Open Contracting Data Standard

Governments around the world spend an estimated US$13 trillion through contracts every year. Yet, contracting information is often unavailable for public scrutiny.

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) enables disclosure of data and documents at all stages of the contracting process by defining a common data model. It was created to support organizations to increase contracting transparency, and allow deeper analysis of contracting data by a wide range of users.

The OCDS documentation is made up of several parts, designed to help you use the OCDS effectively.

Primer

Learn about the key concepts and features of the OCDS

Guidance

Follow step-by-step instructions to design and implement an OCDS publication

Reference

Review the schemas, codelists and rules that need to be followed to publish OCDS data

Getting Help

Get free support and learn how to participate in the OCDS community

History

See how the OCDS has changed over time

Data Review Tool

Check whether your data follows the OCDS correctly

The Open Contracting Data Standard is a core product of the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP). If you are interested to learn more about Open Contracting advocacy and how it can be used to support wider reform and measurable improvements in public contracting, please visit www.open-contracting.org.

Note

This is the English (and canonical) version of the OCDS documentation. You can switch to the Spanish and French translations using the language switcher.