ............................................107
 5.2.3  Create Final Financial Statement....................................................................108
 5.2.4  Certify Final Financial Statement....................................................................108
 5.2.5  Obtain Final Financial Statement approval....................................................108
 5.2.6  Complete refund process or recovery process.............................................109
 5.2.6.A  Complete write-off process.............................................................109
 5.2.7  Complete financial closure checklist .............................................................109
 5.2.8  Complete document archival .........................................................................110
 5.2.9  Approve financial closure completion ...........................................................110
 5.3  Approve stage completion ...........................................................................................110
 5.3.1  Release Closure Manager................................................................................111
 5.3.2  Release Project Executive................................................................................111
Outputs............................................................................................................111

Annexes
Annex A Alignment with UNOPS Policies....................................................115
Annex B Alignment with PRINCE2©.............................................................118

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Acknowledgments

Project Team
The following people were part of the team that developed the Project Management Manual Version 1.1 - December 2018:

Agathe NOUGARET Jaime Alarma OLMOS Million Ali ABATE Tom COLLINS
Constanza MALAGAMBA Lahiru S. ELVITIGALA Nicholas O’REGAN Tyler CHRISTENSEN
Elian HIRSCH Marianne Dons TYCHSEN Reindorf ANKUMAH
Gordon NUTTALL Nanami WEISGARD Suneeram B. ROSE

Reviewers
The following people and/or entities reviewed this publication and provided feedback.
UNOPS personnel that provided feedback after the PMM 1.0 release and during the development of PMM 1.1:

Abdulrahman Ahmed ISMAIL Ignacio LACASTA CASAL Niels GUENTHER

Agathe NOUGARET Irene Wairimu Wairioko Nives COSTA
Alejandro LÓPEZ Jaime Alarma OLMOS Nune KARAKHANYAN
Aleksandra RADETIC Jaleh SABOKTAKIN Paolo D’ORSI
Alexander EBHART Joseph MILLS Paul CRUICKSHANK
Alisher IGAMBERDIEV Joy Jakosalem BALANE Pedja JURISIC
Andrew KIRKWOOD Judith Wangechi KAHURE Peter MUTOREDZANWA
Angela ST. JULES Julie PERROT Pierre Yves JOUSSEAUME
Arjan WEERSTAND Julio PORTIELES FLEITES Ramani RATNAYAKE
Ary BOBROW Justin AGBAKWURU Rob JONES
Bashar AL-ALI Kara DE KRETSER Roya MUJADDEDI
Bente MADSON Kelly MCAULAY Sabine KANIA
Bertha CHIUDZA Kirk BAYABOS Salman HAQ
Besnike JAKA Kristoffer KAPPY Sama KHALIL
Brendan KEIRNAN Lahiru S. ELVITIGALA Scott HACKNEY
Carlos Ivan HENRIQUEZ Luca ROSSI Sebastian MAY
Charles CALLANAN Manuel RODRIGUEZ Shameena JEEWOOTH
Chitra VENKAT Marco José ARANIVA CUBÍAS Silvia CHOUCINO
Cillian Domhnall OCATHAIL Maria CHUS Simon DARKE
Daniela DA SILVA Maria Cristina PALAMINI Sofy LADINO
David Antonio PINEDA Maria Malgorzata WOWRO Sonia BEN HLEL
David PURROY Martha MAI Sonja VARGA
Dax Julius DAYANAN Matyas JUHASZ Steven CROSSKEY
Edriss RIFFAT Mauricio HIMEDE PALOMO Tokumitsu KOBAYASHI
Felipe MUNEVAR Miguel GARCIA Trevor SWAY
Gashahun EDOSSA DHABETA Miguel Angel GARCIA RAMOS Tyler CHRISTENSEN
Genevieve LEFEBVRE Million Ali ABATE Verona YMERI HOXHA
Georg EHRHARDT Mirza Aamir RAFIQ Wa Thon THET
Giuseppe MANCINELLI Neil DONOVAN William SQUIER GONZALEZ
Hashmatullah HANIFI Neil Raymond PAGE Worknesh Mekonnen GONET
Humayun ZAMAN Salim Nicholas O’REGAN Yvrose M. STRACHAN

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PMM 1.0 Piloting offices Translation reviewers of PMM 1.0

AFR, ETOH, Sudan Spanish French

AFR, KEOH, Kenya Hub Alba Liñeira OTERO Adama DAOU

AFR, KEOH, Somalia Antoine-Olivier RAYMOND Agathe NOUGARET

AFR, KEOH, South Sudan Carla Cecilia REYES MARTIN Alba LIÑEIRA OTERO

AFR, SNOH, Senegal Hub Carlos PENA HASSAN Alisher IGAMBERDIEV

AR, AFOC, Afghanistan Clarence ZAPATA Amy NIANG

AR, NPOH, Nepal Constanza MALAGAMBA Antoine-Olivier RAYMOND

AR, NPOH, Pakistan Daniel ATIENZAR GOMEZ Bente Iselin MADSON

AR, THOH, Indonesia Darwin GALLARETO Frederic FANOU

AR, THOH, Thailand Delany MEIER Julie PERROT

ECR, EOC, Pristina Diana Carolina KORTE LEIVA Laura D.C. MOENS

ECR, EOC, Ukraine Eddy Ramirez OBANDO Magdalena BALOCOVA

ECR, EOC, Water and Energy Cluster Elian HIRSCH Pierre Yves JOUSSEAUME

ECR, GVA, Geneva Isabel MARTÍNEZ ARMADA Shameena JEEWOOTH

LCR, ARPC, Argentina Fernando MOREIRA ESQUIVEL Sonia BEN HLEL

LCR, COPC, Colombia Florencia PENAGARICANO Personnel from Strategic Agenda LTD

LCR, PYPC, Paraguay Jaime ALARMA OLMOS

LCR, SVPC, El Salvador Leticia SPINZI

MR, JRS, Jerusalem Leyre SASTRE SEBASTIAN

NYSC, Peace and Security Cluster Maria Mercedes BACA

NYSC, SDC, Grant Management Marta BELTRAN

Services
Oscar MARENCO RUIZ

Sandra ARREDONDO

Silvia CHOUCINO

Personnel from Strategic Agenda LTD

Participants of the WebEx Series ‘PMM Piloting – Feedback from the field’

Participants of the Partnerships Network Workshop 2018

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Changes

The following are the major changes from version 1.0 to version 1.1:

•• Part I and Part II separation

Part I Guidelines which contains informative content and Part II Requirements,
which contains normative content, are distributed as separate publications.

•• Part III removal

The content of version 1.0 which included a section for each perspective will
become separate publications of the series Project Management Perspectives.

•• Introduction of ‘project categories’

The classification of projects in version 1.0 (which had the terms lite, standard
and complex) has been abolished and replaced with ‘categories’ (Category 1,
Category 2 and Category 3).
The categories are defined by ‘Project output(s)’ types, answering to the
question “What will the project deliver?”. They are based in feedback from
piloting users of PMM 1.0, as well as in depth analyses of: UNOPS Results Based
Reporting data from 2016 and 2017; the existing ‘finance’ categories used in
UNOPS derived from the International Public Sector Accounting Standards; in
promulgated UNOPS policies such as OD.EO.2018.01: Value proposition and
Cost Recovery Model which defines the UNOPS service types and roles.
Part I Guidelines contains detailed guidance about these categories.

•• Addition of ‘Applicability’
Depending on the project category, activities can be either ‘mandatory’,
‘mandatory if applicable’, ‘recommended’, ‘optional’ or ‘not applicable’.

•• Sequence of activities
In version 1.0 mandatory and recommended activities were shown separately.
This has been changed and in this version all activities are shown in the
suggested sequence irrespective of their applicability.

•• Terminology improvements
As a result of feedback from the piloting users as well as the review of the
spanish and french translations of version 1.0, changes in terminology have
been made in order to simplify its daily usage as well as to clarify processes.
For instance: ‘Engagement Developer’ was changed to ‘Business Developer’;
‘Project Board Executive’ was changed to ‘Project Executive’; ‘Team Manager’
was changed to ‘Technical Coordinator’; ‘Project Plan’ was changed to
‘Implementation Plan’; the terms ‘Engagement formalization’ and ‘project
mobilization’ have been added.

•• Increased alignment with UNOPS policies

An annex mapping the UNOPS Legislative Framework (promulgated) to all
applicable activities has been added in order to clarify how most of UNOPS
policies are implemented in projects. Additionally, specific activities have been
added to reflect current UNOPS promulgated policies and UNOPS Strategies,
such as activities related to: Health and Safety and Social and Environmental;
Gender Mainstreaming; and Knowledge Management.

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Conventions

Terms
‘Shall’ indicates a mandatory activity
‘Can only’ indicates a mandatory condition
‘Should’ indicates a recommended activity
‘May’ indicates an optional activity
‘Considerations’ indicates a high-level commentary related to an activity which is not exhaustive
‘References’ indicates sources of additional information related to anctivity

Applicability
M MANDATORY: the activity is essential to the process and must be carried out.
M if MANDATORY if applicable: the activity is mandatory if certain ‘applicability’ condition is met.
R RECOMMENDED: the activity is not mandatory, but UNOPS encourages that it is carried out.
O OPTIONAL: the activity is not mandatory. The decision to carry out this activity should be taken using professional judgement.
N/A Not applicable: the activity is not applicable to certain project category.

Symbols
Partner: Funding source
Partner: Client/User/Beneficiary
UNOPS personnel
UNOPS entity
Contractor
oneUNOPS
Approval/rejection

Delegation of Authority
L1, L2, L3 and L4 refer to levels of Delegation of Authority as per OI.IPMG.2019.02.

Responsibilities
R role responsible to execute an activity.
A role accountable for how an activity is executed by another role.
C role consulted during activity execution. Two way communication.
I role informed during activity execution or completion. One way communication.
R,A role responsible and accountable.
C,I role consulted and informed.

Capitalization
•• As this publication is mandatory for all UNOPS projects, the use of capitalization for roles and documents emphasizes their
importance and formal definition in the same manner as legally defined terms within contracts.
•• Roles: appear capitalized with lighter font weight, e.g. Project Manager
•• Stages: appear capitalized, e.g. Opportunity Stage
•• Documents: appear capitalized in dark blue, e.g. Implementation Plan.

Styles
•• Records/document status: appear between square brackets, e.g. Implementation Plan [Baseline].
•• Cross-references to mandatory activities: appear in a dark blue box with white text, e.g: 3.1
•• Cross-references to optional and recommended activities: appear in a grey box with white text, e.g. 5.19

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Part II: Requirements
15

Introduction

UNOPS PROJECT LIFESPAN

0.
GENERAL
ACTIVITIES

2. 3. 4. 5.
1. OPPORTUNITY
PRE-ENGAGEMENT INITIATION IMPLEMENTATION CLOSURE
STAGE
STAGE STAGE STAGE STAGE
ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES

planning activities

Quarterly planning activities

Implementation

Start End
formalization
Engagement

Operational
initiation

Financial
closure

closure
Project

Delivery activities

Monitoring & control activities

Engagement Implementation Plan Project Output(s)

approved approved handover completed

Figure 1: Requirements in relation to the UNOPS project lifespan

‘Part 1: Guidelines’ contains information for all UNOPS personnel who are not
familiar with the discipline of project management. It explains the key concepts, KEY MESSAGE

why UNOPS implements projects and how UNOPS projects are structured. Part II: Requirements is
targeted to all UNOPS personnel
Part II: Requirements’ contains the project management requirements applicable
with responsibilities and
to all UNOPS projects. These requirements apply to Category 1, 2 and 3 projects, as
accountabilities in direction
defined in this publication. All UNOPS personnel involved in projects shall comply
and management of projects,
with the mandatory requirements to ensure a standardized framework for the
especially for:
delivery of UNOPS projects.
Regional Directors
There is tailoring of the mandatory requirements for all three categories to
ensure the project management effort is commensurate to the potential risks and Country Directors
relevant for each project category. In addition to the mandatory activities, there Heads of Programme
are recommended and optional activities that may be considered by the Project Heads of Support Services
Executive on the basis of best practice or increased risk management where
Engagement Authorities
deemed necessary.
Business Developers
The requirements are divided in general requirements and stage requirements.
Project Manager
General requirements are applicable during all the lifespan of a UNOPS project,
Regional Advisor
whereas stage requirements are applicable during each of the five stages of the
UNOPS project lifespan: Opportunity Stage, pre engagement stage, Initiation Stage, PMO personnel

Implementation Stage and Closure Stage.

The requirements for the Implementation Stage are structured in three

interdependent activity groups ‘plan’, ‘deliver’ and ‘monitoring and control’ which
are continuous activities for the entire Implementation Stage unless shown
otherwise.

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16

Each stage requirements are arranged as follows:

CONSIDERATION
Overview table
These requirements are based
•• Contains an overview of all the inputs, activities and outputs of a stage on a on international standards
single page. and best practice, primarily
Inputs PRINCE2®. Hence, a minimum
level of PRINCE2® Practitioner
•• Contains a list of the inputs for a stage.
is recommended in order to
Activities
implement them.
•• Contains detailed descriptions of the required activities, including relevant
considerations and references.
Outputs

•• Contains a list of the required outputs for a stage.

A principal consideration in the development of ‘Part 2: Requirements’ of

the Project Management Manual has been the recognition that the project
management process should drive the oneUNOPS system, rather than the existing
oneUNOPS system drive the methodology.

Where possible, the requirements that will use a oneUNOPS system interface from
January 2019 are referenced in the text. It should be noted that some elements of
the system are evolving and it is expected that more of these requirements will be
managed in an online environment in future.

The Annexes provide useful references to UNOPS Policy documents, the content
of project management records, cross referencing to the PRINCE2© activities and
products.

  #   Mandatory activity

This text contains a required activity.

• This bullet states a condition applicable to the activity.

CONSIDERATIONS
• Contains commentary and/or explanation of the activity.
REFERENCES
• Contains references to other parts of this publication or to
other resources related to the activity.

  #   Sub-activity

This text contains a sub-activity.

• This bullet states a condition applicable to the activity.

  #   Recommended/optional activity

This text contains either a recommended or optional activity.

• This bullet states a condition applicable to the recommended
or optional activity.

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 0  General activities

Overview
Project Team

Project Management Office

Infrastructure and Project

Engagement Authority

Investigations Group
Business Developer

Management Group
Internal Audit and
Project Executive

Closure Manager
Project Manager
Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Partners
ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES

 0.1   Ensure UNOPS personnel are assigned  M M M - R,A - - - - C,I - -

 0.1.1   Assign interim replacement  M if M if M if I A R C,I C,I C,I C,I - -

 0.2   Ensure hand overs are carried out  M M M - A R C,I C,I C,I C,I - -

 0.3   Ensure management of risks, issues and lessons  M M M - A R C,I C,I C,I C,I - -

 0.4   Ensure creation, update and archival of records  M M M - A R C,I C,I C,I C - -

 0.5   Ensure usage of UNOPS systems and mandatory templates  M M M - A R C,I C,I C,I C,I - -

 0.5.1   Use Project Management Manual templates   O O O - - A R R R C - -

 0.6   Provide evidence for audit  M M M - A R C,I C,I C,I C,I C -
 0.7   Request exemption approval  M if M if M if - A R C,I C,I C,I C,I - C

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed
System: oneUNOPS

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18 PART II: Requirements - General activities

 0.1  Ensure UNOPS personnel are assigned

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

ensuring that UNOPS personnel are assigned the role of Project Executive in M Category 2: Mandatory

oneUNOPS at all times during the lifespan of a project. M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office should be consulted and informed.
• As per  1.2  the role of Project Executive is a critical role that can only be performed
by UNOPS personnel. As the role is pivotal from the start of the Opportunity Stage
to the end of the Closure Stage, it is essential that the person is continuously in
place for the full duration.
• The Engagement Authority [L2], who is a Delegation of Authority holder as per EOI.
ED.2018.02, authorizes the Project Executive to direct the project under his/her
supervision as necessary to deliver on the commitments and decisions made by
the Engagement Authority [L2].

REFERENCES
•  1.2   Assign Project Executive role 

 0.1.1  Assign interim replacement

The Project Executive shall be responsible for assigning an interim replacement M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

until the individual who has been assigned the role of Business Developer or M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

Project Manager or Closure Manager is available. M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If the new person is not yet available.
• If the existing individual assigned the role of Business Developer or Project
Manager or Closure Manager leaves.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners should be informed. The Business Developer, the Project Manager,
the Closure Manager and the Project Management Office should be consulted and
informed.
• The extent of information provided to Partners may be a significant issue in relation
to any formal commitments in the Legal Agreement(s) for use of designated Project
Management personnel.

REFERENCES
•   1.3   Assign Business Developer role 
•  3.2.1   Assign Project Manager role 
•   5.1.4   Assign Closure Manager role 

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PART II: Requirements - General activities 19

 0.2  Ensure hand overs are carried out

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that handover processes M Category 1: Mandatory

are carried out correctly and documented in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• For handover from Business Developer to Project Manager;
• For handover from Project Manager to Closure Manager;
• For handover to any interim replacement;
• For handover from existing Project Executive to new Project Executive;
• For handover from existing Business Developer to new Business Developer;
• For handover from existing Project Manager to new Project Manager.
• For handover from existing Closure Manager to new Closure Manager.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer, the Project Manager, the Closure Manager and the
Project Management Office should be consulted and informed.
• Since an engagement is managed by several roles throughout the lifespan of a
project, handover is necessary and enables the change of ownership. Proper
management of this process allows for quicker transitions and will improve project
success.
• Final payments to Project Managers leaving a project should not be processed
until all handover processes are completed and documented in oneUNOPS.
Under exceptional circumstances, such as those triggered by force majeure, the
Engagement Authority [L2] may choose to exempt the outgoing Project Manager
from preparing handover notes. This activity may be delegated to other project
personnel.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

 0.3  Ensure management of risks, issues and lessons

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that risks, issues and M Category 1: Mandatory

lessons are continuously registered in oneUNOPS, managed and acted upon M Category 2: Mandatory

during all stages of the project lifespan. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer, the Project Manager, the Closure Manager and the Project
Management Office should be consulted and informed as applicable to the role.
• Risks, issues and lessons may occur during opportunity, pre-engagement and
Initiation Stages which may impact engagement development and project
implementation. These observations are valuable as they may be relevant to
the Project Manager if the project proceeds or for developers pursuing similar
projects with the same stakeholders.
• The capture and recording of risks, issues and lessons by project team members
is an important activity during Implementation Stage. Actions resulting from
this process enhance UNOPS risk management culture. In turn, this helps drive
improvement in quality, risk awareness and knowledge management.
• Certain risks and issues may need a higher frequency of review compared to
others. For instance, ‘high risks’ with ‘close proximity’ may need daily review,
whereas, ‘low risks’ may need longer intervals such as ‘weekly’ or ‘monthly’.
• Continuous management of risks is essential as they may emerge at any point
during the project lifespan. These could include risks such as changes to United
Nations Department for Safety and Security requirements or security status
reports relevant to the environment where the project will be delivered.

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20 PART II: Requirements - General activities

REFERENCES
• UNOPS Knowledge Management Strategy
•  1.4.2   Complete engagement risk assessment
•  2.1.11   Complete engagement risk assessment
•  3.1.4   Complete engagement risk assessment
•  4.8.5   Manage risk and issues
• Risk Management Perspective
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.2  Principle #2: Learn from experience’
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception

 0.4  Ensure creation, update and archival of records

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that the Business M Category 1: Mandatory

Developer and the Project Manager and the Closure Manager create, update and M Category 2: Mandatory

archive project records during the project lifespan. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer, the Project Manager and the Closure Manager should be
consulted and informed as applicable to the role. The Project Management Office
should be consulted.
• It is important to note that ‘non-project management’ related records and
documents also need to be stored and archived. These include documents
required by other UNOPS units groups or policies, together with technical
documents created by work packages.
• If physical archiving is required by the Legal Agreement(s), the cost for maintaining
the archives after closure needs to be taken into account when completing the
Project Initiation Documentation as per  3.1.1 , the project budget as per  3.2.2  and
when creating the closure plan as per 4.2.2.E .
• This is particularly important with infrastructure implementation as there can be
many thousands of records generated in relation to design, construction and
supervision work packages.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.8 Project documentation
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.9 Project templates

 0.5  Ensure usage of UNOPS systems and mandatory templates

M Category 1: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that the Business
M Category 2: Mandatory
Developer and the Project Manager and the Closure Manager use mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
UNOPS systems and templates as per applicable UNOPS Organizational
Directives and Organizational Instructions.

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer, the Project Manager and the Closure Manager should be
consulted and informed as applicable to the role. The Project Management Office
should be consulted.
• These include mandatory systems and templates associated with oneUNOPS,
Procurement, Health and Safety, Social and Environmental, Legal, Financial, Results
Based Reporting, Design Review and other interfaces as designated in the relevant
Operational Directives and Operational Instructions.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• Legislative Framework (Promulgated)

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PART II: Requirements - General activities 21

 0.5.1  Use Project Management Manual templates

The Business Developer, the Project Manager and the Closure Manager may use O Category 1: Optional

the ‘Infrastructure and Project Management Group’ Project Management Manual O Category 2: Optional

templates for the creation of required records which are not in oneUNOPS. O Category 3: Optional

If used, the Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office should be consulted.
• The capacity of oneUNOPS to record and manage the project management
related data is continuously evolving. As the data migrates to an online platform,
the use of mandatory templates to record this data in an MS Word or Excel related
document is no longer relevant.
• There are many specific formats applicable for various required project records,
driven by Partner requirements, that do not match the format contained within
Infrastructure and Project Management Group project management templates.
Hence, it is the Project Executives role to agree the scope and extent of use of the
‘Infrastructure and Project Management Group’ project management templates
with the Project Manager as per  0.4 .
REFERENCES
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

 0.6  Provide evidence for audit

The Project Executive shall be responsible for providing evidence for audit M Category 1: Mandatory

purposes. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If requested by UNOPS’s Internal Audit and Investigation Group.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer, the Project Manager, the Closure Manager and the
Project Management Office should be consulted and informed as applicable to the
role. Internal Audit and Investigations Group should be consulted.
• The ‘stage outputs’ are the evidence of compliance with the ‘stage activities’.
• Activities that do not involve ‘oneUNOPS’ are evidenced in their respective output.
For instance,  3.1.1   Complete Project Initiation Documentation [Final] generates
the output ‘Project Initiation Documentation’ which is the evidence of compliance
with the activity.
• Activities that involve ‘oneUNOPS’, such as  3.2.3   Approve project budget , are
already evidenced in the oneUNOPS system and require no evidence.Whilst
project management records and systems content may exist in oneUNOPS, there
may also be information outside that system stored in other places such as emails.
• Project data related requests from entities such as the United Nations Board of
Audit or the Joint Inspection Unit that may be made via the Internal Audit and
Investigations Group can be both onerous to evidence and may be required to be
presented in a specific format. This can take considerable time to both collate and
present for use in audit.

REFERENCES
• Intranet Internal Audit and Investigation Group

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22 PART II: Requirements - General activities

 0.7  Request exemption approval

The Project Executive shall be responsible for requesting exemptions as per the M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

procedure in the UNOPS Organizational Instruction OI.IPMG.2019.01: Project M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

Management. M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If the Project Executive considers that a required mandatory input, activity or
output, is not applicable, achievable or appropriate for a project.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer, the Project Manager, the Closure Manager and the
Project Management Office should be consulted and informed as applicable to the
role. Infrastructure and Project Management Group should be consulted.
• The Project Executive should exercise professional judgement to determine
whether an exemption request is necessary for a certain project. This is executed
under their responsibility to direct a project on behalf of UNOPS.
• The activities contained within this publication align with methodologies for
Programme Management. However, there could be cases where a programme, a
‘Hosted Entity’ or an engagement with multiple projects may have more stringent
requirements. They may also be operating under special circumstances that limit
their capacity to comply with these requirements.
• Exemptions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis following the procedure in
OI.IPMG.2019.01. If the request for an exception is not approved, it may be
escalated to the respective Regional Director for joint determination with the
Director of the Infrastructure and Project Management Group.

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23

 1  Opportunity Stage

Overview
Project Team

INPUTS

Project Management Office

Head of Support Services

Any information about the potential opportunity.

Engagement Authority

Head of Programme
Business Developer
OUTPUTS

Project Executive

Technical experts

RELATED OUTPUTS
Refer to Opportunity Stage outputs (p. 30)

Contributors
Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Reviewers
Partners
ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES

 1.1   Determine project category  M M M - R,A - - - C,I C,I - C - -

 1.2   Assign Project Executive role  M M M - R,A I I - - C,I - C - -

 1.3   Assign Business Developer role  M M M - - R,A I - - C,I C,I C C -

 1.4   Develop opportunity  M M M C - A R C,I C,I C C C C -

 1.4.1   Complete Proposal  M M M C - A R C,I C,I C C C C 1

 1.4.2   Complete engagement risk assessment  M M M - - A R - - I C C C 2

 1.4.2.A   Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee  M if M if M if - A R C,I - C C,I - C C 2

 1.5   Approve stage completion  M M M I R,A C,I I - I I - I I -

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed
System: oneUNOPS

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24 PART II: Requirements - Opportunity stage

Inputs
All formal or informal information about the opportunity gathered when
consulting potential or existing Partners shall be made available.

Activities

 1.1  Determine project category

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

determining the preliminary category for the identified opportunity as per M Category 2: Mandatory

Table 1: Project categories (p. 27) . M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Reviewers and the Project Management Office should be consulted and
informed. The Head of Programme should be consulted.
• An appropriate preliminary determination of the project category for the potential
opportunity will ensure that adequate and suitably experienced resources are
assigned to the development of that opportunity.
• More experienced UNOPS personnel are required for higher project categories
due to the higher levels of risk and professional judgement required for those
categories.
• The risks and liabilities associated with advisory projects are generally less than
implementation projects. However, they still require careful analysis to ensure
consistent recognition of project management category. For instance, the delivery
of technical assistance as an advisory process may still have substantial risks
that cannot be mitigated without consideration of specific wording with the Legal
Agreement(s).
• UNOPS liability with respect to advisory services may extend beyond what is
stated under OD.EO.2018.01. For example, if there is a back-to back liability
and/or potential reputational risks to UNOPS should partners fail to deliver
their operations and/or projects. This should be considered by the Engagement
Authority [L2] during the determination of the appropriate level of project
management effort required to make sure that the liabilities and risks are
effectively managed.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Project categories

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PART II: Requirements - Opportunity stage 25

Table 1: Project categories

PROJECT PROJECT SCOPE IMPLEMENTATION

IPSAS
OUTPUT(S) MODALITY
Goods Procurement of tangible products such as supplies, equipment and/or materials. Long Term Agreement A
Excluding goods related to infrastructure implementation such as Prefabricated
Procurement activity P
buildings and renewable energy systems.

Service Procurement of services contracts. Excluding any service contracts related to Procurement activity A
Contract(s) infrastructure implementation such as designer, consultant or construction contract.
Category 1

HR Issuance of HR contracts through a specific partner request for service. Applicants pre-selection A
Contract(s)
Solicitation, evaluation and/or recommendation of applicants, issuing HR contracts. Applicants selection P
Excluding daily-wage contracts for infrastructure implementation.

Grant(s) Issuance of applicable non-procurement fund disbursement agreement (including Grantee(s) pre-selection A
Agreement(s) Grant Support Agreement), monitoring, financial management and auditing
(if applicable) of the grant(s) and other non procurement fund disbursement
activity(ies).

Grant Solicitation (if applicable), evaluation of proposals, recommendation of implementing Grantee(s) selection P
Agreement(s) partner(s), issuance of applicable non-procurement fund disbursement agreement
(including Grant Support Agreements), monitoring, financial management and
auditing (if applicable) of the grant(s) and other non procurement fund disbursement
activity(ies).

Assessment(s), Developing needs, capacity or other assessments, and/or analyses, and/or plans, Fully contracted P
plan(s), and/or recommendations and/or strategies for entities, institutions, governments.
Partially contracted P
strategies, Involves conducting interviews, consultations, research, drafting, writing and
reports presenting results in a document and/or report. Directly implemented P

Survey(s) Survey design, issuance, data collection, completion rates monitoring and/or results Fully contracted P
analysis. Excludes infrastructure implementation surveys.
Partially contracted P
Category 2

Directly implemented P

Project Establishing structures, resources, processes and tools for a Partner to manage a Partially contracted P
Management Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Office.
Directly implemented P
Office
Operating a Project Management Office on behalf of a Partner. Directly implemented P

Training days Providing training in person or in a virtual format, in areas related to project Fully contracted P
management, including, but not limited to: PRINCE2 or other project management
Partially contracted P
techniques; census and elections; education; gender; health;sanitation and hygiene;
human rights; infrastructure. Directly implemented P

Assistance days Providing assistance, advice and/or support in person or in a virtual format, in the Fully contracted P
areas of project/programme design, planning and implementation, including, but not
Partially contracted P
limited to, financial management, stakeholder engagement, risk management. It may
include infrastructure advice for projects, programmes or initiatives implemented by Directly implemented P
a Partner.

Other Providing advice or implementing non-infrastructure projects. P

Infrastructure Executing technical studies and/or reviews, or only the design of infrastructure Fully contracted P
technical asset(s), or only the execution of supervision services.
Partially contracted P
outputs(s) It does not involve the construction of any type of infrastructure asset.
Directly implemented P
Category 3

Infrastructure Executing technical studies and/or design and/or construction (new construction, Fully contracted P
physical asset(s) and/or renovation, and/or rehabilitation) and/or operation and maintenance
of one or several physical infrastructure assets (buildings, and/or transport
Partially contracted P
infrastructure and/or utilities infrastructure) in one or multiple sites. Depending on
the implementation modality it may involve large volumes of procurement of goods
(materials, machinery), services (consultants, designers, contractors) and HR services Directly implemented P
(labour), in which case category 1 or 2 outputs would be included as work packages.

NOTES
• Project output(s): What will the project handover as per 4.10 in order to comply with the Legal Agreement(s)?
• Implementation modality: How will the project approach the delivery of work-packages as per 4.9 in order to create the Project Output(s)?
• Fully contracted: Contractor(s) are responsible for delivering all work-packages.
• Partially contracted: Contractor(s) are responsible for delivering most work-packages. Some are delivered by UNOPS Personnel.
• Directly implemented: UNOPS Personnel are responsible for delivering most work-packages. Some may be delivered by Contractor(s).
• IPSAS: International Public Sector Accounting Standards. (P) refers to ‘Principal’, in which UNOPS activities are undertaken in UNOPS’s
own capacity. (A) refers to ‘Agent’, in which UNOPS activities are executed in response to Partner’s instructions.

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26 PART II: Requirements - Opportunity stage

 1.2  Assign Project Executive role

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

assigning the Project Executive role to a UNOPS personnel in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
CONDITION
• The Project Executive role can only be assigned to UNOPS personnel with
management experience in the organizational hierarchy and preferably within
the category determined as per  1.1 .
• The same individual cannot be assigned the roles of Project Executive and
Project Manager.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office should be consulted and informed. The Head
of Programme should be consulted. The Project Executive and the Business
Developer should be informed.
• The Project Executive will direct the project throughout its lifespan.
• The Engagement Authority [L2], who is a Delegation of Authority holder as per EOI.
ED.2018.02, authorizes the Project Executive to direct the project under his/her
supervision as necessary to deliver on the commitments and decisions made by
the Engagement Authority [L2].
• It is recommended that Engagement Authority [L2] and the Project Executive are
not the same person, however if it is not possible depending on the organizational
structure of the entity they may be the same person.
• The roles of Senior Users and Senior Suppliers will be assigned when creating and
completing the Project Initiation Documentation as per  2.1.3.A  and  3.1.1 .
• As per EOD.ED.2017.04, this defines in Rule 103.03 that “All heads of business
units and other relevant personnel are accountable for the management of
UNOPS activities, including contracts and project agreements, for which they have
delegated authority, and shall be held accountable for meeting their net revenue
targets as established by the Executive Director or his or her delegate, and for
ensuring that costs do not exceed approved allotments and allocations”.
• If the Project Executive was an external representative, this would effectively hand
direction of the project activities to an external entity and thereby invalidate the
accountability of the UNOPS Delegation of Authority holder. Consequently it is
necessary that project direction is by a UNOPS person to ensure alignment with
UNOPS financial rules and regulations and associated Delegation of Authority
responsibilities and accountabilities.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7 Project team
•  1.1   Determine project category 
• Governance Perspective
• Resource Management Perspective

 1.3  Assign Business Developer role

The Project Executive shall be responsible for assigning the Business Developer M Category 1: Mandatory

role to a UNOPS personnel in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONDITION
• The Business Developer role can only be assigned to UNOPS personnel with
experience adequate to the project category determined as per  1.1 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office and the Technical Experts should be consulted
and informed. The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should
be consulted.

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PART II: Requirements - Opportunity stage 27

• Although the Business Developer role is always assigned to an individual, it is

recommended to create a proposal development team as early as possible. The
development team can be composed of developers, technical experts, Head of
Project Management Office, Head of Support Services and Head of Programme.
• In many situations it may be jointly agreed between the Engagement Authority [L2]
and the Project Executive as to the choice of resource to be assigned the role of
Business Developer. However as the Engagement Authority [L2] has assigned the
Executive to direct the project as per  1.2  the line of authority within the project
should be retained through the Executive for all further appointments.

REFERENCES
• Partnerships and Liason Group intranet
•  1.1   Determine project category 
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7.5.2  Managing roles
• Resource Management Perspective

 1.4  Develop opportunity

The Business Developer shall be responsible for developing the identified M Category 1: Mandatory

opportunity into a potential engagement. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Contributors and the Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The
Partners, the Programme Management Office, Technical Experts, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• This may include a formal Concept Note, discussions with the potential partners and
other stakeholders as needed to consolidate the intent and content of the opportunity.
When developed to an extent that it seems a viable project, the opportunity can be
formally recorded in oneUNOPS and a Proposal prepared as per  1.4.1 .
• A viable project does not mean a project with any specific likelihood of acceptance,
it refers to its first appreciations of UNOPS’s mandate, legal framework and
effective capabilities for delivery. This will be verified as part of  1.4.2 .
• A common technique used for the development of an Opportunity is the concept
of Theory of Change. This analysis tool enables an understanding of the outcome,
the inputs and activities needed to achieve the change, and a recognition of the
scale and complexity of the proposed change related work in the project. It may
help to inform the content of a Proposal and any consequent development in the
Project Initiation Documentation and Implementation Plan, particularly in relation to
sequencing of activities.
• If the opportunity entails a potential collaborative, framework or teaming
agreement rather than an engagement agreement, the Business Developer should
refer to OI.PLG.2018.01. Noting that these types of agreements may ultimately
result in an engagement agreement.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Definitions of fragmented and integrative approach
• Management Control Perspective
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective
• Finance Management Perspective
• Stakeholder Management Perspective
• Risk Management Perspective
• Governance Perspective
• Resource Management Perspective
• Quality Management Perspective
• Technical Management Perspective

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28 PART II: Requirements - Opportunity stage

 1.4.1  Complete Proposal

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing a formal Proposal to M Category 1: Mandatory

the Partners. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The
Partners, the Programme Management Office, the Technical Experts, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• The content of a Proposal is legally binding when it is an annex or referenced
within the Legal Agreement(s).
• A Proposal may be developed as a result of a Concept Note that has received a
positive response, or in relation to an Expression of Interest or similar external
process. This may vary from a small document of a few pages to a significant
document depending on the scale and type of project under consideration or
requested documentation contained within the Expression of Interest.
• A Proposal may contain many elements that will inform the development of the
Project Initiation Documentation at a later stage but is generally not as detailed as it
is still at an early stage of development. It may be subject to considerable change
during negotiations prior to approval of the Opportunity Stage.
• In some cases this document may be attached to the Legal Agreement(s) and
therefore be legally binding in that context. As such, it should be very clearly
addressing many of the elements that would otherwise be visible in the Project
Initiation Documentation as per  2.1.8 . Note that it may contain information that is
subsequently modified as part of further negotiations during the Pre-engagement
Stage so care is needed to check its accuracy and for it to be updated if it is
attached to the Legal Agreement(s).

 1.4.2  Complete engagement risk assessment

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS M Category 1: Mandatory

Opportunity and Engagement Acceptance risk assessment for Opportunity Stage. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical experts, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services
should be consulted. The Programme Management Office should be informed.
• Risks related to new opportunities are to be assessed prior to entering into any
detailed discussion with partners, whether they are the funding source or the
client. The aim is to ensure that new opportunities are in line with UNOPS strategy
and mandate, thus avoiding raising expectations of partners and ensuring good
use of time and resources spent on opportunities.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• Engagement Acceptance Committee intranet
• Risk Management Perspective

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PART II: Requirements - Opportunity stage 29

 1.4.2.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee

The Project Executive shall be responsible for escalating a high-risk engagement M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

to the Engagement Acceptance Committee through the respective Regional office. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If as part of the engagement risk assessment, the engagement is identified as
high risk and matches any of the Engagement Acceptance Committee criteria.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer and the Programme Management Office should be
consulted and informed. The Reviewers, the Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be consulted.
• Possible high risks are, but not limited to: ongoing active armed conflict, high
tensions within local communities, significant security issues; No host country
agreement or authorisation from UN/local authorities in place; new partner;
costing and pricing policy deviation and/or currency fluctuation; real or perceived
concerns with potential serious negative reputational exposure.
• Note that the escalation should be done as soon as possible.

REFERENCES
• Engagement Acceptance Committee intranet

 1.5  Approve stage completion

The Engagement Authority [L2 or L4 as applicable] shall be responsible and M Category 1: Mandatory

accountable for approving or rejecting the Opportunity Stage in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the Project Executive shall proceed with activity  2.1 .
• If rejected, the Engagement Authority [L2] shall request the Project Executive to
review activities as needed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive should be consulted and informed. The Partners, the
Business Developers, the Reviewers, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• Only UNOPS personnel with the appropriate Delegation of Authority can complete
this activity. This can only be Engagement Authority [L2] for normal projects
and Engagement Authority [L4] for high risk projects that require Engagement
Acceptance Committee approval.
• As noted in  1.4  Develop Opportunity, it has to be considered a viable project for it
to be recorded in oneUNOPS. This does not necessarily result in a quick transition
to the Pre-engagement Stage as the Opportunity may be subject to considerable
delay from external sources. The viability of the project is made clearer if there has
been an approval in principle by the Partner of the Proposal developed in  1.4.1 .
If no such indication is available, the Project Executive should be asked for some
positive indication of its acceptability to enable approval of this stage.
• This approval intends to formally recognise that more consistent internal UNOPS
resources may then be used in further development during the Pre-engagement
Stage.
• Regular review of recorded Opportunities should ensure they are still relevant
and valid for escalation to Pre-engagement. Those that are increasingly unlikely to
justify further effort in development should be cancelled in oneUNOPS.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

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30 PART II: Requirements - Opportunity stage

Outputs
OPPORTUNITY STAGE OUTPUTS STATUS RELATED ACTIVITIES

1 Proposal Completed  1.4.1 

2 Engagement risk assessment for Opportunity Stage Completed  1.4.2 

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31

 2  Pre-engagement Stage

Overview
Project Team

INPUTS

Project Management Office

Head of Support Services

All outputs from Opportunity Stage

Engagement Authority

Head of Programme
Business Developer
Project Executive

Technical experts
OUTPUTS

RELATED OUTPUTS
Contributors
Refer to Pre-engagement Stage Outputs (p. 42)

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Reviewers
Partners
ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES

 2.1   Ensure pre-engagement activities  M M M - A R - - - - - - - -

 2.1.1   Consult lessons learned  M M M - - A R - - C,I - C C -

 2.1.2   Obtain support and advice  M M M - - A R C,I C,I C C C C -

 2.1.3   Complete stakeholder analysis  R M M C - A R C,I C,I C C C C 1

 2.1.3.A   Identify potential Project Board members  O R M C - A R C,I C,I C - C C -

 2.1.4   Complete gender screening  M M M - - A R C,I C,I C C C C 2

 2.1.5   Complete Social and Environmental Screening  N/A M M - - A R C,I C,I C C C C 3

 2.1.6   Conduct project definition workshop  O R R C,I - A R C,I C,I C C C C -

  2.1.7   Approve final project category  M M M - I R,A C,I I I I C C C -
 2.1.8   Create Project Initiation Documentation [Draft]  R M M C - A R C,I C,I C C C C 4

 2.1.8.A   Create Problem and Solution Tree  O O R C - A R C,I C,I C C C C -

 2.1.8.B   Create Logical Framework  O O R C - A R C,I C,I C C C C -

 2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements  N/A N/A M C - A R C,I C,I C C C C -

 2.1.9   Create Legal Agreement(s) [Draft]  M M M C I A R C,I C,I C C C C 5

 2.1.10   Complete Pre-engagement details  M M M - - A R - - C,I C C C -

 2.1.11   Complete engagement risk assessment  M M M C - A R - - C,I C C C 6

 2.1.11.A   Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee  M if M if M if - A R C,I - C C,I - C C -

 2.1.12   Create Initiation Stage Plan  N/A O R - - A R - - C,I C C C -

 2.2   Approve stage completion  M M M I R,A C,I I I I I I I I -

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed
System: oneUNOPS

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32 PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage

Inputs
The Business Developer shall be responsible for making all the outputs
generated during the Opportunity Stage available in order to inform the
activities of Pre-engagement Stage.

Activities
This stage can only start if the Opportunity Stage was approved as per  1.5 

 2.1  Ensure pre-engagement activities

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that all pre-engagement M Category 1: Mandatory

activities are completed. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Pre Engagement activities are a critical part of the development of a
project. There are many aspects to consider in development of an effective and
achievable project. Situations where there is inadequate preparation, planning
or understanding of the project scope and objectives almost always leads to sub
optimal project outputs and outcomes.

 2.1.1  Consult lessons learned

The Business Developer shall be responsible for consulting lessons learned M Category 1: Mandatory
from similar projects. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office should be consulted and informed. In addition, if
an office has a Head of Programme and a Head of Support ServiceS they should
both be consulted.
• There are many ways to gather lessons learned, e.g. conducting a desk review of
a similar project’s documentation, emailing a community of practice, or calling a
colleague with relevant knowledge or experience.
• Note that the term ‘similar’ refers to other projects with same category either in
the same geographical area and/or with comparable outputs, and/or with the
same service lines and roles.
• The Final Report from previous projects contains the lessons learned from a
project as per  5.1.2 .
• The potential complexity of many infrastructure projects and in particular the
design, construction and delivery of assets can lead to many lessons learned.
Whilst these can generally be captured during the Implementation Stage, there is
limited knowledge regarding use of the asset, which can be a vital consideration
for new projects. These lessons will become available as a result of  4.2.1.G 
Post-completion Assessment and these should be specifically consulted for
infrastructure related projects.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Section 3.3.2  Principle #2: Learn from experience
• UNOPS Knowledge Management Strategy
• UNOPS Communities of Practice

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PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage 33

 2.1.2  Obtain support and advice

The Business Developer shall be responsible for obtaining support and advice M Category 1: Mandatory

from reviewers and contributors. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The Project
Management Office, the Technical experts, Head of Programme and Head of
Support Services should be consulted.
• In oneUNOPS, there are subject matter experts called ‘engagement reviewers’,
or simply ‘reviewers’. These experts support and advise the Business Developer
and the Project Executive on different aspects of engagements, e.g. legal, finance,
procurement, Health and Safety, Social and Environmental, infrastructure and
project management. In addition to reviewers, there may also be contributors who
generally are technical experts at the country or regional level who will contribute
to the Project Initiation Documentation.
• The engagement entries in oneUNOPS facilitate and record the reviews,
comments and advice provided by different reviewers. The engagement review
checklist is a helpful reference.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7.6 Definition of roles: Support
• UNOPS Communities of Practice

 2.1.3  Complete stakeholder analysis

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing a stakeholder analysis. R Category 1: Recommended
M Category 2: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.
M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The Partners,
the Project Management Office, the Technical experts, Head of Programme and
Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• The stakeholder analysis is created during this Pre-engagement Stage and
updated during Initiation Stage as part of the Project Initiation Documentation. It
will be revised and updated throughout the Implementation Stage as par of the
Implementation Plan [Baseline].
• Category 1 projects may conduct one initial stakeholder analysis and use that
same analysis throughout the project lifespan. However the stakeholder analysis
may need more specific focus during both Initiation and Implementation Stages.
This could be due to substantial changes in stakeholder relationships, personnel
or external factors. Note this may be an important aspect for Stakeholder
management  4.8.4  with Category 1 projects that do not have either Project
Initiation Documentation or an Implementation Plan.
• When conducting a stakeholder analysis, it is important that gender sensitive
aspects are included as per the Model Approach to Social and Environmental
Safeguards for UN agencies.

REFERENCES
• Stakeholder Management Perspective
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

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34 PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage

 2.1.3.A  Identify potential Project Board members

The Business Developer shall be responsible for identifying the Senior Users O Category 1: Optional
and Suppliers roles to become Project Board members. R Category 2: Recommended
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The Partners,
the Project Management Office, Head of Programme and Head of Support
Services should be consulted.
• It is ultimately the Project Executives’ decision on the other board members who
will be representing the Senior User(s) and Senior Supplier(s) roles.
• If requested by the Funding Source and/or the Client, their own ‘steering
committees’ or their own ‘boards’ may have representation in the Project Board.
• For projects Category 1: it is optional to identify these members because the
Project Executive may represent the roles of Senior User(s) and/or Supplier(s) as
per  4.7.1.B . This possible for Category 1 projects, because the supplier and user
interests are effectively captured in the regulations and policies that govern them.
• For projects Category 2: it is highly recommended the Funding Source is
represented in the Project Board as a Senior Supplier, and that the Client is
represented as a Senior User. As a result of the stakeholder analysis performed as
per  2.1.3  there may be further Senior Suppliers and/or Senior Users who might
need representation in the Project Board.
• Category 3 Projects: dependant on the scale of the project there may be multiple
entities that need representation on the Project Board as Senior User(s) or Senior
Supplier(s). Attention is required to recognise any potential conflicts of interest and
the decision making capabilities that may be required for the Project Board members.
• A member of the Project Board cannot perform the role of Project Manager.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7 Project team
• Stakeholder Management Perspective
• Governance Perspective

 2.1.4  Complete gender screening

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing a gender screening. M Category 1: Mandatory
M Category 2: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.
M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The Project
Management Office, the Technical experts, Head of Programme and Head of
Support Services should be consulted.
• Business Developers may request the support of the country-office level Gender
Focal Point or the UNOPS Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist retainers.
• This screening informs the development of the project with regard to gender
mainstreaming and social inclusion. Depending on the result of the screening,
a project might have to complete a gender analysis during the development of
the PID and create a Gender Action Plan as a sub plan to the Implementation
Plan [Baseline]. The release of the UNOPS Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and its
Action Plan increases the importance of this screening for all projects.

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective
• UNOPS Gender equality intranet
• Gender Action Plan template
• Gender Mainstreaming Strategy

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PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage 35

 2.1.5  Complete Social and Environmental Screening

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the Social and N/A Category 1: Not applicable

Environmental Screening in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The Project
Management Office, the Technical experts, Head of Programme and Head of
Support Services should be consulted.
• Depending on the result of the screening, specific Sub-Plans such as ‘Project Social and
Environmental Management Plan’, ‘Project Health and Safety Management Plan’ and
‘Sustainability Management Plan’ may have to be created. These plans will be annexed
to the Implementation Plan [Baseline] as per  4.2  and approved as per  4.2.2.E .
• The Business Developer should recognize the implications for additional
development work as a result of any Health and Safety, Social and Enviornmental
requirement. This work may include the undertaking of additional studies (a social
and environmental review, or a full Social and Environmental Impact Assessment or
the preparation of sub plans. These may be significant documents depending on the
scope of the project and its expected outputs. Specific guidance and support should
be obtained in these circumstances to enable effective consideration in resourcing
and time frame planning, especially for any external approval processes

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective
• Health and Safety, Social and Environmental intranet
•   3.1.2.B   Create sub-plans 
•   4.2.2.D   Complete Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans 

 2.1.6  Conduct project definition workshop

The Business Developer may conduct a project definition workshop. O Category 1: Optional
R Category 2: Recommended
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted and informed.
The Project Management Office, the Technical experts, Head of Programme and
Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• A formal discussion with stakeholders to jointly agree and define the project is
recommended. A workshop can help obtain clarity and alignment as stakeholders
are involved early in the planning. This workshop should be held while developing
the draft Project Initiation Documentation as per  2.1.8 
• If the workshop includes external stakeholders, this should be conducted by the
Project Executive and supported by Technical Experts or Contributors as needed
to enable informed discussion of any technical content. This has a dual advantage,
managing risks effectively and providing external visibility of the technical expertise
UNOPS can deploy to support a project.
• This may provide an opportunity to start development of a Problem and Solution
Tree, as per 2.1.8.A and/or a Logical Framework as per 2.1.8.B . These kinds of
activities will help to define the project stakeholders expectations, intentions and
possible project outputs. There are many other techniques that may be used in
the workshop depending on the scale and length of the workshop process.
• A skilled Facilitator may be required to enable the best possible interaction and
outcomes from the workshop.

REFERENCES
• Stakeholder Management Perspective

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36 PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage

 2.1.7  Approve final project category

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for approving the M Category 1: Mandatory

final project category previously determined as per  1.1 . M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer should be consulted and informed. The Engagement
Authority [L2], Contributors, Reviewers, and the Project Management Office should
be informed. The Technical experts, Head of Programme and Head of Support
Services should be consulted.
• As the project becomes more defined in regard to details of outputs and project
approach, it is necessary to reconfirm the category for the project. In some
situations it is hard to define the actual outputs until this stage but in essence,
they should be definable at the time of preparation of the Project Initiation
Documentation [Draft]. If they still cannot be defined, the Business Developer may
consult with the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit and/or Infrastructure
and Project Management Group to help categorise the project.
• The risks and liabilities associated with advisory projects are generally less than
implementation projects. However, they still require careful analysis to ensure
consistent recognition of project management category. For instance, the delivery
of technical assistance as an advisory process may still have substantial risks
that cannot be mitigated without consideration of specific wording with the Legal
Agreement(s).
• Once the discussion with funding source and clients has become more concrete,
risks related to the engagement will be assessed in light of which services, roles
and outputs will be implemented. At this point, it is important to understand
if UNOPS is acting as a principal or agent as per International Public Sector
Accounting Standards as it can impact risks. As principal, UNOPS acts on its own
capacity, while as agent, UNOPS executes only in response to a funding sources’ or
clients’ instructions.

REFERENCES
•  1.1   Determine project category 

 2.1.8  Create Project Initiation Documentation [Draft]

The Business Developer shall be responsible for creating the Project Initiation R Category 1: Recommended

Documentation [Draft]. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONDITIONS
• Prior to executing this activity the Business Developer should have:
• completed a stakeholder analysis as per  2.1.3 ; and
• identified other Project Board members as per  2.1.3.A .
• For Category 3 projects, the Business Developer shall comply with  2.1.8.C .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, Project Management Office and Technical Experts, Head of
Programme and Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Contributors
and the Reviewers should be consulted and informed.
• At this stage, the Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] and the Legal Agreement(s)
are created for the first time and prepared simultaneously to a ‘draft’ level. They
will be completed during the next stage as per  3.1.1  and  3.1.3  respectively.
• The content of a Proposal and/or of the the Project Initiation Documentation [Draft]
are legally binding when it is an annex or referenced within the Legal Agreement(s).
• During Implementation Stage, the Project Initiation Documentation will inform the
completion of the Implementation Plan, but it will not be a ‘live document ‘ or a
‘baseline’. A project is implemented as per the Implementation Plan.

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PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage 37

• The draft version of the Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] should be shared
with funding sources and clients only after UNOPS reviewers provided feedback.
• Developing the Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] involves the formalization
and estimation of scope, time, cost and quality requirements for the project,
as well as the preparation of the sustainable results, risk, change, quality and
communication management approaches. Therefore it is critical that technical
experts are involved in this process. In addition, it is important to understand and
identify the expectations of the funding sources and the clients.
• Peer reviewing the draft Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] within the country
office is recommended.
• For projects Category 1, a Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] is recommended,
but the level of detail and content needed may be substantially less than that
needed for project categories 2 and 3.
• The estimating method used to determine the cost for inclusion in this
documentation should take the potential level of uncertainty into consideration.
Potential projects with closely defined requirements such as some Category 1
projects may need minimal financial contingency (cost tolerance) included in
comparison to Category 3 projects that require significant budget contingency for
unknown factors. This overall financial contingency (cost tolerance) could vary from
5% to 20% or more at this stage of project development.
• OD.EO.2017.02 requires UNOPS to carry out adequate due diligence regarding the
risks associated with specific engagement agreements. The Business Developer
should therefore carry out the necessary desk review and preliminary technical
studies, or request support to complete them, to adequately inform the Project
Executive and Engagement Authority [L2] on implementation risks particularly
for Category 3 projects. These could include feasibility studies, site investigations
and surveys, other technical studies as needed to fully inform the decision making
process and avoid poor engagement development. It may be decided that the
project should be delivered on a staged basis to ensure that these preliminary
studies are completed within the project and are therefore funded by the project
due to the very limited internal funding available for such preliminary activity.
• It is important that all relevant information related to the background the project
is annexed to the Project Initiation Documentation. In many cases there are
reports, analysis, studies or other types of records (documents, websites or email
chains) that contain vital information about the project. For category 3 projects,
information about any existing or previously developed Technical Studies and/
or any other type of information of the site(s), and/or any relevant regulatory
information should be included as annexes.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Definitions of fragmented and integrative approach
• Management Control Perspective
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective
• Finance Management Perspective
• Stakeholder Management Perspective
• Risk Management Perspective
• Governance Perspective
• Resource Management Perspective
• Quality Management Perspective
• Technical Management Perspective
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

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38 PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage

 2.1.8.A  Create Problem and Solution Tree

The Business Developer may create a Problem and Solution Tree. O Category 1: Optional
O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, Project Management Office and Technical Experts, Head of
Programme and Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Contributors
and the Reviewers should be consulted and informed.
• A useful aid to the development of the Project Initiation Documentation and its
associated project management content is the creation of a Problem and Solution
Tree. It can help to clarify the full scope of activities and outputs needed to
address the core problem defined within the project. This helps to clarify both
resources and time frame for implementation for inclusion in the Project Initiation
Documentation.

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective

 2.1.8.B  Create Logical Framework

The Business Developer may create a Logical Framework. O Category 1: Optional

O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, Project Management Office and Technical Experts, Head of
Programme and Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Contributors
and the Reviewers should be consulted and informed.
• Also known as ‘Logframe’, it may be needed by some Partners as part of the Legal
Agreement(s). In those situations, it is obviously mandatory to complete prior to
completion of the Legal Agreement(s). It can help to define the goals, activities and
anticipated results for the project improving the content of the Project Initiation
Documentation.
• The use of a Logical Framework also enables more effective assessment and
evaluation of the outputs from the project. This would normally be used during
Monitoring and Evaluation processes forming part of a plan as per  4.2.2.A .

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective

 2.1.8.C  Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements

The Business Developer shall be responsible for integrating infrastructure N/A Category 1: Not applicable
implementation requirements in the Project Initiation Documentation [Draft]. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, Project Management Office and Technical Experts, Head of
Programme and Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Contributors
and the Reviewers should be consulted and informed.
• Required activities applicable only to Category 3 (see references below and
additional requirements to  4.2.1 ) should be integrated while developing the
Project Initiation Documentation, during the estimation of scope, time, cost
and quality requirements for the project, as well as for the preparation of the
sustainable results, risk, change, quality and communication management
approaches. Therefore it is critical that technical experts are involved.
• Note that ‘field based’ technical studies (e.g. feasibility studies), investigations (e.g.
soil investigation), site surveys (e.g. topographic surveys) and assessments (e.g.

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PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage 39

flood assessment), may be needed in order to inform the creation of the Project
Initiation Documentation and the Implementation Plan [Draft].

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages
•  4.2.1   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  4.11.1   Report health, safety, social or environmental incident 
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Example of UNOPS Implementation Stage for a project
• PMM Extension [forthcoming]

 2.1.9  Create Legal Agreement(s) [Draft]

The Business Developer shall be responsible for creating the Legal Agreement(s) M Category 1: Mandatory

[Draft] using content from the Project Initiation Documentation [Draft]. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, Project Management Office and Technical Experts, Head of
Programme and Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Contributors
and the Reviewers should be consulted and informed. The Engagement Authority
[L2] should be informed.
• The content of a Proposal and/or of the Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] are
legally binding when they are an annex or referenced within the Legal Agreement(s).
• At this stage, the Project Initiation Documentation and the Legal Agreement(s) [Draft]
are created for the first time and prepared simultaneously to a ‘draft’ level. They
will be completed during the next stage as per  3.1.1  and  3.1.3  respectively.
• The Legal Agreement(s) [Draft] should specify what method of formal project output
acceptance and hand over will be used when UNOPS hands over the project outputs
as per  4.10  Handover project output(s).
• The tolerances to be applied to the various elements of the project, including
sustainable results, scope, time, cost and quality tolerances should be considered
during this activity as they may frame specific exclusions or clarifications to be
included in the Legal Agreement(s). Not all tolerances will have the same relevancy,
depending on project type and the outputs.
• The financial contingency (cost tolerance) may or may not be visible in the Legal
Agreement(s) depending on the specific requirements of the Partner, as some do not
recognise the term ‘contingency’. However, it should still be included in this situation in
the specific line items to ensure an adequate financial buffer for Implementation Stage.
• In some cases it may be useful to attach a responsibilities table to the Legal
Agreement(s). This could help define the main responsibilities for key aspects of all
partners in the Legal Agreement(s). The definition of roles and responsibilities among
partners - such as Funding sources, donors, clients, government or user representatives
- may mitigate possible misunderstandings in the Implementation Stage and inform the
creation of the Implementation Plan. In all cases, it will be a risk-based decision for the
Engagement Authority [L2] whether to annex it to the Legal Agreement(s).
• Partners may have approval responsibilities for key project personnel. In such cases,
the recruitment of these personnel should be finalized before the Legal Agreement(s)
are completed as per  3.1.3 .
• Note that any requirement for Monitoring and Evaluation that may be required by the
Partner needs careful consideration in the formulation of the Legal Agreement(s). A
second Legal Agreement(s) may need to be signed if this is required some years after
the effective completion of the activities and outputs envisaged within the original
Legal Agreement(s). It is important to recognise that the Engagement may be open for
many years with funds lying dormant allocated to a specific work package to enable its
completion at a later date.

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40 PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage

REFERENCES
• Templates and guidance on creating a Legal Agreement(s) [forthcoming]
•  1.4.1   Complete Proposal 
•  2.1.8   Create Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] 
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) 

 2.1.10  Complete Pre-engagement details

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS Pre- M Category 1: Mandatory

engagement details. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, Head of Programme and Head of Support Services should
be consulted. The Project Management Office should be consulted and informed.
• For every engagement that UNOPS accepts, there should be a strong project
justification which highlights the output, costs and risks, and makes a strong
argument that the sustainable results derived from the engagement will support
the strategic objectives of the country or regional offices as well as UNOPS overall.
• The internal project justification is recorded in oneUNOPS as part of the pre-
engagement entry and should not be shared with funding sources or clients. Its
validity is reviewed throughout the life of the engagement as it should remain
viable, desirable and achievable. There may also be an external project justification
at the discretion of funding sources and clients to review periodically to ensure the
project justification is still valid.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

 2.1.11  Complete engagement risk assessment

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS M Category 1: Mandatory

Opportunity and Risk Acceptance risk assessment for Pre-engagement Stage. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Technical Experts, the Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be consulted. The Project Management Office should be
consulted and informed.
• The Engagement Acceptance Committee review can also happen at the
opportunity or Initiation Stages, or at any point during this stage.

REFERENCES
• Risk Management Perspective
• oneUNOPS Support

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PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage 41

 2.1.11.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee

The Project Executive shall be responsible for escalating a high-risk engagement M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

to the Engagement Acceptance Committee through the respective Regional M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

office. M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If as part of the engagement risk assessment, the engagement is identified as
high risk and matches any of the Engagement Acceptance Committee criteria.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer and the Project Management Office should be consulted
and informed. The Reviewers, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services should be consulted.
• Possible high risks are, but not limited to: ongoing active armed conflict, high
tensions within local communities, significant security issues; No host country
agreement or authorisation from UN/local authorities in place; new partner;
costing and pricing policy deviation and/or currency fluctuation; real or perceived
concerns with potential serious negative reputational exposure.
• The Engagement Acceptance Committee criteria are defined in OI.IPMG.2019.02.

REFERENCES
• Engagement Acceptance Committee intranet

 2.1.12  Create Initiation Stage Plan

The Business Developer may create an Initiation Stage plan. N/A Category 1: Not applicable
O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office should be consulted and informed. The Technical
Experts, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be
consulted.
• This is recommended for infrastructure implementation projects which entail
the design and construction of several infrastructure assets, (e.g. combinations
of buildings, transport and utilities) and/or multiple sites and/or multiple delivery
methods. In these cases, the Initiation Stage needs to be planned in detail in order
to consider these aspects due to the potential legal, quality and programming
aspects of the works. The Initiation Stage may require additional resources to visit
the sites, assess the broad implications and examine documents such as feasibility
and other technical studies prior to entering into Legal Agreement(s).

REFERENCES
•   1.1   Determine project category 
•   2.1.7   Approve final project category 

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42 PART II: Requirements - Pre-engagement stage

 2.2  Approve stage completion

The Engagement Authority [L2 or L4 as applicable] shall be responsible M Category 1: Mandatory

and accountable for approving or rejecting the Pre-engagement Stage in M Category 2: Mandatory

oneUNOPS. M Category 3: Mandatory

AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the Project Executive shall proceed with activity  3.1 .
• If rejected, the Engagement Authority [L2 or L4 as applicable] shall request the
Project Executive to review activities as needed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive should be consulted and informed. The Partners, the
Business Developer, the Contributors, the Reviewers, the Project Management
Office, the Technical Experts, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services should be informed.
• Only UNOPS personnel with the appropriate Delegation of Authority can complete
this activity. This shall be Engagement Authority [L2] for normal projects and
Engagement Authority [L4] for high-risk projects that require Engagement
Acceptance Committee approval.
• Regular review of projects in Pre Engagement should ensure they are still relevant
and valid for approval to move to Initiation. It is possible that some projects do not
proceed further to Initiation. Those that are increasingly unlikely to justify further
effort in development should be cancelled in oneUNOPS

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

Outputs
PRE-ENGAGEMENT STAGE OUTPUTS STATUS RELATED ACTIVITIES
1 Stakeholders Analysis Completed  2.1.3 ;  2.1.4 

2 Gender Screening Completed  2.1.4 

3 Social and Environmental Screening Completed  2.1.5 

 2.1.1 ;  2.1.2 ;  2.1.3 ;  2.1.4 ;  2.1.5 ;  2.1.6 ;

4 Project Initiation Documentation [Draft] Created
 2.1.7 ;  2.1.8

5 Legal Agreement(s) [Draft] Created  2.1.6 ;  2.1.8 ;  2.1.9 

6 Engagement risk assessment for Pre-engagement Stage Completed  2.1.11 

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PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage 43

 3  Initiation Stage

Overview Project Team

INPUTS

Integrated Practice Advice and Support

All outputs from Pre-engagement Stage

OUTPUTS

Project Management Office

Head of Support Services

Refer to Initiation Stage outputs (p. 57)

Engagement Authority

Head of Programme
Business Developer

RELATED OUTPUTS
Project Executive

Technical experts
Project Manager
Contributors
-

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Reviewers
Partners
ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES

Engagement formalization 

 3.1   Ensure engagement formalization activities  M M M - A R - - - - - - - C C -

 3.1.1   Complete Project Initiation Documentation [Final]  M if M M C,I - A R - C C C,I C,I - C C 1

 3.1.2   Create Implementation Plan [Draft]  R M M C,I - A R - C C C,I C,I - C C 2

 3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages  N/A N/A M - - A R - C C C,I C,I - C C -

 3.1.2.B   Create sub-plans  R M if M - - A R - C C C,I C,I - C C -

 3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final]  M M M C,I - A R - C C C,I C,I - C C -

 3.1.4   Complete engagement risk assessment   M M M C - A R - C C C,I C,I C,I C C 3

 3.1.4.A   Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee   M if M if M if - A R C,I - I C I I I C C -

 3.1.5   Complete engagement budget  M M M C,I - A R - C C C,I C,I - C C 4

 3.1.6   Approve engagement  M M M - R,A C,I I - I I I - I C C -

 3.1.7   Sign Legal Agreement(s)  M M M I R,A I I - I I I - - C C 5

 3.1.7.A   Coordinate official signing ceremony  O O O C,I C,I A R - - - C,I - - C C -

 3.1.7.B   Upload signed Legal Agreement(s)  M M M - - A R - - - - - - C C -

Project initiation

 3.2   Ensure project initiation activities  M M M - A R - - - - - - - C C -

 3.2.1   Assign Project Manager role  M M M I A R C,I I - - C,I - - C C -

 3.2.1.A   Recruit Project Manager  M if M if M if I A R C,I - - - C,I - C C C -

 3.2.2   Complete project budget  M M M - - A C,I R - - C,I - C,I C C 6

 3.2.3   Approve project budget  M M M - I A - C,I - - C,I - R C C -

 3.2.4   Assign Project Board members  M if M if M - A R - C,I - - I - - C C -

 3.2.5   Complete Project Board initial meeting  O O R - A R - C,I - - I - - C C -

 3.3   Approve stage completion  M M M I R,A I I I - - I - - I I -

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed
System: oneUNOPS

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44 PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage

Inputs
The Business Developer shall make all the outputs generated during the Pre-
engagement Stage available in order to inform the required and recommended
activities of Initiation Stage.

Activities
•• This stage can only begin after the Pre-engagement Stage has been completed
and approved by the Engagement Authority as per  2.2 .

Engagement formalization

 3.1  Ensure engagement formalization activities

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that all engagement M Category 1: Mandatory

formalization activities are completed. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• The Initiation activities formalize an engagement and enable mobilisation of
resources for project implementation. It is crucial to focus on the content of the
Legal Agreement(s), any attached proposal document (which may be a subset of
contents from the Project Initiation Documentation) or an attached Project Initiation
Documentation, if applicable. These all need careful assessment of risks and project
implications prior to signature of the Legal Agreement(s).

 3.1.1  Complete Project Initiation Documentation [Final]

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the Project Initiation M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

Documentation [Final]. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• For category 1 projects, if it was created during pre-engagement as per  2.1.8 

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Management Office and the Technical Experts, should be
consulted and informed. The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted. In
addition, if an office has a Head of Programme and a Head of Support Service they
should both be consulted.
• The content of the Project Initiation Documentation is legally binding when it is an
annex or referenced within the Legal Agreement(s). Hence, if it is an annex to the
Legal Agreement(s) and its contents change after the Legal Agreement(s) is signed
during Initiation Stage or during Implementation Stage, they will be subject to
change control as per  4.13 .
• The Project Initiation Documentation was created as a draft as per   2.1.8   and will be
completed during this stage, and probably included as an annex in the Legal Agreement(s)
which was created as a draft as per  2.1.9  and it will be completed as per  3.1.3 .
• Completing the Project Initiation Documentation involves amongst others the
finalization of scope, time, cost and quality requirements for the project.
Therefore, it is critical that technical experts are involved in this process, as the
content of the Project Initiation Documentation will inform both the Implementation
Plan [Draft] (  3.1.2  ) and the Implementation Plan [Baseline] ( 4.2 ,  4.3 )
• During the Implementation Stage, the Project Initiation Documentation will not be a
‘live document ‘ as the project is implemented as per the Implementation Plan.

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PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage 45

• Clearly specifying permissible tolerances within the Project Initiation Documentation

may reduce the likelihood of initiating an amendment to the Legal Agreement(s).
These tolerances may be for instance, a five percent flexibility within budget lines,
without impacting the overall budget; or applicable time tolerances for specific
project outputs that do not affect the Legal Agreement(s) end date.
• The identified tolerances should take into consideration the overall project
financial contingency (cost tolerance) and any specific allocation to work packages
noting these may vary depending on the type of work package. For instance, a 6%
project financial contingency does not mean a 6% allocation to each work package.
These may vary between perhaps 2% and 20% or more depending on the scale
and risk associated with the work package.
• At this stage, it is beneficial to start including closure considerations in the overall
costing and scheduling as per  4.2.2.E , such as asset disposal, audit requirements,
submission dates for Final Report and financial statements.
• Category 1 projects that do not have a Project Initiation Documentation will still
have some type of formal Proposal attached to the Legal Agreement(s) clarifying the
underlying scope, resources, time and budget.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Definitions of fragmented and integrative approach
• Management Control Perspective
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective
• Finance Management Perspective
• Stakeholder Management Perspective
• Risk Management Perspective
• Governance Perspective
• Resource Management Perspective
• Quality Management Perspective
• Technical Management Perspective
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

 3.1.2  Create Implementation Plan [Draft]

The Business Developer shall be responsible for creating the Implementation Plan R Category 1: Recommended

[Draft]. M Category 2: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable. M Category 3: Mandatory

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT
• For Category 3 projects, the Business Developer shall comply with   3.1.2.A  .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Management Office and the Technical Experts should be
consulted and informed. The Contributors, the Reviewers, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• At this stage relevant ‘draft’ sub-plans have to be included as per 3.1.2.B .
• Note that ‘plan for’ refers not only to a time schedule but also refers to cost,
resources, risks, quality, list of work packages and/or deliverables.
• Depending on the extent of work envisaged in a Category 1 project, the use of
an Implementation Plan, and all that it entails, may not be an appropriate use
of resources. Hence it is a recommended record only. Many of the Category 1
projects have very specific outputs that do not require substantive planning and
are already well referenced in the Legal Agreement(s).

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Definitions of fragmented and integrative approach
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

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46 PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage

 3.1.2.A  Include infrastructure implementation work packages

The Business Developer shall be responsible for including infrastructure N/A Category 1: Not applicable

implementation work packages in the Implementation Plan [Draft]. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office and the Technical Experts should be consulted and
informed. The Contributors, the Reviewers, the Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be consulted.
• Required infrastructure implementation activities should be embedded in the
Implementation Plan and while completing the Legal Agreement(s) as per   3.1.3  .
• Note that ‘field based’ technical studies (e.g. feasibility studies), investigations (e.g.
soil investigation), site surveys (e.g. topographic surveys) and assessments (e.g.
flood assessment), may be needed in order to inform the completion of the Project
Initiation Documentation and the Implementation Plan [Draft].

REFERENCES
•  1.1   Determine project category 
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•   2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•   3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 
•  4.2.1.A   Include Design Brief(s) 
•  4.2.1.B   Include design development work packages 
•  4.2.1.C   Include design review work packages 
•  4.2.1.D   Include construction work packages 
•  4.2.1.F   Include construction supervision work packages 
•  4.2.1.G   Include post-completion assessment work packages 
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.6.2 Implementation Stage examples
• PMM Extension [forthcoming]

 3.1.2.B  Create sub-plans

The Business Developer shall be responsible for creating any relevant sub-plans R Category 1: Recommended

simultaneously to the creation of the Implementation Plan [Draft]. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office and the Technical Experts should be consulted and
informed. The Contributors, the Reviewers, the Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be consulted.
• At this stage it is recommended to include relevant ‘draft’ sub-plans as per  4.2.2 .
For instance the Implementation Plan may include as per  4.2.2.B  a Gender Action
Plan if it has been determined as per  2.1.4  that gender mainstreaming is relevant,
or may include a monitoring and evaluation plan as per  4.2.2.A .
• A preliminary gender analysis may be needed to determine the scope and cost for
a Gender Action Plan. This analysis should examine the different roles, norms and
needs of women, men, girls and boys and other minority groups in order to inform
how these needs can be addressed through the project.
• Depending on the results of the Social and Environmental Screening conducted
as per  2.1.5 , Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans -such as Project
Health and Safety Management Plan, and the Project Social and Environmental
Management Plan, or the Sustainability Management Plan - may be applicable. If
applicable, they should be created simultaneously to the Implementation Plan
[Draft] and they will be completed as per  4.2.2.D . The Health and Safety, Social

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PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage 47

and Environmental level of the country should be checked. Projects situated in

level 2 and 3 countries shall apply the full format plans; projects situated in level 1
countries may apply the simplified project plan versions.
• The Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans at this stage are inevitably
preliminary as most of the specific risk factors that should inform them as not
yet know or subject to change. It is recommended to include all Health and
Safety, Social and Environmental aspects identified at this stage, including relative
considerations of time, cost, resources.

REFERENCES
•   2.1.4   Complete gender screening 
•   2.1.5   Complete Social and Environmental Screening 
•   4.2.2   Complete Sub-Plans 
•  4.2.2.A   Complete Monitoring and Evaluation Plan 
•  4.2.2.B   Complete Gender Action Plan 
•  4.2.2.C   Complete Capacity Building Plan 
•  4.2.2.D   Complete Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans 

 3.1.3  Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final]

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the Legal Agreement(s), M Category 1: Mandatory

considering content generated as part of required activities   3.1.1   and   3.1.2  . M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Management Office and the Technical Experts, should be
consulted and informed. The Contributors and Reviewers should be consulted. In
addition, if an office has a Head of Programme and a Head of Support Service they
should both be consulted.
• The Legal Agreement(s) was created as a draft as per   2.1.9   and will be completed
during this stage.
• The content of a Proposal and/or of the Project Initiation Documentation [Final] and/
or the Implementation Plan [Draft] are legally binding when they are an annex or
referenced within the Legal Agreement(s).
• In cases when Partners have approval responsibilities for key project personnel,
the recruitment of these personnel should have started as per  2.1.9  and contracts
should be issued as soon as the Legal Agreement(s) can be completed.
• The financial contingency (cost tolerance) may or may not be visible in the Legal
Agreement(s) depending on the specific requirements of the Partner, as some
do not recognise the term “Contingency”. However, it should still be included in
this situation in the specific line items to ensure an adequate financial buffer for
Implementation Stage.
• Note the considerations for Monitoring and Evaluation activities in  2.1.9 .
• In some cases it may be useful to attach a Responsibilities and Accountabilities
table to the Legal Agreement(s). This could help define the main responsibilities
for key aspects of all partners in the Legal Agreement(s). The definition of roles
and responsibilities among partners -such as Funding sources, donors, clients,
government representatives, user representatives- would mitigate possible
misunderstandings in the Implementation Stage and inform the creation of the
Implementation Plan.
• A common issue with infrastructure projects is the inability to implement feasibility
studies, technical investigations or other preparatory work to enable an effective
understanding of whether the proposed output, resources and cost structure
are adequate. This is a significant risk that may be reduced by recognising within
the Legal Agreement(s) that it can be divided into two or more stages which
progressively verify and refine the real scope of work.

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48 PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage

• The Legal Agreement(s) should define a specific start date for the Engagement that
takes the period for receipt of funds into consideration prior to the start date or
allows a sufficient time for funds to be received in the Agreement period.

REFERENCES
•  1.4.1   Complete Proposal 
•  2.1.9   Create Legal Agreement(s) [Draft] 
•  3.1.1   Complete Project Initiation Documentation [Final] 
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.1 Engagements and projects
• Templates and guidance on creating a Legal Agreement(s) [forthcoming]
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

 3.1.4  Complete engagement risk assessment

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS M Category 1: Mandatory

Opportunity and Engagement Acceptance risk assessment for Initiation Stage. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Management Office, the Technical Experts and the
Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit should be consulted and informed.
The Contributors, Reviewers, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services should be consulted.
• The Engagement Acceptance Committee review can also happen at the
opportunity or Pre-engagement Stages if high risk is identified earlier.

REFERENCES
• Risk Management Perspective
• oneUNOPS Support

 3.1.4.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee

The Project Executive shall be responsible for escalating a high-risk engagement M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

to the Engagement Acceptance Committee through the respective regional M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

office. M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If as part of the engagement risk assessment, the engagement is identified as
high risk and matches any of the Engagement Acceptance Committee criteria.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer should be consulted and informed. The Reviewers,
Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
The Contributors, the Project Management Office, Technical Experts and The
Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit should be informed.
• Possible high risks are, but not limited to: ongoing active armed conflict, high
tensions within local communities, significant security issues; No host country
agreement or authorisation from UN/local authorities in place; new partner;
costing and pricing policy deviation and/or currency fluctuation; real or perceived
concerns with potential serious negative reputational exposure.

REFERENCES
• Engagement Acceptance Committee intranet

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PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage 49

 3.1.5  Complete engagement budget

The Business Developer shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS M Category 1: Mandatory

engagement budget. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Management Office and the Technical Experts, should be
consulted and informed. The Contributors, the Reviewers, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• If the expected funds for the proposed engagement are in local currency, prior
approval from the Finance Group controller is needed.
• The Business Developer should review the financial contingencies (cost tolerances)
previously identified in  3.1.1  and incorporated into the completed Legal
Agreement(s) to verify that these are incorporated into the engagement budget.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• Finance Management Perspective

 3.1.6  Approve engagement

The Engagement Authority [L3] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

approving or rejecting the engagement in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the engagement is ‘awarded’ in oneUNOPS and the Engagement
Authority [L1 or higher] can proceed with  3.1.7 .
• If rejected, the Initiation Stage is cancelled and recorded in oneUNOPS.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive should be consulted and informed. The Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Business Developer,
the Contributors, the Reviewers, the Project Management Office and the
Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit should be informed.
• Only UNOPS personnel with the appropriate Delegation of Authority can complete
this activity. This shall be Engagement Authority [L2] for normal projects and
Engagement Authority [L4] for high-risk projects that require Engagement
Acceptance Committee approval. Note that if approved, the engagement is still in
the ‘Initiation Stage’ of the project lifespan.

REFERENCES
• Finance Management Perspective
• oneUNOPS Support
• Delegation of Authority intranet page

 3.1.7  Sign Legal Agreement(s)

The Engagement Authority [L1 or higher] shall be responsible and accountable M Category 1: Mandatory

for signing the Legal Agreement(s) on behalf of UNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
The Partners, the Project Executive, the Business Developer, the Contributor, the
Reviewers, the Project Management Office and the Integrated Practice Advice and
Support unit should be informed.
• Only UNOPS personnel with the appropriate Delegation of Authority can complete
this activity.
• Once signed, potential changes to the Legal Agreement(s) or any of its annexes

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50 PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage

during Implementation Stage, such as an amendment, will be managed through a

formal change control process as per 4.14 .
• Depending on the scale of the engagement and the Legal Agreement(s), its political
sensitivity and stakeholder recognition, a signing ceremony may be considered a
useful tool to ensure visibility and recognition of this milestone.

 3.1.7.A  Coordinate official signing ceremony

The Business Developer may coordinate an official signing ceremony. O Category 1: Optional
O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
O Category 3: Optional

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Engagement Authority [L2] and the Project Management Office
should be consulted and informed. The Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be consulted.
• Depending on the scale of the engagement and the Legal Agreement(s), its political
sensitivity and stakeholder recognition, a signing ceremony with all partners may be
considered a useful tool to ensure visibility and recognition of this milestone.
• This type of event gathers the Partners, other key project stakeholders and official
UNOPS representatives (such as the Regional Director or Country Director), and
the media in a formal setting for an official signing ceremony.
• Note that official messages are considered written/formal statements representing
the UNOPS perspective or position (often on highly sensitive or topical matters) and
only ‘duly authorized’ UNOPS personnel are authorised to deliver those messages.
These are generally senior management from Country Director upwards.
• At public events related to an specific project, there is generally no need to request
for an official UNOPS position or message. However the UNOPS office management
should be informed that the event is occurring. In the course of interactions with
the media, UNOPS personnel should follow the principles of OI.CG.2018.01: Media
Relations (Section 3.4), stick to the area of competence, be factual, and be aware
that what is being said is a matter of public record.
• In need of support and/or advice, the communications focal point or the
Communications Groups should be consulted in good time.

REFERENCES
• Communications Group Intranet
• Stakeholder Management Perspective

 3.1.7.B  Upload signed Legal Agreement(s)

The Business Developer shall be responsible for uploading a scanned version of M Category 1: Mandatory

the signed Legal Agreement(s) into oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

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PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage 51

Project initiation

 3.2  Ensure project initiation activities

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that all project initiation M Category 1: Mandatory

related activities are completed. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• After the Legal Agreement(s) is signed the Project Executive should verify that
funds have been received to enable project initiation activities to start as soon as
possible after funds are received.
• In some circumstances project initiation activities can be started while the
engagement agreement is completed. It may be that recruitment processes
could already have been initiated prior to signature of the Legal Agreement(s) to
minimise delays and have a Project Manager in place as soon as possible.

 3.2.1  Assign Project Manager role

The Project Executive shall be responsible for assigning the Project Manager M Category 1: Mandatory

role to a UNOPS personnel in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONDITION
• The Project Manager role can only be assigned to UNOPS personnel with
experience appropriate to the project category.
• The same individual cannot be assigned the roles of Project Executive and
Project Manager.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer and the Project Management Office should be consulted
and informed. The Project Manager and the Project Management Office should
be consulted and informed. The Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Service should be consulted.
• A member of the Project Board cannot perform the role of Project Manager.
• For projects Category 3: A Project Manager for infrastructure implementation
projects that involve multiple assets and/or direct implementation needs
to be highly competent with a solid understanding of the relevant type of
infrastructure assets to be delivered. This is to minimize the risks associated
with a lack of technical knowledge impacting on effective decision making during
Implementation Stage.
• Portfolio management consideration: It is a common practice that an individual
may be assigned the role of Project Manager in multiple projects run by the
same UNOPS office. The number of projects to which the individual is assigned
the role of ‘Project Manager’ will depend on the nature of the projects and the
‘effort’ needed to manage those projects. This needs to be considered cautiously
as overloading the individual with an unsustainable workload is not beneficial for
portfolio delivery. Care is needed in consideration of peak workloads particularly
where these may coincide across multiple projects.

REFERENCES
• UNOPS Learning Zone
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7.5.2  Managing roles
• Technical Management Perspective

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52 PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage

 3.2.1.A  Recruit Project Manager

The Project Executive shall be responsible for recruiting an individual for the M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

Project Manager role. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If there are no UNOPS personnel available with relevant experience.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer and the Project Management Office should be consulted
and informed. The Integrated Practise Advice and Support unit, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Partners
should be informed.
• The country office is responsible for inducting all new Project Managers, giving them
a copy of this publication and an overview of project and contextual information.
• Partners may have approval responsibilities for key project personnel depending
on the requirements set in the Legal Agreement(s) as per  2.1.9  and  3.1.3 .
• The Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit can provide advice on Terms of
Reference drafting for technical roles for the recruitment process.
REFERENCES
•  2.1.9   Create Legal Agreement(s) [Draft])
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) 

 3.2.2  Complete project budget

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS project M Category 1: Mandatory

budget. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Business Developer, the Project Management Office and the Integrated
Practice Advice and Support unit should be consulted and informed. The Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• The Project Manager should email the Integrated Practice Advice and Support
unit to inform them about budget creation. Before the budget is submitted
for approval, the Project Manager should ensure that the oneUNOPS project
structure and International Public Sector Accounting Standards project
classification are correct.
• As the use of the project budget is the responsibility of the Project Manager,
it is important that one of the first items the Project Manager addresses is
the formulation of the detailed budget. This is normally more detailed than
the engagement level budget. Any allocation of funds in the project budget
should take into consideration all the aspects of the Implementation Plan (draft)
formulated earlier.
• There should be some opportunity to modify the project budget as needed to
match the finalised Implementation Plan [Baseline], forming the baseline for the
project, developed as per  4.2  and approved as per  4.3 . This will be dependant
on the use of tolerances for budget defined earlier, hence the importance of
understanding tolerances as a management tool.
• The Project Manager should review the financial contingencies (cost tolerances)
previously identified in  3.1.1 ,  3.1.2  (for work packages) and  3.1.3  to verify that
these are incorporated into the project budget.

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PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage 53

• The costs associated with physical archiving of records should be incorporated

into the project budget to enable long term storage as required. This is particularly
important for Category 3 projects where all records should be retained for an
extended period to help mitigate risks associated with potential claims.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• Finance Management Perspective
• Budget template [forthcoming]

 3.2.3  Approve project budget

The Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit shall be responsible for approving M Category 1: Mandatory

or rejecting the project budget in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

DECISION

• If approved, the project stage in oneUNOPS advances to ‘ongoing’, and the

Project Manager shall start required activity  4.2 .
• If rejected, the Project Manager shall revise the budget and re-submit it as
per  3.2.2 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager and the Project Management Office should be consulted and
informed. The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be
consulted. The Engagement Authority [L2] should be informed.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• Finance Management Perspective

 3.2.4  Assign Project Board members

The Project Executive shall be responsible for assigning the Project Board M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

members that will represent the roles of Senior User(s) and Senior Supplier(s). M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If there is a Project Board approved by the Engagement Authority [L2].

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager should be consulted and informed. The Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Project Management
Office should be informed.
• The Senior Suppliers and Senior Users are identified as per  2.1.3.A .
• As the engagement is now approved and the project is about to start, the Project
Board can be convened to enable direction of the project. The notification of all
members is needed to ensure members are aware of their accountabilities and
responsibilities. Reasonable notice and a meeting schedule should be provided to
all members and dependant on the numbers of members, complexity and scale of
the project, a briefing as per  3.2.5  may be useful for increased understanding of
the role of the Project Board.
• The assignation process requires at least an email request to the proposed
member and a positive response prior to convening the Board. In some instances
if the proposed member is part of an external entity and is expected to act on
behalf of the entity, it may be good practice to seek an authorisation from the
entity for the proposed member to act on their behalf.

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54 PART II: Requirements - Initiation stage

 3.2.5  Complete Project Board initial meeting

The Project Executive should complete a Project Board initial meeting. O Category 1: Optional
O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.
R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager should be consulted and informed. The Head of Programme
and Head of Support Services should be consulted. The Project Management
Office should be informed.
• All the Senior Supplier(s) and Senior User(s) which were assigned as per  3.2.4 ,
such as representatives of the Funding Source and the Client should attend.
• This should occur once the project budget has been approved as per  3.2.3  prior to
any implementation planning workshop as per  4.1 .
• The Project Executive should introduce all members as well as brief them on how
the Project Board will operate and the key aspects of the Implementation Stage.
REFERENCES
• Stakeholder Management Perspective

 3.3  Approve stage completion

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

approving or rejecting the completion of Initiation Stage in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
DECISION
• If approved, the Project Manager shall proceed with activities  4.1  and  4.2 .
• If rejected, the Engagement Authority [L2] shall request the Project Executive to
review activities as needed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Executive, the Business Developer, the Project Manager,
the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services should be informed.
• Only UNOPS personnel with the appropriate Delegation of Authority can complete
this activity. Regular review of projects in Initiation should ensure they are still
valid for approval to move to implementation. It is possible that some projects may
stall in this stage if funding difficulties or other circumstances such as civil unrest
outside the control of UNOPS result in delays. If there are significant delays, the
agreement should be reviewed to ensure its continued viability. This may have
been affected by changes to major stakeholders, increased risks, cost increases
due to inflation or other extenuating circumstances.

Outputs

INITIATION STAGE OUTPUTS STATUS RELATED ACTIVITIES

1 Project Initiation Documentation [Final] Completed  3.1.1 

2 Implementation Plan [Draft] Completed  3.1.2 

3 Engagement risk assessment Completed  3.1.4 

4 Engagement budget Completed  3.1.5 

 3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.4 ;  3.1.5 ;  3.1.6 ;  3.1.7 ;
5 Legal Agreement(s) [Final] Completed
 3.1.7.A ;  3.1.7.B 
6 Project budget Completed  3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  3.1.5 ;  3.2.2 

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 4  Implementation Stage

PLAN DELIVER

CONTROL

Overview
Project Team

INPUTS
All outputs from Initiation Stage

Shared Services Centre

All outputs from planning, delivering and monitoring activities

Project Management Office

OUTPUTS

Technical Coordinators

Head of Support Services

Project Board members
Engagement Authority

Head of Programme
Project Executive

Technical experts
Refer to Planning Outputs [Planning] (p. 72)

Project Manager
Refer to Delivery Outputs [Delivery activities] (p. 88)

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Partners
Refer to Monitoring and Control Outputs [Monitoring and
control] (p. 101)

ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES

Planning activities

Implementation planning

 4.1   Conduct implementation planning workshops  O O R C,I I C,I A R C C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.2   Complete Implementation Plan [Baseline]  M if M M - - C,I A R C C C C C C

 4.3   Approve Implementation Plan [Baseline]  M if M M I I C R,A I I I I I I -

Quarterly planning

 4.4   Update Implementation Plan [Baseline]  M if M M - - C A R C C C C C C

 4.5   Approve Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline]  M if M M I I C R,A I - C,I C,I C,I C,I -

 4.6   Ensure Delivery Teams planning activities  M if M if M if - - - A R C,I C,I - - - -

Delivering activities

 4.7   Direct project  M M M C,I A C,I R C,I - C,I C,I C C -

 4.8   Manage project  M M M - - I A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C

 4.9   Deliver work packages  M M M - - - - A R C - - - -

 4.10   Handover project output(s)  M M M I I I A R I I C,I I I I

Monitoring & control activities

 4.11   Monitor project progress  M M M - - I A R C,I C,I I - - C

 4.12   Control work package changes  M M M - - - I A R C - - - -

 4.13   Control project changes  M M M C,I - I A R C,I C,I C,I C,I C,I C,I

 4.14   Control Legal Agreement(s) changes  M M M C,I A I R C,I - C,I C,I C,I C,I C

 4.15   Approve project output(s) handover completion  M M M - I C,I R,A I I - I I I I

 4.16   Approve stage completion  M M M I R,A I I I - - I I I I

 4.17   Release Project Board members  M if M if M - A I R I - - I I I I

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed
System: oneUNOPS

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Planning activities

PLAN DELIVER

CONTROL

Overview
Project Team

INPUTS

Shared Services Centre

Project Management Office
All outputs from Initiation Stage

Technical Coordinators

Head of Support Services

Project Board members
Engagement Authority

Head of Programme
All outputs from each quarter

Project Executive

Technical experts
Project Manager

RELATED OUTPUTS
OUTPUTS

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Partners
Refer to Planning Stage Outputs (p. 76)

ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES

Implementation planning activities

 4.1   Conduct implementation planning workshops  O O R C,I I C,I A R C C,I C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.2   Complete Implementation Plan [Baseline]  M if M M - - C,I A R C C C C C C 1

 4.2.1   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.1.A   Include Design Brief(s)  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.1.B   Include design development work packages  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.1.C   Include design review work packages  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.1.D   Include construction work packages  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.1.E   Include works contracts administration  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.1.F   Include construction supervision work packages  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.1.G   Include post-completion assessment work packages  N/A N/A M - - - A R C C C C C - -

 4.2.2   Complete Sub-Plans  M M M - - C,I A R C C C C C - 2

 4.2.2.A   Complete Monitoring and Evaluation Plan  M if M if M if - - - A R - C C C C - -

 4.2.2.B   Complete Gender Action Plan  M if M if M if - - - A R - C C C C - -

 4.2.2.C   Complete Capacity Building Plan  O O O C,I - - A R - C C C C - -

 4.2.2.D   Complete Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans  N/A M if M - - - A R - C C C C - -

 4.2.2.E   Complete Closure Plan  M M M C - - A R - C C C C - -

 4.3   Approve Implementation Plan [Baseline]  M if M M I I C R,A I I I I I I - -

Quarterly planning activities

 4.4   Update Implementation Plan [Baseline]  M if M M - - C A R C,I C C C C C 3

 4.4.1   Update Cash Flow Forecast  M M M - - - A R C C C C C - 4

 4.4.2   Complete Quarterly Plan  O R M - - - A R C C C C C - 5

 4.5   Approve Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline]  M if M M I I C R,A I I I I I I - -

 4.6   Ensure Delivery Teams planning activities  M if M if M if - - - A R C,I C,I - - - - -

 4.6.1   Complete Delivery Team Plan  O O R - - - - A R C C C C - -

 4.6.2   Approve Delivery Team Plan  M if M if M if - - - - R,A I - - - - - -

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed

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Inputs
The Project Manager shall make all the outputs from Initiation Stage available in
order to inform the required ‘planning’ activities of the first quarter.

The Project Manager shall make all the outputs from previous quarters
available in order to inform the ‘planning’ activities of the current quarter.

Implementation planning
•• This stage can only begin after the Initiation Stage has been completed and
approved by the Engagement Authority as per  3.3 
•• The activities  4.1  to  4.3  are to be completed during the first quarter.
•• The activities  4.4  to  4.6  are to be completed during each quarter.

 4.1  Conduct implementation planning workshops

The Project Manager may complete one or a series of implementation planning O Category 1: Optional

workshops. O Category 2: Optional

R Category 3: Recommended
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Board members, the Technical Experts, the Programme
Management Office, the Head of Programme and Head of Support Services should
be consulted and informed. The Technical Coordinators should be consulted. The
Engagement Authority [L2] should be informed.
• Conducting a workshop or a series of workshops early on before the
Implementation Plan [Baseline] is completed will help to inform its completion
ensuring that key stakeholder expectations as well as interfaces between technical
disciplines have been taken into account.
• It may also help in identification of specific risks to address in the planning
and delivery of the work packages, recognition of additional stakeholders, or
preconditions for completion of specific assets. This improves the quality of the
planning and may reduce future challenges during implementation.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.6 Principle #6: Focus on outputs
• Stakeholder Management Perspective
• Quality Management Perspective
• Technical Management Perspective

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58 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.2  Complete Implementation Plan [Baseline]

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing the Implementation Plan M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

[Baseline] during the first quarter of the Implementation Stage. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable for this activity.

APPLICABILITY
• For Category 1 projects, this activity is applicable if the Implementation Plan
[Draft] was created as per  3.1.2 .

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
• For Category 3 projects, the Project Manager shall comply with  4.2.1   Integrate
infrastructure implementation requirements 

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board members should be consulted and informed. The Head of
Programme, Head of Support Services, Technical Coordinators, Technical Experts
and the Project Management Office should be consulted.
• The Implementation Plan [Draft] that was created as a draft during the
Initiation Stage as per   3.1.2   is to be completed during the first quarter of the
Implementation Stage to ensure that it is detailed, realistic, robust and achievable.
For its completion, the Project Initiation Documentation and the Legal Agreement(s)
are used as inputs. Once it is approved by the Project Executive as per  4.3  it will
become the ‘baseline’ together with its sub-plans, and delivery activities can start
as per  4.7 ,  4.8  and  4.9 .
• The tolerances for cost, time, quality, scope, risk and sustainable results, defined
in this version of the Implementation Plan [Baseline] are the ones that will be used
during each quarter of the Implementation Stage, to review whether the project
and/or the work packages and its deliverables are within the permissible project-
level tolerances.
• Closure considerations should be included as per the Legal Agreement(s), as
per  4.2.2.E  and as per Closure Stage. For instance, the Project Manager should
review the Legal Agreement(s) to establish whether any obligation to conduct an
‘impact evaluation’ will be required at Closure Stage as per  5.1.1.A . If required, it
should be included in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] and in the Closure Stage
Plan.
• Once completed and approved as per  4.3 , potential changes and/or updates
during Implementation Stage to the Implementation Plan [Baseline] or any of its
Sub-Plans, will be managed as per  4.13 .
• All the work packages and their respective deliverables, including for sub plans as
per requirement  4.2.2 , as well as the interfaces between work packages should be
clearly identified in the Implementation Plan [Baseline].
• Note that depending on the project category as per  1.1 , a Category 3 project -
infrastructure implementation- may have by default procurement work packages,
for procuring goods (such as equipment, machinery, tools, materials) and/or for
procuring services (such as consultants and contractors) and human resources
work packages. In those cases, it is recommended to include a delivery team
to deliver all work packages of the same discipline, for instance a ‘Procurement
team’ would be assigned all procurement related work packages, a HR team all
human resources work packages. A common error in procurement planning
is to underestimate the time required for preparation of technical and tender
documents which can result in more delays during submission and approval at
Local or Headquarters Contracts Procurement Committee meetings.
• Note that ‘plan for’ refers not only to a time schedule but also to cost, resources,
risks, and quality.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: Definitions of fragmented and integrative approach
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 59

 4.2.1  Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements

The Project Manager shall be responsible for integrating infrastructure N/A Category 1: Not applicable

implementation requirements in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
• For Category 3 the Project Manager shall comply with:
•  4.2.1.A   Include Design Brief(s) 
•  4.2.1.B   Include design development work packages 
•  4.2.1.C   Include design review work packages 
•  4.2.1.D   Include construction work packages 
•  4.2.1.E   Include works contracts administration 
•  4.2.1.F   Include construction supervision work packages 
•  4.2.1.G   Include post-completion assessment work packages 

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme, Head of Support Services, Technical Coordinators,
Technical Experts and the Project Management Office should be consulted.
• Dependant on the approved scope of work for UNOPS, it is very likely that the
Project Manager will be responsible for including some or all of these work
packages. The planning of these can be challenging given the sequential nature of
infrastructure delivery, especially if there are multiple assets to deliver.
• Unless all of these work packages are delivered using UNOPS personnel, there
will be a need to include procurement work packages to procure them. These are
most commonly associated with  4.2.1.A ,  4.2.1.B ,  4.2.1.D  and possibly others. The
procurement strategy is an important step in understanding the best method of
delivery especially with multi site and multi asset projects.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 

 4.2.1.A  Include Design Brief(s)

The Project Manager shall be responsible for including a Design Brief(s) for all N/A Category 1: Not applicable
infrastructure assets. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If design is not to be provided by UNOPS as part of the Legal Agreement(s).

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme, Head of Support Services, Technical Coordinators,
Technical Experts and the Project Management Office should be consulted.
• The Project Manager may receive Design Brief(s) from the Partner or potential
Beneficiary as part of the Legal Agreement(s). If a Design Brief is provided to
UNOPS, it should be thoroughly reviewed by Technical Experts and Coordinators
prior to use to confirm all details are understood and achievable. Poor Design
Briefs are a significant factor in poor design outputs.
• This document or multiple documents for multiple different assets, may take
considerable time and resources to develop, validate and obtain approval for use.
Stakeholder approvals can be particularly challenging depending on the scale and
complexity of the Design Brief(s).
• It may be necessary to plan for preparation of the Design Brief(s) using third party

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60 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

sources if there is limited capacity to deliver it using internal resources. This may
be achieved by either commissioning a specific work package for its development
or potentially adding it to the scope of work established for the Designer. In
either case, the Project Manager will be accountable, and the time and resources
including its validation on completion need to be considered in the planning as the
design process generally cannot commence until this activity is completed.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 

 4.2.1.B  Include design development work packages

The Project Manager shall be responsible for including design development N/A Category 1: Not applicable

work packages in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] for all infrastructure assets. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If ‘design’ is not to be provided by UNOPS as part of the Legal Agreement(s).

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• Note that ‘field based’ technical studies (e.g. feasibility studies), investigations (e.g.
soil investigation) and site surveys (e.g. topographic surveys) and assessments (e.g.
flood assessment), should be conducted to inform the design development of all
infrastructure assets.
• Design development refers to ‘designing’ an infrastructure asset (e.g. a building,
a road, a utility plant) in response to a Design Brief and in compliance with any
applicable local, regional and/or national design codes and any applicable UNOPS
design planning manuals.
• In most cases, design development is the responsibility of the service contractor
who has been contracted through a procurement activity to undertake the design,
a ‘designer’, e.g. an architecture or engineering design company.
• The total time needed for design development is highly variable and depends on
the specific conditions, scale and complexity of each project and its infrastructure
assets, and on the professional capacity and experience of the designer and its
team.
• In those circumstances where completed design packages are provided to
UNOPS for use in construction of assets, these still need to be reviewed by the
Infrastructure and Project Management Group Design Review team to assess
whether there are any issues that need to be raised and resolved with the Partner.
• In situations where multiple assets are to be designed, particular care is needed
to understand and define the scope of work. These issues may include multiple
assets using the same design, such as houses, clinics, recognising that soil
conditions, earthquake zones, windloading and other design factors will vary on
each site, or potential interaction between different assets on the same site such
as universities with buildings, roads and utility systems.
• If Direct Implementation is considered, the level of detail and approach to design
documentation may vary considerably from a set of documents developed for a
Works Contractor.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 61

•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 

•  4.2.1.A   Include Design Brief(s) 
• Design Planning Manual for Buildings (2014)
• Design Planning Manual for Transport Infrastructure
• Design Planning Manual for Utilities Infrastructure [forthcoming]
• PMM Extension [forthcoming]
• Technical Management Perspective

 4.2.1.C  Include design review work packages

The Project Manager shall be responsible for including design review work N/A Category 1: Not applicable

packages in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] for all infrastructure assets. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• Design review, refers to the technical review coordinated by the Infrastructure
and Project Management Group Design Review team, and carried out either by
UNOPS peer-reviewers (who are normally identified by the Project Manager) or
by external reviewers (assigned by the Infrastructure and Project Management
Group Design Review team). The design review process works primarily as a risk
mitigation measure that ensures that the designs for infrastructure assets to be
built on behalf of UNOPS and its partners meet minimum requirements for safety
and functionality. The design review can start only once the design development
has been completed to the appropriate level (90%-100%).
• The total time and cost needed for design review depends directly on the quality
level of the design development. If the design submitted for review, complies with
the applicable local, regional and/or national design codes and with the applicable
UNOPS design planning manuals and Design Brief(s), the review process will be
shorter and the cost will be lower. But if the design does not comply, the design
review process will be longer and the cost will be higher.
• Note that if significant changes to the approved design occur during construction
activities then further design review is required. If this is considered a strong
likelihood then specific reference should be made in the Implementation Plan
[Baseline]

REFERENCES
• Design Planning Manual for Buildings (2014)
• Design Planning Manual for Transport Infrastructure
• Design Planning Manual for Utilities Infrastructure [forthcoming]
• PMM Extension [forthcoming]
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 
•  4.2.1.A   Include Design Brief(s) 
• Technical Management Perspective

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62 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.2.1.D  Include construction work packages

The Project Manager shall be responsible for including construction work N/A Category 1: Not applicable

packages in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] for all infrastructure assets. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If ‘construction’ is not to be provided by UNOPS as part of the Legal Agreement(s).

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme, Head of Support Services, Technical Coordinators,
Technical Experts and the Project Management Office should be consulted.
• There are three primary methods by which construction work packages are
delivered: (a) use of FIDIC based Works Contracts with a Contractor procured to
deliver the works (or an alternative Contract if required by the Legal Agreement(s));
(b) Direct Implementation where UNOPS directly constructs the assets hiring
all the labour, equipment and purchasing the material; (c) or community based
delivery in which UNOPS supports local non-governmental organization or
community groups via some sort of grant modality to deliver the work. All of
these modalities should be understood by the Project Manager as the role and
responsibility differs in each case. The planning and management effort for each
also varies considerably depending on the scale and complexity of the specific
infrastructure assets.
• A works contract is always awarded as a result of a procurement activity. Hence, a
thorough understanding of UNOPS procurement procedures is needed. A works
contract will have a 12 month Defects Notification Period in the contract unless
approved otherwise as per the relevant Operational Instruction.
• When the construction of an asset is going to be fully or partially contracted, a
separate construction supervision work package and a contract administration
work package is needed to supervise the works of the contractor in accordance
with the awarded contract.
• Note that it is more difficult to enforce delivery of a specified quality if the actual
management of the work is delivered by option (c) in a grants related capacity. This
may require careful consideration of the relevant entity capacities and balancing of
quality objectives as needed to support delivery by this methodology.
• A Defects period of some kind should be agreed in the Direct Implementation
modality to give some reassurance to the Partners that UNOPS is recognising a
continued commitment to the quality of the infrastructure output.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 

 4.2.1.E  Include works contracts administration

The Project Manager shall be responsible for including works contract N/A Category 1: Not applicable

administration work packages in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] for all N/A Category 2: Not applicable

infrastructure assets. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If ‘works contract administration’ is not to be provided by UNOPS as part of the
Legal Agreement(s).

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 63

• A defects notification period of typically 12 months should be included in the

Implementation Plan [Baseline] for each infrastructure asset to be constructed. The
defects notification period is part of the Implementation Stage and starts once
the ‘taking-over certificate’ is issued to the contractor, when the contractor has
substantially completed construction activities. During the defects notification
period, the contractor is contractually obliged to complete any outstanding work
stated in the ‘taking-over certificate’ and remedy any defects.
• Note that there may be differences of process to consider in the administration
of any alternative Works Contract if they are used in place of the approved FIDIC
based contracts.
• Note that particular expertise is required to understand and administer a contract.
Common issues are the lack of recognition of contractual protocols and standard
notices, time bars, checking of insurances and formal recording of potential claims
and variations. These may increase the risk to UNOPS and result in contractual
delays and disputes.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 
• UNOPS Procurement Manual
• Infrastructure Contract Management Guidance [forthcoming]
• PMM Extension [forthcoming]

 4.2.1.F  Include construction supervision work packages

The Project Manager shall be responsible for including construction supervision N/A Category 1: Not applicable
work packages in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] for all infrastructure assets. N/A Category 2: Not applicable
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If ‘construction supervision’ is not to be provided by UNOPS as part of the Legal
Agreement(s).

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• Construction supervision should not be confused with construction management.
The management of a construction site and construction activities is the
responsibility of the contractor who was contracted through a procurement
process to build an infrastructure asset on behalf of UNOPS. The construction
supervision is carried out by UNOPS, or on behalf of UNOPS and its partners, in
order to assure that the contractor is meeting the contractual obligations as per
the contract between UNOPS and the contractor. In most cases the total time
required for supervision of construction activities will either match or exceed the
length of time required for the construction activities.
• In the context of UNOPS, the role of Technical Coordinator for construction
supervision is usually carried out by a Site Engineer or Project Engineer. Project
Managers may also perform this role only if they possess the technical skills and
the relevant experience, such as a degree in civil engineering, architecture or
construction management, prior experience in construction supervision and if the
entire Project Board has authorized it by  4.3  and/or 4.13.4 .
• Only in the few cases in which UNOPS provides ‘direct implementation’ of
construction works, UNOPS is responsible for construction supervision,
construction management and construction activities.
• If community based construction methods are used, the role of UNOPS may be

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64 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

simply monitoring of progress with limited input in terms of supervision. This

will impact on the planning of time allocation and personnel but should not be
underestimated in regard to increased community management and support,
particularly for those activities which are more than basic labour related content.
• As per EOI.CSG.2017.01 every construction site needs to be inspected with a
minimum weekly frequency. The weekly reports should be compiled and inform
the Quarterly Health and Safety, Social and Environmental reports which are part
of  4.8.9 .
• The frequency of site visits should be defined in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]
within the relevant Work package Description. Particular attention should be
taken when planning for construction supervision of multi-asset projects since
depending on the complexity, scale and distance between assets, entirely different
supervision teams may be needed.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.7   Approve final project category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 
•  4.8.8   Manage reporting obligations 
•  4.2.2.D   Complete Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans  Social and
Environmental plans 
• Construction Supervision Guidance
• PMM Extension [forthcoming}

 4.2.1.G  Include post-completion assessment work packages

The Project Manager shall be responsible for including post-completion N/A Category 1: Not applicable

assessment work packages in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] for all N/A Category 2: Not applicable

infrastructure assets. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If construction is not to be provided by UNOPS as part of the Legal Agreement(s).

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• A post-completion assessment should not be confused with a Monitoring and
Evaluation Plan ( 4.2.2.A ). This assessment looks at the use of the infrastructure
asset delivered by UNOPS to determine possible design or construction
improvements that could inform future development of similar assets.
• It is in the best interests of UNOPS to evaluate the infrastructure asset after
its construction and use. This is essential to improve future infrastructure
development by use of lessons learned from previous work. It may be limited
to the period prior to Final Inspections at the end of the Defects Notification
Period and can be incorporated into the site visit at that time. The extent of
the Assessment may be quite simple for basic small buildings or unsealed road
infrastructure but can become a significant process for complex infrastructure
such as hospitals or prisons. The time needed to examine the piece of
infrastructure, ask users of their experience and document the findings may
therefore vary widely.
• The Assessment Report should be filed and any significant lessons learned
embedded in the Lessons Register for broader use and knowledge in UNOPS.

REFERENCES
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 65

 4.2.2  Complete Sub-Plans

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing the Sub-Plans. M Category 1: Mandatory
M Category 2: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.
M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board members should be consulted and informed. The Technical
Coordinators, the Technical Experts, the Programme Management Office, the
Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• Depending on the specific conditions of the project, but independently of its
category, Sub-Plans might be needed ‘as applicable’ to plan how a certain aspect or
technical discipline will be managed and delivered at the project level during all the
Implementation Stage for one, several or all work packages and/or teams. They are
considered as an annex to the Implementation Plan [Baseline].
• For instance, Sub-Plans can be an ‘expansion’ of the sustainable results, risk,
change, quality or communication management approaches developed as per
part of the Project Initiation Documentation, such as a ‘quality management plan’.
• For instance, Sub-Plans may include as per 3.17 a Gender Action Plan if it has been
determined as per 2.13 that gender mainstreaming is relevant, or may include a
monitoring and evaluation plan as per 3.16 .
• Depending on the outcome of the Social and Environmental Screening, done as
per  2.4 , a project might have to create specific Sub-Plans to address social and
environmental system requirements. These plans could be ‘Project Social and
Environmental Management Plan’, ‘Project Health and Safety Management Plan’
and ‘Sustainability Management Plan’.
• For instance, for Category 3 projects, depending on the scale and complexity of
the infrastructure assets to be delivered as part of the project, the Sub-Plans may
include a ‘site logistics plan’.
• Note that ‘plan for’ refers not only to a time schedule but also to cost, resources,
risks, and quality. Therefore, work packages for delivering the activities and
outputs related to each of the applicable Sub Plans should be identified in the
Implementation Plan [Baseline].
REFERENCES
• Health and Safety, Social and Environmental intranet

 4.2.2.A  Complete Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing a Monitoring and M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

Evaluation Plan. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
If carried out, the Project Board shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If required by the Legal Agreement(s).

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• An Monitoring and Evaluation Plan is a long term plan used to assess the
performance of projects, institutions and programs set up by governments,
international organizations and NGOs with the goal of improving current and
future management of outputs, outcomes and impacts.
• This Plan should not be confused with  4.2.1.G  Post-completion Assessment as a
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan is a much longer term plan that may include asset
elements but also assesses the longer term impact of the project more broadly
and can be applicable for every type of project.
• Note that any requirement for Monitoring and Evaluation that may be required
by the Partner should have been considered during the completion of the Legal

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66 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

Agreement(s) as per  3.1.3 . If this is required some years after the completion of
handing over the project outputs envisaged within the Legal Agreement(s), it may
be needed to sign additional Legal Agreement(s) for this work or recognise that the
Engagement will be open for many years with funds lying dormant to enable its
completion at a later date.

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective
•  3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 

 4.2.2.B  Complete Gender Action Plan

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing a Gender Action Plan. M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
APPLICABILITY
• If required by the Legal Agreement(s).
• If the result of the Gender Screening  2.1.4  indicates that a Gender Action Plan is
needed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• Project Managers may request support from the country office Gender Focal
Point, Gender Retainers or other technical experts for assistance. Note this could
include external resources from other organizations for support in preparation
or implementation. This may become a separate work package managed by a
Technical Coordinator depending on the scale and complexity of the agreed scope
within the Gender Action Plan.
• The Gender Action Plan should be informed by the gender screening completed as
per  2.1.4  and any analysis completed as per  3.1.2.B .

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective
• Gender Action Plan template
• Gender Mainstreaming Strategy

 4.2.2.C  Complete Capacity Building Plan

The Project Manager may complete a Capacity Building plan. O Category 1: Optional
O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
O Category 3: Optional

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners should be consulted and informed. The Technical Experts, the
Project Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services should be consulted.
• As capacity development is a fundamental part of UNOPS role and essential
for sustainable development, there may be opportunities to deliver specifically
funded activities or work packages on this topic. These will need to be planned to
understand their implications on time cost, scope and interaction with other work
packages within the project. They may include activities such as classroom or e
learning training courses, technical support during project delivery, mentoring or
other capacity development planning.

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective

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 4.2.2.D  Complete Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing the Project Health and N/A Category 1: Not applicable

Safety Management Plan, and the Project Social and Environmental Management Plan, M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

or the Sustainability Management Plan, as applicable. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable for this activity.

APPLICABILITY
• If created as per 3.1.2.B and/or if determined by the results of the Social and
Environmental Screening as per  2.1.5 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• The Health and Safety, Social and Environmental level of the country should be
checked. Projects situated in level 2 and 3 countries shall apply the full format
plans; projects situated in level 1 countries may apply the simplified project plan
versions.
• The Health and Safety, Social and Environmental plans at this stage are inevitably
preliminary as most of the specific risk factors that should inform them may not
yet be known or subject to change. It is recommended to include all Health and
Safety, Social and Environmental aspects identified at this stage, including relative
considerations of time, cost, resources.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.5   Complete Social and Environmental Screening 
•  3.1.2.B   Create sub-plans 

 4.2.2.E  Complete Closure Plan

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing the Closure Plan at the M Category 1: Mandatory

earliest possible time during the Implementation Stage. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• Forward planning the closure of the project is important to ensure all aspects are
considered as part of the implementation process. This is especially important if
premature closure due to early termination of the project occurs. Otherwise, more
detailed planning should be considered prior to the start of the last quarter and
included in the updated Implementation Plan (Baseline) at that time.
• A well-planned and executed project closure saves time, money and reduces client
dissatisfaction. Even if the project was well-executed, it can be undermined in the
last stage at great cost to UNOPS, the funding source / client and other project
stakeholders. Sufficient personnel resources need to be maintained in order
to effectively complete all the needs of the close-out and commissioning of the
service or product on time.
• Asset disposal is key to closure planning. Some funding sources might require that
a specific asset disposal plan be submitted for approval and/or that sustainability
considerations be included in the Legal Agreement(s).
• For operational closure, it is recommended to close no later than four months
from the end of the Legal Agreement(s). As per the Financial Rules and Regulations,
an engagement is to be financially closed no later than 18 months from the date
of operational closure.
• If the project is near the end of the Legal Agreement(s), the Project Manager
should start planning for closure activities, unless the likelihood of a project
extension has been clearly and formally stated by the funding source / client. In

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68 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

exceptional circumstances a premature closure request may be issued either by

the Engagement Authority [L2] or the funding sources and/or the clients. If this
happens, the Project Executive should decide on the way forward.
• Any physical archiving of records should be incorporated into the Closure Plan to
enable long term storage as required. This is particularly important for Category
3 projects where all records should be retained for an extended period to help
mitigate risks associated with potential claims.
• Note that ‘plan for’ refers not only to a time schedule but also to cost, resources,
risks, and quality.
REFERENCES
•  5   Closure Stage 
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

 4.3  Approve Implementation Plan [Baseline]

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for reviewing and M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

approving the Implementation Plan [Baseline], in collaboration with the entire M Category 2: Mandatory

Project Board. M Category 3: Mandatory

APPLICABILITY
• For Category 1 projects, this activity is applicable if the Implementation Plan
[Draft] was completed as per  4.2 .

AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the Project Executive shall instruct the Project Manager to start
with delivery activities of Implementation Stage.
• If rejected, the Project Executive shall request to the Project Manager that the
Implementation Plan [Baseline] is revised and re-submitted.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board members should be consulted. The Partners, the Engagement
Authority [L2], the Project Manager, the Technical Coordinators, the Technical
Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be informed.
• This activity is performed only once at the beginning of the Implementation Stage.
• Approving the Implementation Plan [Baseline] involves approving all its contents
such as assignation of Technical Coordinators, Work package descriptions, sub-
plans, Closure Plan and any other annex contained within.
• Once approved, potential changes and/or updates during Implementation Stage
to the Implementation Plan [Baseline] or any of its Sub-Plans, will be managed as
per   4.13 4  and  4.13 .

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 69

Quarterly planning
•• The activities  4.4  to  4.6  are to be completed during each quarter.

 4.4  Update Implementation Plan [Baseline]

The Project Manager shall be responsible for updating the Implementation Plan M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

[Baseline] including any of its Sub Plans on a minimum quarterly basis. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• For Category 1, if the Implementation Plan [Draft] was completed as per  4.2 .

CONDITIONS
• If updating the Implementation Plan [Baseline] involves an exception to the
project level tolerances, the Project Manager shall submit an Exception Report
to the Project Executive as per requirement 4.13 .
• If updating the Implementation Plan [Baseline] implies a major change, likely to
affect the Legal Agreement(s), the Project Executive shall complete a oneUNOPS
Legal Agreement(s) amendment request as per requirement 4.14 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board members, Head of Programme, Head of Support Services, and
the Project Management Office should be consulted. The Technical Coordinators,
Technical experts should be consulted and informed. Partners should be informed.
• The Project Initiation Documentation, Legal Agreement(s), prior Quarterly Reports,
Exception Plan and any other relevant output should be used as the basis for
updating the Implementation Plan [Baseline] and any Sub Plans.
• As the implementation of the project progresses, it is likely that there will be
changes to the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. This is a normal part of the project
management process and does not imply any inadequacy in the original planning.
it is more likely to occur in complex project operating environments than in
relatively risk free transactional projects but all projects should be updated on
at least a quarterly basis. This activity provides an opportunity to reconsider the
approach to a particular issue or replan elements including the Closure Plan.
• Depending on the nature of the change the Implementation Plan [Baseline] may need
immediate review, a possible change to the Legal Agreement(s) and consequent
revisions to the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. This activity may occur at any time.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception

 4.4.1  Update Cash Flow Forecast

The Project Manager shall be responsible for updating the Cash Flow Forecast M Category 1: Mandatory

[Update] on a minimum quarterly basis. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinator, the Technical Experts, the Project Management Office,
the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• This may be a relatively simple task for Category 1 projects due to the
transactional nature of the work, but becomes a critically important function for
Category 3 projects to ensure a clear recognition of both the current rates and
future expenditure rates. For instance, it may change due to the high variability of
work package delivery rates, site related issues, procurement delays of high value
equipment and other challenging cash flow parameters.
REFERENCES
• Finance Management Perspective

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70 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.4.2  Complete Quarterly Plan

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing the Quarterly Plan for O Category 1: Optional

the upcoming quarter and annex it to the Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline] R Category 2: Recommended

to be approved at  4.5 . M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If the Implementation Stage is less than three months.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services, the Technical
Coordinators, the Technical experts and the Project Management Office should be
consulted.
• The planning of the ‘next quarter’, is developed using the Implementation Plan
[Baseline] and the Quarterly Status Report for the current quarter, the Online
Registers, as well as using any relevant information from completed and on-going
work packages and deliverables. This will enable an assessment of the project
in respect to the project-level tolerances and the planning of the ‘quarter-level’
tolerances.
• All the relevant work packages and their respective deliverables, as well as the
interfaces between work packages which will be executed during the next quarter
should be clearly identified in the Quarterly Plan.
• The Quarterly Plan is forecasting the work package activities and outputs to
be completed in the next quarter. This is updated in the Implementation Plan
(either Baseline or Updated Baseline from previous quarter) to enable review by
the Project Board. If rejected, the Project Manager can revise and resubmit the
Implementation Plan for approval.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.4  Principle #4: Manage by stages
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

 4.5  Approve Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline]

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for approving or M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

rejecting the Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline], including the Quarterly Plan (if M Category 2: Mandatory

any), in collaboration with the entire Project Board. M Category 3: Mandatory

APPLICABILITY
• For Category 1, if the Implementation Plan [Draft] was completed as per  4.2 .

AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the Project Executive shall instruct the Project Manager to
continue delivery activities of Implementation Stage for the next quarter.
• If rejected, the Project Executive shall request to the Project Manager that the
Implementation Plan [Updated] is revised and re-submitted for approval prior to
continuing delivery activities of the next quarter.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board members should be consulted. The Partners, the Engagement
Authority [L2], the Project Manager, the Technical Coordinators, the Technical
Experts, the Project Management Office, the head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be informed.
• In order to either approve or reject it, the Project Executive must have received the
Quarterly Status Report from the Project Manager as per  4.8.9.A  and the Quarterly
Plan (if required) as per  4.4.2 , and any Exception Plan as per 4.14 .
REFERENCES
•  4.14   Control Legal Agreement(s) changes 
•   4.8.9.A   Submit Quarterly Status Report 

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 71

 4.6  Ensure Delivery Teams planning activities

The Project Manager shall be responsible for ensuring that each Technical M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

Coordinator plans the activities of its respective Delivery Team. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If ‘delivery’ teams are being identified in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators and the Technical Experts should be consulted and
informed.
• The Technical Coordinator responsible for each Delivery Team has a responsibility
to plan the activities of the team. This may be a simple recognition of the activities
to be undertaken with time lines as needed, or may be considerably more
complex depending on the work package for the Delivery Team. Therefore, the
Project Manager must ensure that this activity has been completed to provide
some assurance that it is achievable and in line with expectations.
• For Category 3 projects: when a work package is contracted through a
procurement activity, it will be the responsibility of the contract holder to plan the
activities. In certain cases, such as construction work packages or construction
supervision work packages, it is recommended that Team Coordinators formalize
their planning activities in a Team Plan as per  4.6.1 .
• The Project Manager should pay special attention to interdependencies between
work packages and their tolerances, since poor planning may result in exceptions
for the work packages being implemented by a Delivery Team, which may result in
project exceptions.

 4.6.1  Complete Delivery Team Plan

O Category 1: Optional
A Technical Coordinator may complete a Team Plan for its Delivery Team.
O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Project Manager shall be accountable. R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Service should be consulted if the Technical Coordinator
is a UNOPS person.
• A detailed Delivery Team Plan is recommended for infrastructure work
packages as a risk mitigation measure to clearly identify the specific roles and
responsibilities for the Team members
• Depending on the scale and complexity of the infrastructure assets to be delivered
as part of the project, Team Plans may be created by a Technical Coordinator to
plan the delivery of all the work packages and all the deliverables of that team. For
instance, a ‘construction contractor’ that was assigned five work packages (i.e. five
schools) may have a detail plan for the ‘construction activities’ which details how
the five work packages will be implemented.
• If Sub-Plans were created as per  4.1.2 , they might inform the creation of team
plans. For instance, in a project consisting of building several infrastructure assets,
if the project has a ‘quality management plan’, it will inform each ‘construction
contractor’ when developing their respective team plan.
• Note that for Category 3 projects the responsibility will change depending on
the implementation modality. For fully contracted modality, it will be the sole
responsibility of the contractor to complete them, such as a ‘construction plan’. For
partially contracted modality it may be UNOPS responsibility, if UNOPS personnel
are responsible for delivery of a complex work-package, such as ‘construction’. For
directly implemented modality, UNOPS is entirely responsible for all the planning
of work package delivery and the execution of all work packages..

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72 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.6.2  Approve Delivery Team Plan

The Project Manager shall be responsible and accountable for the approval or M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

rejection of a Team Plan. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
APPLICABILITY
• If Delivery Team Plan has been created as per  4.6.1 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, should be informed.
• The Project Manager should cross check the plans as part of the approval process.
This is to minimise potential overlaps or clashes between plans that could impact
on the project planning activities. This may be particularly important in Category 3
projects.

Outputs [Planning]

PLANNING ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS STATUS RELATED ACTIVITIES

1 Implementation Plan [Baseline] Completed  4.2 

2 Sub-Plans Completed  4.2.2 

3 Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline] Completed  4.4 

4 Cash Flow Forecast [Updated] Completed  4.4.1 

5 Quarterly Plan Completed  4.4.2 

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 73

Delivery activities

PLAN DELIVER

CONTROL

Project Team

INPUTS

Project Management Office

Shared Services Centre

Technical Coordinators

Head of Support Services

Project Board members
Engagement Authority
All outputs from planning and monitoring activities

Head of Programme
Project Executive

Technical experts
Project Manager
OUTPUTS

RELATED OUTPUTS
Category 1

Category 2

Category 3
Refer to Delivery Outputs [Delivery activities] (p. 88)

Partners
ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES
 4.7   Direct project  M M M C,I A C,I R C,I - C,I C,I C C - -

 4.7.1   Lead Project Board  M M M I A I R C,I - - - - - - -

 4.7.1.A   Facilitate quarterly Project Board meetings  M if M if M I A C,I R C,I - C C I I - 1

 4.7.1.B   Represent Senior Users and Senior Suppliers  M if M if M if I A I R C,I - C C C C - -

 4.7.2   Liaise with media  M if M if M if I A I R C,I - C,I C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.7.3   Provide direction  M M M - A - R C,I - C C C C C -

 4.7.4   Report engagement status  M M M - A - R C,I - - I I I I -

 4.7.4.A   Complete project quarterly assurance   M M M - A - R C,I - C C C C C 2

 4.8   Manage project  M M M - - I A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.8.1   Assign Technical Coordinator roles  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.8.1.A   Assign work packages  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.8.2   Manage sustainable results  R M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.8.3   Manage finances  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.8.4   Manage stakeholders  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.8.5   Manage risk and issues  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.8.5.A   Manage health, safety, social and environmental risks  N/A M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.8.6   Manage resources  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.8.7   Manage quality  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.8.8   Manage reporting obligations  M M M - - - A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I C 3

 4.8.9   Report project status  M M M I I I A R C,I C,I C,I C,I C,I - -

 4.8.9.A   Submit Quarterly Status Report  M M M - I I A R C,I C C,I C,I C,I - 4

 4.9   Deliver work packages  M M M - - - - A R C - - - - -

 4.9.1   Accept work packages  M M M - - - - A R C - - - - -

 4.9.2   Execute work packages  M M M - - - - A R C - - - - -

 4.9.3   Report work package status  M M M - - - - A R C - - - - -

 4.9.4   Handover work packages  M M M - - - - A R C C,I - - - 5

 4.10   Handover project output(s)  M M M I I I A R I I C,I I I I 6

 4.10.1   Coordinate official handover ceremony  O O R C,I I C,I A R I I C,I I I - -

 4.10.2   Complete lessons learned workshop(s)  O R R C,I I C A R C C C,I C C - -

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed System: oneUNOPS

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74 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

Delivery activities
•• The required ‘delivery’ activities for the Implementation Stage can begin
only once the Implementation Plan [Baseline] has been approved by the Project
Executive in collaboration with the entire Project Board as per  4.3 .
•• The required ‘delivery’ activities are applicable during each quarter.

 4.7  Direct project

The Project Executive shall be responsible for directing the project as a minimum M Category 1: Mandatory

on a quarterly basis, in collaboration with the entire Project Board. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Board members, the Project Manager, the Technical
Experts and the Project Management Office should be consulted and informed.
The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
• In addition to the quarterly meetings the Project Executive, in collaboration with
the entire Project Board, should provide ‘ad-hoc’ direction to the Project Manager
whenever it is needed or requested.
REFERENCES
• Executive Office Directives and Instructions
• Operational Directives and Instructions
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3 Project management principles
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7.5 Definition of roles: Project team

 4.7.1  Lead Project Board

The Project Executive shall be responsible for leading the entire Project Board. M Category 1: Mandatory
M Category 2: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.
M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager should be consulted and informed. the Partners and the
Project Board should be informed.
• The Project Board is formulated and organised to provide direction to the project.
Its members assigned as per  3.2.4  should be aware of their role and ready to
actively participate after the Legal Agreement(s) is signed as per  3.1.7 .
• As the Project Executive has been involved from the earliest stages of the
opportunity, it enables the Executive to effectively lead the Board and direct the
project accordingly.

REFERENCES
•  3.2.5   Complete Project Board initial meeting 

 4.7.1.A  Facilitate quarterly Project Board meetings

The Project Executive shall be responsible for facilitating each quarterly Project M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

Board meeting. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If there is a Project Board as per requirement  3.2.4 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board and the Project Manager should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Project Management Office should be consulted.
The Partners, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services.

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 75

• The Project Board meetings should be as a minimum on a quarterly basis (time-

driven control), however, it may be required to meet more often at critical points
(event-driven controls) during Implementation Stage due to the specific direction
that may be required, for instance at achievement of key milestones or for
decision on project exceptions.
• In case of physical or virtual absence of the Project Executive for a Project Board
meeting, then the chairing of the meeting can be delegated to other Board
members on an ad-hoc basis, preferably UNOPS personnel (if any in the board).
In situations where these may not exist, such as Category 1 projects, the Project
Executive may delay the meeting, hold a virtual meeting by agreement with the
Project Manager.
• In case of physical or virtual absence of a Senior User or a Senior Supplier, the
Project Executive is responsible to represent their interests as per  4.7.1.B , and
communicate meeting notes to the absent member.
• To facilitate an effective meeting, all required documents should be circulated to
all Project Board members at least one week before the meeting. Minutes of the
meeting should be circulated to members and filed.

REFERENCES
•  3.2.5   Complete Project Board initial meeting 

 4.7.1.B  Represent Senior Users and Senior Suppliers

The Project Executive shall be responsible for representing the interest of the M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

Senior User(s) and Senior Supplier(s). M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If either of Senior User(s) and/or Senior Supplier(s) are absence in a Project
Board meeting
• If the project has no Senior User(s) or no Senior Supplier(s).
• If there is no Project Board as per  3.2.4 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager should be consulted and informed. The Technical Experts,
the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services should be consulted. The Partners and Project Board should be informed.
• As noted in requirement  3.2.4 , Senior Users and Suppliers may not be required
to be part of a Project Board, or if appointed, may not always be available for each
Board meeting. In these circumstances the Project Executive can represent their
interests during the meeting. In some cases, the Project Executive may need to
obtain written consent for representing a Senior User or Senior Supplier in Project
Board meetings.
• In situations where there are multiple entities on the Board, it may be determined
by the Project Executive whether another Board member has a more appropriate
capacity to represent the missing Board member and can act on their behalf
during the meeting.
• There are cases when it is difficult to have effective Senior User(s) and/or Senior
Supplier(s) in the Project Board. These cases could be, but are not limited to:
projects implemented in rural or challenging security environments, or projects in
which there is no power for decision making by government representatives acting
as Senior Users on the Project Board.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.3.A   Identify potential Project Board members 
• 3.2.4   Assign Project Board members
•  3.2.5   Complete Project Board initial meeting 

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76 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.7.2  Liaise with media

The Project Executive shall be responsible for liaising with the media. M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
APPLICABILITY
• If official statements are needed.
• If the media expressed interest in the project.
• If information needs to be given to the media.
• If official UNOPS representation is needed during a project related event.
• If requested by the Project Manager as per requirement  4.8.4 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager, the Technical Experts, the Project Management Office, the
Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and
informed. The Partners and the Project Board should be informed.
• Whilst the Project Manager may normally be responsible for communications
to designated external stakeholders and other interested parties, there may be
situations in which the Project Executive, in collaboration with the Project Board,
has to provide both guidance and specific attendance at events. These may
include high profile project related events, official statements (which the Project
Manager may not be authorised to make on behalf of the project and/or on
behalf of UNOPS), support to high level delegations visiting the project, and similar
high profile or protocol situations. This liaison activity may be coordinated by the
Project Manager or the project support team as needed.
• The Project Manager may liaise with the media on behalf of the Project Executive
upon formal approval by the Project Executive.
• Note that official messages are considered written/formal statements representing
the UNOPS perspective or position (often on highly sensitive or topical matters) and
only ‘duly authorized’ UNOPS personnel are authorised to deliver those messages.
These are generally senior management from Country Director upwards.
• At public events related to an specific project, there is generally no need to
escalate for an official UNOPS position or message. However the country/portfolio
management should be informed that the event is occurring. In the course of
interactions with the media, UNOPS personnel should follow the principles of
OI.CG.2018.01: Media Relations (Section 3.4), stick to the area of competence, be
factual, and be aware that what is being said is a matter of public record.
• In need of support and/or advice, the communications focal point or the
Communications Group should be consulted in good time.

REFERENCES
• Intranet Communications Group

 4.7.3  Provide direction

The Project Executive shall be responsible for providing direction to the Project M Category 1: Mandatory

Manager when is requested or considered necessary. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager should be consulted and informed. The Technical Experts,
the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support
Services and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• The need for direction of the project is not restricted to Project Board meetings
only. Depending on the scale and complexity of the project much more regular
communication and direction may be needed to satisfactorily direct the project.
This may be provided on an ad hoc basis or be subject to a regular review process
as determined by the Project Executive.

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 77

 4.7.4  Report engagement status

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for informing the M Category 1: Mandatory

status of the engagement to the Engagement Authority [L2] when considered M Category 2: Mandatory

necessary. M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager should be consulted and informed. The Project Management
Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services and the Shared
Services Centre should be informed.
• The current status may be requested by the Engagement Authority (Delegation of
Authority Level 2 or Level 3) as a result of discussions with Partners, corporate or
other formal requests for information.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.1 Engagements and projects
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.4 Project success criteria
• Management Control Perspective
• Governance Perspective

 4.7.4.A  Complete project quarterly assurance

The Project Executive shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS project M Category 1: Mandatory

quarterly assurance process. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager should be consulted and informed. The Technical Experts,
the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support
Services and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• Note that there have been instances of Project Management Offices conducting
the Assurance process. This is not good practice due to the impact on the role
of line management and blurring of the issues of separation of duty. They can
support the assurance process but the Project Executive is responsible for
completing the assurance process.
• The project assurance process is facilitated by discussions and consultations with
relevant personnel. The timing for the minimum quarterly Project Board meetings
should be linked to the quarterly assurance to ensure the best possible input to
the assurance process. Note that project assurance should inform Engagement
Assurance as any issues at a project level impact on the whole Engagement. For
example, an Engagement with six projects, five of which are going well with one
having serious issues, should still only be rated based on the problem project. This
upholds the P3M3 methodology and its ‘weakest link’ aspect of assessment.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.1 Engagements and projects
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.4 Project success criteria
• Management Control Perspective
• Governance Perspective

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78 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.8  Manage project

The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing the project on an M Category 1: Mandatory

ongoing-basis on behalf of the entire Project Board. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted. The
Project Board should be informed.
• The Project Manager is required to effectively manage all aspects of a project.
Only the key elements are described in requirements  4.8.1  to  4.8.9  as all of these
directly contribute to the Project Success Criteria. It does not absolve the Project
manager from the responsibility of managing all other aspects not described in
these sub requirements.
REFERENCES
• Executive Office Directives and Instructions
• Operational Directives and Instructions
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3 Project management principles
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7.5 Definition of roles: Project team

 4.8.1  Assign Technical Coordinator roles

The Project Manager shall be responsible for assigning Technical Coordinator M Category 1: Mandatory

roles to each Delivery team in accordance with the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• Note that for projects that do not have dedicated Technical Coordinators, the
Project Manager may perform the role of one or more Technical Coordinators only
if the Project Manager has the necessary technical skills, and the entire Project
Board has approved it when approving the Implementation Plan as per  4.3  or
when authorizing the Project Manager to be a Technical Coordinator as per  4.13.4 .
REFERENCES
•  4.13.4   Approve Project Manager to be Technical Coordinator
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.7.5 Definition of roles: Project team

 4.8.1.A  Assign work packages

The Project Manager shall be responsible for assigning work packages to M Category 1: Mandatory

Technical Coordinators in accordance with the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• For a work package to be assigned to a Technical Coordinator, it shall have been
identified in the Implementation Plan [Baseline] describing what is to be delivered,
what constraints will apply, what interfaces need to be controlled, what quality
requirements and what tolerances are to be used for the work package. This
information is contained within each ‘work package description’, and depending on
the complexity of the work package it may be just one deliverable or several pages

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 79

listing all deliverables, dates and other relevant information.

• Work package assignment may be kept at a very low level of formalisation for
small teams such as in some Category 1 or 2 projects. As the Implementation Plan
(Baseline) will be similarly simple, it may be a minimal process such as the names of
relevant persons assigned roles should be recorded with clear definition of their
tasks, progress recorded and completion of relevant package recorded as per  4.9 .
Depending on the scale and complexity of the work then there may be a significant
number of packages that require more formal processes. An example is a works
contract - it is still a work package but has very substantial processes involved in its
procurement, management, recording and delivery processes.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.6  Principle #6: Focus on outputs
• Quality Management Perspective
• Technical Management Perspective

 4.8.2  Manage sustainable results

The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing the project in order to R Category 1: Recommended

achieve the sustainable results objectives defined in the Implementation Plan M Category 2: Mandatory

[Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts should be consulted.
• There are two aspects to managing sustainable results in projects. The first relates
to the actual inputs, activities and outputs within the project which should be
managed in the most sustainable way consistent with the Implementation Plan
(Baseline) and any specific Sustainability Plan. The use of best practices during
implementation is the most easily managed element of managing sustainable
results as it is inherent in the components and work packages within the
project delivery process. It is noted that work packages such as procurement or
recruitment have existing processes to enhance sustainability and these should be
implemented wherever possible.
• The more complex aspect for managing sustainable results relates to the
sustainability of the outputs delivered by the project. In some instances the link
to the SDGs may be tenuous as the output may not be followed by appropriate
outcomes and therefore impacts, all of which may be outside the control of
UNOPS due to the project completion at the point of outputs. For instance,
UNOPS may build a school building (the output) which may not be staffed or
supplied with learning materials leading to a poor education for users of the
school (the outcome). All of which is outside UNOPS’s capacity to address.
• What could be done in this situation is to consider increasing the potential
sustainability of the output by including use of whole life cycle cost analysis and
green building techniques to reduce future maintenance and operational costs,
training of local parent/teacher groups to support simple maintenance activities,
agreements to procure furniture, learning materials in support of the facility. All
of these could form part of UNOPS work which requires management as per this
Requirement to then have more influence on the sustainability (and therefore
impact) of the asset after its handover. A particularly important sustainability
consideration for Category 3 projects is the impact of climate change affecting the
continued functionality of infrastructure assets, as these assets may last for 50
years or more.

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective

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80 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.8.3  Manage finances

M Category 1: Mandatory
The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing project finances
M Category 2: Mandatory
ensuring expenditure and cash availability is within the agreed tolerances
defined in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts should be consulted.
• A highly variable cash flow associated with specific work packages, such as
infrastructure Works Contracts, can have significant implications for cash
availability within Tranches so these require careful analysis and management.
• The capacity to manage finances is improved with good cash flow forecasting as
per requirement  4.4.1  augmented by a realistic understanding of the operational
realities and previous history of similar projects, This is an important aspect
for consideration in both planning and delivery processes to ensure effective
management of finances.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception
• Finance Management Perspective

 4.8.4  Manage stakeholders

The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing stakeholders in accordance M Category 1: Mandatory

with the Implementation Plan [Baseline], and any direction from the Project Executive. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONDITIONS
• If official statements or involvement with the media is needed, the Project
Manager shall inform the Project Executive who would act as per  4.7.2 

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed. The Technical
Experts should be consulted.
• The project stakeholders are progressively identified as per  2.1.3 , 3.1.1 ,  4.2  and
multiple other points of interaction with stakeholders as the project is implemented.
• The extent of interactions with the stakeholders in terms of type, content, intent
and frequency can make a substantial difference to the delivery of a successful
project. The time and effort needed to manage this process should not be
underestimated especially for complex multi-stakeholder projects.
• Community Engagement for infrastructure projects and especially Direct
Implementation projects can be challenging and may require a specific work
package and Technical Coordinator. In particular, road projects may have
significant community involvement due to the impact on local communities.
• The stakeholder analysis completed in  2.1.3  whilst updated in the Project Initiation
Documentation and on a quarterly basis in the Implementation Plan (Baseline) may
need more specific focus during both Initiation and Implementation Stages. This
could be due to substantial changes in stakeholder relationships, personnel or
external factors. Note this may be an important aspect for management with
Category 1 projects that do not have either Project Initiation Documentation or an
Implementation Plan.

REFERENCES
•  2.1.3   Complete stakeholder analysis 
• Stakeholder Management Perspective

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 81

 4.8.5  Manage risk and issues

The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing risks and issues to the M Category 1: Mandatory

extent possible to ensure that risks remain within the agreed tolerances defined M Category 2: Mandatory

in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts should be consulted.
• As per requirement  0.3  risks should be updated regularly commensurate with their
proximity and risk level. In some cases, this may mean a review every quarter whilst
in other cases it may mean continuous review, depending on the details for the risk.
• For those risks that are realised and become issues the appropriate Exception
Reports should be created as per activity  4.13.1 .
• Note that with the introduction of an online Enterprise Risk Management system
in oneUNOPS this process will be significantly improved and enable more
substantive online management of risks, issues and lessons learned.
• The management of a risk that becomes an issue generally results in a change
management process as per 4.12 , 4.13 or  4.14 . Care is needed to consistently
assign the correct level of risk/issue owner and the risk/issue management plan
actionee. This enables effective change management processes at work package,
project and Legal Agreement(s) levels due to the relevant responsibilities and
accountability of the roles at each level.
• Certain risks and issues may need a higher frequency of review compared to
others. For instance, ‘high risks’ with ‘close proximity’ would need daily review,
whereas, ‘low risks’ may need longer intervals such as ‘weekly’ or ‘monthly’.

REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception
• Risk Management Perspective

 4.8.5.A  Manage health, safety, social and environmental risks

The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing the project ensuring N/A Category 1: Not applicable

that any health, safety and/or social and environmental risks are managed. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• As UNOPS has very specific requirements embedded in all projects for Health and
Safety, Social and Environmental Management, these need to be understood and
implemented by the Project Manager. Failure to do so can lead to reputational
damage, loss of life and/or unacceptable environmental damage.
• Whilst there are far more significant implications for multi-asset and/or direct
implementation of infrastructure projects, the requirements for management of
Health and Safety, Social and Environmental apply to all types of projects. This
activity involves mandatory reporting as part of requirement  4.8.9.A .
• Any health and safety and/or social and environmental incident taking place on
a UNOPS project site shall be classified according to the definition provided in
EOI.CSG.2017.02, and reported through the prescribed channels. Serious health
and safety and/or social and environmental incidents shall be the subject of
independent investigation.

REFERENCES
• Health and Safety, Social and Environmental intranet

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82 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.8.6  Manage resources

The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing resources, including M Category 1: Mandatory

the project team, assets, suppliers and grantee support, in accordance with the M Category 2: Mandatory

Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• Portfolio Management consideration: the use of shared resources at an office level
to be used on multiple projects whilst helpful to reduce direct project costs, has
potential implications for prioritisation and effectiveness of use especially in surge
situations. These matters should be discussed to enable effective support from
these resources as they are not directly managed by the Project Manager.
• Managing project resources includes, but is not limited to, exercising care with
property belonging to Funding Sources, Clients and other project stakeholders
while the resource is under UNOPS control or being used by UNOPS personnel.

REFERENCES
• Resource Management Perspective

 4.8.7  Manage quality

M Category 1: Mandatory
The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing the quality of the
M Category 2: Mandatory
project, ensuring that quality of work packages and deliverables complies with
the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• The quality related aspects in projects are becoming increasing important in the
development context. Value for money and quality related aspects are key points
in discussions with Partners as well as obvious indicators of effective project
output. The definition of quality, its tolerances and the monitoring processes
required to assess compliance can be significant areas for a Project Manager to
both understand and implement.
• Quality is strongly linked to sustainable development as it is implicit that low
quality results in a lower impact in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Conversely, if quality standards are too high, it may also fail if the standard cannot
be maintained in future after the project is finished. This implies that recognition
or calibration of the level of expectation, the balancing of these aspects and their
effective management will deliver an optimum output for quality in the project.

REFERENCES
• Quality Management Perspective

 4.8.8  Manage reporting obligations

The Project Manager shall be responsible for managing the reporting obligations M Category 1: Mandatory

defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed.
The Technical Experts and the Shared Services Centre should be consulted.

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• These reporting obligations may include specific quarterly, half yearly, or yearly
narrative reports on progress, financial reports, communications products such as
promotional materials, videos, display materials and/ or other kinds of reports in
accordance with the Legal Agreement(s).
• In some cases the Legal Agreement(s) has reporting obligations that mandate
certain reports and/or documents to be submitted to particular project
stakeholders.
• Particular care is needed with reporting obligations as it has been a continuous
source of negative feedback to the organisation regarding meeting our obligations
for timely effective reporting.

REFERENCES
• 3.1.3   Complete Legal Agreement(s) [Final] 

 4.8.9  Report project status

The Project Manager shall be responsible for reporting project status to the M Category 1: Mandatory

entire Project Board. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONDITIONS
• As defined in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]
• If considered necessary by the Project Manager
• If requested by the Project Executive

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the, Technical Experts, the Project Management
Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be
consulted and informed. The Partners, the Engagement Authority [L2] and the
Project Board members should be informed.
• This report is issued by the Project Manager to the entire Project Board at
progress within a quarter or upon a significant event.
• The reporting arrangements are defined in the Implementation Plan [Baseline],
including: The frequency within a quarter, or ad hoc requirement for specific
events, and the associated report format. This may be an interim report on
progress between the formal Quarterly Status Reports but does not replace the
requirement  4.8.9.A .

 4.8.9.A  Submit Quarterly Status Report

The Project Manager shall be responsible for submitting the Quarterly Status M Category 1: Mandatory

Report to the Project Executive. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the, Technical Experts, the Project Management
Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be
consulted and informed. The Engagement Authority [L2] and the Project Board
members should be informed.
• This report will enable the Project Executive to approve the Quarterly Plan when
approving the Implementation Plan [Updated Baseline]as per  4.5 .
• This report includes Health and Safety, Social and Environmental quarterly
reporting as set in EOI.CSG.2017.01 as per activity  4.8.5.A .

REFERENCES
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

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84 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.9  Deliver work packages

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for delivering assigned work M Category 1: Mandatory

packages in accordance with the Implementation Plan [Baseline], and the relevant M Category 2: Mandatory

Work package Description. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts should be consulted.
• As projects can only be delivered with the use of specific work packages that are
assigned, executed and handed over, it is an essential part of the project delivery
process.
• Whilst a transactional project (Category 1) may have a minimum of one work
package spanning the full duration of the implementation period, more complex
advisory projects (Category 2) may have multiple work packages.
• Infrastructure implementation projects (Category 3), depending on the scale of the
work, amount of assets and implementation modality, may have from perhaps a
minimum of 5-7 work packages to as many as 50 or more work packages spanning
over multiple years and with different start and finish dates.
• The responsibility to deliver each work package is of a Technical Coordinator while
the accountability for all work packages lies with the Project Manager and can be a
very significant part of the project management activities.

REFERENCES
•  1.1   Determine project management category 
•  2.1.7   Approve project management category 
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 
•  4.2   Complete Implementation Plan [Baseline] 
•  4.2.1   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements 
•  4.2.1.A   Include Design Brief(s) 
•  4.2.1.B   Include design development work packages 
•  4.2.1.C   Include design review work packages 
•  4.2.1.D   Include construction work packages 
•  4.2.1.E   Include works contract administration work packages 
•  4.2.1.F   Include construction supervision work packages 
•  4.2.1.G   Include post-completion assessment work packages 
•  4.3   Approve Implementation Plan [Baseline] 

 4.9.1  Accept work packages

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for accepting work packages M Category 1: Mandatory

assigned by the Project Manager in accordance with the Implementation Plan M Category 2: Mandatory

[Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts should be consulted.
• All the deliverables of a work package, including dates, quality and approval
criteria, are defined in a Work package Description within the Implementation Plan
[Baseline].
• Note that in the instance of a work package being implemented by an external
entity, this will be through a formal process of some type and in this situation, the
work package description will be the Terms of Reference, tender documentation or
technical specification for goods or services.

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 4.9.2  Execute work packages

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for executing assigned work M Category 1: Mandatory

packages in accordance with the Implementation Plan [Baseline], and the relevant M Category 2: Mandatory

Work package Description. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Expert should be consulted.
• The Technical Coordinator has responsibility to control the quality of deliverables
against the quality requirements for that specific work package as defined in the
Implementation Plan [Baseline].
• Depending on the complexity of the assigned work packages, a Technical
Coordinator may create a Team Plan as per  4.6.1 .
• The Project Manager can perform the role of one or more Technical Coordinators
only if the Project Manager has the necessary technical skills, and the entire
Project Board has approved it as per 4.13.4 .
• For Category 3 projects, work packages are normally configured around the
requirements  4.2.1.A  to  4.2.1.G . Particular care is needed in execution of work
packages by UNOPS personnel through ‘Direct Implementation’ modalities to
ensure a clear segregation of duties. Any lack of clarity in the roles of management
control, assurance or delivery can result in confusion and poorer project outputs
affecting future use of the asset.
REFERENCES
•  4.13.4   Approve Project Manager to be Technical Coordinator
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception
• Management Control Perspective
• Quality Management Perspective
• Technical Management Perspective

 4.9.3  Report work package status

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for reporting work package status M Category 1: Mandatory

of all the assigned work packages to the Project Manager. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts should be consulted.
• A Work package status report may vary from a simple email, a substantial written
report or a reporting arrangement agreed upon in a contract as required in the
respective Team Plan or as considered necessary by a Technical Coordinator or as
requested by the Project Manager.
• The reporting arrangements are defined in the respective work package
description (or its related contract) within the Implementation Plan [Baseline],
including: the frequency within (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc); and format (PDF,
email or other).
• All work packages that are in progress should be reported by the Technical
Coordinator on at least a monthly basis to the Project Manager. This ensures the
Project Manager is aware of the status, any trends, issues or interfaces problems
between work packages. This information is critical for the Project Manager to
enable preparation of reports to the Project Board and to be able to respond to
any issues in a prompt manner.
• In critical technical stages of highly complex matters and depending on the type
of technical work, it is recommended to shorten this reporting period to biweekly,
weekly or even daily. This contributes to risk management.

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86 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.9.4  Handover work packages

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for completing the handover M Category 1: Mandatory

of work package deliverables in accordance with the relevant Work package M Category 2: Mandatory

Description within the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office should be consulted and informed. The Technical
Experts should be consulted.
• When work packages are executed by Technical Coordinators external to UNOPS,
the handover of the related deliverables will need to be formally recorded.
• There are implications for Category 3 projects for handover of design packages by
Consultants to UNOPS and for construction work packages implemented by Works
Contractors. This process has legal implications with the transfer of liabilities
to UNOPS and can create significant risks for the project if not understood and
managed. If the Design package is modified after handover, or changed during
construction it can potentially invalidate any Liability that the Consultant had in the
Contract. After handover of the completed asset to UNOPS by the construction
contractor UNOPS has liability for the asset until its consequent handover to the
Partner or beneficiary as per 4.10 .
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.6  Principle #6: Focus on outputs

 4.10  Handover project output(s)

The Project Manager shall be responsible for handing over the completed M Category 1: Mandatory

project output(s) in accordance with the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office should be consulted and informed. The Partners,
Engagement Authority [L2], the Project Board, the Head of Programme, the Head of
Support Services, Technical Coordinators, Technical Experts and the Shared Services
Centre should be informed.
• There is always some form of project output generated by a project, whether it is a
simple project or a multi-year multi donor programme. This is normally captured in the
Results Based Reporting process. The extent to which the acceptance and handover of
the project outputs is formalised should be specified in the Legal Agreement(s).
• It is recommended to celebrate project success through official handover ceremonies
or similar events as per  4.10.1 .
• Proper capacity building and handover is important from a sustainability
perspective. When the project outputs are handed over, specific recommendations
and follow up action with the recipients may be needed for effective usage of the
project output. For instance, for infrastructure projects, this may include operations
and maintenance manuals with associated training activities.
• In cases where a project has multiple outputs, some of those outputs may be
ready to progressively hand over during the Implementation Stage. For instance
for a Category 3 project which involves the design and construction of ten schools,
four may be ready first, then another four and after the last two infrastructure
assets are handed over, this work package is still not completed. The work package
for both the construction contractor and the construction supervision team,
will continue generally for one year after the handover of the asset due to the
contractually obligated Defects Notification Period.
REFERENCES
•  4.15   Approve project output(s) handover completion
• PMM Extension (forthcoming)

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 4.10.1  Coordinate official handover ceremony

The Project Manager may coordinate an official handover ceremony. O Category 1: Optional
O Category 2: Optional
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable.
R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Board, the Project Management Office should
be consulted and informed. The Engagement Authority [L2], the Technical
Coordinator, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be
informed.
• In some cases it is important to ‘celebrate’ the milestone of completing the
handover of project outputs through an official handover ceremony or similar
event. This type of event gathers the Project Board, the project team, the Partners,
other key project stakeholders and official UNOPS representatives (such as the
Regional Director or Country Director), and the media in a formal setting for an
official handover ceremony. For projects with multiple outputs several ceremonies
may be held or only one at the handover of the last output.
• Note that official messages’ are considered written/formal statements representing
the UNOPS perspective or position (often on highly sensitive or topical matters) and
only ‘duly authorized’ UNOPS personnel are authorised to deliver those messages.
These are generally senior management from Country Director upwards.
• At public events related to an specific project, there is generally no need to request
for an official UNOPS position or message. However the UNOPS office management
should be informed that the event is occurring. In the course of interactions with
the media, UNOPS personnel should follow the principles of OI.CG.2018.01: Media
Relations (Section 3.4), stick to the area of competence, be factual, and be aware
that what is being said is a matter of public record.
• In need of support and/or advice, the communications focal point or the
Communications Groups should be consulted in good time.

REFERENCES
• Intranet Communications Group
•  4.7.2   Liaise with media
•  4.8.4   Manage stakeholders

 4.10.2  Complete lessons learned workshop(s)

The Project Manager may complete lesson learned workshop(s). O Category 1: Optional
R Category 2: Recommended
If carried out, the Project Executive shall be accountable. R Category 3: Recommended

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners and the Project Management Office should be consulted and
informed. The Project Board, the Technical Coordinators, the Technical Experts,
the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be consulted.
The Engagement Authority [L2] should be informed.
• This activity may be carried out near the end of the Implementation Stage to
assess the effectiveness of the project process, any lessons that may be useful for
future projects and to provide feedback to Partners.
• For larger scale infrastructure projects involving multiple similar facilities, it may
be more useful to carry out a workshop after handover of the first few facilities
to better inform the delivery of the remaining assets progressively incorporating
improvements. The results from this workshop could also be informed by the
post-completion assessment required in  4.2.1.G  recognising that this workshop is
broader than simply assessment of the specific physical assets.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.2  Principle #2: Learn from experience
• Stakeholder Management Perspective

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88 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

Outputs [Delivery activities]

DELIVERY ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS STATUS RELATED ACTIVITIES

1 Project Board Minutes Completed  4.7.1.A 

2 Quarterly Assurance Completed  4.7.4.A 

3 Reporting Obligations Completed  4.8.8 

4 Quarterly Status Report Completed  4.8.9.A 

5 Work packages Completed  4.9.4

6 Project Output Handover Completed 4.7 ; 4.8 ; 4.9 ; 4.10

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Monitoring and control activities

PLAN DELIVER

CONTROL

Project Team

INPUTS

Project Management Office

Shared Services Centre

Technical Coordinators

Head of Support Services

Project Board members
Engagement Authority
All outputs from each quarter

Head of Programme
Project Executive

Technical experts
Project Manager
OUTPUTS

RELATED OUTPUTS
Category 1

Category 2

Category 3
Refer to Monitoring and control outputs (p. 105)

Partners
ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES
 4.11   Monitor project progress  M M M - - I A R C,I C,I I C,I C,I C -

 4.11.1   Report health, safety, social or environmental incident  N/A M M - I I A R C C C C,I C,I C,I 1

 4.11.2   Monitor infrastructure implementation work packages  N/A N/A M - - - A R C,I C C - - C -

 4.11.3   Approve work package completion  M M M - - - A R I C I I I C -

 4.12   Control work package changes  M M M - - - I A R C - - - -

 4.12.1   Report work package tolerance exception  M if M if M if - - - - A R I I - - 2

 4.12.2   Request work package change  M if M if M if - - - - A R I I - - -

 4.12.3   Approve work package change  M if M if M if - - - A R I I I - - -

 4.13   Control project changes  M M M C,I - I A R C,I C,I C,I C,I C,I C,I -

 4.13.1   Report project tolerance exception  M if M if M if I - I A R C,I C I I I 3

 4.13.2   Approve corrective actions  M if M if M if I - C,I R,A I I - I I I -

 4.13.3   Submit Exception Plan  M if M if M if - - I A R C,I C,I C,I C,I C,I C,I 4

 4.13.4   Authorize Project Manager to be Technical Coordinator  M if M if M if - - C,I R,A I I - I I I -

 4.13.5   Approve project change  M if M if M if I - C,I R,A I I - I I I -

 4.14   Control Legal Agreement(s) changes  M M M C,I A C,I R C,I - C,I C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.14.1   Request Legal Agreement(s) amendment   M if M if M if C,I A I R C,I - C,I C,I C,I C,I C -

 4.14.1.A   Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee  M if M if M if - A I R I - I I I I C -

 4.14.2   Approve Legal Agreement(s) amendment  M if M if M if C,I R,A I I I - - I I I -

 4.14.2.A   Upload approved Legal Agreement(s) amendment  M if M if M if - - I A R - - I I I I 5

 4.14.2.B   Complete budget amendments  M if M if M if - - I A R - - C,I C,I C,I C,I 6

 4.15   Approve project output(s) handover completion  M M M - I C,I R,A I I - I I I I 7

 4.16   Approve stage completion  M M M I R,A I I I - - I I I I -

 4.17   Release Project Board members  M if M if M - A I R I - - I I I - -

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed
System: oneUNOPS

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90 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

Monitoring and control activities

•• The ‘monitoring and controlling’ activities can only start once the Implementation
Plan [Baseline] has been approved by the Project Executive in collaboration with
the Project Board as per  4.3 .
•• These activities are applicable during each quarter of the Implementation Stage,
including the first quarter, all interim quarters and the last quarter.

 4.11  Monitor project progress

The Project Manager shall be responsible for monitoring project progress M Category 1: Mandatory

ensuring that all work packages are being executed in accordance with the M Category 2: Mandatory

Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
• For Category 3 projects, the Project Manager shall comply with  4.11.2 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Technical Experts, the Head of Programme and
the Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed. The Project
Board and the Project Management Office should be informed. The Shared
Services Centre should be consulted.
• Within the Implementation Plan [Baseline], ‘Work package Descriptions’ list and
describe work package deliverables, as well as identify the interfaces with other
relevant work packages, the applicable tolerances and the quality criteria which
can be use to assess their execution.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.6  Principle #6: Focus on outputs
• Quality Management Perspective
• Technical Management Perspective

 4.11.1  Report health, safety, social or environmental incident

The Project Manager shall be responsible for reporting any health and N/A Category 1: Not applicable

safety and/or social and environmental incident taking place during the M Category 2: Mandatory

implementation of UNOPS projects or at UNOPS facilities, through the M Category 3: Mandatory

prescribed channels in accordance with EOI.CSG.2017.02.

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services and the Shared Services
Centre should be consulted and informed. The Technical Coordinators and
Technical Experts and the Project Management Office should be consulted. The
Engagement Authority [L2] and the Project Board members should be informed.
• Any health and safety and/or social and environmental incident taking place on a
UNOPS project site will be classified according to the definition provided in EOI.
CSG.2017.02: Class 1 Health and Safety, Social and Environmental Incidents: Fatal
Incident; Lost-time injury or illness; Major environmental incident; Major property
damage incident; Reportable social issue/incident. Class 2 Health and Safety, Social
and Environmental Incidents: Minor environmental incident; Minor Injury/illness;
Minor property damage; Near Miss.
• Any UNOPS personnel or contractors that become aware of an Health and Safety,
Social and Environmental incident should report it immediately. Serious health and
safety and/or social and environmental incidents will be the object of independent
investigation.

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• For Category 3 projects, the reporting responsibility would be of the Technical

Coordinators responsible for ‘Construction Supervision’ and/or ‘Construction’ work
packages. These reports should be provided to the Project Manager as soon as
practicable.

REFERENCES
• Health and Safety, Social and Environmental intranet

 4.11.2  Monitor infrastructure implementation work packages

The Project Manager shall be responsible for monitoring all infrastructure N/A Category 1: Not applicable

implementation work packages to ensure that they are being executed in N/A Category 2: Not applicable
accordance with the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators should be consulted and informed. Technical Experts,
the Project Management Office and Shared Services Centre should be consulted.
• As per EOI.CSG.2017.01 every construction site needs to be inspected with a minimum
weekly frequency. The weekly reports should be compiled and inform the quarterly
Health and Safety, Social and Environmental reports which are part of  4.8.9.A .
• When monitoring fully contracted or partially contracted construction,
construction supervision and contract administration work packages, the Project
Manager should ensure that all activities related to the three work packages
are being carried out in accordance with the relevant contract documents by all
relevant Technical Coordinators.
• The Project Manager may need to delegate monitoring of the work packages to
others depending on the scale and size of the infrastructure project. This is a
critical consideration for assets such as buildings to be constructed on multiple
sites or very long linear projects such as roads. The Project Manager should
therefore consider the implications for either physical or virtual monitoring and
the assurance process required to monitor progress.
• When monitoring design development work packages, the Project Manager should
ensure that designs for each infrastructure asset are being developed in accordance
with any applicable codes and regulations specified within the Legal Agreement(s)
and/or the Implementation Plan [Baseline], and/or Work package Descriptions, and/
or the design brief and/or any UNOPS design review requirements.
• When monitoring construction supervision work packages, the Project Manager
should ensure that Technical Coordinators do not act beyond the agreed scope or
delegated authority.

REFERENCES
•   1.1   Determine project category 
•  2.1.7   Approve project management category
•  2.1.8.C   Integrate infrastructure implementation requirements
•  3.1.2.A   Include infrastructure implementation work packages 
•  4.2.1.A   Include Design Brief(s) 
•  4.2.1.B   Include design development work packages 
•  4.2.1.C   Include design review work packages 
•  4.2.1.D   Include construction work packages 
•  4.2.1.E   Include works contract administration work packages 
•  4.2.1.E   Include works contracts administration 
•  4.2.1.G   Include post-completion assessment work packages 
•  4.8.8   Manage reporting obligations 

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92 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.11.3  Approve work package completion

The Project Manager shall be responsible for the approval/rejection of completed M Category 1: Mandatory

work packages when handed over by a Technical Coordinator as per  4.9.4 . M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the Project Manager shall release the Technical Coordinator or
shall assign another work package as per  4.8.1.A .
• If not approved, the Project Manager shall instruct the Technical Coordinator
to revise as needed. This may require further actions as per 4.12 depending
on the extent of the revision needed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• Technical experts and Shared Services Centre should be consulted. Technical
Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme and the
Head of Support Services should be informed.
• When work packages are the responsibility of Technical Coordinators external
to UNOPS, the approval or rejection of the related deliverables will need to be
formally recorded.
• Note that the type, scale and complexity of deliverable vary greatly from project to
project. In a Category 1 project it may be a document, while in a Category 3 project
that involves infrastructure implementation it may be a building.

 4.12  Control work package changes

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for controlling changes to all M Category 1: Mandatory

assigned work packages. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Manager shall be accountable.

CONDITIONS
• If a change to a work package and/or its deliverables does not affect work
package tolerances, the Technical Coordinator may decide how to proceed.
• If a change to a work package and/or its deliverables affects work package
tolerances, the Technical Coordinator shall report a Work package exception to
the Project Manager as per  4.12.1 

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts should be consulted. The Project Executive should be informed.
• Note that in instances where the Technical Coordinator is part of an external body
such as a supplier, consultant or contractor, there will be a formal Agreement in
place that defines the deliverables, any tolerances and the change process.

REFERENCES
•   4.9   Deliver work packages 

 4.12.1  Report work package tolerance exception

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for reporting any work package M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

tolerance exception to the Project Manager. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Manager shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If work package tolerances have been affected.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts and the Project Management Office should be informed.
• If the Technical Coordinator is an employee of an external body such as a
supplier, consultant or contractor, there will be formal contractual processes that
govern the method of communication in accordance with the applicable General

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Conditions of Contract for reporting the work package exception. If the Technical
Coordinator is a UNOPS person, the process may simply be by email or direct
communication, confirmed in writing, to report the exception.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception

 4.12.2  Request work package change

A Technical Coordinator shall be responsible for requesting a work package- M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

level change to the Project Manager for approval. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Manager shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If a Technical Coordinator considers it necessary.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Experts and the Project Management Office should be informed.
• If the Technical Coordinator is an employee of an external body such as a supplier,
consultant or contractor, there will be formal contractual processes that govern
the change process in accordance with the applicable General Conditions of
Contract. If the Technical Coordinator is a UNOPS person, the process may simply
be by email or direct communication, confirmed in writing, to enable the change to
be considered.

 4.12.3  Approve work package change

The Project Manager shall be responsible for approving or rejecting a work M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

package level change. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If a Technical Coordinator reported an exception as per  4.12.1 
• If a Technical Coordinator requested a change as per  4.12.2 

APPROVAL CRITERIA
• If the work package-level change wont affect other work packages so that
project-level tolerances are affected, the Project Manager may approve the
change.
• If the work package-level change will affect project-level tolerances or trigger
a change to the Legal Agreement(s), the Project Manager shall escalate to the
entire Project Board as per  4.12.1 .

DECISION
• If approved, a Technical Coordinator may implement the change.
• If rejected, the Project Manager shall:
• request the Technical Coordinator to re-submit the change request;
• or require the Technical Coordinator to rectify of the work package.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Technical Experts and the Project Management
Office should be informed.
• In projects with various interdependent work packages, a change in one of them
may have consequences in all the others, possibly affecting project tolerances and
producing a project-level exception which may affect the Legal Agreement(s).

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94 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.13  Control project changes

The Project Manager shall be responsible for controlling possible changes to the M Category 1: Mandatory

project. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONDITIONS
• If a change does not affect quarter tolerances or project tolerances or
the Legal Agreement(s), the Project Manager may decide how to proceed.
• If a change could affect or affects quarter tolerances or project tolerances or
the Legal Agreement(s), the Project Manager shall report an Exception to the
entire Project Board as per  4.13.1 .
• If a change implies a potential write-off, the Project Manager shall escalate to
the Project Executive as per  4.13.1 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services, the Technical
Coordinators, Technical Experts, the Project Management Office and the Shared
Services Centre should be consulted and informed. The Project Board should be
informed.
• Change is unavoidable in all projects, but it is important that it is controlled. This
needs to be a formal process to ensure that the full implications for the change
are understood and any potential changes to the Legal Agreement(s) identified so
they can be controlled as per 4.14 .
• A request for change may received from the Partners or other project
stakeholders, or may be the result of a tolerance exception.
• ‘Write-off’ refers to the act of cancelling a bad debt or worthless asset from
UNOPS financial books. There are two different process for write-off depending on
whether the amount is less than or equal to USD 2,500 or more than USD 2,500.

REFERENCES
•   4.8   Manage project 
•   4.8.5   Manage risk and issues 
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception
• Management Control Perspective

 4.13.1  Report project tolerance exception

The Project Manager shall be responsible for reporting project-level exceptions M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

to the entire Project Board, including proposed corrective actions. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If quarter-level or project-level tolerances have been affected.

CONSIDERATIONS
• Technical Coordinators should be consulted and informed. Technical Experts should
be consulted. The Partners, the Project Board, the Project Management Office the
Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• An Exception Report normally infers that a risk has escalated to an issue. It
should be identified and recorded in the risk and issues register accordingly. The
proposed corrective actions may be a simple modification of a project related
element or could involve considerable work to both consider and then implement.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

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 4.13.2  Approve corrective actions

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for approving M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

corrective actions, in collaboration with the entire Project Board. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
APPLICABILITY
• If the Project Manager reported an Exception as per  4.13.1 

APPROVAL CRITERIA
• If the Exception and/or the corrective action wont affect the Legal Agreement(s),
the Project Executive may approve the proposed corrective action.
• If the Exception and/or the corrective action are likely to affect the Legal
Agreement(s), the Project Executive may reject the corrective action or may
request an amendment to the Legal Agreement(s) as per  4.14.1 .

DECISION
• If approved, the Project Manager shall implement the corrective action.
• If rejected, the Project Executive shall provide direction to the Project Manager.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board should be consulted and informed. The Partners, the Project
Manager, the Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• If the project has audit observations, corrective actions recommended by the
auditors should be implemented. This may have a flow on effect to the work
packages depending on the nature of the observations. The impact of this should
be considered in regard to changes to work packages as per 4.12 .
• Depending on the type of exception, the Project Executive should ensure that
the corrective action is approved by UNOPS personnel with the appropriate
Delegation of Authority.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.5  Principle #5: Manage by exception

 4.13.3  Submit Exception Plan

The Project Manager shall be responsible for submitting an Exception Plan to the M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

entire Project Board. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If the Project Executive has requested it after evaluating an Exception Report.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Technical Coordinators, the Technical Experts, the Project Management Office,
the Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services and Shared Services Centre
should be consulted and informed. The Project Board should be informed.
• An Exception Plan involves a considerable change to the Implementation Plan
[Baseline] .
• If the effort involved in approval of a corrective action by the Project Executive
as per 4.13.2 is significant, a specific Exception Plan may be needed to fully
understand the impact and reflect this in changes to the Implementation Plan
(Baseline) or Implementation Plan (updated Baseline). It may involve substantial
modifications to work packages and these all need to be effectively recorded
and understood, particularly with contractual obligations and arrangements with
external suppliers, consultants and/or contractors.

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96 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.13.4  Authorize Project Manager to be Technical Coordinator

M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for authorizing the
M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
Project Manager to perform the role of Technical Coordinator for a Delivery Team.
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
APPLICABILITY
• If not identified in the Implementation Plan [Baseline]
• If not identified in the Implementation Plan [Updated]
• If requested by the Project Manager
• If a Technical Coordinator (UNOPS personnel or a contractor) leaves a project.

AUTHORIZATION
• If authorized, the Project Manager may perform the role of Technical
Coordinator for a Delivery Team and hence will be responsible as per  4.9  for
the execution of all its assigned work packages .
• If not authorized, the Project Manager shall assign the role of Technical
Coordinator for the requested delivery team to another individual with the
required technical experience (UNOPS personnel or a contractor) who will be
responsible as per  4.9  for the execution of all its assigned work packages.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board should be consulted and informed. The Project Manager, the
Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• By approving the Implementation Plan [Baseline] or [Update] the Project Board by
default approves the Delivery Teams and their assigned Technical Coordinators.
However there are cases in which the assignation of Technical Coordinator cannot
be done as part of the completion, approval or update of the Implementation Plan
[Baseline].
• This approval ensures that a Project Manager cannot “self-assign” work packages
without having the relevant technical skills to execute the work packages as per  4.9 .

 4.13.5  Approve project change

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for approving or M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

rejecting a project-level change. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
APPLICABILITY
• If a change to the project which does not affect the Legal Agreement(s) has been
identified as per  4.12  or  4.13 .
• If a change to the project affects the Legal Agreement(s) the change should be
managed as per 4.14 .

AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the Project Executive shall inform the Project Manager.
• If rejected, the Project Executive shall provide direction to the Project Manager.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board members should be consulted and informed. The Partners, the
Project Manager, the Technical Coordinators, the Project Management Office, the
Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• The formal recording of this approval is needed to ensure there is a full history of
any changes to the project. Whilst it may be tempting to manage this in a relatively
informal way by email at times, especially if it occurs between quarterly Board
meetings, this is considered too informal for the purposes of maintaining a full
audit trail of changes within projects.

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 4.14  Control Legal Agreement(s) changes

The Project Executive shall be responsible for controlling possible changes to M Category 1: Mandatory

the Legal Agreement(s). M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Board members, the Project Manager, the Technical
Experts, the Programme Management Office, the Head of Programme and the
Head of Support Services should be consulted and informed. The Shared Services
Centre should be consulted.
• There are multiple reasons why a change may be needed to the Legal Agreement(s).
It could be as a result of the internal change process escalating an issue from work
package level, or at the direct request of an external party or Partner.
• In all situations, a potential change to the Legal Agreement(s) invokes a formal
process with the Engagement Authority [L2] to enable consideration of the
potential modifications to the Legal Agreement(s) as per 4.14.1 .
REFERENCES
•  4.7   Direct project 

 4.14.1  Request Legal Agreement(s) amendment

The Project Executive shall be responsible for requesting a Legal Agreement(s) M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

amendment in oneUNOPS. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If a change to a Legal Agreement(s) has been identified as per  4.12 ,  4.13  or  4.14 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Manager, Technical Coordinators, Technical Experts, the
Project Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services, should be consulted and informed. The Reviewers in Shared Services
Centre should be consulted. The Project Board should be informed.
• The Partners are most likely to reserve the authority to approve amendments.
• The submission should clearly show the proposed changes, such as change in
project justification, scope, time, cost, sustainable results, risk, or quality. Changing
the Legal Agreement(s) does not change the responsibilities of the Engagement
Authority [L2] to ensure financial viability (particularly Direct Support Costs),
manage risks and review legal arrangements. Close-down costs should be
reviewed in the context of the proposed changes.
• Category 1 projects, depending on the nature of the Agreement and any linkage
to a Global Memorandum of Understanding or similar Framework Agreement may
not incur any significant increase in risk but it is prudent to review them regardless
to ensure the Engagement Authority [L2] is fully informed prior to any decision.
• The Project Initiation Documentation, the Implementation Plan [Baseline], risks, issues
and Registers should be reviewed to assess the proposed changes and ensure the
Engagement Authority [L2] is fully informed prior to any decision.
• If the person who performed the role of Business Developer is available, she or he
could also be consulted to provide insights into the original process that may have
been followed, any particular challenges and expectations, to help inform discussion
on any potential request for a change in the Legal Agreement(s).
• It may be necessary to consider a referral to the Engagement Acceptance Committee as
per  4.14.1.A  depending on the extent of the proposed Legal Agreement amendment.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• Management Control Perspective

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98 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.14.1.A  Escalate to Engagement Acceptance Committee

The Project Executive shall be responsible for escalating the engagement to the M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

Engagement Acceptance Committee through the respective regional office. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If as part of the proposed changes to the Legal Agreement(s), the engagement
is identified as high risk and matches any of the Engagement Acceptance
Committee criteria.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Shared Services Centre should be consulted. The Project Board, the Project
Manager, the Technical Experts, the Programme Management Office, the Head of
Programme, the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• Engagement Acceptance Committee takes place depending on the reason for
escalation, including but not limited to, operational risks such as complexity and
dependencies, financial risks, and other.

REFERENCES
• Engagement Acceptance Committee intranet

 4.14.2  Approve Legal Agreement(s) amendment

The Engagement Authority [L3 or L4 as applicable] shall be responsible and M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

accountable for approving or rejecting a Legal Agreement(s) amendment request M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

in oneUNOPS. M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable

APPLICABILITY
• If the Project Executive requested an amendment as per  4.14.1 .
• If the engagement was escalated as per 4.14.1.A then the Engagement
Authority [L4] shall be responsible and accountable for approving or rejecting
the amendment request.

AUTHORIZATION
• If approved, the Engagement Authority [L3 or L4 as applicable] shall inform the
Project Executive.
• If rejected, the Engagement Authority [L3 or L4 as applicable] shall inform the
Project Executive that the change has not been approved or shall request the
Project Executive to re-submit as per  4.14.1 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners should be consulted and informed. The Project Board, the Project
Executive and the Project Manager, the Programme Management Office, the Head
of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• Only UNOPS personnel with the appropriate Delegation of Authority can
complete this activity. In some cases even if the Engagement Authority [L3 or L4
as applicable] would approve an amendment, it could be rejected by the Funding
Source and/or by the Client, in which case the Engagement Authority [L3 or L4
as applicable] will have to reject the proposed amendment. It would normally
have been discussed with the Funding Source prior to any formal submission for
amendment so the likelihood of rejection by either party is relatively low.
• The Project Executive should inform the entire Project Board if the request
was approved or rejected.When the Legal Agreement(s) amendment has been
confirmed in writing by the Funding Source and/or Client the Implementation Plan
[Baseline], risks, issues and Registers should be updated to reflect the approved
changes to the Legal Agreement(s).
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
•  4.2   Complete Implementation Plan [Baseline] 

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PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage 99

 4.14.2.A  Upload approved Legal Agreement(s) amendment

The Project Manager shall be responsible for uploading a scanned version of the M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

approved Legal Agreement(s) amendment into oneUNOPS. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If a Legal Agreement(s) ammendment has been approved as per 4.14.2 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board members, the Project Management Office, the Head of
Programme, the Head of Support Services and Shared Services Centre should be
informed.
• In many situations this may not be a new Agreement incorporating the
amendments that is to be signed, but may be simply an agreed exchange of letters
and/or signed document to be annexed to the Legal Agreement(s) approving the
changes to the Legal Agreement(s). It is important to clearly define any changes to
the project justification, scope, time, sustainable results, risk or quality by either an
annex to the amendment or within the amendment. This ensures that all aspects
are fully agreed within the approved Legal Agreement(s) amendment.

 4.14.2.B  Complete budget amendments

The Project Manager shall be responsible for completing budget amendments M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

in oneUNOPS. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If a Legal Agreement(s) ammendment has been approved as per 4.14.2 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Management Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support
Services and Shared Services Centre should be consulted and informed. The
Project Board members should be informed.
• When the Legal Agreement(s) amendment has been confirmed there may be
modifications needed to both Engagement and Project Budget to reflect any
changes in the Agreement. A ‘No Cost’ extension is a common form of modification
to Agreements but it should be recognised that there is always a cost to any
extension, it simply means the actual costs needed during the extension of the
period are obtained from within the original budget structure.

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100 PART II: Requirements - Implementation stage

 4.15  Approve project output(s) handover completion

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for approving M Category 1: Mandatory

or rejecting the handover completion of all project outputs to the Partners in M Category 2: Mandatory

accordance with the Legal Agreement(s) and the Implementation Plan [Baseline]. M Category 3: Mandatory

APPROVAL CRITERIA
• For all categories: All project outputs have been handed over.
• Additional for Category 3: The Defects Notification Period for the last
infrastructure asset has finished.

CONDITIONS
• If approved, the Project Executive shall request approval of Implementation
Stage completion as per  4.16 .
• If rejected, the Project Executive shall provide direction to the Project Manager.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board should be consulted and informed. The Engagement
Authority [L2], the Project Manager, the Technical Coordinator, the Programme
Management Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services and
the Shared Services Centre should be informed.
• Hand over of project outputs should not be confused with hand over of project
assets. For instance, in a infrastructure implementation project the project output
would be an infrastructure asset such as a building, but a project asset may be the
project team computers and vehicles.
• Note that the hand over of infrastructure assets to its users marks the start of
the Defects Notification Period but not the completion of the project output.
Only once the Defects Notification Period for the last infrastructure asset to be
delivered has finished can the project output be completed.
• It is essential to verify that all project outputs have been handed over, all project
assets are accounted for and that any remaining contractual obligations specific to
Category 3 projects have been completed prior to approval of stage completion.
If for instance, there is some contractual dispute in place over a Final Payment to
a Contractor then this stage cannot be completed until the dispute is resolved.
This could have a significant impact requiring extension of the Legal Agreement(s)
period hence the need for approval by the Project Executive.
REFERENCES
•  4.10   Handover project output(s) 
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.6  Principle #6: Focus on outputs

 4.16  Approve stage completion

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

approving or rejecting the completion of Implementation Stage in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
DECISION
• If approved, the Project Executive shall proceed with activities 4.17 and  5.1 .
• If rejected, the Engagement Authority [L2] shall request the Project Executive to
review activities as needed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Board, the Project Executive, the Project Manager,
the Programme Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be informed.
• Only UNOPS personnel with the appropriate Delegation of Authority can complete
this activity.

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101

 4.17  Release Project Board members

The Project Executive shall be responsible for releasing the Project Board M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

members from their project duties. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If there is a Project Board as per  3.2.4 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Board, the Project Manager, the Programme Management Office,
the Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services, and the Shared Services
Centre should be informed.
• As the Implementation Stage is now completed, all Project Board direction for the
project is completed so members external to UNOPS will no longer have a role
during the Closure Stage. The Project Executive will continue to be involved until
the end of the Closure Stage.
• The release of the Project Board members should be evidenced in the Minutes
of the last Board Meeting. This may be supported with good stakeholder
management by a personal email from the Project Executive as a courtesy
thanking Board Members for their services.

Outputs [Monitoring and control]

MONITORING ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS STATUS RELATED ACTIVITIES

1 Health and Safety, Social and Environmental Incident Report * Completed  4.11.1 

2 Exception Report [work package] * Completed  4.12.1 

3 Exception Report [project] * Completed  4.13.1 

4 Exception Plan * Completed  4.13.3 

5 Legal Agreement(s) amendment * Completed 4.14.2.A

6 Engagement and Project Budget Amendment * Completed 4.14.2.B

7 Project Output(s) handover completion approval Completed 4.15

* If applicable

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103

 5  Closure Stage

Overview
Project Team

INPUTS

Integrated Practice Advice and Support

All outputs from Implementation Stage

OUTPUTS

Project Management Office

Head of Support Services

Engagement Authority
Refer to Closure Stage outputs (p. 111)

Head of Programme
Project Executive

Closure Manager
Project Manager

RELATED OUTPUT
Finance Group
Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Partners
ACTIVITIES Applicability RESPONSIBILITIES
 5.1   Ensure operational closure  M M M - A R C,I - C,I I I - - -

 5.1.1   Start operational closure activities  M M M I - A R - I I I - - -

 5.1.1.A   Facilitate impact evaluation  M if M if M if C,I - A R - C,I I I - - -

 5.1.2   Submit Final Report  M if M if M if C,I - A R - C,I C C C - 1

 5.1.3   Obtain No-Objection Letter  O M if M if C,I - A R - I I I I - 2

 5.1.4   Assign Closure Manager role  M M M - A R C,I C,I I I I - - -

 5.1.5   Complete operational closure checklist  M M M - - A - R I I I - - -

 5.1.6   Approve operational closure completion  M M M I I R,A - I I I I I I -

 5.2   Ensure financial closure  M M M - A R - C,I - - - - - -

 5.2.1   Start financial closure activities  M M M - - I - A I I I R - -

 5.2.2   Complete clearance of balance sheet account  M M M - - I - A I - I R - -

 5.2.3   Create Final Financial Statement  M M M - - I - A I - I R - -

 5.2.4   Certify Final Financial Statement  M M M - - I - A I - - - R 3

 5.2.5   Obtain Final Financial Statement approval  M M M C,I - A - R I - I - - -

 5.2.6   Complete refund process or recovery process  M M M C,I - C,I - A - C C C,I R 4

 5.2.6.A   Complete write-off process  M if M if M if - C,I A - R - C,I C,I C,I C,I -

 5.2.7   Complete financial closure checklist  M M M - - I - A - - - C,I R -

 5.2.8   Complete document archival  M M M - - A - R I - - I - 5

 5.2.9   Approve financial closure completion  M M M I I R,A - I I I I I I -

 5.3   Approve stage completion  M M M I R,A I - I I I I I I -

 5.3.1   Release Closure Manager  M M M - A R - I - I I - - -

 5.3.2   Release Project Executive  M M M - R,A I - - - I I - - -

Roles: Funding source; Client/User/Beneficiary; UNOPS personnel; UNOPS entity; Contractor

Applicability: M: mandatory; M if : mandatory if applicable; R : recommended; O : optional; N/A : not applicable
Responsibilities: R: responsible; A: accountable; C: consulted; I: informed; R,A: responsible and accountable; C,I: consulted and informed
System: oneUNOPS

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104 PART II: Requirements - Closure stage

Inputs
The Project Manager shall make available the Project Initiation Documentation
and the Legal Agreement(s) which were created during Initiation Stage, as well
as, all the outputs generated during the Implementation Stage for Plan, Deliver,
Monitoring and Control activities, in order to inform the required ‘closure’
activities of Closure Stage.

Activities

 5.1  Ensure operational closure

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that all operational M Category 1: Mandatory

closure activities are completed. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager and the Project Management Office should be consulted and
informed. The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be
informed.
• The operational closure activities formalise the completion of internal UNOPS
operational actions resulting in the final sub-stage of financial completion. There
are always many competing priorities for time and operational closure of projects
is often considered to be a low priority. This is unfortunate as any significant
delay in this process can have an impact on the Partners perception of UNOPS
or even an increase in risk due to loss of effective understanding of the project
with release of the Project Manager. Consequently, it is important that the Project
Executive ensures all these activities are implemented in a timely manner.

 5.1.1  Start operational closure activities

The Project Manager shall be responsible for starting the operational closure as M Category 1: Mandatory

per the Closure Stage Plan. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Programme Management Office, the Head of Programme and
the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• The Closure Stage Plan was created by the Project Manager as per  4.2.2.E  and
approved by the Project Board as per  4.3 .
• Closure may be the stage with the greatest challenge in terms of people
management since morale, focus and resources might be diminishing. The way
the team worked together during project execution cannot be expected to be the
same during closure when so many project dynamics are changing.
• Funding Sources and Clients should be regularly updated on the status of closure
and pro-actively engaged to resolve any possible delays in the Closure Stage.
• Transfer and disposal of assets purchased with project funds forms part of
operational closure activities and adheres to any clauses stipulated in the Legal
Agreement(s).
• If physical archiving of project documentation is required by the Legal Agreement(s)
when executing  5.2.8 , the cost for maintaining the archives after closure should
have been factored in when the closure plan was created as per  4.2.2.E .
• Note the considerations for Monitoring and Evaluation activities in  4.2.2.A .

REFERENCES
• UNOPS Asset Management Instruction

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PART II: Requirements - Closure stage 105

 5.1.1.A  Facilitate impact evaluation

The Project Manager shall be responsible for facilitating any impact evaluations M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable

before required activity  5.1.7  is executed. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

APPLICABILITY
• If required by the Legal Agreement(s) this activity is mandatory for all categories.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners and the Project Management Office should be consulted and
informed. The Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services should be
informed.
• The Project Manager should have reviewed the Legal Agreement(s) to establish
whether any obligation to conduct an impact evaluation of the project at its
Closure Stage is required as per  4.2 . The impact evaluation may be conducted by
external entities.
• An Impact Evaluation should not be confused with a Monitoring and Evaluation
Plan 4.2.2.A or with a post-completion assessment ( 4.2.1.G ).

REFERENCES
• Sustainable Results Management Perspective

 5.1.2  Submit Final Report

M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Manager shall be responsible for submitting the Final Report to the
M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
Partners for approval/rejection as required by the Legal Agreement(s).
M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

DECISION
• If approved, the Project Manager shall proceed with  5.1.3  (if applicable) and
 5.1.4 .
• If rejected, the Project Manager shall revise the Final Report and re-submit it.

APPLICABILITY
• If required by the Legal Agreement(s) this activity is mandatory for all categories

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners and the Project Management Office should be consulted and
informed. The Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services and the
Integrated Practice Advice Support unit should be consulted.
• It is recommended to hold lessons learned workshops as per recommended
activity  4.10.2  before completing this activity.
• The risks, issues and lessons learned registers will be ‘closed’ and all their content
will be analysed. The lessons learned captured throughout the project lifespan
will now be compiled, analysed and reflected upon in the Final Report, so future
projects can learn from experience.
• If needed, an interim financial statement can be issued at a country office level by
a relevant Delegation of Authority holder.
REFERENCES
• PMM Part I Guidelines: 3.3.2  Principle #2: Learn from experience
• Infrastructure and Project Management Group templates

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106 PART II: Requirements - Closure stage

 5.1.3  Obtain No-Objection Letter

The Project Manager shall be responsible for obtaining a No-Objection Letter from O Category 1: Optional

the Partners to continue operational closure. M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable

The Project Executive shall be accountable. M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners should be consulted and informed. The Programme Management
Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services and the Integrated
Practice Advice and Support unit should be informed.
• The No-Objection Letter is required to evidence that the Partners has formally
accepted the project outputs and the Final Report as per the Legal Agreement(s).
This enables the continuation of the operational closure.
• In some cases the Project Manager may have to prepare a draft of the No-
Objection Letter.
REFERENCES
• No-objection letter template [forthcoming]

 5.1.4  Assign Closure Manager role

The Project Executive shall be responsible for assigning the Closure Manager in M Category 1: Mandatory

oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

EXEMPTION
• If the Project Manager and the Closure Manager are the same person.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Manager and the Closure Manager should be consulted and informed.
The Project Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support
Services should be informed.
• The most significant project management related activities are now concluded so
it may be more appropriate to transfer responsibility for the Closure process to an
existing administrative resource for the remaining activities.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

 5.1.5  Complete operational closure checklist

The Closure Manager shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS M Category 1: Mandatory

operational closure activities and checklist. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Programme Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of
Support Services should be informed.
• The Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit should be consulted for
assistance with various financial transactions, such as cleaning up purchase orders
or releasing pending payments.

REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

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PART II: Requirements - Closure stage 107

 5.1.6  Approve operational closure completion

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for approving or M Category 1: Mandatory

rejecting the operational closure in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
DECISION
• If approved, the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit shall proceed with
activity  5.2.1 .
• If rejected, the Project Executive shall instruct the Closure Manager to
revise  5.1.5  and re-submit.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Engagement Authority [L2], the Closure Manager, the Project
Management Office, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services,
the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit and the Finance Group should be
informed.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

 5.2  Ensure financial closure

The Project Executive shall be responsible for ensuring that all financial closure M Category 1: Mandatory

activities are completed. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Closure Manager should be consulted and informed.
• The financial closure activities formalise the completion of all internal UNOPS
activities and any refund or recovery process resulting in completion of the
project. This can be a significant and extended process depending on any
financial implications for the project. Consequently, it is important that the Project
Executive ensures all these activities are implemented in a timely manner.

 5.2.1  Start financial closure activities

The Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit shall be responsible for starting M Category 1: Mandatory

the oneUNOPS financial closure checklist activities. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Closure Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive, the Project Management Office, the Head of Programme
and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

 5.2.2  Complete clearance of balance sheet account

The Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit shall be responsible for M Category 1: Mandatory

completing the oneUNOPS clearance of the balance sheet account for the project. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Closure Manager shall be accountable.

CONDITION
• If there are balances to clear, the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit
shall request the Closure Manager to resolve any needed clearance.
• If there is no balance to clear, the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit
shall proceed with required activity  5.2.3 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive, the Project Management Office and the Head of Support
Services should be informed.

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108 PART II: Requirements - Closure stage

• Project balance sheet accounts include Petty Cash; VAT/Sales Tax; Operational
Advance; Prepayments; Staff Receivables; Receipt Accruals.
• Balance under any other account should be processed as per  5.2.6  and then will
be reviewed and cleared by FG upon notification from the Integrated Practice
Advice and Support unit once financial closure checklist is completed as per  5.2.7 .
• If the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit or the Closure Manager predict
a potential write-off before knowing the amount or timing, they are advised to
request a provision for write-off from Finance Group to raise awareness of the
potential liability.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

 5.2.3  Create Final Financial Statement

The Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit shall be responsible for creating M Category 1: Mandatory

the Final Financial Statement. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Closure Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive, the Project Management Office and the Head of Support
Services should be informed.
REFERENCES
• Finance Management Perspective

 5.2.4  Certify Final Financial Statement

The Finance Group shall be responsible for certifying the Final Financial Statement. M Category 1: Mandatory
M Category 2: Mandatory
The Closure Manager shall be accountable. M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive and the Project Management Office should be informed
• When certified, the Closure Manager sends the final financial statement to the
funding source / client for acceptance
as per  5.2.5 .

 5.2.5  Obtain Final Financial Statement approval

The Closure Manager shall be responsible for obtaining approval on the M Category 1: Mandatory

certified Final Financial Statement from the Funding Source or Funding Sources M Category 2: Mandatory

The Project Executive shall be accountable. M Category 3: Mandatory

CONDITIONS
• When obtained, the Closure Manager shall upload the Final Financial Statement
approved by the Funding Source or Sources into oneUNOPS
• When obtained, the Closure Manager shall notify the Integrated Practice Advice
and Support unit by email to initiate a final refund or recovery. The Integrated
Practice Advice and Support unit will request the Finance Group to complete a
refund or a recovery as per  5.2.6 .

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners should be consulted and informed. The Project Management Office
and the Head of Support Services should be informed.
• In case of surplus funds, the Closure Manager should request bank account details
from the client and share these details with Finance Group once received.

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PART II: Requirements - Closure stage 109

 5.2.6  Complete refund process or recovery process

The Finance Group shall be responsible for completing either a refund process M Category 1: Mandatory

or a recovery process, based on the request from the Integrated Practice Advice M Category 2: Mandatory

and Support unit as per  5.2.5 . M Category 3: Mandatory

The Closure Manager shall be accountable.

CONDITIONS
• If there are surplus funds, the Finance Group shall start a refund process.
• If there is a deficit, the Finance Group shall start a recovery process.
• If the recovery process fails, the Closure Manager shall comply with  5.2.6.A 

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Executive and the Integrated Practice Advice and
Support unit should be consulted and informed. The Head of Programme and the
Head of Support Services should be consulted.

 5.2.6.A  Complete write-off process

The Closure Manager shall be responsible for completing a write-off process. M if Category 1: Mandatory if applicable
M if Category 2: Mandatory if applicable
The Project Executive shall be accountable. M if Category 3: Mandatory if applicable
APPLICABILITY
• Applicable only if the recovery process fails.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Engagement Authority [L2], the Head of Programme, the Head of Support
Services and the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit and the Finance
Group should be consulted and informed.
• ‘Write-off’ refers to the act of cancelling a bad debt or worthless asset from UNOPS
financial books. If the write-off value is less than USD 2,500, the Finance Group can
authorise it. If it is greater that USD 2,500 but less than USD 100,000 the Deputy
Executive Director can authorise it. If it greater than USD 100,000 the Executive
Director can authorise it.

 5.2.7  Complete financial closure checklist

The Finance Group shall be responsible for completing the oneUNOPS financial M Category 1: Mandatory

closure checklist. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Closure Manager shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit should be consulted and
informed. The Project Executive should be informed.
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support
• Financial closure checklist [forthcoming]

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110 PART II: Requirements - Closure stage

 5.2.8  Complete document archival

The Closure Manager shall be responsible for completing the archival of all M Category 1: Mandatory

project documentation in oneUNOPS as per  0.4 . M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
The Project Executive shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Programme Management Office and the Integrated Practice Advice and
Support unit should be informed.
• At this point all Logs and Registers should be closed and archived
• All documents created for the project or on behalf of the project by UNOPS
personnel and/or external contractors or entities, including management and
technical documents, shall be archived both electronically in oneUNOPS and in a
physical archive to meet any requirements of records retention policy.
• In some cases, there may be a contractual obligation to transfer intellectual
property and/or records to the client so it is necessary to check what is required
as per the Legal Agreement(s).
• If physical archiving is required by the Legal Agreement(s), the cost for maintaining
the archives after closure needs to be taken into account when creating the
closure plan as per  4.2.2.E .
REFERENCES
• oneUNOPS Support

 5.2.9  Approve financial closure completion

The Project Executive shall be responsible and accountable for approving or M Category 1: Mandatory

rejecting the completion of financial closure in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
DECISION
• If approved, the Project Executive shall request approval of Closure Stage
completion.
• If rejected, the Project Executive shall request the Closure Manager to review
activities as needed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Engagement Authority [L2], the Closure Manager, the
Programme Management Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support
Services, the Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit and the Finance Group
should be informed.

 5.3  Approve stage completion

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

approving or rejecting the Closure Stage completion in oneUNOPS. M Category 2: Mandatory

M Category 3: Mandatory
DECISION

• When approved, the engagement is officially closed.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Partners, the Project Executive, the Closure Manager, the Programme
Management Office, the Head of Programme, the Head of Support Services, the
Integrated Practice Advice and Support unit and the Finance Group should be
informed.
• As the engagement has been finalised with the approval of financial closure, the
Closure Stage can be completed. This approval also signifies the duties of the
Closure Manager and Project Executive can be officially completed as per  5.3.1 
and  5.3.2 .

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 5.3.1  Release Closure Manager

The Project Executive shall be responsible for releasing the individual M Category 1: Mandatory

performing the role of Closure Manager from project duties. M Category 2: Mandatory
M Category 3: Mandatory
The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be accountable.

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Closure Manager, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services
should be informed.
• As the project has reached the end of its lifespan and it is closed the role of
the Closure Manager is no longer required. When the role that an individual is
performing is not longer required, that individual may be re-assigned or re-located
to a different role in another project.

 5.3.2  Release Project Executive

The Engagement Authority [L2] shall be responsible and accountable for M Category 1: Mandatory

releasing the individual performing the role of Project Executive from project M Category 2: Mandatory

duties. M Category 3: Mandatory

CONSIDERATIONS
• The Project Executive, the Head of Programme and the Head of Support Services
should be informed.
• As the project has reached the end of its lifespan and it is closed the role of
the Project Executive is no longer required. When the role that an individual is
performing is not longer required, that individual may be re-assigned or re-located
to a different role in another project.

Outputs
CLOSURE STAGE OUTPUTS STATUS RELATED ACTIVITIES
1 Final Report Completed  5.1.2 

2 No Objection Letter Completed  5.1.3 

3 Certified Final Financial Statement Completed  5.2.4 

4 Refund or recovery process Completed  5.2.6 

5 Document Archival Completed  5.2.8 

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Annexes
115

Annex A Alignment with UNOPS Policies

This mapping is based on the promulgated policies on the 28th of November of 2018. These policies are sub-
ject to changes on a regular basis. Care must be taken to verify the latest version of these policies from the
intranet.

UNOPS Policy PMM Activity / Activities

Executive Director Principles
Executive Office Directives and Instructions
EOD.ED.2017.01: Legislative Framework
EOI.LG.2017.01: Drafting and Promulgation Requirements for Directives and Not applicable
Instructions
EOI.LG.2018.01: Policy and Process Management Not applicable
EOD.ED.2017.02: Organizational Principles and Governance Model  0.3 ;  0.5 ;  0.6 ;  2.1.11.A ;  3.1.4.A ;  4.8.5 ; 4.12 ;
4.13 ; 4.14 ;  5.1.6 

EOI.ED.2018.01: Organisational Structure  1.2 

EOI.ED.2018.03: Business Continuity Planning  4.7 

EOI.ED.2018.02: Delegation of Authority and Accountability Framework  0.1 ;  1.2 ;  1.5 ;  2.2 ;  3.1.6 ;  3.1.7 ;  3.3 ;
 4.7.4.A ;  4.13.2 ;  4.14.2 ;  4.16 ;  5.1.5 ;
 5.1.6 ;  5.3 ;  5.2.9 

EOD.ED.2017.03: Health & Safety and Social & Environment Management  0.5 ;  2.1.5 ;  4.8.5.A 

EOI.CSG.2017.01: Implementation of Three Levels of Requirements for Health  2.1.5 ;  4.2.2.D ;  4.11.1 
& Safety and Social & Environmental Management
EOI.CSG.2018.02: Reporting and Management of Health & Safety and Social &  4.7 ;  4.2.2.D ;  4.11.1 
Environmental Incidents
EOD.ED.2017.04: Financial Regulations and Rules  0.1 ;  0.5 ;  1.2 ;  2.1.8 ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.5 ;  3.1.6 ;
 3.2.2 ;  3.2.3 ;  4.2 ;  4.7 ;  4.8.3 ;  5.1.1 ;  5.2.3 ;
 5.2.4 ;  5.2.5 ;  5.2.6 

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UNOPS Policy PMM Activity / Activities

Operational Directives and Instructions
OD.ED.2018.01: Strategy Setting Not applicable
OD.EO.2018.01: Value proposition and Cost Recovery Model  0.5 ;  1.1 ;  2.1.7 ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.2 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.5 ;
 4.2 ;  4.8.3 ;  5.2.6 

OI.FG.2018.07: Engagement Pricing and Costing  1.4 ;  2.1.8 ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.2 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.5 ;  4.2 ;
 4.8.3 ;  5.2.6 

OD.EO.2017.02: Management of UNOPS Partners and Resulting Agreements  0.5 ;  0.7 ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.3 ;  4.7 ; 4.14

OI.IPMG.2019.01: Project Management All as applicable

OI.IPMG.2019.02: Acceptance of Engagement Agreements  0.7 ;  1.4.2 ;  1.4.2.A ;  1.5 ;  2.1.11.A ;  2.1.9 ;
 2.2 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.4.A ;  3.1.6 ;  3.3 ;  3.1.7 ;  4.7 ;
4.14 ; 4.14.1.A ; 4.16 ;  5.1.6 ;  5.3 

OI.IPMG.2018.03: Design Review of Infrastructure Works  2.1.8.C ;  3.1.2.A ;  4.2.1.B ;  4.2.1.C ;  4.2.1.F ;
 4.11.2 

OI.IPMG.2018.04: Grant Support All as applicable

OI.IPMG.2018.05: Quality Management  0.3 ;  0.4 ;  3.1.1 ;  4.3 ;  4.4 ;  4.6 ;  4.7 ;  4.8 ;
 4.8.7 ;  4.9 ; 4.11 ; 4.12 ; 4.13 ; 4.14

OI.IPMG.2018.06: Construction Supervision  2.1.8.C ;  3.1.2.A ;  4.2.1.E ;  4.11.2 

OI.IPMG.2018.07: UNOPS Works Contracts  2.1.8.C ;  3.1.2.A ;  4.2.1.D ;  4.11.2 

OI.PLG.2018.01: Acceptance of Framework, Collaborative and Teaming  1.4 

Agreements
OD.PCG.2017.01: Human Resources, Ethics and Culture  0.1 ;  0.1.1 ;  0.1.2 ;  0.2 ;  0.5 ;  1.2 ;  1.3 ;
 3.2.1 ;  3.2.1.A ;  4.8.1 ;  4.13.4 ;  5.1.4 

OI.PCG.2017.01: Personnel Management Framework  0.1 ;  0.1.1 ;  0.1.2 ;  0.2 ;  1.2 ;  1.3 ;  3.2.1 ;
 3.2.1.A ;  3.2.4 ;  4.8.1 ;  4.13.4 ;  5.1.4 

OI.SSC.2018.02: Hospitality Provided at the Cost of UNOPS  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  3.2.5 ;  4.1 ;  4.7.1.A ;  4.8.4 ;
 4.10.1 ;  4.10.2 

OI.Ethics.2018.04: Outside Activities  1.2 ;  1.3 ;  3.2.1.A ;  5.1.4 ;  4.8.1 

OI.Ethics.2018.02: Financial Disclosure and Conflict of Interest Statements  1.2 ;  1.3 ;  3.2.1.A ;  5.1.4 ;  4.8.1 

OI.Ethics.2018.03: Prohibition of accepting gifts, honours, decorations,  1.2 ;  1.3 ;  1.4 ;  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  3.2.5 ;  4.1 ;
favours or non-UN remuneration or benefits from governmental and non-  4.8.1 ;  4.8.4 ;  4.10.1 ;  4.10.2 ;  3.2.1.A 
governmental sources
OI.SSC.2018.01: Official Duty Travel  1.2 ;  1.3 ;  1.4 ;  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  3.2.5 ;  4.1 ;
 4.8.4 ;  4.10.1 ;  4.10.2 ; 4.11 ;  5.1.4 

OI.Ethics.2018.01: Protection against retaliation for reporting misconduct and  0.6 ;  4.7 ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11
for cooperating with duly authorized audits or investigations or other fact-
finding activities
OD.FG.2018.01: Finance and Asset Management  0.5 ;  2.1.8 ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.5 ;
 3.2.2 ;  3.2.3 ;  4.2 ;  4.4.1 ;  4.7 ;  4.8.3 ;  5.2 ;
4.11 ; 4.13 ; 4.14

OI.ED.2018.02: Statement of Investment Principles and Investment Not applicable

Committee Terms of Reference
OI.FG.2018.01: Budgeting and Internal Investment Management  3.1.5 ;  3.1.6 ;  3.2.2 ;  3.2.3 ;  4.4.1 ;  4.8.3 ;
4.14 ;  5.2 

OI.FG.2018.02: Fixed and Intangible Asset Management  3.1.3 ;  4.8.6 ; 4.14.2.A ;  5.1.1 

OI.FG.2018.04: Engagement Financial Management and Reporting  2.1.8 ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.5 ;
 3.2.2 ;  3.2.3 ;  4.2 ;  4.4 ;  4.7 ;  4.8.3 ; 4.11;
4.12 ; 4.13 ; 4.14 ;  5.2 ;  5.2.9 

OI.FG.2018.03: Treasury and Cash Management  3.2.3 ;  4.4.1 ;  4.7 ;  4.8.3 ; 4.11 ;  5.2.6 

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117

UNOPS Policy PMM Activity / Activities

OI.FG.2018.05: Financial Accounting and Reporting  2.1.8 ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.5 ;
 3.2.2 ;  3.2.3 ;  4.2 ;  4.4 ;  4.7 ;  4.8.3 ; 4.11;
4.12 ; 4.13 ; 4.14 ;  5.2 ;  5.2.9 

OD.EO.2017.01: Procurement Framework  0.5 

OI.PG.2017.01: Procurement Procedures  2.1.8 ;  3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  4.2 ;  4.4 ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ;
4.11

OI.PG.2017.02: Vendor Sanctions  4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11

OD.LG.2018.01: Legal  0.5 

OI.LG.2018.01: Legal Advisors Roles and Responsibilities and Legal Practice  1.4.2.A ;  2.1.11.A ;  2.1.9 ;  3.1.3 ;  3.1.4.A ;
 4.14.1 ; 4.14.1.A

OI.LG.2018.02: Claims Reporting  4.7 ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11

OI.LG.2018.03: Document Retention  0.4 ;  3.1 ;  3.2 ;  4.2 ;  4.4 ;  4.7 ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ;
 5.2.8 

OI.LG.2018.04: Information Disclosure  1.4 ;  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  3.2.5 ;  4.1 ;  4.8.4 ;

 4.10.1 ;  4.10.2 ; 4.11

OI.LG.2018.05: Contracts and Property Committees Members and Duties Not applicable
OI.LG.2018.06: Contracts and Property Committees - Submissions and  3.2.1.A ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.12 ; 4.13 ;  5.2.6.A 
Reviews
OI.LG.2018.07: Due Diligence  1.4 ;  2.1.9 ; 2.1.11 ;  3.1.3 ;  4.2 ;  4.7 ;  4.8 ;
4.11 ; 4.12

OD.FG.2018.03: Risk Management  0.3 ;  0.5 ;  1.4.2 ; 2.1.11 ;  3.1.4 ;  4.8.5 ; 4.14

OI.FG.2018.06: Risk Management  0.3 ;  0.5 ;  1.4.2 ; 2.1.11 ;  3.1.4 ;  4.8.5 ; 4.14

OD.FG.2018.02: ICT and Digital systems management  0.4 ;  0.5 ;  4.8 

OI.ICT.2018.01: ICT Governance Not applicable

OI.ICT.2018.02: ICT Security and Access  4.7 ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11

OD.ED.2017.01: Safety & Security  0.5 ;  1.4.1 ;  2.1.8 ;  3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  4.2 ;  4.7 ;
 4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11

OI.Security.2018.01: Safety and Security Management  0.5 ;  1.4.1 ;  2.1.8 ;  3.1.1 ;  3.1.2 ;  4.2 ;  4.7 ;
 4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11

OI.Security.2018.02: Aviation Safety  1.4 ;  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  3.2.5 ;  4.1 ;  4.8 ;

 4.10.1 ; 4.11

OD.ED.2018.02: Internal Audit and Investigations Charter  0.5 ;  0.6 

OI.ED.2018.01: Policy to Address Fraud and Corruption  1.4 ;  2.1 ;  3.1 ;  3.2 ;  4.7 ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11 ;
4.12 ; 4.13 ;  5.1 

OI.IAIG.2018.01: Investigations and Measures Relating to Misconduct  0.5 ;  1.2 ;  1.3 ;  3.2.1 ;  4.7 ;  4.8 ;  4.9 ; 4.11 ;
Allegations Against UNOPS Personnel  5.1 

OD.ED.2018.03: Communications  0.5 ;  1.4 ;  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  4.7.2 ;  4.8 ;

 4.10.1 ;  4.10.2 

OI.CG.2018.01: Media Relations  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  4.7.2 ;  4.8 ;  4.10.1 ;  4.10.2 

OI.CG.2018.02: Use of UNOPS Name and Logo  3.1.7.A ;  4.8.4 

OI.CG.2018.03: Use of Social Media  2.1.6 ;  3.1.7.A ;  3.2.5 ;  4.1 ;  4.8 ;  4.10.1 ;
 4.10.2 

OI.CG.2018.04: Crisis Communications  4.7 ;  4.8 ; 4.11

UNOPS | Project Management Manual Version 1.1 - December 2018

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Annex B Alignment with PRINCE2©

PRINCE2® PRINCE2® Activity PMM Activity / Activities

Process

Appoint the executive and the project manager 1.2 ; 1.3 ; 3.2.1
Capture previous lessons 2.1.1 ; 2.1.2

Starting up Design and appoint the project management team 1.2 ; 1.3 ; 2.1.3.A ; 2.1.8 ; 3.1.1 ; 3.1.2 ; 3.2.1;  3.2.4 ; 4.8.1
a project Prepare the outline business case 2.1.8 ; 2.1.10
Select the project approach and assemble the project brief 2.1.8
Plan the Initiation Stage 2.1.12
Authorize initiation 2.2
Authorize the project 3.1.6 ; 3.1.7 ; 3.2.3 .
Directing a
Authorize a stage or exception plan 3.3 ; 4.3 ; 4.5 ; 4.13.2 ; 4.13.5 ; 4.14.2 ; 4.16
project
Give ad hoc direction 4.7.3
Authorize project closure. 4.15 ; 4.16 ; 5.1.6 ; 5.2.9 ; 5.3
Agree the tailoring requirements 0.7 ; 1.1 ; 2.1.7 ; 3.1.1 ; 4.3
Prepare the risk management approach 2.1.8 ; 3.1.1
Prepare the change control approach 2.1.8 ; 3.1.1
Prepare the quality management approach 2.1.8 ; 3.1.1
Initiating a
Prepare the communication management approach 2.1.8 ; 3.1.1
project
Set up the project controls 2.1.8 ; 3.1.1 ; 3.1.2 ; 4.2
Create the project plan 3.1.2 ; 4.2
Prepare the benefits management approach 1 3.1.1
Assemble the project initiation documentation. 2.1.8 ; 3.1.1
Authorize a work package 4.3 ; 4.4 ; 4.8.1.A ; 4.12.3
Review work package status 4.11
Receive completed work packages 4.11.3
Controlling
Review the management stage status 4.4 ; 4.8.9.A
a stage
Capture and assess issues and risks 0.3 ; 4.8.5
Escalate issues and risks 4.8.5 ; 4.13.1 ; 4.14.1 ; 4.14.1.A
Take corrective action 4.8.5 ; 4.12.3 ; 4.13.2
Accept a work package 4.9.1
Managing
Product Execute a work package 4.9.2 ; 4.12 ; 4.12.1 ; 4.12.2
Delivery
Deliver a work package 4.9.4
Plan the next management stage 4.4.2
Update the project plan 4.4
Managing
a stage Update the business case 4.14
boundary
Report management stage end 4.8.9 .A
Produce an exception plan 4.13.3
Prepare planned closure 4.2.2.E
Prepare premature closure 4.2.2.E
Closing a
Hand over products 4.10
project
Evaluate the project 4.10.2 ; 5.1.1.A ; 5.1.2 ; 5.1.7 ; 5.2.7
Recommend project closure 4.15 ; 4.16

1 In PRINCE 2:201 7, printed before 2018 , this activity is referred to as ‘Refine business case”.

UNOPS | Project Management Manual Version 1.1 - December 2018

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