Every field cross-checked against an OPR notice, ministry release, or audit report. Source URL resolves.
Methodology
How the data is collected, cleaned, and published.
OpenBudget TT publishes data that journalists, MPs, and citizens rely on. This page documents exactly how every record is produced, what we verify, and where the gaps are. If you find an error, tell us.
Pipeline
From OPR notice to published record
- 1
Ingest
Daily polling of the OPR procurement depository, ministry websites, and statutory authority release pages. PDFs and HTML are parsed into structured records.
- 2
Normalise
Currency, date, and value formats are standardised. Ministry and supplier names are resolved against canonical registries.
- 3
Entity match
Suppliers are matched on name + Companies Registry number. Below the matching confidence threshold, the record is queued for editorial review.
- 4
Editorial review
The Editorial & Verification Lead reviews flagged records, resolves ambiguous matches, and applies data-quality flags.
- 5
Publish
Verified records are published to the registry with their source URL. Bulk exports update on the same cadence.
Schema
Contract record fields
The full schema for ministries, suppliers, and findings is available on the Open Data Portal.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | Stable internal identifier. Where possible, derived deterministically from the source notice. |
| title | text | Verbatim contract title or subject line as published. |
| ministry_id | uuid → ministries.id | Resolved to a canonical ministry record. Renamed/merged ministries map to their successor entity. |
| supplier_id | uuid → suppliers.id | Resolved to a canonical supplier. See entity-matching notes below. |
| value_ttd | numeric | Awarded contract value in TTD. Foreign-currency values converted at the published award-date rate. |
| award_date | date | Date of award as published in the OPR notice or ministry release. |
| scope | text | One of Construction, Consultancy, Goods, Services, ICT, or Other. Inferred from notice subject when not explicit. |
| status | text | Active, Completed, Terminated, or Under Review. Updated when ministries publish completion or termination notices. |
| source_url | url | Public URL of the originating notice or release. |
| source_type | text | OPR Notice, Ministry Release, Auditor General, or Manual Upload. |
Quality
Data-quality flags
Every record carries one or more flags. We never silently interpolate or guess.
Scope category was inferred from the contract title because the source notice did not specify a category.
Original value was published in a non-TTD currency. Converted at the published Central Bank rate on the award date.
The supplier or ministry has formally disputed one or more fields. The dispute is published alongside the record.
Original public URL has gone offline. We retain a mirrored copy of the document.
Limitations
What we don’t cover yet
- OpenBudget TT does not currently include sub-contracts. Only the prime award is shown.
- Procurement awarded under emergency provisions (PPA s.34) may be disclosed late or not at all.
- Annual budget allocations come from the published Estimates of Expenditure. Mid-year supplementary appropriations are reflected when gazetted.
- Auditor General findings are tied to contracts only when the report explicitly identifies them. Many findings reference programmes rather than individual awards.
- Suppliers are entity-matched on name and registration number. We flag fuzzy matches and never silently merge entities below a confidence threshold.
Cadence
How often the registry updates
OPR notices
Polled daily. New contract awards typically appear within 24 hours of OPR publication.
Budget allocations
Updated annually after the Estimates of Expenditure are laid in Parliament, plus supplementary appropriations.
Audit findings
Ingested after each Auditor General report is tabled. Older reports are back-filled progressively.
Corrections
Applied within 5 working days of verification. The change log for every record is public.
See an error? Report it.
Every correction is logged. We reply to every report.
Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
All data published by OpenBudget TT is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You may copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the data for any purpose, including commercially, provided you give appropriate credit and indicate if changes were made.
Required attribution
“Source: OpenBudget TT (openbudgettt.gov.tt) — CC BY 4.0”