translated from Spanish: Risk of corruption in government procurement increases, warns IMCO

The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) reported that between 2018 and 2020 the risk of corruption in public procurement increased in 147 of 247 federal institutions, due to lack of competition, lack of transparency and non-compliance with the law.
In presenting the report on the Corruption Risk Index (IRC) carried out by the IMCO, Pablo Montes, anti-corruption coordination, pointed out that, in 2020, the amount for direct adjudication broke an all-time record.
“It is the first time, since we have registered in Compranet, that the money destined for direct awards is greater than the money destined for public awards,” he said.

He said that between 2018 and 2020, the federal government awarded more than 4 billion to start-ups, with a year of life; warned that the federal government continues to hire “shell companies” that have even already been listed by the SAT.

According to the report on the Corruption Risk Index (IRC), it points out that non-competitive public procurement prevails in institutions such as the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) and the Integral Port Administration of Salina Cruz (API Salina Cruz).

He explained that, in the case of health institutions, 66% of them worsened in the Corruption Risk Index.
According to IMCO data, Semar allocated 96% of the amount of its purchases to exceptional processes, one thousand 900 million pesos by direct award, that is, 72%, and 671 million by restricted invitation, that is, 24%.
Lee: What did you buy, who did the government hire to deal with the pandemic, and what did it do?
Meanwhile, the Integral Port Administration of Salina Cruz is the riskiest institution in the classification of the very high amount, with more than 3 billion pesos, due to the lack of competition.
“In 2020, it spent 4 billion pesos, of which 99% was awarded directly,” according to data provided by IMCO.

We analyzed 498 thousand #compraspúblicas made by 278 institutions of the Federal Public Administration.
Who complies – or does not – with the principles of competition, transparency, and adherence to the law?
Find out in the Corruption Risk Index?: https://t.co/ZHIQCmmWCL pic.twitter.com/BEYLmyBJuh
— IMCO (@imcomx) August 17, 2021

Health worsens; education reports late
The IMCO detailed that between 2018 and 2020, 66% of health institutions worsened mostly in compliance with the law.
Among these dependencies are the National Institute of Cancerology and Laboratories of Reactive Biologics of Mexico (Birmex).
He indicated that 24% of the purchases of the Institute of Health for Welfare (Insabi) does not have a hyperlink to Compranet
With regard to public purchases by institutions in the education sector, he pointed out that they were published late; exemplified that 85% of the purchases of the National Commission of Free Textbooks were published in Compranet after the start date of the contract.
Read: Amlo’s government allocates 43% of resources to direct awards in 2020, despite promising to ban them
In the case of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Institute warns that in both cases it was not possible to monitor the risks of corruption because since 2015 the contracts made by these agencies are not subject to the Law on Acquisitions, Leases and Services of the Public Sector (LAASSP).
Dependencies that do comply
The IMCO reported that, in 2020, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) spent 99.7% of the amount of public procurement through public bidding processes; 100% of the tenders have the documents published.
While the INE, Cofece and INAI presented lower risks of corruption in their public procurement.
Following the result, IMCO warns that it is necessary for institutions to identify deficiencies and anomalies in the procurement process to ensure the efficient use of public resources in procurement.
Therefore, it proposes a reform of the Law on Acquisitions, Leases and Services of the Public Sector (LAASSP).
“The analysis presents specific proposals to modify the public procurement laws, among which are reducing the legal justifications to avoid public tenders and ensuring the publication of the purchase processes in Compranet within the time established in the Law,” he says.
Read: Insabi, Marina and Birmex allocated more than 70% of the budget for purchases to direct award in 2020
The Federal Public Administration is made up of more than 260 institutions that make public purchases that represent, on average, 300 billion pesos spent on 150 thousand contracts per year.
IMCO developed the Ries IndexCorruption (IRC), which is a tool to identify risks in each of the public procurement based on official information.
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Original source in Spanish

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