THE OPEN CONTRACTING Data Standard (OCDS) is an open data standard created by the Open Contracting Partnership for the publication of structured information in all stages of the contracting process, from planning to implementation.
OCDS was designed to support governments and organizations to increase contracting transparency and allow deeper analysis of contracting data by a wide range of users. OCDS supports a 5-☆ approach to publishing contracting data on the web. Each step builds on previous steps.
☆ Upload basic contracting data and documents on the web
Important notices and documents are freely accessible online.
☆☆ Provide machine-readable data
Providing data about contracting processes in CSV files or other structured formats makes it easier for others to analyze.
☆☆☆ Use the OCDS standard
Producing bulk releases and records packages using the OCDS standard makes data easier to re-use and join-up with other contracting data.
☆☆☆☆ Provide API access to data
Providing each release and record at its own persistent URI improves the usability of data. Providing APIs helps users locate the information they are looking for quicker and enables third parties to build more advanced and responsive services on the data.
☆☆☆☆☆ Provide joined-up data
Adding links to contracting data and connecting them to other datasets on project planning, public spending, or company registrations add further value to data, enabling new kinds of re-use.
The Philippines is far from reaching five stars given that documents – not even data yet – are not all publicly available. However, there is a bright spot and potential in the machine-readable data made available by the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS). Its bid and award data may be connected to the data published by the Department of Public Works and Highways, Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines, and the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board, which cover some of the data produced during the planning, contract, and implementation stages.
OCDS makes use of 358 data fields composed of key information culled from the 35 documents recommended for publication throughout the contracting process. These fields also include metadata or contextual information about the data release.
The research found that 60 percent or 212 of the 358 data fields are already available or can be pulled from existing records maintained by PhilGEPS, DPWH, and other agencies involved in the procurement of infrastructure projects. The rest of the 143 data fields, which are mostly contextual data (ID, language, tags, etc.), can be also created. (Three data fields in the OCDS may not apply in the Philippine context as they refer to the minimum estimated value of the contract; R.A. No. 9184 requires the Approved Budget for the Contract or the ABC.)