HomeGlossaryOCDS & Data Standards

OCDS & Data Standards

Plain-language definitions of every OCDS & Data Standards term that shows up in government tender work.


OCDS & Data Standards

Beneficial Ownership Disclosure

Beneficial ownership disclosure in public procurement is the requirement or practice of identifying the natural persons who ultimately own or control a company awarded a public contract, enabling authorities and the public to detect conflicts of interest, corruption, and the misuse of shell companies to capture government spending.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

Contracting Process Identifier

A contracting process identifier (OCID) is the globally unique persistent identifier assigned to a single public procurement process in the Open Contracting Data Standard, linking every release and record across all stages of that process from planning to implementation within a single traceable chain.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

Data Quality in Public Procurement

Data quality in public procurement refers to the completeness, accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of structured procurement data published by contracting authorities, which directly determines the reliability of market analysis, red flag detection, and opportunity intelligence drawn from that data.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Award Stage

The OCDS award stage captures structured data about the outcome of a public procurement evaluation, including the name of the winning supplier, the awarded contract value, the number of bids received, and the reasons for the award decision, enabling systematic analysis of buyer spending and supplier market share.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Contract Stage

The OCDS contract stage records the signed agreement details within a public contracting process, including contract start and end dates, contract value, amendments, and links to the signed contract document, providing a structured record of what was formally agreed between buyer and supplier.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Extension

An OCDS extension is a formally registered addition to the core Open Contracting Data Standard schema that allows publishers to include fields not covered by the base standard, such as procurement-specific data for defence contracts, environmental sustainability metrics, or country-specific legal requirements, without breaking compatibility with the global standard.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Implementation Stage

The OCDS implementation stage is the final lifecycle phase in Open Contracting Data Standard records, documenting actual contract delivery through structured data on payments made, milestones achieved, and performance outcomes, completing the end-to-end transparency picture from planning through to completion.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Planning Stage

The OCDS planning stage is the first lifecycle phase in an Open Contracting Data Standard record, capturing pre-procurement information such as budget allocation, rationale for the purchase, and procurement forecasts before a formal tender notice is issued.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Publisher

An OCDS publisher is any government body, procurement platform, or authorised organisation that produces and releases Open Contracting Data Standard-compliant data about public contracting processes, registered with the Open Contracting Partnership and assigned a unique publisher prefix for generating globally unique contracting process identifiers.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Record

An OCDS record is the compiled, up-to-date snapshot of a complete public contracting process, formed by merging all individual OCDS releases for that process into a single document that shows the current state of every procurement stage alongside a full audit trail.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Release

An OCDS release is a single, timestamped JSON document that records one event or change in a public contracting process, such as publishing a tender notice or announcing a contract award, and is the fundamental unit of data publication under the Open Contracting Data Standard.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

OCDS Tender Stage

The OCDS tender stage is the procurement phase captured in Open Contracting Data Standard releases that documents the publication of a contract opportunity, including notice details, estimated value, submission deadline, eligibility requirements, and any subsequent amendments before award.

Read definition
OCDS & Data StandardsOCDS

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a global open data specification that defines how governments should publish structured, machine-readable information about public procurement processes, from planning through contract implementation, to improve transparency and enable analysis.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

Open Contracting Partnership

The Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) is an international non-profit organisation that develops and maintains the Open Contracting Data Standard, supports governments in publishing open contracting data, and works with civil society and the private sector to use that data for transparency, efficiency, and integrity in public procurement.

Read definition
OCDS & Data Standards

Red Flags in Procurement Data

Red flags in procurement data are statistical and structural indicators derived from structured contracting data that suggest a procurement process may be affected by corruption, collusion, bid manipulation, or undue favouritism, enabling auditors, oversight bodies, and civil society organisations to prioritise investigations efficiently.

Read definition

Put OCDS & Data Standards to work

See how Bidovate turns these government tender terms into pipeline. Explore the platform or book a 15-minute demo.