Contract award data to be open from October
From October 2019, New Zealand Government Procurement will start moving towards increased transparency on government spending by releasing contract award notices on a quarterly basis.
The first report to be published will be for contracts awarded during July, August and September 2019. This is a step towards our commitment to making contract award data open by June 2020.
With this change it is even more important for you to remember to go back to GETS and record the details of your contract award once a tender has closed.
With contract award data published in a more usable format people will be able to search and view what contracts government agencies have awarded, to whom and their value. You may find you experience increased attention on your contract spend as a result.
This is part of a project to make data on contracts awarded by government open and more accessible, a commitment under the Open Government Partnership to which New Zealand is a signatory. Contract award data is currently available on the Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS) website but it is not currently published in an open data format.
Publishing a contract award notice on GETS within 30 days of signing the contract is a requirement in the Government Rules of Sourcing. For more information on what the award notice must include refer to Rule 45 in the Government Rules of Sourcing.
We are making some changes in GETS to make it easier to enter this data. We’re happy to offer training to anyone who would like a refresher on the GETS system and how to award contracts.
Please contact us at procurement@mbie.govt.nz if you have any questions about how to post your contract award notices or if you would like to be involved in future workshops for this project.
The Open Government Partnership, launched in 2011, is an international agreement by governments to be more open, accountable and responsive to citizens. The State Services Commission leads the delivery of our commitments in New Zealand.
Read about the Open Government Partnership and New Zealand’s Action Plan.