A/RES/55/247 6. Takes note of the experiences of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees referred to in the report of the Secretary-General on procurement reform,1 and reaffirms the need for the Secretary-General to continue to explore ways to increase procurement opportunities for vendors from developing countries and countries with economies in transition; 7. Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General for the expeditious dissemination of information relating to procurement in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and requests the Secretary-General to pursue his efforts to sensitize the business community and United Nations offices in the developing countries and countries with economies in transition to procurement opportunities with the United Nations; 8. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to encourage the use of procurement from developing countries within the region for the requirements of missions when this is more efficient and cost-effective; 9. Welcomes the initiative taken by the Procurement Division to make procurement officials directly accountable to substantive departments that they support; 10. Requests the Secretary-General to determine if similar tracking mechanisms can be introduced in other areas of the Secretariat; 11. Looks forward to the issuance of a revised version of the Procurement Manual before the end of 2001; 12. Encourages the Secretary-General to continue to improve annual procurement planning for all offices and departments and to make such plans publicly available, including to all permanent missions to the United Nations; 13. Reaffirms its request to the Secretary-General to develop a comprehensive system to measure the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the procurement function, by taking into account the best practices of other organizations of the United Nations system, reaffirms the need for the completion of the exercise, and requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly the results when completed; 14. Expresses its concern about delays in payments to vendors, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that terms of contracts are respected; 15. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to monitor the discussions of the World Trade Organization on rules of origin and to keep the General Assembly informed of the progress achieved; 16. Notes that the detailed information requested in paragraph 20 of its resolution 54/14 was not included in the current report of the Secretary-General on procurement reform, and requests the Secretary-General to submit in future reports, as an annex, detailed information on the awarding of contracts for procurement at Headquarters and in the field to all countries, in particular to developing, least developed and African countries and countries with economies in transition; 17. Also notes the increase in the delegation of authority to the field in procurement activities, as mentioned in paragraph 6 of the report of the Advisory Committee concerning procurement reform,7 and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that there is capacity in field missions to perform the procurement functions properly as well as effective and efficient mechanisms at Headquarters for monitoring procurement in the field, including: 2