GIZ is one of the most active German development agencies with a focus on energy, environment, peace, security, and education. With over 23,000 employees operating in 120 countries, GIZ, or officially, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, planned a budget of EUR 3,651 million for its activities in 2021 – a 10% increase compared to 2020. A significant share of this budget is dedicated to the procurement by GIZ of services, goods, and expertise from vendors, consulting companies, and individual experts. The agency’s procurement guidelines and recruitment practices – a subject of major interest to all its stakeholders – will be explored during a thematic webinar on September 30, 2021, held by DevelopmentAid, in collaboration with GIZ.
GIZ’s profile and portfolio
GIZ has over 50 years of experience of working in the development sector focusing on economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security. The agency has two registered offices in Germany, two representative offices in Berlin and Brussels, and operates from around 90 offices worldwide. In 2020, GIZ’s business volume was about EUR 3.3 billion (9 % more than in 2019) while for 2021 the agency anticipates a figure of EUR 3,651 million, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year.
Fig. 1. GIZ’s actual and projected business volume (EUR million)
Source: GIZ – Annual statement of accounts (2020). (V) OUTLOOK A. BUSINESS FORECAST
Procurement guidelines
The agency acts as a public contracting authority. As such, GIZ is obliged to publicly tender contracts to third parties and select contractors through transparent, competitive, and economically efficient procedures. These principles apply equally to contracts for supplies (materials and equipment) and contracts for services and construction work. GIZ also receives co-financing for their commissions from the European Union, bilateral institutions, UN organizations, and other private agencies.
All procurement activities conducted by GIZ have to be in accordance with the principles of compliance, corruption prevention, transparency, and sustainability. The agency will select the most economically advantageous bid transparently and predictably based on previously defined selection and award criteria.
Recruitment practices
At the end of 2020, GIZ had 23,614 employees with the majority (67.7%) being based outside Germany but holding the status of ‘national staff’. Moreover, the agency employed 728 individual experts, out of whom about 483 were working on GIZ assignments in the role of development workers while the remaining 245 experts were involved in projects implemented by the Centre for International Migration and Development in collaboration with GIZ.
The agency’s recruitment efforts are focused on both the German and international markets. The Germany-based staff are the backbone of the company and work to ensure the sound implementation of projects around the world. The international staff, on the other hand, work on various local or regional assignments helping to shape a future worth living.
Invitation to a Webinar
DevelopmentAid is inviting you to attend an exciting webinar on “Doing business with GIZ: procurement guidelines and recruitment practices” that will take place on 30 September 2021 at 4 pm (Brussels Time)/10 am (Washington DC Time).
Speaker: Immanuel Gebhardt, Director of GIZ’s Procurement and Contracting Division
Speaker: Saskia Weisgerber, External Recruitment at GIZ
Host: Ion Ilasco, External Relations & Events at DevelopmentAid
During the webinar, attendees will learn about GIZ’s profile, operations portfolio, procurement policy, and recruitment strategy. Moreover, our speakers will provide several tips on how to appropriately prepare for upcoming bids and how to be successful in landing individual assignments.
Immanuel Gebhardt is Director of GIZ’s Procurement and Contracting Division. He has longstanding experience in development cooperation and has worked for GIZ for more than 20 years. As the project leader for legal reform, Immanuel Gebhardt spent nine years in Mongolia and China. He was subsequently Director for GIZ operations in East Asia in GIZ Headquarters for seven years. Since 2014, he has been Head of Procurement.
Saskia Weisgerber is GIZ’s HR Manager who has been responsible for external recruitment since 2019. She is an experienced HR professional with an impressive history of working in the staffing and recruiting industry. Saskia is skilled in Human Resources, Management, Sales, Business Development and Executive Searches and has developed strong skills in the development and international cooperation and is thus very much a specialist in finding the right candidate for the difficult projects that GIZ is involved in.
