Portugal Design Report 2018-2020

Portugal’s first OGP action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... joins a series of government-led efforts to promote transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and civic engagement in the political process. Participating civil society and government representatives in the multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... praised the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... to develop the plan as a major milestone achievement for consultations in Portugal. Two commitments could potentially transform the areas of public consultations and access to public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More information, while others are limited in scope. Moving forward, promoting more channels for public inputs in the co-creation process could be prioritized.

The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) is a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. Portugal joined OGP in 2017. This report evaluates the design of Portugal’s first action plan.

General overview of action plan

Portugal’s first action plan focused on improving citizens’ access to public information. Portugal has been characterized by low levels of trust in political institutions and weak civic engagement, in part due to repeated cases of public mismanagement and corruption. This plan joins a set of initiatives to promote transparency and to involve citizens in the political process. Portugal could consider including other open government policy areas in future action plans, such as improving citizens’ relationship with the judiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati... system.

The Administrative Modernization Agency (AMA) invited nine organizations to form the multi-stakeholder forum (MSF) responsible for the co-creation of the action plan. The invitation-only forum developed a first set of commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... proposals followed by a short consultation period where citizens could comment on existing proposals or propose their own. According to several forum members, the plan ended up limited in scope due to time constraints and the lack of a specific budget for implementation of the initiatives. Still, MSF members were unanimous in praising the process of bringing together civil society and public administration to work together on open government initiatives.

Civil society representatives brought forward most proposals, but only three were included in the final eight commitments. Most of the commitments represent small steps toward improving access to public information, reflecting AMA’s focus on feasibility. That said, the plan includes two potentially transformative commitments: the development of a new portal for public consultation in government-initiated legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r... (Commitment 6); and a series of interrelated initiatives aimed at strengthening transparency in public procurement (Commitment 8).

Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

Recommendations

The IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan.

Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations