Since July 2025, Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC), on behalf of CoST Uganda, in partnership with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), has been implementing a targeted Infrastructure Data Publication Project aimed at reversing the decline in infrastructure data disclosures on the Government Procurement Portal (GPP) while aligning to new CoST standard (newly introduced sustainability modules for Open contracting for infrastructure data standards-OC4IDS).
The intervention focuses on upgrading the GPP system, integrating new sustainability data standards, and strengthening the capacity of procuring and disposing entities (PDEs) to publish and use infrastructure data more effectively. This work is supported by the CoST International Secretariat and builds on earlier CoST–AFIC–PPDA initiatives that successfully upgraded CoST IDS and increased infrastructure data publication across Uganda (2021/22).
Beyond Transparency
The current phase embeds sustainability, climate finance and full procurement lifecycle data directly into the GPP to enable effective monitoring, climate investment, better infrastructure transparency and accountability outcomes. After a mapping exercise, key institutions especially Government entities with significant infrastructure projects budget including: Ministry of Local Government, UEDCL, NEMA Ministry of Education and sports (MoES), Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), and Ministry of Health (MoH), PPDA, Private sector -UNABSEC, and CSO -AFIC, were convened to agree on selection for OC4IDS priority data points to integrate in GPP system upgrade. Waiting on inputs from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED), Ministry of works and transport and Uganda civil aviation authority, 36/78 selected data points were selected and validated with these institutions. These data points are part of social, institutional, environmental, economic and climate finance dimensions of infrastructure delivery reporting.
Some participants during prioritization for OC4IDS data points
Why is CoST Uganda Driving this reform?
CoST Uganda programme strengthens transparency, accountability, and service delivery in public infrastructure by promoting proactive data disclosure, validation through independent reviews, and data use, while encouraging citizen participation. This contributes to reduced public expenditure and improved value for money in infrastructure delivery, multi-stakeholder engagement, and social accountability enabling citizens and oversight institutions to monitor infrastructure projects and influence better service delivery. Having a formal disclosure mandate for infrastructure data is necessary to achieve open data for transparency, embed planning to limit risks climate changes and attract climate investment funding.
What data points were prioritized for upgrade and publication?
- Social data points
Publish Data on resettlement compensation budgets and plan, jobs generated at an local infrastructure project & number of women employment on project, public consultation meetings and complaints logged, Labor obligations, Health and safety certifications for informal worker protections, Health and safety certifications and total complaints logged thought the mechanism. Stakeholders stated many community complaints around resettlement or construction sites go undocumented and making them public would enable better response and safeguard mechanisms.
- Economic sustainability datapoints
Total project lifecycle costs (construction to decommissioning, Lifecycle cost calculation methodologies, Cost variations/justifications, Value for money assessments, Economic impact with Procurement strategy& Cost-benefit analysis, Maintenance cost planning, Funding source budgets & funding source either domestic, external, or loan financed. This enables measuring transparency by tracking domestic vs. external vs. loan-financed projects. They urged all governments directives could be captured here, also world bank argues for contractors to have a decommissioning plan
- Environmental sustainability datapoints
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report-categories, publication of EIA approvals (e.g., by NEMA), Climate risk assessment, Greenhouse gas emissions baseline- Carbon footprint, Emissions reduction achieved, Environmental management plan on waste/pollution, Compliance with ESHS standards including environmental certifications, licenses or exemptions and Water resources impact assessment
- Institutional sustainability datapoints
Beneficial ownership disclosure, Conflict of interest declarations such as Anti-corruption& Risk management, Performance security/bonds including performance monitoring& Sustainable certifications, Tax compliance certificates for independent monitoring, contract management reports, debarment check status, political exposure screening and corruption risk indicators.
- Climate finance datapoints
Add Greenhouse gas emissions, their percentage reductions, renewable energy adoptions on climate objective & climate transformation, carbon footprint at project phase, health benefits from the project (ESHS) and verification methods for climate finance claims especially independent M&E. For adaptation, they recommended publishing whether a climate vulnerability assessment, the key climate risks identified as adaptation measures integrated into project designs such as flood protection or resilient drainage systems. The group also prioritized food security indicator (e.g., extending roads to food-producing regions), and access to energy and education as essential sustainable outcomes deserving disclosure in the gpp upgrades
Full project life cycle coverage: stakeholders endorsedUpgrading and publishing additional stages of procurement including operation, maintenance and decommissioning to enable a complete cycle for transparency in public infrastructure.The current system upgrades capture all above prioritized data points by stakeholders, alongside missing data fields, and a user interface dashboard that shall improve navigation accessibility and infrastructure data use. Stakeholders also expressed the need to reduce duplication, which is still open for discussion to link GPP and eGP systems -Ministry of Finance and PPDA.
Once system upgrades are complete In December 2025, user trainings shall be conducted and the GPP system relaunched with formal guidelines from PPDA during the January -March 2026 quarter.
Know about the full 78 sustainability data points of OC4IDS: https://www.cost.or.ug/2025/12/09/unlocking-the-sustainability-data-points-of-oc4ids/
