We continue to introduce to you the organizations that are members of the RISE Ukraine coalition. This time we tell you about the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP).

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— When was the organization founded? How has it grown since then?

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— Open Contracting Partnership is a silo-busting collaboration across governments, businesses, civil society, and technologists to open up and transform government contracting worldwide. Bringing open data and open government together, we make sure public money is spent openly, fairly and effectively on public contracts, the single biggest item of spending by most governments. They are a government’s number one corruption risk and they are vital to make sure citizens get the services that they deserve. It was spun out of the World Bank in 2015 and is now an independent non-profit based out of Washington, D.C.

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— What are the main tasks of the organization now?

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— Through open contracting, we drive massively improved value for money, public integrity and service delivery by shifting public contracting from closed processes and masses of paperwork to digital services that are fair, efficient and ‘open-by-design’.

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We support reformers from government, business and civil society to make reforms stick, help their innovations jump scale, and foster a culture of openness around the policies, teams, tools, data, and results needed to deliver impact.

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We are working with the RISE Ukraine Coalition providing specific support to software development and delivering a digital service such as the Digital Reconstruction Mechanism Software. 

—  Which previously completed projects do you consider the most important?

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— Each component of Ukraine’s world-class civic tech and open data public procurement infrastructure provides a critical contribution to a transparent, efficient and effective system. With Prozorro and an open data standard at its core, it has empowered different stakeholders to build tools that fit their needs – from the different marketplaces to the citizen monitoring system Dozorro to linked up systems such as Prozorro.Sale. 

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—  In your opinion, what are the main challenges regarding the issue of reconstruction? How to overcome them?

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— The main risk will be the fragmentation of financing and donor money into the reconstruction. In addition, funding for civil society-led collaborations such as RISE will be critical for integrity and overseeing an effective and efficient reconstruction. 

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— What do you consider the key tasks of civil society in the reconstruction? What is needed to fulfill them?

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— Civil society will be essential to monitor integrity and oversee an effective and efficient reconstruction. In addition, civil society will play an important role increasing inclusion and prioritizing projects. 

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—  How do you see the successful outcome of the work of the RISE Ukraine Coalition — and the implementation of reconstruction in general? What will be the indicator of success?

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— It’s an ambitious project but it aligns with everything we believe in: goal-driven reforms, user-centered design, embedding open data and data-driven business processes, engagement by all actors, and embedding and institutionalizing change. We hope that this collaboration will become a compelling example of a smarter, more open government that delivers concrete benefits to Ukrainians in all parts of the country. 

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