What is Cardinal?
Cardinal is a powerful command-line tool and library for analyzing procurement data using the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS). It calculates procurement indicators and detects red flags that may indicate corruption, collusion, or other irregularities in public procurement processes. Built in Rust for high performance, Cardinal can process large datasets efficiently and provides both a CLI interface and library bindings for Rust and Python.Key Features
11 Red Flag Indicators
Calculate procurement red flags including bid manipulation, suspicious pricing, and irregular procedures
Data Preparation
Correct quality issues in OCDS data with configurable defaults and transformations
High Performance
Process line-delimited JSON files efficiently with parallel processing
Flexible Configuration
Customize thresholds, exclusions, and behavior for your specific use case
Quick Example
Analyze procurement data in three simple steps:Use Cases
Cardinal is designed for:- Anti-corruption agencies investigating procurement fraud
- Civil society organizations monitoring public spending
- Government oversight bodies auditing contracting processes
- Researchers analyzing procurement patterns and behaviors
- Procurement professionals improving process quality
Get Started
Installation
Install Cardinal using Cargo or pip
Quickstart Guide
Get up and running in minutes
Commands Reference
Explore all CLI commands and options
API Documentation
Use Cardinal as a Rust or Python library
Open Source
Cardinal is open source software released under the MIT license. It’s developed by the Open Contracting Partnership and community contributors.Contribute on GitHub
View source code, report issues, and contribute to Cardinal