After
Jumping Gun on
DRC Drones, UN
Procurement
Open
Through March
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 31 --
The UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
and its chief
Herve Ladsous
have said that
they need
surveillance
drones in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo on
an emergency
basis.
But,
Inner City
Press has
learned in UN
procurement
records, it
will be
months before
the UN can
have even a
single drone
-- at least in
the
legally
provided way.
The
"new"
procurement
that the UN
described on
January 30 in
response to
Inner City
Press'
questions of
the two
previous days
remains open,
the records
show, through
March 2013.
Some
emergency.
As
Inner City
Press exposed
on January 25,
Ladsous' DPKO
even started
the
procurement of
drones back on
November 28,
2012 -- fifty
days
before having
a single
approval to
even try
drones on a
case by case
basis.
At
the UN on
Monday,
January 28,
Inner City
Press asked
about this
discrepancy:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
you about
drones. It was
said here on
Friday that
the
procurement
had been
launched by
DPKO and in
looking
into it, it
looks like the
procurement
began 28
November and
ran
through 11
January. So,
it looks like
DPKO started
procuring
drones
for West
Africa and
Central Africa
before they
had any
approval, even
this most
recent letter
from the
Council. So on
what basis did
DPKO
begin
procuring
drones, and is
it, in fact,
the case that
they intend
to use them in
West Africa,
as the
procurement
document
states?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: Well, I
will have to
find out on
both
issues for
you.
But
24 hours
later, Del
Buey and
ultimately
Ladsous' DPKO
had provided
no
answer or
information.
So Inner City
Press asked
again at the
noon
briefing on
Tuesday,
January 29:
Inner
City Press:
yesterday I
had asked you
about this
procurement of
drones this
year and I
still haven’t
heard anything
back, I am not
blaming you,
maybe it is
DPKO , but it
seems like it
is a straight
forward
question: Why
did they begin
the
procurement
before they
had
any approval?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, we have,
we’ll have to
speak with
DPKO on that,
but have you
spoken with
DPKO yourself?
Inner
City Press: As
you know, I
have asked Mr.
Ladsous
questions a
number
of times that
he refused to
answer.
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey: But,
have you
spoken with
DPKO, the
media
people of
DPKO?
Inner
City Press: My
last interface
with them was
them taking
the
microphones,
so questions
couldn’t be
asked at the
Security
Council
stakeout, so I
am asking you.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, the
media are
there, but
we’ll try and
get the
answer for
you.
The
next day
January 30 Del
Buey after
reading out an
indirect
denunciation
of Inner City
Press from the
same DPKO
whose chief
Ladsous
refuses to
answer
questions
announced to
the noon
briefing:
I
was also asked
yesterday
about the
recent
procurement
process for
Unmanned
Aerial
Vehicles, or
UAVs, and I
have the
following to
say:
On 25 January
2013, the UN
Stabilization
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
launched the
procurement
process for
UAVs,
issuing a
request for
proposals that
called for
interested
vendors to
submit their
offers.
What
was issued in
November 2012
was a request
for
expressions of
interest, a
common
practice by
the
procurement
division to
expand its
register of
equipment-specific
vendors. This
practice helps
ensure
that, when the
need for that
particular
equipment
arises, the
requirement is
sent to the
widest
possible pool
of vendors.
This
was
re-reported,
as such;
further
inquiry by
Inner City
Press finds
this UN
procurement
PROVISION
OF
ONE (1)
UNMANNED
AERIAL SYSTEM
(UAS) FOR
THREE (3)
YEARS PLUS TWO
(2) OPTIONAL
YEARS IN
MONUSCO
But
this remains
open until the
second half of
March. What
emergency?
Watch this
site.
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