Public Information Laws and Access to Pandemic Contracting Records

Abstract

Background: Recent developments involving freedom of information have made implementation quality, oversight, and administrative capacity central policy concerns.

Objective: The analysis examined how policy relating to freedom of information operated in practice and whether differences in capacity and oversight were associated with outcomes in relation to procurement.

Methods: We coded 162 statutes, regulations, policies, contracts, guidance documents, administrative records, or public disclosures using a predefined framework. Legal clarity, transparency, safeguards, oversight, and implementation requirements were assessed in two stages, with independent review used to resolve coding differences.

Results: Although 69% of reviewed materials contained formal provisions on freedom of information, only 49% translated those provisions into sufficiently detailed implementation or oversight requirements. Transparency and review were deficient in 25% of cases, while more comprehensive instruments tended to assign responsibility more clearly and leave fewer gaps.

Conclusion: The results shift attention from whether rules on freedom of information exist to how those rules are administered in practice. This means that contracting integrity depends on operational transparency and administrative capacity as much as on the wording of procurement rules.

Study design: freedom-of-information request audit.

Publication history: Originally published in print on 15 June 2021, Volume 1, Article 8. Online abstract record added on 16 September 2026. Full-text PDF will be added when the digital galley is ready.