Open Contract Definition

The Open Contract Definition (OCD) is a set of principles for published procurement information. It was developed by the UK’s Cabinet Office in collaboration with the ODI, and is designed to make it easier for suppliers to understand what data they need to provide when bidding for government contracts, and for government buyers to identify which bids are most compliant.

The OCD sets out six key principles:

# All contract information should be available online and machine-readable;

# Information about a contract should be published before it is signed;

# The winning bid should be published online;

# The losing bids should be published online, unless there are legitimate reasons not to do so;

# The contract itself should be published online; and

# After the contract has been completed, information about how it was performed should be published.