With the active participation of IDFI and financial support of USAID GGI, Tbilisi City Hall elaborated and approved the concept of an open data portal, based on which the portal will be launched. Along with the concept, a detailed technical description of the portal was prepared.

It is notable that the launch of an open data portal is one of the key commitments of the Tbilisi City Hall Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan. Implementation of this commitment will increase Tbilisi City Hall’s transparency and accountability.

Once the Open Data portal is set up, the datasets available on the portal will be available for all, including businesses, media, academia, and any interested individual. By making open data available, Tbilisi City Hall will promote the creation of innovative, citizen-centric services.

IDFI used evidence-based and inclusive approaches in elaborating the concept of the open data portal. In particular, a comprehensive situation analysis was prepared to identify the current business process, as well as the challenges at the Tbilisi Municipality in terms of processing and publishing open data. Based on the tendencies and international practice identified as a result of the analysis, the main principles of the Tbilisi City Hall Open Data Concept were determined, including high-level governance, functionality, technological, presentation, marketing, security, and legal layers.

The situation analysis and portal concept was developed with the involvement of City Hall and local stakeholders, including media, the private sector (banks, startups), NGOs and academics, as well as international experts. To effectively consider international practice, the draft version was peer-reviewed by Nickol Global Solutions LLC (NGS) international consultants, whose comments and feedback were incorporated in the final version of the concept.

To incorporate stakeholder views, focus groups also took place in the light of discussing the availability and access to the City Hall. Furthermore, participants have mentioned the categories of open data they would like to be published via the portal. Moreover, on June 28, 2021, an online public discussion of the Open Data Portal concept was held. During the event, the concept of the Tbilisi City Hall Open Data Portal was presented to the public, and they had the opportunity to share their views and comments. The event was attended by local stakeholders, including civil society, academia, business, and media.

After final changes were made to the draft concept, the document was approved, based on which detailed term of reference was prepared. 

The documents were prepared within the framework of the project - Development of Tbilisi City Hall’s Open Data Portal Concept and Terms of Reference (ToR) - implemented by IDFI with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Good Governance Initiative in Georgia (USAID GGI).