Open Contracting Data Publication (PH0066)

• Open Contracting Data (August 1, 2020)

What is the problem the commitment addresses?

Transparency in the procurement and implementation of public contracts alongside competitiveness, public monitoring, accountability, and streamlined procurement processes are the principles enshrined in the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) or Republic Act 9184. It posits that transparency of public procurement information is a deterrent to corruption thereby mandating all procuring entities to publish bid opportunities and post awards and contracts in the electronic government portal.

However, inefficiencies in the procurement process continue to exist. This has resulted in corruption, leakages and wastage of government funds that negatively affect the delivery of public services to the Filipino people. This is evident in the 2018 Corruption Perception Index wherein the Philippines ranked 99 across 180 countries.

While some public procurement data is published online by PhilGEPS and other procuring entities, stakeholders cannot fully engage with the data given that: (1) PhilGEPS does not provide information on procurement planning and contract implementation; (2) procurement data uploaded by procuring entities are incomplete making it difficult to track contracts from planning to implementation; (3) not all data is published using open data standards, (4) there is limited awareness of PhilGEPS data on the Philippines Open Data Portal; and (5) most civil society organizations and other stakeholders lack the capacity to analyze and transform data to be used as evidence for policy and practice recommendations.

Moreover, The Commission on Audit (COA), as one of the major users of procurement data for its audit activities, is in need of a data-source that is facilitative and comprehensive.

What is the commitment?

The PS-PhilGEPS commits to work with civil society and government stakeholders to identify contracting data that will be subjected to mandatory publication using machine-readable formats. In doing so, PS-PhilGEPS will ensure that its modernized system will utilize Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS) in publishing data embedded in the Annual Procurement Plan, Purchase Request, Bid Notice, Award Notice, E-Bidding, Contract Management, aside from those initially identified by the stakeholders. With policy support from the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), publication of procurement data by government procuring entities will be required. This will enable public monitoring and audit of public procurement in order to improve the contracting process and enhance public service delivery.
In doing so, the PS-PhilGEPS will establish a team that will engage civil society organizations, media, the private sector, and other government agencies to jointly identify priorities to help the government build public trust through open contracting.

Together with the Government Procurement Policy Board - Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO), contracting information will be used to update procurement policies and the possible improvement of Government Procurement Reform Act’s Implementing Rules and Regulations.

Together with the civil society and the private sector, PS-PhilGEPS will create opportunities to improve the data literacy of both civil and government stakeholders in appreciating, using and analyzing contracting data to be used for monitoring procurement projects and as evidence for policy and practice recommendations in order to build public trust and integrity.

The COA on the other hand, commits to collaborate with the PhilGEPS in the identification of data needed as one of the bases for determining the data to be published, in the training of auditors of procuring entities and citizen-partners/auditors in the context of the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA) initiative, and the utilization of procurement data from the PhilGEPS in conducting audits for specific audit objectives.

See Action Plan for milestone activities

10. Public Procurement Transparency and Participation through PhilGEPs

"The PS-PhilGEPS commits to work with civil society and government stakeholder to identify contracting data that will be subjected to mandatory publication using machine-readable formats.

Main Objective

This commitment will make disclosure of contracting information from planning up to implementation in a timely, accessible and usable manner. It will allow civil society organizations, media and the public in general to analyze and monitor government contracts providing them better means to provide feedback and participate in government decision-making. It will promote a fairer marketplace and level playing fields for merchants resulting to more competitive bids and better quality of goods and services. It will help government agencies to analyze and identify areas to improve their processes. It will help prevent fraud, collusion and corruption, which will build the public trust and integrity of the government procurement process, the civil servants and the government institutions."

Milestones

1. Stakeholder-identified public procurement data obtained and mapped against OCDS and if possible specific stakeholder needs.
2. Redesign the PhilGEPS to build the user needs into the system.
3. Requested the GPPB through the GPPB-TSO for policy issuance directing procuring entities to publish required data.
4. Capacitated selected procuring entities in publishing procurement data in the PhilGEPS.
5. Capacitated civil society, the private sector, and government representatives to access and use contracting data published on PhilGEPS.
6. Capacitated COA auditors and citizen-partners/auditors in using published data for its audits under the umbrella of the CPA initiative.
7. Civil society, the private sector are capacitated to use contracting data for evidence-based policy and practice recommendations for their advocacies related to health, market competition, and more responsive procurement policies and processes.
8. Policy recommendation submitted to GPPB through the GPPB-TSO in response to evidence generation through the use of PhilGEPS data by different stakeholders.
9. PS-PhilGEPS staff are capacitated to develop data visualization tools that can aid in dashboard development using contracting data in OCDS format.
10. Collaborated with DICT in linking to PhilGEPS platform to its Open Data Portal.
11. Collaborated with Presidential Communication and Operations Office-FOI Monitoring Team.
12. Collaborated with the PhilGEPS in identification of user needs.
13. Collaborated with the PhilGEPS in capacitating COA auditors and citizen-partners/auditors in using published data for its audits under the umbrella of the CPA initiative.
14. Utilized procurement data published in the PhilGEPS in CPA engagements.
15. Training of 10 CSOs (from 5 organizations) on open contracting.
16. Monitoring by 5 trained organizations of government projects under DIME utilizing contracting information.
17. Relevant sectors are represented in OGP commitment activities.
18. Explored the possibility of publishing gender and inclusivity relevant data.
19. Ensure representation of relevant sectors are represented in OGP commitment activities.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, along with the updated version submitted in the revised action plan, please see the Philippine action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/philippines-action-plan-2019-2022/.

Commitment analysis

This commitment seeks to promote and strengthen transparency in public procurement through meaningful participation by CSOs in the public procurement process, from planning to contract awarding and implementation in accordance with the Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS). ^[128] This commitment supports efforts to institute citizen participatory audits included in the last two action plans. ^[129]

Republic Act 9184 (the 2003 Government Procurement Reform Act) allows the government to reform, streamline, and consolidate the public procurement process. ^[130] It mandates two important reforms in public procurement: the disclosure of procurement data through the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the participation of citizens in monitoring procurement activities from pre-bidding all the way to the awarding of contracts.

Citizens and civil society groups alike eagerly welcomed and participated in this reform, whereas many nongovernmental organizations mobilized volunteers and conducted capacity-building initiatives to monitor procurement, especially large procurement activities, such as the purchase of textbooks, building of classrooms, and road construction. The PhilGEPS serves as the primary online repository and access point of procurement related data and is used by civil society to engage in and monitor the public procurement process. The Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) oversees and controls the national government procurement system. ^[131]

However, certain limitations and issues continue to hamper the effectiveness of public procurement monitoring. According to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, these limitations are related to a lack of standardization in terms of data quality and availability, inconsistent data collection across government agencies, discrepancies in the publication of data between stages of procurement, and non-compliance with international standards such as the OCDS. For example, limited and incomplete data availability creates an unreliable picture of the procurement process and negatively affects the monitoring efforts of citizens and civil society. ^[132]

In recent years, resources from funders and development partners have become scarcer, which has resulted in dwindling public monitoring of government procurement. Today, almost no CSOs participate in procurement monitoring, even for big-ticket procurement. ^[133] According to the PhilGEPS portal, there are 149 CSOs registered on the system, with engagement and participation decreasing from a high of 145 system activities in 2017 to just 6 system activities in 2018 and further down to 5 in 2019. ^[134] CSOs have complained that participating in bid, pre-bid, and bid award conferences cause significant financial strain. Meanwhile, there has been no indication of possible support from the government or other funding sources to sustain operations. ^[135]

Through this commitment, civil society will attempt to reinvigorate participation in monitoring public procurement jointly with other stakeholders. The PhilGEPS management team will identify documents that should be publicly available and make them compliant with the OCDS, and conduct capacity-building initiatives for both civil society and auditors to navigate OCDS-compliant procurement documents. The commitment will also introduce open contracting reforms through the GPBB’s technical support office (TSO). Private sector representatives will be involved in identifying the needs of the PhilGEPS portal users to ensure that the data provided can be used to meaningfully engage the government in monitoring procurement processes.

This commitment is relevant to OGP values of access to information and civic participation. Through the publication of data in machine-readable format and in compliance with the OCDS, the PhilGEPS portal will be used more easily by civil society, private sector, media, and academia to access, analyze, and consolidate information for monitoring purposes. They could provide feedback to and work with the GPBB to ensure that public procurement is free from fraud and corruption and is conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency.

This commitment has moderate potential impact. Making procurement information—from pre-bidding through to implementation—available in an OCDS-compliant nature is a significant stride in strengthening ease of access to information and making procurement data more transparent and reliable, which in turn can cause more meaningful citizen engagement in monitoring procurement processes. This is, however, not enough to address the more fundamental issues of public procurement, such as insufficient resources to support public monitoring as well as the underlying issues with the GPPB’s procurement policy in general.

Next Steps

The commitment is a significant breakthrough in expanding the transparency and accessibility of public procurement data in the PhilGEPS portal. Implementing the OCDS could compel government procurement entities to publish and make available online all information pertinent to the purchase of goods and services in full with no exception.

Going forward, to increase its ambition and achieve a transformative potential impact, stakeholders need to find a strategic solution to the dwindling resources that have significantly diminished civil society participation in monitoring government procurement. Additionally, it is important to push the GPPB to revisit all procurement rules and regulations as well as guidelines for review and ensure that they create an enabling environment for more meaningful civil society and citizen participation in scrutinizing government procurement policies and practices.

Commitment 10. Public Procurement Transparency and Participation through PhilGEPS

Verifiable: Yes

Does it have an open government lens?

Yes

Potential for results: Moderate

● Completion: Substantial

● Did it open government? No early results to report yet

This commitment was substantially implemented, but delays in updating the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) meant that it did not improve civil society’s ability to monitor contracting data. The PhilGEPS redesign process faced third-party contracting and service delivery issues. The updated portal was not launched by the end of the implementation period, although preparation for the portal was undertaken. For instance, PhilGEPS and the Commission on Audit (COA) worked with public auditors and other public, private, and civil society stakeholders to identify contracting data needs that were meant to be subjected to mandatory disclosure by procuring entities on the updated portal through a Government Procurement Policy Board issuance. In the meantime, the old PhilGEPS portal was linked to the old Open Data PH portal. In terms of participation in public procurement, the agencies trained COA auditors, national government agencies, private sector representatives, and CSOs on the use of the old PhilGEPS portal and data. [81] With CODE-NGO support, CSOs monitored Project DIME procurement but could not make use of PhilGEPS because of the limited data available in the old portal. [82] Additionally, the activities with the PCOO’s FOI-Project Management Office (student caravans) were accomplished only near the end of the implementation period. [83] Overall, COA and CODE-NGO noted that through participation in this commitment, CSOs and state auditors gained a better understanding of the public procurement process. However, to achieve effective public monitoring, they called for technical capacity building and retraining on the updated PhilGEPS portal once it is launched. [84]