New UN procurement guidelines support governments to adopt the right technology for the fight against corruption
Next week, governments from around the world will meet in Doha, Qatar for the 11th Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption. And, of course, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence will be a hot topic of discussion.
At the last conference in 2023, Open Contracting Partnership advocated alongside more than 100 civil society organizations from over 60 countries for the first-ever dedicated UNCAC resolution on public procurement – which is, after all, government’s number one corruption risk – with an emphasis on covering good practices for technology and data use. Technology has transformed our lives in the 22 years since the Convention’s initial adoption and it is about time that the Convention caught up!
That’s why we welcomed Resolution 10/9 on “Promoting transparency and integrity in public procurement in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. We appreciated the strength and clarity of the text, and its mandate to set out guidelines for governments looking to adopt the most effective technologies for their context to fight corruption in public procurement.
The launch of the new guidelines at COSP 11 is a major milestone to celebrate in achieving that ambition.
We’re excited to mark this moment with our partners at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, France, Norway, South Africa, Philippines, UNCAC Coalition and all the many other multilateral, government and CSO colleagues who contributed to the guidelines.
We invite you to join us on Monday, 15 December at 4pm Doha time (8am US Eastern, 1pm GMT) by registering online or meeting us at the conference in Side Event Room 2.
What are some of the highlights?
The new guidelines are a great distillation of global advice and best practices on the importance of data, digitalization and open contracting approaches to make procurement work better for people and planet. Five takeaways resonated with our team here at OCP in particular based on work around the world on bringing public procurement into the digital era:
1. Start with the problem that you are trying to solve. Technology should be adopted to solve specific problems or meet specific needs. Too often, governments find themselves pushed to adopt the latest technologies because they are trendy, but it’s critical to work backwards from strategic goals to identify the most appropriate technology for a government’s needs – not just the shiniest or newest thing.
2. Technology solutions should be human-centred and locally owned. Technology and its adoption should be locally rooted and owned, with a dedicated change management team and a plan to consult internal and external stakeholders so that the technology is designed for the humans who will use it rather than hoping the humans will adapt to complex counter-intuitive technologies.
3. Adopting a clear change management strategy to support the data and technology strategy. It’s critical to consider the whole of the change required to make sure technology delivers on its potential, building in stakeholder engagement, training and support for all users. How governments communicate the changes during technology rollout matters too, so that everyone is aligned and feels confident in dealing with inevitable roadblocks and challenges.
4. Put data at the center of technology adoption. Great technology – whether it is red flags analytics or AI agents – rely on high quality data. Data standardization (converting data into clear formats so everyone knows what a particular data field means), data interoperability (the ability of databases to communicate) and data portability (the ability to move data from one body or agency to another) and data accessibility are critical but often overlooked.
Governments should make sure procurement aligns to their bigger picture data governance and management strategies, and think carefully about who retains ownership and control of the data, and how they can explain decisions made by algorithms without proprietary barriers from IT suppliers.
5. Agile planning for continuous improvement, troubleshooting and long-term sustainability. We need to understand that technological deployment is iterative, so it’s vital to test and improve, which is often a challenge for governments which are not typically set up to work in this way. Rather than simply digitizing the existing paper-based process, digitalization is an opportunity to rethink the whole business process that underpins public procurement and it’s vital to think ahead for how governments can upgrade or exit from technology solutions as the market evolves.
What’s next?
Working with UNODC and others, we now want to offer hands-on guidance and technical assistance to governments on their digitalization journeys, wherever they might find themselves. We won’t just talk about what good looks like, we can help make it happen in the gritty day to day of iterative improvements to workflows, human centered design, technical troubleshooting and process improvement.
The guidelines serve as a starting point for governments to think strategically about which technologies they adopt to improve efficiency, transparency, accountability and value for money in public procurement. At a time when governments are looking for ways to do more with data, including adopting artificial intelligence, it’s more important than ever that we make sure we’re collecting the right data and choosing the right technology. Open Contracting Partnership is excited to partner with the UNODC to help more governments do just that.
