Understand · Explanation
Flags and historical patterns
What the computed notes on a record are, what they are not, and where the exact rule behind each one is written down.
What does this flag mean, and how far can I trust it?
A flag means "worth a closer look"
Some records carry computed notes beside what the city published — most of them on procurement notices, and one on the rules timeline. Every one of them is statistical context, not a finding and not an accusation. A flag says a record has a property worth noticing. It does not say anyone did anything wrong, and there is a fair explanation for each of them — emergencies really do happen, some markets genuinely have few bidders, and name matching is never perfect.
The method follows two published guides rather than a house theory of what looks suspicious: the Open Contracting Partnership's red-flags guide and Opentender's integrity indicators.
What each note counts
The exact thresholds, pools and windows behind these live on the About page, in Flags and context, explained. They are kept in one place on purpose: a threshold repeated in two places is a threshold that will eventually disagree with itself. This is what each note is about.
| The note | What it looks at | What it cannot tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Short ad window | How long a notice was open compared with that agency's own usual practice | Whether the timing was justified. A short window can be entirely proper |
| Non-competitive method | That the notice itself says a vendor will be chosen without a full contest | Whether that method was the right one. Several of these are lawful and routine |
| Repeat awards | The same vendor name appearing on several award notices at one agency in a period | Whether they are separate decisions. Orders under one blanket contract count the same as anything else |
| Context strip | How large an award is against that agency's recent awards, and the vendor's share of them | Anything about merit. It uses published names exactly, and does not merge spellings |
| Rules adoption lag | How long comparable rules have taken from comments closing to adoption | When this rule will be adopted. It is labelled an estimate and is never a date |
All of these read awards as published. Published award figures can run ahead of contract registration and well ahead of what was actually paid, so a note built on them is describing publications, not spending.
Patterns from past records
Elsewhere on the site, past public records are used to give a sense of how long something has taken before. These are descriptions of what has already happened, not forecasts, and legal deadlines always take precedence over them.
| The pattern | What it describes | Where its rule is written |
|---|---|---|
| Civil-service eligible-list timing | How long a list has taken to be established after filing closed, from past exams | Eligible-list timing |
| Property sale timing | How long auctions have followed past hearing notices | Property sale timing |
| Tax lien sale progression | How often liens at the same stage reached a past cycle's final sale list | Tax lien progression |
| Zoning case history | The usual time range and results for comparable past zoning cases | What past zoning cases show |
| Applicant history | An applicant's own past zoning results beside the overall rate | Applicant history |
Each of these carries its own honesty conditions, and the pages say so where they apply: the eligible list comparison uses no applicant names, scores or ranks; a real sale date always replaces the property timing pattern; a lien can leave a list for many ordinary reasons, including simply being paid; and where a group is too small or the evidence too weak, the site shows a wider group or nothing rather than a confident-looking number built on very little.
How to read one honestly
- Treat it as a question, not an answer. The useful next step after a flag is opening the record and its official source.
- A pattern is not a prediction. "Cases like this have usually taken this long" is a statement about past cases.
- An estimate never becomes a deadline. If an official date exists, it is the date.
- Nothing here is an allegation. These notes save you arithmetic. What they mean is yours to judge, from the record itself.
If you want the full arithmetic rather than the meaning, the formulas are published: the rules adoption lag, property disposition timing, award registration dwell, and applicant-conditioned zoning outcomes.