[OpenSpending] openspending Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8

Thu Nov 14 18:34:57 UTC 2013

Hi Pierre, Richard, all,

This is a great discussion!

The publishing of BOOST data is certainly an important step towards greater
and more detailed financial transparency. For journalists and transparency
advocates one issue with BOOST data is however that it does not provide
data on the recipients of government transactions (eg. contractors/vendors
of government services.

A few other examples which would be great to include with recent updates of
the state of play:
- In Portugal the government is releasing granular level data on no-bid
contracts. @Olaf: can you share more info about this!
- In Greece transactional level spending data is released via API from one
government programme programme <http://diavgeia.gov.gr/en>.
- In Brazil transactional spending data is released in various formats.
Gisele, Vitor and Tom, will know more about the current status there.

Best,
Anders

On 14 November 2013 10:31, Richard Watts <rjwatts at development-finance.org>wrote:

>  Pierre,
>
> Glad my inputs were of use to you.
>
> My response on BOOST;
>
> In terms of improving spending data capacity, I would say they this has
> potencially happened in two ways;
>
> i) In the case of Moldova, Mexico and potentially all LA/E.europe BOOST
> countries, I would say that they were already collecting high quality
> spending data before the BOOST process, so I am not sure you could say
> their spending data capacity improved because of BOOST. However, you
> probably could say BOOST has helped in provide a means for these countries
> to report to a common standard in a 'machine readable' manor, and improved
> the public accessibility of the data. I believe there were some delegates
> from the Moldovan Government at OGP talking about BOOST, I am not sure if
> anyone has their contact details, as they may be happy to share their
> experience/thoughts with you. If no one has their details, may be you want
> to get in touch with the BOOST team (Leif or Massimo probably best) to see
> if they can link them up with you.
>
> ii) The second case would be countries that do not have spending data
> that fully conforms to COFOG or GFS classifications. In this case, I
> believe the BOOST team would sit down with government officials and try and
> classify their spending data in line with these international
> classifications, so as to input into the BOOST database (very time
> consuming process). This potentially could be a significant help to improve
> spending data capacity, but the question is whether this assistance has
> actually changed Governments behaviour in adopting these international
> standards into their country systems? In the case of Togo, despite BOOST
> classifying spending to international standards in the database, I do not
> think the government has so far used that classification in their own
> budgeting process. However, the BOOST team might have examples of countries
> successfully integrating some components of the BOOST process into country
> systems, and this might be the case even if countries have not bought into
> the full integration of BOOST.
>

> If some things I have said are not clear, or if you have any other
> questions, then I am very happy to clarify/answer them,
>
> Richard
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> *From:* Pierre Chrzanowski <pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com>
> *To:* Richard Watts <rjwatts at development-finance.org>
> *Cc:* OpenSpending Discussion List <openspending at lists.okfn.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, November 14, 2013 2:10 PM
> *Subject:* Re: openspending Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8
>
> Thanks very much Richard for your inputs,
>
> Challenges re integration of BOOST as part of Government process reminds
> me of similar issues with other statistical data in developping countries
> where external org do the job of aggregating and publishing data but
> without reinforcement of internal gov capacity. Then, if so, it would be
> interesting to here how Moldova used BOOST to improve its own spending data
> capacity.
>
> Also I am not sure how much this is overlapping with the work of IBP but
> our objectiv here is not to start a comprehensive list of spending data
> projects or index, only highligthing and explaining in few words best
> projects implementation. For instance, do the country implemented an export
> tool upon its accounting information system or created a new infrastructure
> ?
>
> Best
> Pierre
>
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Richard Watts <
> rjwatts at development-finance.org> wrote:
>
>> Dear Pierre,
>>
>> In terms of BOOST, the process is as follows (if wrong, somebody please
>> correct me..)
>>
>> i) Preparation - the BOOST team have to get sign off from WB country
>> offices to start the BOOST process in country, they need government
>> approval, and then after this they would receive budget classification/data
>> from Governments to be able construct the BOOST database.
>>
>> ii) Build the database - BOOST team build the database for the country,
>> then they test it
>>
>> iii) Using BOOST - getting countries utilising the database
>>
>> iv) Capacity building - training to Government to use BOOST, and on how
>> to update/mainstream it
>>
>> v) Opening up of the BOOST database to public (Governments decision)
>>
>> With the exception of Moldova, I would say the key issue for BOOST is
>> that governments in general after the database has been built have not
>> really bought into mainstreaming BOOST as part of country systems.
>> Obviously it is a work in progress, but currently the majority of the
>> updating of the country databases is actually done by the BOOST team, and
>> not by the Governments (although they still provide the data to them). So
>> the key issue is not the initial buy in of governments, but the continued
>> interest by Governments to invest in BOOST and mainstream it into country
>> systems. Therefore, I would say the process is very replicable in terms of
>> establishing the database, but not yet replicable in terms of adoption. I
>> am not part of the BOOST team, so maybe you want to discuss more with them
>> on this, but I am happy to answer any questions or discuss this further
>> with you or others at OKF?
>>
>> In addition, I am sure people are aware (but in case you are not), the
>> BOOST team is creating an open budget portal, which will go live on the
>> 18th November, which will provide a central location to access the data
>> (previously Government's had to create their own portal). The
>> countries/regions due to go live are; Peru, Guatemala, Brazil - Mina
>> Gerais, Brazil - Rio Grande, Armenia, Poland, Moldova, Togo, Kenya, Solomon
>> Islands, Kiribati, Seychelles, Mauritius, Mexico, Paraguay
>>
>> In terms of the Open data index - Government Spending;
>>
>> I do not want to comment too much on this, as it is clearly in its
>> infancy. However, there does seem to be quite a bit of overlap with the
>> open budget index, so I am not sure if you want to discuss with IBP whether
>> you want to cooperate with them on this? The other point of note I had was
>> that it would be good to state what level of Government you are
>> classifying/scoring. An example would be Nigeria and India in your index,
>> which are actually at the federal level, which is only about 30 of total
>> government expenditure, so you are really only assessing a fraction of the
>> 'openness' of a countries spending. South Africa is a great example of a
>> budget process that combines both the central and state level together. As
>> with BOOST, if you want to discuss this further, then very happy to do so.
>>
>> Hope this is of some interest to you,
>>
>> Richard
>>
>> -------
>> Richard Watts
>> Development Finance International
>> 39 Hatton Garden
>> London, EC1N 8EH
>> Tel: (+44) 020 7404 9000
>> Web: http://www.development-finance.org/; http://www.
>> governmentspendingwatch.org/
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: <openspending-request at lists.okfn.org>
>> To: <openspending at lists.okfn.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 12:00 PM
>> Subject: openspending Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8
>>
>>
>> Send openspending mailing list submissions to
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>>> Today's Topics:
>>>
>>>   1. Exploring Open Government Spending Data Best Practices
>>>      (Pierre Chrzanowski)
>>>
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Message: 1
>>> Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 12:16:00 +0100
>>> From: Pierre Chrzanowski <pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com>
>>> To: OpenSpending Discussion List <openspending at lists.okfn.org>
>>> Subject: [OpenSpending] Exploring Open Government Spending Data Best
>>> Practices
>>> Message-ID:
>>> <CAB-gMst1o6To3V7v005jhvMk=jcZUNxpEcgq-nnH4x3CMT9m=w at mail.gmail.com>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> Following the Open Data Index which showed there was still a long way to
>>> go
>>> re Spending Data, I thought it would be worth gathering information on
>>> how
>>> countries implemented open publication of their spending data.
>>>
>>> So after a suggestion of Anders, I started a simple google presentation
>>> here [1] where I listed first ranked countries according to the OD Index.
>>> And I invite you to add details about the project you may know directly
>>> on
>>> the presentation or start a discussion about a specific example on this
>>> list.
>>>
>>> Questions to adress :
>>> - How do countries deliver in practise?
>>> - Which countries publish with thresholds eg. UK and US?
>>> - What are the standards used ?
>>> - Etc.
>>>
>>> For instance, I noted the work of Moldova and the World Bank with the
>>> Boost
>>> program. What were the main steps of that project to get the country to
>>> publish its detailed expenditures ? How easy it is replicable ? It would
>>> be
>>> good to have one simple slide on that.
>>>
>>> Result of this work will be added to the OpenSpending knowledge base
>>>
>>> And in case I am replicating an ongoing work somewhere else, please let
>>> us
>>> know
>>>
>>> Thanks a lot for your contribution !
>>>
>>> [1] http://goo.gl/j6TfD0
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> *Pierre Chrzanowski*
>>> *Open Knowledge Foundation France*
>>>
>>> Mail: pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com
>>> Skype: pierre.chrzanowski | Twitter:
>>> @piezanowski<https://twitter.com/piezanowski>
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>>> End of openspending Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8
>>> *******************************************
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>>>
>>
>
>
> --
>  *Pierre Chrzanowski*
> *Open Knowledge Foundation France*
>
> Mail: pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com
> Skype: pierre.chrzanowski | Twitter: @piezanowski<https://twitter.com/piezanowski>
>
>
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