In Kenya, Open Contracting Improves Efficiency & Curbs Corruption
On 31st August 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Ministry of Health to come up with a transparent, open method and mechanism through which all tenders and procurement done by Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) will be available online. The directive follows allegations of corruption in the procurement of COVID-19 emergency supplies.
With citizens’ lives on the line and government spending at record highs, ensuring accountability to citizens is imperative to maintaining trust and effectively managing KEMSA’s procurement in response to COVID-19. Open procurement data can help in improving the efficiency of emergency procurement and support civil society groups to detect corruption and monitor the effectiveness of service delivery.
“This level of transparency and through the use of technology will go a very long way in ensuring that we have the confidence of our people that those placed in institutions are able to manage the resources of the Kenyan taxpayer plus our development partners in an open and transparent manner” – President Uhuru Kenyatta
Much can be learned from Makueni County in Kenya, a county that publishes and uses open, accessible, and timely information on government contracting to engage citizens and businesses. The Makueni Open Contracting Portal is an interactive site built by Development Gateway (DG) that provides detailed information on each step of the tender, award, and contract implementation process at the county level. These steps are now recorded within the interactive Makueni Open Contracting Portal – making information available for citizens at each step of the process. The county plans to go a step further to publish all implementation data such as community monitoring reports, also known as PMC reports and supplier payment vouchers.
The goal of the portal is to improve the efficiency of public procurement management and support the delivery of higher-quality goods, works, and services for residents of Makueni County through enhanced citizen feedback.
What We Learned from Makueni County
Lesson 1: Public Data Improves Efficiency
The primary role of the Ministry of Health and KEMSA in Kenya during an emergency situation is to provide citizens timely, affordable, and efficient supplies and services. Digitizing and publishing procurement data will provide the Ministry insights on whether funding and services are reaching intended beneficiaries.
Publishing procurement data will also encourage better monitoring from relevant state and non-state actors. The Ministry of Health and KEMSA will have the opportunity to aggregate non-state actors’ feedback and state actor insights. This feedback will enable them to make data-driven decisions that will improve service delivery to citizens, promote efficient allocation of resources and ultimately saving costs.
DG has developed interactive M&E dashboards to support analysis currently used by Makueni County. The series of charts and visualizations provide helpful data insights – such as top suppliers that received contracts and the percentage of awards that go toward the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO), which requires tenders to be awarded to women, youth, and people with disabilities.
Since the start of the use of the Makueni open contracting portal in 2019, improved resource utilization and efficiency in procurement has been identified by the County leadership. Governor Kivutha Kibwana cited that the County has saved Kes. 30,000,000 from the Roads department as a result of using the portal.
Lesson 2: Building Trust is Essential to Combating Corruption
The complexity of emergency responses such as COVID-19 requires cooperation between the private sector, national, and county government to ensure timely delivery of supplies. KEMSA publishing data will promote feedback and engagement of business and citizens further building trust and collaboration. Publishing procurement data also equips civil society and citizens with the information needed to help combat corruption. For example, reporting counterfeits, frauds, and scams – which has been a key corruption issue identified globally in COVID-19 response procurement, particularly PPEs.
DG has implemented its corruption risk dashboard in Makueni, which uses high powered analytics and global research to identify risk profiles for potential corruption in procurement. KEMSA can adopt the corruption risk dashboard as a red-flagging tool to assist in identifying procurement activities that merit in-depth auditing of corruption risk – including fraud, collusion, and process rigging – over time. These analytics will allow the organization to address cases of corruption before taxpayer money is lost.
Lastly, publishing Beneficial ownership data can enable governments to quickly perform minimal standards of due diligence on companies they are buying goods and services from. As well as reducing the immediate risk of corruption, beneficial ownership data provides a valuable trail for future audit.
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Digital Transformation for Public Value: Development Gateway’s Insights from Agriculture & Open Contracting
In today’s fast-evolving world, governments and public organizations are under more pressure than ever before to deliver efficient, transparent services that align with public expectations. In this blog, we delve into the key concepts behind digital transformation and how it can enhance public value by promoting transparency, informing policy, and supporting evidence-based decision-making.
In today’s fast-evolving world, governments and public organizations are under more pressure than ever before to deliver efficient, transparent services that align with public expectations. While this increased pressure is largely due to the rapid digitization of public life, it is also the case that digital transformation is perfectly placed to be the ideal enabler of public value. When implemented correctly, that is.
In this blog, we delve into the key concepts behind digital transformation and how it can enhance public value by promoting transparency, informing policy, and supporting evidence-based decision-making.
The Path to Enabling Public Value
Creating public value requires governments and public organizations to focus on results that align with the needs and expectations of the public, using resources wisely and maintaining accountability and transparency as they do so. Serving as a guiding principle for public managers and policymakers alike, aiming to add public value ensures that actions taken are about improving service delivery and attaining meaningful societal impact.
The concept of public value originated from the book “Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government,” written by Hauser Professor of Nonprofit Organizations, Mark Moore, in 1995. Moore’s theory on public value parallels the private sector’s customer-oriented approach, suggesting that public administrators should focus on how:
- Public activities create value for service users, relevant stakeholders, and general citizens;
- Public administrations can attract resources and leverage their authority and legitimacy; and
- Public administrations, institutions, and services can become more efficient and effective through developing service ecosystems and advancing the betterment of society.
Digital Transformation: Building a Strong Foundation for Value Creation
Digital transformation—the use of information and communication technologies to develop new capabilities in business, government, and society—goes well beyond mere automation. It involves adopting technologies to boost productivity, create value, and improve social welfare. Digital transformation offers significant opportunities to enhance public value, yet it also presents certain challenges that require strategic solutions to ensure it is implemented equitably and sustainably.
Data and digital technologies provide a pathway for governments to create public value through increased transparency and informed decision-making. By collating data, enhancing data systems and safeguards, and promoting cross-functional operations through interoperable data systems, we can establish a strong foundation for value creation in the public sector.
At Development Gateway, we focus on making data more usable and interoperable to drive better decision-making and transparency. Below are two of our programs where we helped achieve this, building a pragmatic foundation for value creation in the public sector.
Towards Interoperability and Transparency: The ‘a Livestock Information Vision for Ethiopia’ (aLIVE) Program
There has been increasing focus in the development space for the need to create seamless, integrated data ecosystems. Such ecosystems allow for the free flow of data between systems and across ministries and departments in the public sector while ensuring that said data remains secure. While system interoperability may be a key focus for governments aiming to improve efficiency and service delivery, this is often technically challenging for them to achieve.
In the aLIVE program, we are working with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and other stakeholders to digitize livestock traceability in the country, ensuring increased accessibility to and quality of livestock data. The initiative addresses challenges faced by farmers, policymakers, and stakeholders resulting from fragmented and inconsistent livestock information. By establishing a unified, accessible data platform, aLIVE supports better decision-making, enhances market access, and boosts the productivity and resilience of Ethiopia’s livestock sector.
aLIVE enables public value through digital transformation of the livestock sector in the following ways:
Improved decision-making: By providing reliable, timely livestock data, the program enables government agencies, NGOs, and farmers to make more informed, data-driven decisions. This facilitates better resource allocation and more effective, evidence-based policies.
Enhanced livelihoods: The program helps farmers improve their productivity and increase their income-generating potential by offering data-driven insights on market conditions, livestock management, and disease control.
Sectoral coordination: By integrating five legacy systems for livestock into a common data standard—the Livestock Information System (LIS)—aLIVE facilitates coordination among stakeholders in the livestock sector, fostering collaboration and reducing duplication of efforts.
Resilience and adaptation: Access to timely, readily available data is essential for livestock management, as it allows farmers to better adapt to challenges such as climate change and disease outbreaks, thereby enhancing the resilience of the livestock sector.
Improving Public Procurement Processes: DG’s Open Contracting (OC) Portal
Through our Open Contracting initiatives, we leverage data and technology to improve how governments manage public contracts. This, in turn, benefits citizens and promotes social and economic development, enhancing public value by increasing the transparency, accountability, and efficiency of public procurement processes.
An example of this is the county-level Open Contracting Portal we developed with the government of Makueni County in Kenya. This has since been designated as a digital public good (DPG) and added to the Digital Public Goods Alliance’s (DPGA’s) Registry, which ensures the OC Portal aligns with ethical, inclusive, and sustainable digital development principles.
The OC Portal is an interactive site providing detailed information about each step of the tender, award, and implementation process. It includes a series of charts that offer helpful data insights that can be utilized by civil society, the government, and the public. In addition to the public data available on the platform, government users can also access the Corruption Risk Dashboard—a tool that identifies tenders and awards based on specific metrics that indicate possible corrupt activities. The Portal also includes various ways in which to incorporate feedback from the public, including an SMS feature allowing for great accessibility.
The OC Portal exemplifies how digital public goods can enable public value by enhancing transparency and accountability while also reducing corruption, improving service delivery, and fostering economic growth.
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While the concept of adding public value may seem abstract or theoretical, its true significance is to be found in its practical applications. Real-world efforts—such as promoting transparency, enhancing decision-making, and supporting sustainable development—demonstrate how public value can be effectively operationalized and turned into tangible outcomes that have a positive impact on society.