[open-government] Open Contracting and EU - does it match?

Fri Jul 19 20:45:01 UTC 2013

*

Hi all,

Our analysis on TED data is a bit delayed since not all contract notices
are parsed yet and it would be unwise to say anything about data quality
without access to the whole documentation. In the meanwhile though, TED
officers said they will provide bulk download to the public from January
2014, which is amazing news!

With the help of our friends at the Open Rights Group, we also figured out
that EU procurement reform is indeed at finalisation stage and our chances
to intervene now is very low. That said, there are some promising signs in
the reform proposals that might be interesting to many of you. At the same
time, as always, there are so many exemptions that it`s almost impossible
to tell how those reforms will change the trends in procurement disclosure.
The new directives will provide for a general rule according to which in
principle all communications are performed using electronic means. But
there are a series of possible derogations, and furthermore there is
another article saying that Member States may postpone the application of
this rule until 54 months after entry into force of the directive. Keeping
these in mind, it might be wiser to put pressure on improving the
disclosure practice in TED and then think about national level advocacy.

On the same note, we`re still looking for national procurement experts who
could help us map the landscape of procurement disclosure trends and verify
OECD information<https://docs.google.com/a/sunlightfoundation.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhECmY-CLA1hdHQ4STNKcEpoSS1RaHZ4YWFnNUxGZ2c#gid=0>.
Please help us by filling this
form<https://docs.google.com/a/sunlightfoundation.com/forms/d/1naM_f6_fDSMpgueRutOV886G0zqY0K3riV7XxfVUjSw/edit>if
you haven`t already! (Most of the responses we received are not yet in
the spreadsheet so if you`re unsure about your country response, please
contact us.)

More info here:
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/05/01/open-procuring-how-do-other-countries-perform/

Thanks and best,

Julia
*

On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 6:29 PM, Julia Keserű <jkeseru at sunlightfoundation.com
> wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> *
>
> Felipe: At the moment, we are analysing the actual disclosure practice in
> TED to see how much info is missing from the contract notices. We'll post
> our findings in the next few weeks.
>
>
> We are quite aware of the complexity of the EU procurement regime and the
> legislative process so we definitely won't be able to address every angle.
> At the same time, commercial
>
> confidentiality is a key issue here which will largely depend on the
> national FOI regimes of member states, so we might not be able to ask for
> radical openness.
>
> We could however push for improvement in some - less controversial -
> issues, such as EU-wide requirements of unique identifiers for awarding
> agencies and contractors, unique reference numbers for the whole
> contracting cycle, online reporting, timely disclosure, machine-readable
> data, etc.
>
>
> On the other hand, Javier Ruiz raised our attention to the fact that the
> plenary is due in September and that probably makes a campaign rather
> irrelevant. Does anyone have idea if it makes sense to try to intervene at
> this stage? If not, we should probably put pressure on improving the
> disclosure practice in TED and then think about national level advocacy.
>
>
> I'll be back with more ideas and would love to hear what others think.
>
>
> Gerry, what did you have in mind?
>
>
> Best,
>
> Julia
>
> *
>
> On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 7:05 PM, Felipe Estefan <felipe.estefan.g at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Thanks for sharing more about the work you are doing regarding EU
>> procurement data, Julia. Sounds very interesting and very relevant to the
>> work we've been doing on Open Contracting. Would be keen on hearing more
>> about the advocacy campaign you mentioned, as well as any findings you may
>> have from the analysis of the data.
>>
>> Echoing some of your comments Julia, and in relation to a response we had
>> sent directly to Gerry, you are exactly right: the Open Contracting
>> principles took as inspiration many laws, regulations and policies from
>> around the world, covering procurement, private-public partnerships,
>> concessions, and extractive industries, including the EU directive on
>> transparency in public contracting (procurement and concessions).
>>
>> As such, the principles are generally in line with the EU procurement
>> regime. If anything, in certain aspects they aim to go further as they are
>> meant to be guiding principles that will encourage governments and other
>> stakeholders to build upon their existing legal framework in the pursuit of
>> increased disclosure and participation in public contracting.
>>
>> The Open Contracting principles were designed in the hopes they would
>> serve as a resource for all actors and all states seeking to advance Open
>> Contracting at all levels, not just fragile states and not just national
>> governments. I should also mention that French and Spanish translations
>> will be made available in the coming days. More than happy to receive any
>> and all feedback on all of these versions, as well as to hear any
>> requests/offers for crowd-translating into other languages as well.
>>
>> In the meantime, in case it is of interest here's a blog post explaining
>> the principles<http://www.open-contracting.org/introducing_the_open_contracting_principles>
>> .
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Felipe
>>
>> Felipe Estefan
>> Open Government
>> The World Bank
>> +1 (315) 420-7464
>> @FelipeEstefan
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 12:32 PM, Julia Keserű <
>> jkeseru at sunlightfoundation.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Gerry,
>>>
>>> Sunlight Foundation and OKFN just started to analyze the quality of EU
>>> procurement data in Tenders Electronic Daily and the proposed new
>>> directives on procurements. We`re planning to come up with a set of
>>> recommendations and as far as we can tell, the EU procurement regime is in
>>> line with the OC principles so it seems worth promoting. But please give us
>>> a few more weeks to give you a proper answer though.
>>>
>>> By the way, as far as I know the OC principles and their guidelines<http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/opencontracting/pages/24/attachments/original/1372171467/Open_Contracting_A_guide_for_practitioners_by_practitioners-v2.pdf?1372171467> were
>>> originally meant for fragile states but the principles are broad enough to
>>> translate to other national (and local) contexts too.
>>>
>>> I was wondering if other folks would be interested in a joint advocacy
>>> campaign on EU procurement reform.
>>>
>>> Julia
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 2:15 AM, innovation consortium <
>>> innovation-navigator at chello.at> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear Felipe,
>>>>
>>>> could your experts on EU law elaborate first
>>>> whether these guidelines are inline with EU
>>>> procurement regime?
>>>> If not, it does not make sense to promote them in
>>>> Europe.
>>>>
>>>> Kind regards,
>>>>
>>>> Gerry
>>>>
>>>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
>>>> Von: open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org
>>>> [mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org] Im
>>>> Auftrag von Daniel Dietrich
>>>> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 20. Juni 2013 22:40
>>>> An: Felipe Estefan
>>>> Cc: Open Contracting Partnership;
>>>> open-government at lists.okfn.org;
>>>> sunlight-international at googlegroups.com;
>>>> open-development at lists.okfn.org
>>>> Betreff: Re: [open-government] Open Contracting
>>>> Global Principles
>>>>
>>>> Dear Felipe,
>>>>
>>>> this is very interesting indeed. Thanks for
>>>> sharing!
>>>>
>>>> All best
>>>> Daniel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Daniel Dietrich
>>>>
>>>> Chairman & Director Policy
>>>> Open Knowledge Foundation Germany
>>>> www.okfn.de | info at okfn.de | @okfde
>>>> +49 30 57703666 0 | Fax: +49 30 57703666 9
>>>>
>>>> We empower through Open Knowledge
>>>> Get involved: www.okfn.de/getinvolved
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 20 Jun 2013, at 21:29, Felipe Estefan
>>>> <felipe.estefan.g at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Dear all,
>>>> >
>>>> > The Open Contracting Partnership is excited to
>>>> share with you the Open Contracting Global
>>>> Principles. These principles are intended to serve
>>>> as a guide for all those seeking to advance open
>>>> contracting around the world.
>>>> >
>>>> > The full text of the principles is available
>>>> here.
>>>> >
>>>> > The principles were created with the inputs and
>>>> feedback of nearly 200 members of the open
>>>> contracting community. We are incredibly thankful
>>>> to everyone from government, private sector, civil
>>>> society, donor and international organizations,
>>>> academia and media who has already contributed to
>>>> this process.
>>>> >
>>>> > As we continue to develop and improve these
>>>> principles, we would love to hear your comments
>>>> and feedback. Please send those to
>>>> partnership at open-contracting.com. Also, if you'd
>>>> like to join the conversation about the principles
>>>> on twitter follow @OpenContracting.
>>>> >
>>>> > All the best,
>>>> >
>>>> > Felipe
>>>> >
>>>> > <3A454496.gif>
>>>> > FELIPE ESTEFAN
>>>> > Open Government
>>>> > festefan at worldbank.org        1 (315) 420-7464
>>>> > @FelipeEstefan
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > _______________________________________________
>>>> > open-government mailing list
>>>> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
>>>> >
>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-govern
>>>> ment
>>>> > Unsubscribe:
>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-governm
>>>> ent
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> open-government mailing list
>>>> open-government at lists.okfn.org
>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-govern
>>>> ment
>>>> Unsubscribe:
>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-governm
>>>> ent
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> open-government mailing list
>>>> open-government at lists.okfn.org
>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>>>> Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-government
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Júlia Keserű
>>> International Program Coordinator
>>>
>>> 1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
>>> Washington, DC 20036
>>> (1) 202-742-1520 *280
>>>
>>> [image: Sunlight Foundation] <http://sunlightfoundation.com/> [image:
>>> Sunlight Foundation on Facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/sunlightfoundation>[image:
>>> Sunlight Foundation on Twitter] <http://twitter.com/sunfoundation>[image:
>>> OpenGov on Reddit] <http://www.reddit.com/r/sunlight> [image: Sunlight
>>> Foundation on YouTube] <http://www.youtube.com/sunlightfoundation> <http://sunlightfoundation.com/feeds/latest/>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Júlia Keserű
> International Program Coordinator
>
> 1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
> Washington, DC 20036
> (1) 202-742-1520 *280
>
> [image: Sunlight Foundation] <http://sunlightfoundation.com/> [image:
> Sunlight Foundation on Facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/sunlightfoundation>[image:
> Sunlight Foundation on Twitter] <http://twitter.com/sunfoundation>[image:
> OpenGov on Reddit] <http://www.reddit.com/r/sunlight> [image: Sunlight
> Foundation on YouTube] <http://www.youtube.com/sunlightfoundation> <http://sunlightfoundation.com/feeds/latest/>
>

-- 
Júlia Keserű
International Program Coordinator

1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
(1) 202-742-1520 *280

[image: Sunlight Foundation] <http://sunlightfoundation.com/> [image:
Sunlight Foundation on
Facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/sunlightfoundation>[image:
Sunlight Foundation on Twitter] <http://twitter.com/sunfoundation>[image:
OpenGov on Reddit] <http://www.reddit.com/r/sunlight> [image: Sunlight
Foundation on YouTube] <http://www.youtube.com/sunlightfoundation>
<http://sunlightfoundation.com/feeds/latest/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/open-government/attachments/20130719/d665f5f4/attachment-0001.html>