GPA/W/340/Add.1  
 
23 February 2018  
(18-1202) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Government Procurement  Original: English  
 
 
QUESTIONNAIRE ON STA TISTICS BY UKRAINE  
COMMUNICATION FROM NEW ZEALAND  
Addendum  
The following communication, dated 22 February 2018, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of New Zealand.  
 
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NEW ZEALAND 'S RESPONSE TO UKRAIN E'S QUESTIONNAIRE ON S TATISTICS 
(GPA/W/340)  
New Zealand thanks Ukraine for presenting its initiative to create a unified e -portal for the GPA 
Parties and for its efforts to enhance the core principles of non -discrimination, transparency and 
competition throu gh this initiative.  
 
Following on from the last GPA meeting in October, where New Zealand had the opportunity to 
speak to Ukraine and gain further information on their proposed initiative, New Zealand would like 
to submit its response to the questionnaire  on statistics circulated by Ukraine (GPA/W/340). New 
Zealand has answered the questions below as they relate to a New Zealand context and hopes this 
will be of some benefit to Ukraine 's initiative to investigate the creation of a unified e -portal.  
 
The following are New Zealand 's responses to Ukraine 's questions on statistics:  
 
1. Do you currently collect structured, machine readable data on public procurement 
processes in your country?  
New Zealand uses data extracted from our electronic government procureme nt system, the 
Government Electronic Tenders Service, to collect data on procurement. This data is not machine 
readable.  
 
2. Do you currently share structured, machine readable data on public procurement 
processes in your country under an open licence allowi ng its sharing and reuse freely?  
New Zealand does not currently share structured machine readable data on public procurement 
processes.  
 
3. What elements of the aforementioned Ukraine's initiative do you find the most 
interesting and appropriate for your publ ic procurement system to implement ASAP?  
New Zealand is interested to learn more about Ukraine 's initiative, and in particular, the benefits 
Ukraine has experienced and the difficulties it has faced in implementing it. Especially in relation to 
any benefit s or difficulty users of the system have reported to Ukraine.  
 
New Zealand is not adverse to a unified E -Portal for government procurement notices.  However we 
would need to investigate whether adopting an Open Data Contracting Standard is appropriate for 
New Zealand.  GPA/W/340/Add.1  
 
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4. Was the proposal of the Ukrainian government, c irculated to the Committee on 
3 March and presented at the last plenary GPA Committee meeting (23 February 2017) 
clear? Is there a need to provide additional information, explanation or clarification on 
aspects and elements of Ukraine's initiative? If "Yes", please specify what kind of 
information.  
New Zealand would like to understand how Ukraine implemented the Open Data Contracting 
Standard and the challenges and opportunities it faced in doing so.  Additionally, New Zealand 
would like to know what challenges Ukraine foresees in establishing and maint aining an e -portal 
for all GPA P arties.  
 
5. What are the top three challenges faced by your government regarding collection 
and reporting of st atistical data in relation to the GPA?  
In relation to reporting the statistics for the GPA, New Zealand faces the following challenges 
around data quality:  
 
 Frequently tenders may have more than one UNSPC code attached to them and this can 
make categorisin g the values per each code more challenging.  
 For multi -year contracts, the current system reports the total value of a contract at the 
time of the award and does not take into account the length of the contract and how the 
value is split over the contract  term.  
 Agencies have the flexibility to estimate the value of a contract and express this as a 
band rather than an exact figure; however this could potentially affect the accuracy of 
the reporting.  
6. Is Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) being used or is  considered to be used 
in your country? If "No", please explain if there are specific reasons why not using the 
OCDS? Are there any aspects of it that you would like a dditional support or advice on?  
No, New Zealand does not use Open Contracting Data Standa rd at present. While there are 
currently no plans to adopt this initiative, we are interested in hearing about the experience of 
Ukraine in this adoption.  
 
7. If you are using an open, machine readable data standard for procurement, what 
have been the key ben efits or impacts so far?  
Not applicable, as New Zealand is not currently using open machine readable data.  
 
8. Does your public procurement system include (provide) any analytical tools or 
other mechanism for monitoring and analysing procurement information i n a timely, 
data-driven manner?  
New Zealand 's Public Procurement system does not provide any analytical tools for analysing 
procurement information.  
 
9. Was the usability of the proposed interactive GPA dashboard clear and 
unde rstandable?  
New Zealand was uncl ear on the accessibility of the proposed GPA dashboard. Would the 
dashboard be freely available to the public as well as government agencies? Additionally, is 
Ukraine able to clarify how the savings figures are calculated?  
 
10. Do you find the advantage and possibility of using the statistical data of interactive 
reporting (ex. report of Ukraine) in business needs by potential suppliers in relation to 
the GPA?  GPA/W/340/Add.1  
 
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  New Zealand has not consulted with business groups on this matter at present and would have to 
discuss with them before commenting on the possible advantages for suppliers in relation to this 
initiative.  
 
11. What should be the priority of the proposed pilot project for the first year?  
As a priority before the beginning of the proposed pilot New Zealand wish es to understand the 
different barriers to implementation that GPA Parties may face and would be supportive of the 
investigation into this.  
 
12. Would your country be ready to support a pilot project to collect, analyse, share 
and integrate GPA information as per Ukraine's proposal to the GPA on the 
23rd February  2017?  
New Zealand is unclear what support Ukraine would need from New Zealand in order for pilot 
project to go ahead. New Zealand is happy to provide Ukraine with its GPA statistical reporting 
informat ion and to continue discussions on the appropriateness of the Open Contracting Standard 
for a New Zealand context.  
 
13. Do you have specific advice or suggestions on how best to proceed with such a 
project? Is there a useful national contact that you would lik e us to involve in any 
Working Group?  
Although New Zealand does not have any specific advice to offer Ukraine, we are supportive of the 
efforts being made by Ukraine in this project.  
 
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