Edo Bid

Inspiration Our journey began with a fundamental observation: while significant strides have been made in promoting transparency and accountability through open contracting initiatives globally, a critical segment of the population in regions like Edo State, Nigeria, remains largely excluded. The digital divide, characterized by limited internet access and reliance on basic feature phones in rural areas, effectively prevents these communities from engaging with crucial public procurement data. We were deeply inspired by the potential to bridge this gap, to empower farmers, local artisans, and community leaders with accessible information about the contracts that directly impact their lives – be it for road construction, agricultural supplies, or healthcare infrastructure. The vision was to ensure that open contracting truly lives up to its name, reaching everyone, regardless of their digital literacy or connectivity.

What it does Edo Bid is an innovative extension of the GritinAI open contracting platform, designed specifically to bring public procurement transparency to the palm of every citizen in Edo State, even those without internet access. It achieves this by leveraging the ubiquitous USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) and SMS (Short Message Service) technologies, powered by the robust Africa's Talking platform.

Users can dial a simple USSD code to navigate intuitive menus, allowing them to:

Search for contracts: By sector, location, or keyword.

View contract summaries: Including project descriptions, value, contractors, and timelines.

Receive updates: On key contract milestones.

Submit feedback or complaints: Directly related to specific contracts.

Additionally, Edo Bid utilizes SMS for proactive alerts on new contracts relevant to a user's registered interests (e.g., agriculture contracts in their LGA) and for simple query-response interactions. In essence, Edo Bid democratizes access to vital public information, fostering greater civic participation and oversight in government spending.

How we built it Building Edo Bid involved a multi-faceted approach, prioritizing efficiency and accessibility. We started by deeply understanding the data structure of the GritinAI open contracting platform.

Backend Integration & API Development: We developed a lean backend service (primarily using Python with a lightweight framework like Flask or FastAPI) that acts as an intermediary between the GritinAI API and the Africa's Talking platform. This service fetches and preprocesses open contracting data, optimizing it for the constrained text-based formats of USSD and SMS.

Africa's Talking Integration: We extensively utilized the Africa's Talking USSD and SMS APIs. For USSD, we designed hierarchical menus, mapping specific data points from contracts to each menu option. The backend handles the session management for USSD interactions, interpreting user input and serving the next relevant menu or data snippet. For SMS, we implemented logic to parse incoming keywords (e.g., "CONTRACT ROADS BENIN") and trigger relevant data lookups, sending concise summary responses.

Data Optimization: A crucial aspect was distilling complex contract information into digestible, concise text for USSD and SMS. This involved careful summarization and prioritization of information to ensure clarity and avoid overwhelming users with too much text.

Prototyping & Testing: We created multiple prototypes of the USSD flows, testing them internally and with a small group of non-technical users to ensure intuitiveness and ease of navigation. Simulated SMS interactions were also crucial to refine message content and response times.

Challenges we ran into One of the primary challenges was data compression and simplification. Open contracting data can be incredibly rich and complex, and translating this into simple, navigable USSD menus or concise SMS messages without losing critical information was a significant hurdle. We spent considerable time iterating on how to summarize contract details effectively.

Another challenge was managing user sessions and state within the stateless nature of USSD. Ensuring a seamless user experience, where a user could navigate deep into contract details and then return or move to another query, required careful backend logic for session management.

Finally, network latency and reliability in rural areas posed a potential challenge for real-time USSD interactions. We designed our system to be resilient, with robust error handling and clear user feedback mechanisms in case of network issues.

Accomplishments that we're proud of We are incredibly proud to be builing a solution that directly addresses digital exclusion, transforming abstract data into actionable information for those who need it most. The ability to provide access to public procurement data to a farmer in a remote village using their basic feature phone, empowering them to scrutinize projects in their community, is a profound accomplishment. We are also proud of the efficient and elegant integration with Africa's Talking, which demonstrates how existing, widely adopted technologies can be repurposed for significant social impact.

What we learned This project reinforced the power of "deep tech" solutions that thrive under constraints. We learned that true innovation often lies not in building the most complex system, but in adapting powerful tools to serve underserved populations with simplicity and efficiency. We gained invaluable insights into designing user experiences for text-based interfaces, understanding the nuances of conciseness and clarity when every character counts. We also deepened our appreciation for the critical role of platforms like Africa's Talking in enabling such inclusive solutions.

What's next for Edo Bid For Edo Bid, the immediate next steps involve:

Pilot Program Expansion: Launching pilot programs in additional rural communities within Edo State to gather broader user feedback and validate the solution's impact.

Language Localization: Exploring the integration of local languages (e.g., Edo, Esan) to further enhance accessibility and usability.

Enhanced Feedback Mechanisms: Developing more sophisticated ways for users to submit structured feedback, potentially including simple rating systems for project performance.

Integration with Payment Data (Future): Investigating the possibility of providing basic payment information related to contracts, further enhancing transparency.

Scalability to Other Regions: Documenting our architecture and lessons learned to enable the replication of Edo Bid in other states or countries facing similar digital divide challenges.

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Built With

• africa's
• africa's-talking-(ussd-&-sms-gateway)-cloud-services:-potentially-aws
• africa's-talking-ussd-api
• and-potentially-cached-data)-apis:-gritinai-api
• google-cloud
• languages:-python-(for-backend-logic)
• or-digitalocean-for-hosting-the-backend-service-(chosen-for-cost-effectiveness-and-scalability)-databases:-postgresql-or-mysql-(for-managing-user-sessions
• potentially-javascript-for-any-front-end-tooling/admin-panels-frameworks:-flask-or-fastapi-(for-lightweight-backend-apis)-platforms:-gritinai-(core-open-contracting-data-source)
• preferences
• sms
• talking