Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2018-2020
Progress report to: January – March 2019
Commitment 12 progress report: January to March 2019
Commitment 12: Open Procurement
Lead agency: The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Objective: To publish the data on government-awarded contracts that is currently publicly available on the Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS) as open data.
Ambition: It will be easy for people to find and access published GETS information for contracts awarded by government agencies that are subject to the Government Rules of Sourcing. This will increase the level of trust the public has in procurement as it will be possible to analyse what contracts government agencies are awarding, what the expected spend is and which businesses have been awarded contracts.
OGP values: Transparency, Accountability, Technology and Innovation
Milestones
Milestone 1
Design with Stats NZ and the public a more usable format for this data.
Start/End dates: October 2018 - June 2019
Progress: Underway
Milestone 2
Publish the results of the first milestone, for example information on what format the data will be released in and if we need to publish supporting material to help people interpret the data.
Start/End dates: July 2019 - December 2019
Milestone 3
Publish the Contract Award notices online in the agreed usable format.
Start/End dates: June 2020 - On-going
What we have been doing
- We held an initial workshop with interested parties in February 2019 to discuss the format of the data to be released.
- The insights from this workshop fed into a revised project plan which mapped the milestones to be completed before the data is released, including enhancements to the GETS system.
- As part of this plan, and following feedback from the workshop, we are working towards issuing the first iteration of the data quarterly, starting later this year. Following the initial release, we will continue to work with stakeholders to review and revise the open format of the data.
- We provided agency stakeholders with early notification that contract award notices will be published as open data through a news item on the New Zealand Government Procurement website and in our newsletter.
- We updated our communications and engagement plan.
How we are including diverse voices
- We intend to extend the opportunity to be involved in this work widely so that anyone with an interest in open data can be involved in some capacity. This will be included in the communications and engagement plan.
How we are keeping diverse communities informed
- We plan to use existing Open Government Partnership mechanisms to keep diverse communities informed. We will also work with Statistics New Zealand to identify individuals and groups with an interest in open data.
What’s next?
- Further communications and engagement with agencies to help them prepare for the release of the data.
- Further communications and engagement with interested stakeholders, including reporting back on progress to those involved in the initial workshop.
- Review of the Open Data Contracting Standard.
- Implement enhancements to the GETS system to improve and simplify how to complete contract award notices.
Links – Evidence of progress and milestones acheved
https://www.procurement.govt.nz/about-us/news/contract-award-notices-to-bepublished-as-open-data