Improve Transparency of Government Service Providers (IE0041)

Government will improve transparency of organisations delivering services on its behalf, whether they are funded by grant or contract for service. Objective: To increase the release of data, preferably machine readable data, on organisations delivering services on the Government’s behalf. This will include audited financial data, compliance data and on-going performance delivery data. Status quo: The Government established the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) in 2013 to deliver better value and sustainable savings for the taxpayer, integrate procurement policy, strategy and operations, enable consistency and standardise the approach to public procurement, deliver broader policy goals in a consistent fashion and strengthen procurement spend analytics and data management. The legislative provisions of the EU Procurement Directives provide for the publication of tender and award notices for contracts above the applicable EU thresholds. However, the Office of Government Procurement has gone further to promote greater openness and transparency and the policy is that buyers are required to publish tender and award notices for contracts above €25k for goods and services and €50k for works on eTenders. In Ireland, billions of Euro are dispersed every year by the Government to non-profit bodies to deliver services that in other jurisdictions are often delivered directly by the state. In relation to grant funded services, each grantor collects detailed compliance and performance data but it is generally not published at an individual grantee organisation level. In 2014, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published a Circular (13/2014) to improve the management of and accountability for grants from exchequer funds. In 2015 the Government co-funded Benefacts.ie to centralise, digitise and publish all regulatory data on all non-profits in Ireland. While Benefacts has greatly improved transparency, it is based solely on audited regulatory filings and does not include compliance or performance data collected by grantors. Ambition: We will assess the appropriateness of standard transparency clauses for all large service contracts and grant agreements in an Irish context. We will identify the improvements required in data infrastructure and compliance practices to facilitate the proactive release of data on all large service contracts and grant agreements, as appropriate. Lead implementing organisations: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform 26 Timeline: June 2018.
Commitment 8: Improve transparency of government service providers OGP values Access to information, Public accountability, Technology and innovation New or ongoing commitment New Lead implementation organisations Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Other actors involved - government Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Defence, Local Government sector. All government departments that, directly or indirectly, grant fund organisations to deliver services on their behalf. Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfil the commitment. New or ongoing, Start date End date. Undertake a strategic assessment of contracting data infrastructure and contracting transparency compliance practices to identify changes required to: - deliver data to the Open Contracting Partnership’s Open Contracting Data Standard Intermediate level, and - be able to deliver on the requirements of a standard transparency clause in all large service contracts if such a clause were to be implemented New Jan 2017 June 2018 Assess the impact of transparency clauses in other jurisdictions, and consult with public bodies and industry representatives on the introduction of a standard transparency clause in order to inform a final decision on implementation of a standard transparency clause in service contracts. New Jan 2017 June 2018 Undertake a strategic assessment of grant funding data infrastructure and grant funding compliance practices to identify changes required to: New Jan 2017 Sept 2017 27 - deliver data equivalent to the Open Contracting Partnership’s Open Contracting Data Standard Basic level - be able to deliver on the requirements of a standard transparency clause in all major grant agreements Consult with public bodies and grant funded bodies on the introduction of a model transparency clause in order to inform a final decision on implementation of a standard transparency clause in grant agreements. New Jan 2017 June 2018.

8. Improve Transparency of Government Service Providers

Commitment Text:

Objective: To increase the release of data, preferably machine readable data, on organisations delivering services on the Government’s behalf. This will include audited financial data, compliance data and on-going performance delivery data.

Milestones

8.1. Undertake a strategic assessment of contracting data infrastructure and contracting transparency compliance practices to identify changes required to:

· deliver data to the Open Contracting Partnership’s Open Contracting Data Standard Intermediate level, and

· be able to deliver on the requirements of a standard transparency clause in all large service contracts if such a clause were to be implemented

8.2. Assess the impact of transparency clauses in other jurisdictions, and consult with public bodies and industry representatives on the introduction of a standard transparency clause in order to inform a final decision on implementation of a standard transparency clause in service contracts.

8.3. Undertake a strategic assessment of grant funding data infrastructure and grant funding compliance practices to identify changes required to:

· deliver data equivalent to the Open Contracting Partnership’s Open Contracting Data Standard Basic level

· be able to deliver on the requirements of a standard transparency clause in all major grant agreements

8.4. Consult with public bodies and grant funded bodies on the introduction of a model transparency clause in order to inform a final decision on implementation of a standard transparency clause in grant agreements.

Responsible institution: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Supporting institutions: Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Defence, Local Government sector. All government departments that, directly or indirectly, grant fund organisations to deliver services on their behalf.

Start date: January 2017

End date: June 2018

Editorial Note: The text of the commitment was abridged for formatting reasons. For full commitment text, visit: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Ireland_NAP_2016-2018.pdf.

Context and Objectives

The government of Ireland allocates billions of euros in grants every year to various nongovernmental organisations to deliver services to the Irish state.[Note: ‘Where does your money go? New website gives detailed breakdown of government spending’, TheJournal.ie, 11 April 2017, http://www.thejournal.ie/government-money-website-3333906-Apr2017/.] This commitment seeks to increase transparency to all large service contracts and grant agreements by way of releasing data regarding public funds received by organisations delivering services. This in turn will afford citizens with better knowledge of who is attaining grants and contracts from the state for the delivery of certain services. More specifically, the commitment calls for:

Milestone 8.1: Undertaking a strategic assessment of contracting data infrastructure and contracting transparency compliance practices.

Milestone 8.2: Assessing the impact of transparency clauses in other jurisdictions, in consultation with public bodies and industry representatives on the introduction of a standard transparency clause,

Milestone 8.3: Undertaking a strategic assessment of grant funding data infrastructure and grant funding compliance practices,

Milestone 8.4: Consulting with public bodies and grant funded bodies on the introduction of a model transparency clause.

Given that the goal is to increase information available on government contracts and grants, effectively holding the state accountable for the funds they have earmarked for these ends, the commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information, which will promote transparency in the carrying out of government functions. The milestones include activities that are reasonably verifiable, such as the strategic assessments for milestones 8.1 and 8.3 which call for the delivery of contracting and grant funding data to the Open Contracting Partnership’s Open Contracting Data Standard Basic level. Therefore, the overall specificity is coded as high. However, the consultations ‘industry leaders’ in Milestone 8.2 and with ‘grant funded bodies’ in Milestone 8.4 are less specific given that that service contracts are given to a plethora of firms and organisations. Similarly, it is unclear what ‘other jurisdictions’ refers to and which exact theoretical benchmarks will the assessment of transparency clauses. Given that there is no legislative change that will result, the potential impact is minor. For example, consultation on the introduction of a standard transparency clause in grant agreements, as per Milestone 8.4, is not necessarily going to be met with a resultant law that makes this a statutory obligation for all grant agreements going forward. Without such procedures which are guaranteed by law, this makes the potential impact minor.

Completion

The overall progress of this commitment has not begun and it is behind schedule. According to the government’s progress report, one initial meeting took place between the Reform and Delivery Office, Office of Government Procurement, and the Director of Open Contracting Partnership in January 2017 regarding milestones 8.1 and 8.2. There is no reporting on milestones 8.3 and 8.4 in the government’s progress report. No stakeholders have been consulted in the first year of implementation, which would have theoretically taken place in the implementation of milestones 8.2 and 8.4.

Next Steps

In the likely event that the commitment is not implemented, it should be carried forward into the next action plan. However, the IRM researcher recommends that the text of the commitment be modified on two grounds. First, the text should be written in plain language, clearly identifying the objectives. Second, it should more explicitly identify both the change in practice that is to be obtained upon successful completion of the commitment, and the legal obligations for all grant agreements that may be developed in the future in order to ensure transparency going forward.

For commitment details, see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Ireland_End-Term_...