Open Data Ecosystem Development (BA0008)

Which public issue does the obligation address? Open data readiness survey in Bosnia and Herzegovina indicates a very early stage of readiness to implement the open data initiative, which confirms the lack of open data prioritization at a high level, lack of information and awareness of the open data benefits, unavailability of IT staff, lack of systematic record keeping of databases and basic information management practices in all institutions. The survey also states that the adoption of the Information Security Management Policy in the Institutions of BiH 2017-2022 indicated the readiness of the institutions at the strategic level to adopt such policies, but familiarity of the civil servants with this policy and its implementation is not at satisfactory level. There are no specific documents on data management and protection, and it is stated that the BiH Interoperability Framework, adopted in 2018, could, to a certain extent, enable overcoming of these shortcomings and set common frameworks for open data management. On the other hand, there is a comprehensive regulatory and financial framework for data opening, public administration reform process and a clear and continuous role of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office and the Open Government Partnership in initiating and coordinating the data opening. The term “data opening” refers to making public data held by various public administration bodies available to the public (primarily to legal persons from the private sector, citizens and non-governmental sector). Such data should be made available by publishing in a form that allows searching and free use of data, but also transforming and processing of data for various purposes (e.g. for commercial purposes, to prevent corruption, etc.). Although the demand for open data in BiH is currently modest, there is a significant increase and interest of citizens, companies and organisations in open data. Besides that, citizens express the need to use e- services and easily access to public sector information, which implies interoperability and openness of data. Furthermore, the data opening would further enable and improve the public administration functioning, given that the survey has shown that providing services to citizens is even more difficult and slower due to the inability of public officials to access data from other public administration institutions.

What is the obligation? The obligation will directly address the above mentioned issue, with the aim of establishing an open data portal and its operability, and the active role of institutions in publishing data. The open data portal is a platform for publishing, collecting, categorizing, searching and distributing open data owned by the public sector. The key goal of such portal is to make the public administration data available and increase the use of public (open) data from one (central) place - the portal, which enables cooperation between the private and public sector, especially in the field of information technology through the creation of (non)commercial applications with added value for data users (information, documents) of the public sector. One of the components of the project Support to Public Administration Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina includes the activity of making the open data portal operative. In this context, the project team works on development of the IT platform (as a pilot solution for the state level institutions), and organizes presentations for civil servants and relevant NGOs. The project plans to draft a Decision to be submitted to the Council of Ministers of BiH, which provides for the sustainability of the portal in terms of the institution that will be responsible for its further maintenance, and the obligation of the institution to appoint its officials to enter open data on behalf of its institution, i.e. provide access to open data through the portal. The plan is for the portal to be piloted for the state level institutions, and later offered as a platform to all other administrative levels in BiH. Having in mind the manner in which the portal is organized and the structure and mechanisms on which it is based (data publication, metadata publication, link to open published data, harvesting data catalogues), the key benefit for end users is the searchability and availability of more quality open data on one place. Besides that, the portal organization on the model of the EU reference portal provides the increase of data reuse through direct access to open data structured by categories, as well as on the mentioned EU portal. Such approach is important for the creators of applications that can use open data from an updated and authorised source and create new values from the open data of the institutions, and offer such applications to a wider circle of interested users. Therefore, regarding the portal developed through the above mentioned project, the obligation of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office will be as follows: - To pilot the portal on the institutions involved in the platform development (Council of Ministers of BiH - General Secretariat - Service for Maintenance and Development of Electronic Operations and e- Government, Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, Agency for Statistics of BiH, Public Procurement Agency of BiH, Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption, IDDEEA and Central Election Commission of BiH), and - To take appropriate advocacy (initiation) activities towards other administrative levels, with the aim of taking over the developed methodological and IT solutions, creating the preconditions for wider integration of open data for the entire BiH. This will significantly increase the level of public administration transparency, which reduces corruption in the country and has many other positive effects. In accordance with the Strategic Framework for Public Administration Reform in BiH 2018-2022, reform area Provision of Services 4.2.9.1., these activities will enable publication of the public data good for commercial and social re-use (open administration), with full compliance to the legal framework for the protection of personal data and privacy.

How does the obligation contribute to resolving the public issue? Operability of the open data portal, as well as proactive disclosure of information, will provide transparent insight into the work of institutions and decisions made on behalf of citizens. Access to information is thereby made easier for citizens, whereby the application submission on a prescribed form, the legal framework, waiting or possible paying the access fees are replaced by a proactive approach of the institution and disclosure of information in a form that allows their searchability and free use, but also their transformation and processing for various purposes. In addition to that, the proactive disclosure of information on the open data portal ensures that the information held by the institution is available to everyone, not just applicants for access to the information.

Why is this obligation relevant to the OGP values? Operability of the open data portal has a direct impact on the public administration efficiency and economic success in market competition, which points to the key values of the modern governance, such as transparency, accountability, citizen participation in decision-making, integrity, prevention of corruption etc.

Additional information The following documents refer to the obligation of proactive disclosure of information:
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights
● European Good Governance Principles
● Legislation (Law on Public Procurement of BiH, laws on administration, laws on free access to information...)
● Strategic Framework for Public Administration Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018-2022
● Directive 2019/2024 on open data and the re- use of public sector information
● Communication from the European Commission Towards a common European data space (SWD (2018) 125 final)
● Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe /* COM/2015/0192 final */

Goals/activities with a verifiable deliverable

Establishment of a user-friendly interactive open data portal:
- Invitation for the institutions (selected for piloting) - to create/define data sets - from different areas and their publication on the portal in the form of open data;
- Consult stakeholders outside the administration on the need for open data;
- Analyse the demand for open data including the experiences of EU portals and best practice portals;
- Identify data sets that carry the highest usability and reusability;
- Advocate the opening of previously identified datasets;

Development of data opening coordination within institutions, as well as with the private sector and the academic community;
- Coordinate activities on proposing the Decision on the ODP and adopting it by the Council of Ministers of BiH;
- Offer proposals concerning the structure for open data coordination and management;
Continuation of activities on operationalization of ODP pilots while ensuring the sustainability (depending on available financial support and budgetary resources);
- Establish a training program for data opening for officials of BiH institutions in cooperation with the CSA BiH;
Development of strategic focus, awareness raising (organisation of promotional events in cooperation with the engaged institutions and civil society organisations for representatives of all other institutions at the state level and representatives of other administrative levels, as well as for representatives of other NGOs, academic and business community, professional associations, etc.) in the form of: at least two conferences and two round tables per year and popularization of the basic goals of the public data good ecosystem (values, reuse and use, effects of data opening);
- Initiate and coordinate the availability of open data at other administrative levels on the basis of the implemented pilot project for the state level institutions;

Action Plan Review

Commitment 1. Coordination of the open data ecosystem development

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Substantial

Commitment 1: Coordination of the open data ecosystem development

Council of Ministers of BiH General Secretariat, Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, Agency for Statistics of BiH, Public Procurement Agency of BiH, Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption, Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange of BiH, Central Election Commission of BiH, Transparency International BiH, Zašto ne, Public Interest Advocacy Centre

For a complete description of the commitment, see Commitment 1 in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 2022–2024 action plan: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/bosnia-and-herzegovina-action-plan-2022-2024-december/.

Context and objectives

The BiH government does not currently have a centralized open data portal on which public institutions can publish datasets. In 2023, the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) ranked BiH 106^th out of 193 countries, indicating gaps in the openness and coverage of most data categories in line with international standards, although economic statistics data was more consistent. [1] BiH’s action plan states that while there are no specific documents on data management and protection, there is a comprehensive regulatory and financial framework for data disclosure as part of the public administration reform process. [2] The action plan notes that while the demand is modest, there is a significant increase in public interests on open data.

As such, this commitment seeks to establish an online open data portal. The key goals are to make public administration data more easily available and increase its use. The commitment also includes activities to raise awareness among civil society and public officials—at both state and lower levels of government—to encourage publication on the platform. The Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office (PARCO) proposed this commitment, emerging from its strategic framework for public administration reform. [3]

Potential for results: Substantial

According to a PARCO representative, the Agency for Statistics is the only institution that regularly publishes new data. [4] Similarly, a civil society representative echoes that public institutions publish very few data—of which most are not machine-readable and difficult to access due to low user-friendliness. [5] The Western Balkan Civil Society Empowerment for a Reformed Public Administration (WeBER) argues that lack of a unified database is one of the reasons for the discrepancies. [6]

Creating a centralized database for open data could deliver substantial early results for Bosnia and Herzegovina on developing an open data ecosystem, with broad scope to raise the ambition level of the commitment during implementation. A PARCO representative states that institutions invited to participate in the commitment would initially publish data that are already publicly available on their websites while gradually expanding the coverage. [7]

The action plan specifies that some datasets would be published in open data format on the new portal during implementation period. Annex 2 of PARCO’s 2020 Open Data Readiness Assessment in BiH report identifies seven datasets from institutions that could be transferred to a centralized open data portal and a further 42 that could be considered. [8] Civil society representatives have also expressed interest in financial data (currently not always published in open formats) and standard statistical data, emphasizing the importance of the data being made available in searchable and open formats. [9]

Institutions that would initially publish data on the open data portal include the Council of Ministers of BiH General Secretariat, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, the Administration for Indirect Taxation of BiH, the Agency for Statistics BiH, the Agency for Public Procurement of BiH, the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight Against Corruption, the Agency for Identification Documents, the Registers and Data Exchange of BiH, and the Central Election Commission. [10] In the long term, PARCO expects that the portal would be available to agencies at all administrative levels, further expanding transparency. [11]

A PARCO representative argues that a centralized portal would make it easier for citizens to access and search data. In an otherwise institutionally complicated state, this would be highly beneficial to data users. While beyond the scope of this commitment, the stakeholders added that the portal could also be used to proactively publish information that is often requested—and sometimes incur fees—in the future. Furthermore, they say that data centralization will also improve data reusability and interoperability with third-party platforms. [12] Civil society representatives explain that the commitment could lead to the disclosure of new information and data that could be used by media, civil society, and the public. [13]

Opportunities, challenges, and recommendations during implementation

There are clear opportunities for improved accessibility in the way data is published, and improving the open and reusable nature of data that is held by public institutions. However, PARCO and civil society representatives already identified a problem related to lack of personnel with the technical capacity to transfer existing data to open format. [14] They also say the lack of metadata and standards set a challenge to data publication on the portal. A civil society representative adds that many technical requirements (such as e-signature application) need to be resolved before the portal could be launched. [15]

According to WeBER, obstacles to open data include lack of IT expertise, lack of understanding of data regulation, and absence of an overarching governing body on open data. [16] While PARCO prefers for the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of BiH to assume the responsibility through its e-government department, there is lack of clarity on the extent of the department’s capacity. [17]

To address these limitations and enhance the results of implementation, the IRM recommends:

● PARCO could provide training to an expanded number of government agencies to encourage proactive publishing of data. PARCO could provide training sessions for officials on the benefits of the new portal, as well as expectations and best practices for data management and disclosure. PARCO officials could also look at relevant practices in other countries. Lithuania, for example, has introduced on its portal a guidance for public sector institutions to inventory and prioritize data for publication while ensuring compliance with open data standards. [18]

● In collaboration with civil society, PARCO could co-create a timetable for the development of the portal. This timetable could set out a clear methodology for data inclusion into the portal, deadlines for implementation, and also a timeframe for developing a strategy to generate new data. This would help give the portal a proactive sense and clearer activities beyond the action plan’s scope, which may also aid in securing funding—as indicated in the next recommendation.

● Public institutions need to secure funding for sustainable implementation and maintenance of the portal. PARCO—or any other designated institutions responsible for the portal—will need to secure and devote permanent funding to ensure its ongoing success. The funding could be used to upgrade government IT systems and improve compatibility with open data policies. It is also important for the data to be published in compliance with EU acquis.

● PARCO could engage with civil society and the public to promote the use of the portal to monitor government agencies. Civil society participation is important in defining standards, priorities, and use of the data. To do so, the stakeholders could develop a feedback mechanism that engages citizen participation to strengthen accountability. This may include public reporting of missing datasets, or proactive coding or naming of public institutions which do not comply with the minimum requirements of data disclosure. Going further, BiH could take inspiration from countries such as Tunisia and Costa Rica to develop an open data strategy in partnership with civil society. [19]