Uruguay's public procurement

Management signals

Five measurements of how each state body buys: who the money concentrates on, whether awards come in bursts, how much is awarded directly, how long anyone had to compete, and how many price flags were left unexplained.

None of these measurements proves an irregularity. All of them have legitimate explanations: a hospital buying oxygen from the single licensed supplier concentrates 100% and is perfectly in order. A signal says only that the body sits among the highest on that dimension. It is a starting point for a question, never a conclusion.

Measured over awards from 28/10/2023 to 28/10/2026 · 268 bodies with at least 20 contracts

What each signal measures

Concentration in one supplier: Share of awarded money that went to a single supplier. An upper bound: the contract amount is not apportioned per supplier, so a shared award counts fully for each. Marked from 47% (top 10%) and high from 74% (top 3%).
Awards in bursts: How many times the body made 8 or more separate awards to the same supplier within one month. Counted once per supplier per month, so a body can accumulate several in the same month. It is the shape of contract splitting, and also the shape of a hospital pharmacy ordering often from one distributor. Marked from 19.600000000000023 (top 10%) and high from 83.88000000000011 (top 3%).
Direct awarding: Share of direct or exception purchases among the awards whose procedure could be resolved. Only 27% of awards carry a procedure, and nationally direct purchase is already 66%, so what matters is the position relative to the rest, not the number alone. Marked from 98% (top 10%) and high from 100% (top 3%).
Express bidding window: Calls whose bidding window fell in the shortest 5% for their own procedure. The threshold is per procedure because they are not comparable: an Abbreviated Tender never runs under 3.5 days, while a Direct Purchase runs a third of its calls in under 3. Marked from 10% (top 10%) and high from 33% (top 3%).
Unexplained overprices: Price flags that survived both the statistical detector and the automated review. There are about 70 in the whole corpus, so any concentration in one body stands out. Marked from 1 (top 10%) and high from 3 (top 3%).

268 bodies

Dir. Nal. de Telecom.y Serv.comun.audiovisual146 contracts$ 8,6 M
- Concentration23.1%above 65% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct93.8%above 83% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Treinta y Tres22 contracts$ 8,3 M
- Concentration33.6%above 82% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Artesanías y Pequeñas y Medianas Empre123 contracts$ 8,2 M
- Concentration27.0%above 72% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct92.3%above 79% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de la Granja58 contracts$ 5,4 M
- Concentration26.2%above 70% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct91.7%above 76% of bodies
- Express window8.3%above 87% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Aplicaciones de Tecnología Nuclear107 contracts$ 3,7 M
- Concentration21.6%above 60% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct91.7%above 76% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Empleo48 contracts$ 3,4 M
- Concentration11.5%above 20% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de la Seguridad Rural429 contracts$ 3,4 M
- Concentration14.9%above 36% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Procuraduría Estado en Contencioso-Administrativo51 contracts$ 3,2 M
- Concentration19.4%above 53% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct77.1%above 56% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Junta Nacional de Salud30 contracts$ 3,1 M
- Concentration33.4%above 81% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct66.7%above 45% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Auxiliar de Nueva Helvecia76 contracts$ 3 M
- Concentration46.4%above 90% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct97.3%above 90% of bodies
- Express window1.3%above 52% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Biodiversidad y Servicios Ecosistémico27 contracts$ 2,5 M
- Concentration28.0%above 74% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct84.6%above 65% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Red de Atención Primaria de Flores75 contracts$ 2,2 M
- Concentration24.8%above 68% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct95.5%above 87% of bodies
- Express window4.5%above 76% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Ordenamiento Territorial41 contracts$ 2,1 M
- Concentration14.0%above 31% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct82.1%above 63% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Inspección General del Trabajo y de la Seguridad Social31 contracts$ 1,8 M
- Concentration23.3%above 65% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Autoridad Reguladora Nacional en Radioprotección55 contracts$ 1,6 M
- Concentration12.7%above 25% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct93.3%above 81% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Casa Militar126 contracts$ 1,5 M
- Concentration38.6%above 84% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Tesorería General de la Nación25 contracts$ 1,2 M
- Concentration31.5%above 78% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Fiscalías de Gobierno de Primer y Segundo Turno36 contracts$ 791.450
- Concentration32.0%above 78% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies