Procurement and disability inclusion

UNOPS values partnerships with suppliers who promote the participation of people with disabilities.

Approximately 1 in 6 people in the world live with a disability. People with disabilities have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory challenges. UNOPS is committed to strengthening diversity and inclusion throughout its procurement practices. We value partnerships with suppliers that support and include people with disabilities in their businesses and organizations.

What does it mean to be a disability-inclusive supplier?

As a disability-inclusive supplier, you commit to addressing any barriers in your operations so that people with disabilities feel included and can do their job on an equal basis with others. It also means including workplace adjustments when recruiting and hiring people with disabilities. Importantly, you also need to plan, design, and manufacture products and services with accessibility and disability inclusion in mind.

Ensure that your business or organization has policies in place to include people with disabilities. Ways to do this include:

Having an organizational policy that sets out clear guidelines for including people with disabilities in your workplace and activities
Recruiting and hiring people with disabilities
Offering workplace adjustments to team members and personnel with disabilities
Making sure your premises are accessible
Ensuring that your supply chains include suppliers with disabilities
Manufacturing and using accessible products following Universal Design principles, for example when purchasing furniture and deciding on computer equipment and software

What are workplace adjustments, assistive technology, accessibility and Universal Design?

Workplace adjustments are changes that you make to the work environment, tasks or roles to support any people with disabilities in your team to do their jobs effectively. These changes should match each person’s needs. Examples include flexible working arrangements, special office equipment, assistive technology or sign language interpretation.

Assistive technology is any tool or special equipment that helps people with disabilities do everyday tasks and work. For example, a person with low vision may use software like screen readers that read out the text on the screen or a person who has a hearing disability may need to use captioning software that shows spoken words as text on a screen.

Accessibility is about ensuring that people with disabilities in your business or organization can access buildings, transportation, information and services equally. Examples include ramps, accessible bathrooms and providing documents in different formats such as large print or braille.

Universal Design means designing workplaces, project environments, products, programmes or services to be usable by all people as much as possible, without needing to make any changes.

Will I need to provide any disability-inclusion information when bidding?

Yes, you will have to answer questions about your business or organization’s disability inclusion when:

Signing up as a supplier on the UN Global Marketplace portal
Participating in the DRiVE programme. Suppliers are all required to fill out the supplier sustainability (DRiVE) questionnaire when required
Bidding for tenders with specific disability-inclusive requirements

Where can I learn more about disability inclusion?

Click on the resource links provided in the box.

For more detailed information, you can read the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy Guidelines Indicator 8 (UNDIS).

You can also learn more by reading about SDGs 8, 10, 11 and 17, which all focus on the need for inclusion.

Resources

Tips to incorporate disability inclusion into your bid

A guide to becoming a disability-inclusive business or organization

Disability-inclusive procurement at UNOPS

UN Disability Inclusion Strategy Guidelines Indicator 8 (HLCM Procurement Network)

UN Disability Inclusion Strategy

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What does it mean to be a disability-inclusive supplier?

What are workplace adjustments, assistive technology, accessibility and Universal Design?

Will I need to provide any disability-inclusion information when bidding?

Where can I learn more about disability inclusion?