Open Contracting - what is it and how good is it?

Public procurement accounts for 16-18% of a country’s GDP and can be vulnerable to corruption, mismanagement and inefficiencies. The concept Open Contracting promotes transparency and participation in government contracting with the goal to improve public procurement processes worldwide. In this paper, a framework of good public procurement is developed which is later contrasted with the objectives, operating mode and benefits and effects of Open Contracting. The analysis of Open Contracting found evidence that the concept only supports several satisficing s of good public procurement by promoting their global principles, by developing open data standards for disclosure of contracting information, by supporting practitioners with training, resources, seed funding, coaching, coalition and network building and finally by building evidence for open contracting through research, monitoring and evaluation. Open Contracting was found to not support a government’s broader government objectives (objectives that create additional value for society, for instance through innovations).