Ukraine is creating the world’s most transparent system for the procurement of public works. To assure citizens and donors that the billions needed to reconstruct the nation’s infrastructure will be wisely and honestly spent, it has developed DREAM, the Digital Restoration EcoSystem for Accountable Management. DREAM will provide citizens, investors, and donors access to microlevel data on every single reconstruction project — from the initial feasibility study through the procurement process to the completion of construction.

Analysis of DREAM data will show when bills of quantity are unbalanced, when bids were likely collusively prepared, and suggest if not reveal other signs of project-level corruption.  Analysis of DREAM data across all procurements will disclose if cost estimates vary too much from the bid price and the final price, suspicious patterns in initial versus actual completion date, variation orders, or subcontracting, and similar indicators of possible weaknesses in the procurement and oversight of projects.

In a talk next week I will recommend the Ukrainian government use DREAM data to conduct the analyses listed below. Surely there are more I am missing. Comments/additions welcome.

Project level

– Variance in item prices on different bidders’ bills of quantity

– Relative contract prices

– Number and amount of change orders

–  Pricing suggesting unbalanced bill of quantity

Aggregate

– Percent of lowest bids within 10% of engineer’s estimate

– Variance between engineer’s estimate and the winning bid and the final price

– Bid protest outcomes

– Mean number of bidders per contract

– Percentage of contracts awarded by procurement method

– Percentage of contracts awarded different firms (number and value)

– Relationships between subcontractors and winning bidders

– Variance between original and actual completion date

– Patterns in dates or amount of change orders