National Treasury Update

National Treasury in partnership with Civil Society Organisations is developing an online budget data portal. The creation of the online budget data portal is in line with National Treasury’s continued commitment to transparency and participatory reforms. National Treasury publishes extensive budgetary information on its website, however, it has been observed that the use of this data is not as extensive as it could be. The intention of the online budget data portal project is to provide the data in a more user-friendly format and present a readily comprehensible overview of how public resources are generated and used. The portal is to be developed in an incremental and modularise d approach to allow for continuous engagements with stakeholders. The user-friendly format of the data should enable more effective analysis and research, thereby supporting involvement by civil society and the public in the budget process. South Africa is a founding member of the multilateral initiative Open Government Partnership (OGP) that “aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance” (http://www.opengovpartnership.org/). Each member government is required to submit an action plan containing commitments. South Africa’s OGP commitment two is in respect of Open Budgeting and National Treasury, working together with Civil Society Organisations, is responsible for the attainment of this commitment. This commitment requires the involvement of civil society in various aspects of the budget process from planning to implementation and monitoring and evaluation, enabling them to have a firmer grasp of how national resources are generated, distributed and reported upon.A project planning phase was undertaken to scope the project. Thereafter, an open tender process was undertaken to secure a service provider to support the implementation of the project. In keeping with the partnership approach, Civil Society Organisations observed the procurement process. The tender was awarded to OpenUp. The official project commencement date was 4th August 2017. Stage one (of four) of the project is currently underway. During stage one there will be a series of Data Quests designed to understand user needs in order to inform the development of the portal.For any queries regarding the project, contact Dr. Kay Brown (kay.brown@treasury.gov.za) or Mr. Andisile Best(andisile.best@treasury.gov.za).

Issued on behalf of National Treasury

Date: 27 October 2017