CoST Ethiopia – Infrastructure Transparency Initiative Ethiopia

Publication of Data

Publication of Data in Ethiopia

Overview

publication of dataoverview  

  • The publication of data process ensures that information about the purpose, scope, costs and execution of infrastructure projects is open and accessible to the public, and that it is disclosed in a timely manner.
  • Publication of data progressing in Ethiopiatwo procuring entities; Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) and Addis Ababa City Roads Authority (AACRA) started proactively disclosing information (17 projects), with further commitments to scale up their data publication. This is significant given the changes in the political economy currently underway in the country.
  • CoST Ethiopia’s website, as one of the CoST data publication portal has had an average of 877 unique monthly visitors before it’s temporarily closure for upgrading in March 2024.
  • The total number of projects undergone through independent review process in Ethiopia currently stands at 106.

Cross-government commitment to disclosure 

publication of data commitment

In 2016, CoST Ethiopia signed a quadripartite Memorandum of Understanding on sustainable publication of data in line with the CoST Infrastructure Data Standard (CoST IDS). This was signed with FEACC, the Office of the Federal Auditor General (OFAG) and the Federal Public Procurement and Property Authority (FPPA).

The memorandum formalizes these procuring entities’ commitment to publicizing data and specifies the projects which will be included. As a result of this, CoST Ethiopia has trained 42 procuring entities and helped adapt the FPPA’s previous website to publish project information.

Ultimately, this commitment aims to introduce proactive data publication in all federal procuring entities.

publication of data commitment

Data Publication Platform

Regular, proactive data publication has not yet started in Ethiopia. However, formerly the Federal Public Procurement and Property Authority used to hold data from 41 contracts from 16 procuring entities. CoST Ethiopia’s portal below holds data from 17 projects which have been proactively published.

Since the Authority upgraded its website to Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP), the MSG is working on to decide either to align the CoST updated standard (OC4IDS) with the authority’s system or develop its own Data Publication Platform in the near future.

Legal Mandate for Data Publication

Institutionalizing the CoST approach via legal mandates will help ensure the long-term sustainability of transparency actions. CoST Ethiopia is working with appropriate government institutions to ensure this is achieved.

Ethiopia’s Procurement and Property Administration Proclamation (No.649/2009) has laid the groundwork for a legal mandate on disclosure in Ethiopia. While the proclamation signifies good progress towards institutionalizing CoST disclosure requirements in Ethiopian law, it falls short of regulating full proactive disclosure. It was revised and CoST Ethiopia has contributed articles which address all aspects of disclosure, such as more a rigorous assessment of the pre and post-contract award stage.