About the Open Contracting Community of Practice?

Proact is an online network of a growing community of members from civil society, government, private sector, media, academia and others interested in open contracting. This online platform provides a space for interested stakeholders to share, learn, connect and collaborate around experiences in open contracting. Members can exchange ideas, knowledge and opportunities on open contracting by sharing resources such as tools and engaging in a dialogue on the topic.

Practitioners can also use this platform to showcase their expertise and work while connecting with other fellow practitioners around common needs and interests, learn from each others experience and contribute to identifying common practices and innovative solutions that result in positive change and contribute to enhancing disclosure and participation in public contracting, at all stages of the contracting process and in different sectors.

This online platform seeks to provide a space where interested stakeholders from civil society, government, private sector, media, academia and others to share, learn, connect and collaborate around experiences in open contracting.

Open contracting seeks to help ensure broader consensus around the imporatnce of enhanced disclosure and participation in public contracting, at all stages of the contracting process and across all sectors.  This community is used to support knowledge exchange between countries, identifying challenges and proposing solutions needed to address those challenges.

Why open contracting matters?

When governments generate and spend resources it is dne through contracts.  The contract is a significant point of leverage.  They are a the nexus of revenue generation, budget planning, resource management and the delivery of public goods and services. Any deficiency in the procurement process can result in the loss of significant resources to fraud, waste or corruption, and ultimately have an adverse impact on service delivery outcomes.  There are rough estimates that there might be $1 trillion in mismanaged funds in the developing world.  By intervening in the country stage, you can have potential impacts 

Innovative approaches to procurement – such as electronic procurement (or eProcurement) and citizen participation in contract monitoring – can help overcome deficiencies and strength a country’s procurement capacity.

To learn more about open contracting click here.

We welcome your feedback and invite you to share your comments and suggestions about this platform and how me can improve ProAct. It is important for us to hear from our members, so please tell us what you find useful, what can be improved in the platform, and how Proact can be adapted to best serve your needs in support of improved governance outcomes.  Send your comments and questions to the community manager.

The Open Contracting Community is supported by the Open Contracting Partnership.

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Why should I become a member of the open contracting community?

By becoming a member you will join a growing global community of practitioners interested in open conracting. As a member you can raise the visibility of your work and expertise among other fellow practitioners in the field. Throught the community you can connect and network with people with similar interests, share resources on open contracting such as monitoring tools, studies, and other knowledge products, and provide useful insights and comments that help advance the conversation on what's working in open contracting.

How do I become a member of the Open Contracting Community?

Click on the Join link in the top of the right hand side of the page to become a member. Complete all required fields from the displayed registration form and click the 'Submit' button when finished.

We recommend you provide as many details about yourself to allow others to connect with you. You will be notified to the email address you provided once your membership has been approved. Please keep in mind that memberships may take up to two business days to be approved.

What is a quick way to get started in the community?

Upload a picture to your individual profile and provide as much information about yourself, such as your expertise and interests. The more you share about yourself the greater visibility you will have among other members. This will allow you to connect better with others and build upon your personal network around common interests.

Explore the community by visiting the different pages and start thinking of how you can share your expertise with other community members or simply ask a question or comment on other member's contributions.  Find out the different ways you can participate.

How can I participate in the community?

There are different ways you can participate as a member of the Open Contracting Community:

• Add a Blog post by clicking on +Add Blog Post in the Blog section or directly from the home page under Blog Posts box. *TIP* When writing a blog provide a descriptive title and include tags for your blog post that indicate at least regional focus, and topic. Capture in the first paragraph the main topic of your blog post, or pose a question that can capture the reader's attention and that you will respond in your blog. When finished click on Publish Blog to post your blog. You can also click on the Preview button to see what your blog looks like before posting or on the Save Draft button to save your blog to post later.
• Add a Resource (document, tool, video, pictures, links, etc.). You can also share files by uploading them on your blog posts, post pictures, videos and/or links to other useful websites.
• Comment on information shared in the community and start a discussion around an issue or simply ask a question. You can add your comments under different content posted in the site.

How can I edit my personal photo and profile information?

Click on the Settings button located in the top right hand side box under your name. In My Settings page you will be able to update information about yourself including your picture. This section also allows you to administrate your personal preferences on how you wish to interact with this web site such as receiving email notifications and for what, your privacy, among other settings.

I forgot my password and cannot login, what should I do?

Click on 'Forgot my password?' link and enter in the email address you used to sign up. address. You'll receive an email in a few minutes containing a link that will allow you to reset your password. After login in successfully you can change your password by clicking on Settings and then on Change Password under your Profile page. Provide your current password and provide the new password that you will always remember, confirm your password, and save changes.

I posted something in the Open Contracting Community and it does not show up?Why isn't my content displaying in the website?

Some of the content shared in the Open Contracting Community needs to be approved by the community moderator. If you do not receive a notification in more than two business days about your content being approved, please send a message to the community moderator.  Please note that blog posts that are shared may not appear in the homepage as these sometimes are featured.  To view all blog posts, navigate to the Blog section of the platform.

I am having trouble posting and sharing information in the Community?

If you are having problems adding or posting content to Proact please contact the community moderators.

Have additional questions on how to use or interact with the Open Contracting Community? We offer online trainings on how to use the Open Contracting Community platform upon request.  We are also happy to organize an online training on the use of the Community platform and our social media outlets to contribute to sharing information about your work.  Simly contact the community moderator with your request or if you have any questions or comments.

Basic Rule

We believe in enabling a safe environment of trust for community members to share, learn and connect around open contracting. Please keep this in mind when sharing information and engaging with other community members.

Terms of Use of this site

This site may contain advice, opinions, and statements of various community members. The WB WBI, and other members of the Open Contracting Partnership does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other information provided by any member of this ProAct community. Reliance upon any such opinion, advice, statement, or other information shall also be at your own risk. The WB, WBI or any other member of the Open Contracting Partnership shall not be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error, omission, interruption, timeliness, completeness, deletion, defect, failure of performance, computer virus, communication line failure, alteration of, or use of any content herein, regardless of cause, for any damages resulting there from.