Must the bidder be a local company?

Not in the 2022 UNOPS tender for two PSA plants: UNOPS told a manufacturer there was no obligation to bid via a local company. WHO (2024) and UNDP (2025) ask instead for a local service agent's details and, in UNDP's case, the CVs of the local agent's key personnel.

What if no local service agent exists?

Global Fund guidance (2024) says a maintenance plan should be developed for the host facility's engineers to carry out, and that staff may need advanced training to execute it.

Should an oxygen plant tender require local after-sales service?

Q: Should an oxygen plant tender require a local service presence, and how can bidders prove after-sales capacity?

WHO's 2024 technical specifications ask oxygen plant bids for the contact details of the manufacturer, supplier and local service agent and suggest a service level agreement with a qualified provider authorised by the manufacturer; in UNDP procurement, bidders also submit the CVs of key personnel for the supplier and its local agent.

Should an oxygen plant tender require a local service presence, and how can bidders prove after-sales capacity?

What the specifications ask

WHO's Technical specifications for health facility based medical oxygen systems (31 December 2024) ask for a warranty of at least 1 year from commissioning with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week remote support for manufacturer defects, clear terms on the time-to-response for on-site intervention, and the contact details of the manufacturer, supplier and local service agent. For after-sales service they suggest a service level agreement (SLA) with a qualified provider authorised by the manufacturer, and they ask for spare parts to remain available for at least 10 years from acceptance. The SLA should set out:

its terms and duration, and who is responsible for each task: planned preventive maintenance with calibration, troubleshooting and curative maintenance, or a combination;
costs itemised by labour, travel, lodging and parts;
the time-to-response for remote support and for on-site intervention, and the time for critical spares to reach the site;
who is responsible for emergency oxygen supply if there is a stock-out, and the records to be kept of all activities.

WHO's Foundations of medical oxygen systems (2023), section 3.4.3, lists the availability of a local agent among the points an SLA should specify, with response times, spare parts timing, the location of stockpiles and warehouses and remote support. In UNDP procurement, REQ-OXY-001 (effective 1 January 2025) repeats these points for the SLA, asks for installation by manufacturer-certified competent personnel and, in its bidder checklist, for the project team composition with CVs of key personnel for the supplier and its local agent.

A local service agent, not necessarily a local bidder

In a 2022 UNOPS tender for two PSA plants, a manufacturer asked whether it had to bid through a local company; UNOPS answered that it should indicate in the authorisation form that it was the manufacturer, and that there was no obligation to bid via a local company. A Global Fund briefing note (4 March 2025) says the most important factor in choosing an oxygen generating technology is the type already common and functional in the region.

Global Fund sustainability guidance (22 August 2024) says an understanding of the service provider market is needed to decide maintenance contract conditions and repair options, asks for detailed contact information of the manufacturer, the source of spare parts and the local service agent to be kept, and, where there is no local service agent, asks for a maintenance plan to be carried out by the host facility's engineers. PATH's analysis of PSA plant failures (November 2023) found that suppliers often have limited contact with customers and lack a local presence in the countries they supply; it recommends that suppliers expand their geographical presence and that ministries of health set service standards for maintenance providers and consider incentives such as performance-based contracting.

Evidence a bidder can be asked for

Evidence	Asked by
Name and contact details of the local service agent, with the manufacturer and supplier	WHO (2024)
A service provider authorised by the manufacturer, and a letter of authorisation for the distribution agent where applicable	WHO (2024)
Project team composition with CVs of key personnel for the supplier and local agent	UNDP (2025)
SLA terms: response times for remote and on-site support, spare parts lead times and stockpile locations	WHO (2024), WHO (2023), UNDP (2025)
Spare parts availability for at least 10 years from acceptance; manufacturer's letter guaranteeing a life span of at least 10 years	WHO (2024); UNDP (2025)

Experience and certificates are covered in what experience PSA tenders require and the contract itself in what a medical gas maintenance contract covers.

Ultra Controlo

Through UltraCare, its technical assistance programme of preventive and corrective maintenance, original spare parts and emergency support, Ultra Controlo selects people in each country and trains technicians to look after its equipment (ULTRAOX datasheet 2022, p. 6). See what UltraCare is.