Using Procurement Data: Indicators and Guidance

More open procurement policies and processes can lead to efficiencies, savings, better quality goods and services, greater citizen participation, and other positive benefits.

To maximize the potential benefits that open contracting unlocks, its adoption needs to be goal-oriented and intentional. From the start, we want publishers to consider not just sharing open data in general, but map the specific fields and features of the data that they plan to publish with its demand (ie. the needs of the end users, thinking through how and what they are going to do with it) and its supply (ie. when it will come from, how regularly it will be updated etc).

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) provides a common core foundation and framework for publishing data on all stages of a contracting process, from planning through to implementation. It allows publishers to start simple, and improve their data publication over time.