orange gradient

How open contracting helped fix Colombia's biggest school meal program

With government procurement the world’s top corruption risk, BHP Foundation partner Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) is using open contracting to help solve social problems and increase accountability.  OCP moves public procurement from a paper-based system to a fully transparent digital service and platform, reducing the opportunities for corruption and improving the confidence of businesses to tender for contracts.  This leads to increased competition, drives lower cost and ensures better quality goods and services for citizens. In Bogota, Colombia, OCP’s work with the national procurement agency and the city's education department has radically improved school meals to over 700,000 children a day (and winning a national award for the quality of their meals). The introduction of open contracting helped overcome undue interests and improve the efficiency and quality of school meals. The number of suppliers has quadrupled and prices are now better regulated. Nationally, savings of up to 15 per cent in government expenditure have been achieved.