OECD Recommendation
Ensure an adequate degree of transparency of the public procurement system in all stages of the procurement.
- Promote fair and equitable treatment for potential suppliers by providing an adequate and timely degree of transparency in each phase of the public procurement cycle.
- Allow free access, through and online portal, for all stakeholders, including potential domestic and foreign suppliers, civil society and the general public, to public procurement information.
- Ensure visibility of the flow of public funds, from the beginning of the budgeting process throughout the public procurement cycle.
Related Principles
Risks to public procurement related to transparency include:
- Cases of mismanagement, fraud and corruption related to the lack of transparency and disclosure of information around public procurement processes
- Distorted competition in case interested suppliers do not have access to the same type of information
- A decrease of public confidence and trust in governments in case goods and services are poor quality, inappropriate or costly or if information on public procurement processes is lacking
Related Tools
Country Cases
Adequate and timely degree of transparency
- Disclosure of information through the central procurement system Compranet in Mexcio
- Transparency and Traceability in Public Procurement in Italy
- The Ethics, probity and accountability in procurement manual in Australia
- Institutional Administration Index in Costa Rica
- Increasing accountability for intra-government contracting in Mexico
Free access for all stakeholders to public procurement information
- Argentina Compra – Public procurement website of the Argentinian National Public Administration
- Electronic workflow: Processing and tracking information on public procurement in Germany
- Federal Procurement Data Systems in the United States
- Korea's public procurement data system
- Tappan Zee Bridge video camera monitoring in the United States
- Towards e-procurement in the Russian Federation
- The Business Integrity Registry of the Ministry of Public Administration (SFP)
- Comparing challenges in finding evaluators with the Czech Republic and Estonia
- Integration of the SEACE with other IT systems in Peru
- Mexico and the Open Contracting Data Standard
- The integrity monitor in the Tappan Zee Bridge Project, New York State
- Citizen participation mechanisms in public procurement processes in Latin America
- ProZorro eProcurement System in Ukraine
- Malta – Monitoring of non-compliance in public procurement
- The use of open data practices to normalise public procurement data and enhance accountability in Mexico
- Germany’s contact persons for corruption prevention
Visibility of the flow of public funds
- Checkbook NYC in the United States
- Public Spending Observatory in Brazil
- The Transparency Portal of the Federal Public Administration in Brazil
- Control system of the Environmental Projects Management Agency of Lithuania
- Misconduct in the evaluation process and the audit authority’s findings (Slovak Republic)
- Government spending statistics in Australia
- Data-mining to identify corruption in public procurement in the European Union
Other
- Using the right tools for better procurement outcomes (Slovak Republic)
- The reform on social witnesses being prepared by the State of Mexico
- Weighting and award criteria for street lighting projects
- Pilot projects to support the internal control system of public procurement in Peru
- UK Digital Buying Guide
- Corruption risk management: The example of Colombia
- Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission recommendation on subcontracting and modifying agreements
- Standard forms of contracts of FIDIC
- The obligation to incorporate in CompraNet information regarding the planning and contract management phases
- Specialised training for public procurement in France
Reviews
- Improving Transparency within Government Procurement Procedures in Iraq: OECD Benchmark Report
- Fostering accountability through transparency and civil society scrutiny (extract of Public Procurement Review – IMSS, Mexico)
- Towards open government: Promoting transparency in public procurement in ISSSTE (extract of Public Procurement Review - ISSSTE, Mexico)
- Enhancing the integrity and transparency of the procurement process in the NAICM project (extract of Public Procurement Review – Mexico Airport)
- Actions to promote transparency and efficiency in ISSSTE's procurement system (extract of Public Procurement Review – IMSS2, Mexico)
- Harnessing public procurement data in Colombia (extract of Public Procurement Review - Colombia)
OECD work on transparency
- Compendium of Good Practices for Integrity in Public Procurement
- Open Government Data Project
- Preventing Corruption in Public Procurement