Development and Appreciation

Development

Version 1.0.0

Version 1.0.0 was developed for the Open Contracting Partnership by the World Wide Web Foundation and the World Bank, through a project supported by the Omidyar Network and the World Bank. The 1.0 Release Candidate was developed within a year by:

  • Assessing the data supplied through contracting portals, in order to understand what data governments published, and how it was structured. We created a Contracting Data Comparison tool, which includes an analysis of the distribution of fields used for common concepts by a wide range of government contracting data portals. Read the supply-side assessment report.

  • Exploring demand for contracting data, through field work, interviews and online engagement with different communities and individuals using contracting information. The information needs of users were organized into use cases, which informed the development of, and requirements for, the OCDS. Read the demand-side assessment report.

  • Iterative, open development, with reference to the Principles for Digital Development. We received broad feedback on the alpha and beta releases. All issues were recorded and discussed in a public issue tracker. We engaged public contracting, open data and other stakeholders through mailing lists, online spaces and development sprints at PyCon Montreal and PyCon Europe 2014. Over 150 people provided comments, feedback and input.

The timeline was:

  • Research (November 2013 to May 2014): User requirements were collected, and data supply was explored. Technical options for the OCDS were considered and consulted on.

  • Alpha (June 2014): An outline data model was shared, and high-level concepts were outlined for consultation. The design of individual fields was started.

  • Beta (September 2014): A schema, including field definitions, was proposed and opened for consultation. The feedback received motivated many substantial changes.

  • Release candidate (November 2014): The OCDS was released for final review.

  • Release (July 2015): Version 1.0.0 was released, with minor bug fixes.

Upgrade history

Old tools that have been superseded or obsoleted by new tools can be found in the Open Contracting Archive GitHub organization.

Appreciation

The OCDS was developed with input from many people, to whom we extend our thanks.

From 2015 to 2022, data support was delivered through collaboration with Open Data Services Co-operative Limited in the United Kingdom and Centro de Desarrollo Sostenible in Paraguay.

Core team

Core contributors (Version 1.1.0): Tim Davies, Duncan Dewhurst, David Raznick, Lindsey Marchessault, Ben Webb, Edafe Onerhime.

Core contributors (Version 1.0.1): Tim Davies, Lindsey Marchessault, Ben Webb, David Raznick, David Carpenter, Edafe Onerhime, Steven Flower.

Lead authors (Version 1.0.0): Tim Davies (Web Foundation) & Sarah Bird (Aptivate), with core input from: James McKinney (Open North), Lindsey Marchessault (World Bank), Marcela Rozo (World Bank), Stephen Davenport (World Bank), Ana Brandusescu, Jose M. Alonso (Web Foundation) and Michael Roberts (Web Foundation).

Contributors

The use of a name does not imply any endorsement of the OCDS.

Version 1.1.0

Issue contributors:

@agm3dc (Andrew Mandelbaum), @AlCollier (Al Collier), @andrewlorien (Andrew Lorien), @Bjwebb (Ben Webb), @chrisalexsmith (Chris Smith), @ColinMaudry (Colin Maudry), @duncandewhurst (Duncan Dewhurst), @ec-mcs (Marc Christopher Schmidt), @edugomez (Eduardo Gomez), @ekoner (Edafe Onerhime), @hrdwm14, @joshuacpowell (Joshua Powell), @jskuhrovec (Jiri Skuhrovec), @kindly (David Raznick), @KrzysztofMadejski (Krzysiek Madejski), @LindseyAM (Lindsey Marchessault), @myroslav (Myroslav Opyr), @robredpath (Rob Redpath), @SamCCSI (Sam Szoke-Burke), @siwhitehouse (Simon Whitehouse) and @woodbine (Ian Makgill).

Peer reviewers:

  • Andrew Lorien, The Gruden Group (Australia)

  • Mireille Raad, World Bank (United States)

  • Aura Martínez, Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (Mexico)

  • Andrew Mandelbaum & Mihai Postelnicu, Development Gateway (United States)

  • Patrick Enaholo, Pan Atlantic University - Lagos (Nigeria)

  • Juan Pane, Latin America Open Data Initiative (Paraguay)

  • Jachym Hercher, European Commission (Belgium)

  • Irum Maqsood, Public Works and Government Services Canada (Canada)

Version 1.0.0

Thanks for contributions to technical and policy development go to: Noé Domínguez, Oscar Montiel, Laura Serghi, Mathieu Leduc-Hamel, Michael Lenczner, Isabel Munilla, John Hawkins, Laura Bacon and Owen Scott.

Thanks for contributions to user research go to: Antonio Acuna, Steve Addler, Ivan Begtin, Bibhusan Bista, Eduardo Bohórquez, Mathieu Carlier, Andrew Clarke, Kami Dar, Eva Vozárová, Kami Dar, Daniel Dudis, Mihály Fazekas, Dustin Homer, John Jordan, Jeff Kaplan, Charles Kenny, Ian Makgill, Habibullah Muqbel, Seember Nyager, Meike Paetzold, Pascal Robichaud, Claire Schouten, Tom Sisti and Chris Taggart.

Thanks to participants of open contracting data-related events and meetings in Montreal, Washington, Berlin, Kathmandu, Mexico and online, and all those who wished to remain anonymous, for their input and feedback into the demand-side assessment process.

Standard website design and icons by Neontribe, with thanks to Harry Harold and Heydon Pickering.