End of Commitment Report – Full operationalization of Open Contracting and Effective Deployment and Use of Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS) to Meet Diverse Stakeholders Needs in key MDAs

Name of Evaluator

Prof Hauwau Evelyn Yusuf

Email

eveadex@gmail.com

Member Name

Kaduna State, Nigeria

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... Title

Action plan – Kaduna State, Nigeria, 2021 – 2023

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...

Full operationalization of Open ContractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More and Effective Deployment and Use of Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS) to Meet Diverse Stakeholders Needs in key MDAs

Action

From the first action plan, Kaduna State committed to progressive implementation of open contracting and the adoption of the open contracting data standards to enhance 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, accountability, and citizens’ engagement in 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 and fiscal transparency. The second action plan will prioritize the use of technology in timely data publication and availability, quality and use of public data by different categories of stakeholders; open the contracting process for citizens to access useful procurement information that can aidMore and better information about aid helps partner countries and donor institutions plan and manage aid resources more effectively, parliaments and civil society to hold governments accountable for t... informed decision-making, provide reliable feedback concerning-procurement at all stages of the process.

Problem

Despite the gains in the first action plan in launching the OCDS portal, the availability of useful procurement information at the various stages of the procurement process has remained a challenge. The Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Kaduna State government are unable to proactively disclose procurement information that is accessible to all citizens. This has further discouraged civic participation in the procurement process and affected the chances for accountability and value for money in project delivery.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

Substantial

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Based on the status of implementation of each milestone of open contracting, we had 10 milestones under this commitment out of which 8 were completed, one incomplete, and one in progress at the time of compiling this assessment.

• Kaduna State Open Contracting Portal
• Projects Dashboard
• Did You Witness? Facebook Page
• Did You Witness? Soundcloud
• Kaduna SDGs office vows to ensure the release of N100 million donation to PWDs
• Facebook Post
• Open Contracting Article

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

The successful implementation of the milestones was largely due to the commitment of the institutional Agency responsible for Open Contracting in the State and the commitment of the civil society (Including media and academia) in the TWG to strategically engage and provide unprecedented support to the government agencies in technical and financial resources for this agency to deliver on the milestones as captured under the commitment area.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

All of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment was successfully implemented as planned without any negative deviation.
However, there were positive additions aimed at consolidating the gains, effectiveness, and sustainability of the reforms.

The focus of the commitment was to promote increased access to procurement information through the various platforms used by the Public Procurement Authority. In addition to that is the proactive disclosure of procurement information by MDAs implementing projects in the state. To this end, the demand also focused on the need to sensitize the citizens on these available platforms to drive traffic to increase the demand and use of procurement information to hold the Government accountable for managing public funds. All these milestones were carefully crafted using the Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) approach and were implemented as planned without any negative deviation.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The disclosure of procurement information significantly improved. This can seen in the procurement information published on the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) Portal, Bills of quantity published, and the interactive e-procurement portal.

The disclosures became transformative due to their quantum and significance

These have benefitted citizens in getting procurement information for tracking procurement across critical sectors in the state to ensure services are delivered to the ordinary citizens in the state.

Using the procurement data, basic services have improved across various sectors including health and educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ....

• Kaduna State Open Contracting Portal
• Projects Dashboard

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Access to procurement information granted citizens more ability to track the delivery of public goods in the state. Through the development of procurement tracking tools by civil society across priority sectors of Education and Health sectors. Procurement information supports the triangulation of data with MDAs implementing projects. This has successfully been used to generate findings, and develop scorecards that are used for high-level advocacy to influence government decisions by holding the government accountable. Notable users of this data are the accountability mechanisms in the education and health sectors.

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

2.1.4 Other Results

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

While the commitment focus was on disclosure of details of contract information using digital tools like the OCDS and e-procurement portal, the Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority disclosed Bills of Quantity and Contract Agreements which were not captured as milestones in the State Action Plan. So far the state has disclosed over 150 BOQs amounting to over 5 Billion in value for citizens to track projects as additional information.

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment seeks to leverage technology to address the problem of proactive disclosure of procurement information. Based on the implementation of milestones of this commitment, the Government developed the e-procurement portal to track the procurement process real-time. It has also published additional information on the OCDS portal as well as added another layer of disclosing Bills of Quantity (BOQs) for citizens to have access to what contractors are expected to do on-site. (TWG Expansiate)

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

This commitment should be rolled over to SAP III. This is because we intend to expand public disclosure of projects by joining CoST Infrastructure Transparency Initiative. citizens need to continue to advocate for public disclosure of procurement data to fight corruption, promote accountability, and ensure value for money.