[okfn-discuss] Good News regarding Open Procurement Data in Switzerland

[Muriel Staub]

Hi everybody,

we’re glad to inform you that the Swiss Council of States approved a motion which calls for the "publication of the basic data of all procurements done by the Swiss Federal Government being higher than 50’000 Swiss Francs (~42’000€)“.
The need to lower the threshold from 230’000 CHF (WTO standard) to 50’000 CHF is mainly the result of past misemployment. As a consequence of the acceptance of the motion, future illegitimate breakdown in smaller mandates (below the threshold of 230’000) which are assigned to the same company are going to be uncovered and de facto impossible.

The motion was handed in by the co-president of the swiss parliamentary group „digital sustainability“, Edith Graf-Litscher, at the beginning of this year. After the Swiss Federal Council suggested the acceptance of this motion, the National Council approved it in June 2014 and the Council of States did likewise last week.

The legal basis for this adoption will be provided with the revision of the Ordinance on Government Procurement. Furthermore the requirement for open publication of procurement data will be integrated in the general terms and conditions of the Confederation.

Our very best wishes from Switzerland,
Muriel for Opendata.ch

Muriel Staub
Opendata.ch
Swiss Chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation
muriel.staub at opendata.ch
+41 79 752 78 69