Unified vocabulary in Official Gazettes: An exploratory study on procurement data

The heterogeneity of notices, the poor quality or the total absence of metadata, and the lack of format standardization make it difficult to unlock the total potential value of open data published in Official Gazettes, inhibiting civic engagement. To address these issues, we propose a unified vocabulary for Official Gazettes' procurement data. A systematic literature mapping was conducted to discover what types of notices are published in Official Gazettes and which structured formats and patterns are used. We also analyzed the publication patterns of 16 Official Gazettes of different countries, extracting the concepts used in the unified vocabulary. Official Gazettes publish laws, resolutions, announcements, financial statements, government biddings, and contracts. In this study, we focused specifically on procurement data, i.e., biddings and contracts. For these official notices, an XML publication pattern is proposed. Using common publication standards improves the interoperability and integration of Official Gazettes and Open Government Data portals, allows the systematic analysis of public procurement data, and leads to increased control of governments by society.