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The winning bid was received after the submission deadline.

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Methodology

A contracting process is flagged if:
  1. A valid bid’s received date (/bids/details/date) is after the submission deadline (/tender/tenderPeriod/endDate), AND
  2. At least one tenderer of that valid bid is the supplier of an active award
These tenderers are also flagged.
Example: The submission deadline is March 15. The Public Works Department leaks information from the received bids to CorruptX Solutions, to give it a competitive advantage. CorruptX Solutions submits a bid on April 1. The Public Works Department accepts the bid and awards the contract to CorruptX Solutions.
Why is this a red flag?A corrupt buyer can award the contract to the pre-determined bidder by disregarding the submission deadline. This allows the favored bidder to:
  • See competitors’ bids before submitting their own
  • Adjust their bid to undercut competitors
  • Benefit from additional preparation time not available to other bidders
Accepting late bids undermines the integrity of the competitive process and creates an unfair advantage.

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Output

The indicator’s value is always 1.0 for both the contracting process and flagged tenderers. If the --map command-line flag is set, the Maps key contains:
  • ocid_tenderer_r030: The flagged tenderers for each flagged OCID

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Configuration

This indicator is not configurable through the settings file.

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Assumptions

This indicator assumes that the tenderer didn’t submit another valid bid before the submission deadline; in other words, the late bid is the winning bid.
Is this assumption not true for your data? Does your data set the /awards[]/relatedBid field to link awards to specific bids? Please create an issue on GitHub - with this field, the indicator could be more precise.

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Example Output

Input (OCDS JSONL showing late bid): 
{"ocid": "ocds-213czf-1", "tender": {"tenderPeriod": {"endDate": "2024-03-15T23:59:59Z"}}, "awards": [{"status": "active", "suppliers": [{"id": "W"}]}], "bids": {"details": [{"tenderers": [{"id": "W"}], "date": "2024-04-01T10:00:00Z", "status": "valid"}]}}
Command: 
ocdscardinal indicators --settings settings.ini --no-meta data.jsonl
Output: 
{"OCID":{"ocds-213czf-1":{"R030":1.0}},"Tenderer":{"W":{"R030":1.0}}}

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Implementation Details

From src/indicators/r030.rs:15-57: The indicator:
  1. Extracts the submission deadline from tender.tenderPeriod.endDate
  2. Builds a set of supplier IDs from all active awards
  3. For each valid bid:
    • Checks if the bid date is after the deadline (string comparison)
    • Checks if any of the bid’s tenderers won an award
    • Flags both the process and the matching tenderers
  4. Uses simple string comparison for dates (ISO 8601 format is lexicographically sortable)
Data quality considerations:
  • Requires accurate date field in bids.details
  • Many publishers may not populate bid submission dates
  • Clock synchronization issues could cause false positives if deadlines and bid timestamps use different timezones
Legitimate exceptions: Some jurisdictions allow extensions or accept late bids under specific circumstances (e.g., technical issues with submission systems). Organizations should:
  • Document when late bids are accepted legitimately
  • Consider implementing a grace period threshold if minor delays are acceptable
  • Review flagged cases for valid business reasons
Consider using R030 alongside:
  • R003 (Short submission period) - May indicate rushed procurement with lax deadline enforcement
  • R058 (Winner close to submission deadline) - Contrast with early submissions vs. late submissions

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