Scottish Government's Open Contracting Consultation with Civil Society

The Scottish Government and Open Government Network invite you to join them on Friday the 21st May for an informal discussion on how best The Scottish Government could publish its current and future procurement related information that would make it useful and accessible to a wide range of society.

The Scottish Government is keen to hear your suggestions on what is needed for society to understand procurement’s current and future open data, how this data could look like moving forward and how your ideas could help shape publications.

Who is it for?

This event is open to all.  It will be a relaxed and informal discussion where your suggestions and ideas will be welcomed.

Where and when is it?

Date 21st May

Time 9:30 – 12:50

Venue – Edinburgh Victoria Quay EH6 6QQ

Refreshments will be available.

To book, please visit EventBrite.  Places are limited so please book early, and cancel your ticket if you can no longer attend so we can give your space to someone else.

Accessibility

Please contact opencontracting@gov.scot if there's anything that would make it easier for you to attend the event, and we'll be happy to speak about what we can do.

Brief History of the Scottish Government’s Open Contracting journey.

In 2016, Scotland was selected as one of 15 pioneer governments around the world to join a programme by the Open Government Partnership (OGP)which supports openness, transparency, and citizen participation.

Since joining the Open Government Partnership the Scottish Government developed the first OGP Scottish Action Plan in partnership with civil society which set out how they would use the opportunity to improve the lives of people living in Scotland, to learn from others, and to share experiences of Open Government. The first Action Plan was delivered in 2017.

One of the commitments laid out in this first action plan was Financial Transparency, which proposed to clearly explain how public finances work, so people could understand how money flows into and out of the Scottish Government, to support public spending in Scotland.

As part of this first action plan, The Scottish Government committed to developing an Open Contracting Strategy, this was published in 2017. The strategy set to publish procurement information proactively which would be provided in a coherent, consistent form that is easy to understand for communities, the third sector and citizens.

Since the Open Contracting Strategy publication there was also the creation of an Open Contracting project team that was dedicated to delivering the 2017 strategy commitments.

In the Summer of 2018 The Scottish Government in partnership with the Open Government held a series of consultations with civil society. From these events Open Contracting recognized that there was a requirement to provide creative ways to share the information we publish from this we committed to a consultation with civil society on how best to make published procurement information useful and accessible to a wide audience.

This commitment along with others fed into Scotland’s Open-Government-Second National Action Plan 2018-2020 which was published on the 30thJanuary 2019.

To book, please visit EventBrite.  Places are limited so please book early, and cancel your ticket if you can no longer attend so we can give your space to someone else.