End of Commitment Report – Improve the process of public procurement and contracting

Name of Evaluator

Caroline Souza

Email

caroline.souza@tcesc.tc.br

Member Name

Santa Catarina, Brazil

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – Santa Catarina, Brazil, 2021 – 2022

CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...

Improve the process of public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More and contracting at the Santa Catarina Executive Branch being guided by the principles and rules of transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More, making it more effective and accessible to citizens and other stakeholders

Action

The commitment seeks to adapt the public procurement process and the data provision implementing a protocol based on legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., recommendations from stakeholders, and guides and studies on transparency, aiming to improve the procurement process of the Executive Branch of Santa Catarina being guided by the principles and rules of transparency and open contracting.The commitment implementation involves the creation of transparency protocols, training of servants involved in risk management of public procurement, partnerships with universities and research laboratories, improvements at the public procurement portal and enhancement of the availability of public data and information.As a result, it seeks the structuration of the public procurement data, adequacy of transparency channels, and promotion of Accountability.

Problem

Public procurement is among the segments that are the most exposed to conflicts of interestA key part of anti-corruption involves preventing or revealing conflicts of interest — when a public official is in a position to use public office for personal or private gain. Technical specificat..., favoritism, and corruption, due to the large volume of financial resources it involves. In this context, transparency is presented not only as a tool against corruption but also as an ally to the procurement process quality, since it is decisive to increase the public procurement competitiveness. Since the Fiscal Responsibility Act was enacted in 2000, other laws emerged intending to promote transparency and combat corruption. The lack of systems integration, problems at information and processes standardizing and the lack of management information systems adaptation, however, become barriers to the promotion of transparency and the fight against corruption, as they make the combination of scattered data and information a challenging activity to public administration.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

substantial

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Out of the 9 milestones, 3 were finished and 6 are in progress. They are considered finished: 1, 2 and 6, and in progress: 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9.
The Procurement Transparency Protocol was published and the servants training in risk management was carried out. The instruments signed with universities contribute to improve the government management and social control, but it was not identified how to encourage it by academics/ teachers. As for accessibility, there is a new public procurement portal in development and improvements in the current one. Providing linked information and open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... depends on the regulationGovernment reformers are developing regulations that enshrine values of transparency, participation, and accountability in government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or reforming ... of Law 14.133/21 and there is information on the physical and financial execution of contracts in the Transparency Portal. The Coordination of Intelligence in Public Procurement was also established and the Open Data Portal is under development. About the tutorials, there are videos with guidance to users of the Shopping Portal, but no tutorial on the Transparency Portal was

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

Compromisso 2 – Evidencia 1.1.

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

The decision of developing a new procurement portal to improve accessibility required hiring a specialized company and the time available to implement the commitment was not enough to complete it. The explanation and the document process that deals with this hiring are in the link: https://dados.sc.gov.br/dataset/e691c2fd-6b36-46cc-96c1-ca8c8b91b2f7/resource/a719f09d-d711-4a4f-8f67-fd80298368d6/download/relatorio-opcoes-de-acessibilidade.pdf

The edition of Law 14.133, of April 1, 2021, established the need to regulate the preparatory phase of procurement at the state level. So, it compromised the systems integration that would make information available in a chained way from the need identification to the physical and financial execution of the contract. The same law gives new treatment to direct contracting, which includes cases of ineligibility and exemption from bidding. It was necessary to regulate by Decree in the state. The draft is already in bureaucratic progress and depends on official publication:
https://dados.sc.gov.br/dataset/e691c2fd-6b36-46cc-96c1-ca8c8b91b2f7/resource/8194708c-3b3f-403b-b173-12ff3f674cf8/download/relatorio-informacoes-encadeadaspdf.pdf

Another external factor faced was the CIASC strike that affected the commitment milestones, such as the system for processing direct contracting, with the respective information publicity, in line with Law 14.133/21, which was scheduled for September/2022

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

few of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Some of the commitment milestones were finished as planned. However, the accessibility option on the Purchasing Portal could not be completed in time due to the CIASC strike. The publication of Law 14.133/2021, called the New Bidding Law, granted new negotiations to direct contracting, forcing changes at the original project on exemption and ineligibility. It is understood that these changes in the plan are positive, as a result of the New Law, a more modern version compared to the previous one.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Compromisso 2 – Evidencia 1.3.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

It is observed that the commitment milestones finished, and those in progress, are responsible for “opening” the government. More information available, greater accessibility and preparation of documents that demonstrate step-by-step how to obtain such data. However, it is understood that the degree of the result is not clear. It is possible that such actions do not have proper disclosure. They can even be discontinued in the next management. Thus, it is suggested to measure the level of interaction of users with the portals of purchase and transparency, as well as the amount of access in the available documents. So, it will be possible to have an indicator of open government results for public procurement.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Compromisso 2 – Evidencia 2.1.1.

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Not Applicable

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Not Applicable

2.1.4 Other Results

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The evidence allows us to observe that the milestones finished exceeded expectations regarding their possibilities for improving public management and opening data processes. There was open data training with the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) for servers of the State Secretary of Administration. Another evident positive action was the online training held for servers with the theme of risks in public procurement. Last but not least, cooperation agreements have been concluded with universities and other institutions interested in social control, which see this as a tool for improving public management. It is suggested that new partnerships be held, so that the government has greater plurality.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Compromisso 2 – Evidencia 2.1.4.

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

Open government requires greater transparency and stakeholder participation in public procurement processes. Thus, the inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More of this commitment is fundamental to achieving the major objectives of the Plan, not only related to transparency, but also of social participation and innovation in the public sector. It is understood that the measures implemented are in agreement with it, such as those still in progress that the resolution is expected soon. As for the suggestions, it is advised that the Open Government be widely disseminated, so that its actions and tools available are known to different parts of society. In addition, it is important to measure the results. Although these are actions that have wide scope, measures such as access to available documents and counting of access to purchase portals and transparency are already an approximation of the result obtained with the actions performed.