Everything you need to know.

This impact-oriented program is best suited for teams who are:

1. Focused on improving the quality of public goods, works, or services,
2. Experienced in engaging different stakeholders within a local public contracting process,
3. Working on projects that have some degree of high-level buy-in, whether through allocated resources or a mandate from leadership, and
4. Able and committed to investing the time required over the course of the 14-month program.

Open Contracting Lift is not for teams who only want support on tool development or [Open Contracting Data Standards] implementation.

For a full list of eligibility requirements, see the [Lift Applicant Handbook]

Applicant teams should include, at minimum:

1. A field influencer who can navigate and build political buy-in, and
2. A bureaucracy navigator who knows how government works and can lead operational execution of a reform initiative.

If your project requires a technical solution, your team should also have a technical expert who can help build your solution.

Lift is open to projects at different stages of development. You could be embarking on a new initiative, or working to refine and scale a piloted solution. We require that your project has leadership support, which might include a budget for your work, a political champion, or a formal mandate.

No, but we do expect that your reform initiative involves making information or data more accessible. Lift can provide support in implementing OCDS if it is part of your project.

Want to learn more about OCDS? Visit the OCP website for information and resources.

Your team will receive approximately 100 days of technical assistance, to help you solve problems and make your reform projects more effective and impactful. This support will come in the form of:

• In-person technical advisory, with experts and peers co-working with you in your context.
• Four workshops, to help you make progress on your initiatives and strategize for next steps.
• Facilitated online webinars, to provide case studies & overviews of new topics.
• Feedback sessions (calls & in-person), to learn from peer practitioners.
• Regular calls with the program team, to provide one-on-one guidance as you progress.

Along the way, you’ll also learn from peer practitioners working to achieve similar goals.

Practitioners will be supported by a core team of advisors from OCP and Reboot who have extensive experience in building social and public contracting reforms. Your advisors will be selected based on your specific needs, and will help you apply best practices in areas such as user engagement, data use, contract design and management.

We expect teams to achieve measurable impact by the end of the program, resulting in a higher quality public good, work, or service. This will be tracked by key performance indicators that are developed with participating teams in Part 1 of the program.

Along the way, we anticipate that most projects will make progress on the following outcomes:

• Effectively build leadership support to drive a robust mandate for public contracting reforms that improve the delivery of public goods, works, and services.
• Improve use of open data and open data systems to manage, monitor, and advance the quality of delivery of public goods, works, and services.
• Establish new ways of working with public contracts to ensure contracting processes and contracts lead to intended results.

Yes. We will accept applications in Spanish, French, and English.

Yes! You can receive more guidance on applying to Lift in three ways:

• Attend one of the upcoming informational webinars
• Sign up to be notified of additional Q&As and resources 
• Email info@open-contracting.org

Lift is not a funding or grant-giving program. But, participating teams will leave this process with a clear action plan to secure the resources needed to successfully implement their projects.

No, we welcome all types of projects, even those supported by other sources.

Lift provides intensive support, and does require a commitment to participate and make progress on your project. But this support is integrated into the work you’re already doing, and is designed to boost your current efforts with consistent one-on-one advisory and peer feedback. Expect regular calls, workshops and seminars, and about 1 day/week of work on your project.

Please see the Your Commitment section for more detailed information.

Absolutely! Throughout the program, OCP and Reboot will document any new tools, approaches, and progress stories that emerge. To benefit the wider field, we’ll share this guidance regularly though blogs and events.

You can also receive support via OCP’s other resources and engagements. Learn more about these at OCP’s website.

The Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) is a silo-busting collaboration between government, business, civil society, and technologists to open up the documents and data behind government contracting and deal-making. We work across sectors and along the whole process of government contracting to save governments money and time, deliver better goods and services to citizens, and create a better business environment for all. Learn more at open-contracting.org.

To create Open Contracting Lift, OCP partnered with Reboot, a social innovation and design firm dedicated to accountable governance. Reboot has worked closely with OCP to design an effective program that will meet your needs and ultimately help you improve your public goods and services. Learn more about them at reboot.org.

Lift provides more robust, ongoing technical assistance to the selected applicants. Our partners said they would like more help from us to achieve impact. You asked for better strategies to generate political will, use data and implement better contract design and management strategies. Lift is our attempt to help you with these. OCP’s other existing engagements and resources will remain available to any teams working to reach impact through open contracting. OCP is always here to help you!