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 27/10/2023 to 27/10/2026 · 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

Consejo de Educación Inicial y Primaria2899 contracts$ 4,49 mil M
- Concentration40.3%above 86% of bodies
- Bursts12above 89% of bodies
- Direct76.2%above 55% of bodies
- Express window0.3%above 37% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Administración Nacional de Puertos1811 contracts$ 3,97 mil M
- Concentration20.1%above 55% of bodies
- Bursts4above 79% of bodies
- Direct54.5%above 33% of bodies
- Express window0.9%above 44% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Canelones1941 contracts$ 3,64 mil M
- Concentration10.9%above 18% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Direct93.5%above 82% of bodies
- Express window1.0%above 48% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Vialidad1555 contracts$ 3,17 mil M
- Concentration10.1%above 16% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct72.9%above 51% of bodies
- Express window1.0%above 48% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones268 contracts$ 2,97 mil M
- Concentration16.8%above 42% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct3.0%above 8% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Sanidad Policial1357 contracts$ 2,58 mil M
- Concentration44.8%above 88% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Direct45.3%above 26% of bodies
- Express window4.7%above 77% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Consejo Directivo Central1890 contracts$ 2,33 mil M
- Concentration8.0%above 7% of bodies
- Bursts8above 86% of bodies
- Direct27.6%above 18% of bodies
- Express window1.4%above 53% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Colonia1368 contracts$ 2,27 mil M
- Concentration11.4%above 20% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window10.3%above 90% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Administración de Servicios de Salud del Estado819 contracts$ 2,2 mil M
- Concentration18.1%above 46% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct34.2%above 22% of bodies
- Express window2.9%above 67% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Instituto Nacional de Alimentación292 contracts$ 2,12 mil M
- Concentration21.1%above 59% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct46.4%above 27% of bodies
- Express window0.9%above 44% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Vivienda89 contracts$ 1,66 mil M
- Concentration21.3%above 59% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct73.1%above 52% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Consejo de Educación Técnico-Profesional2716 contracts$ 1,66 mil M
- Concentration13.9%above 29% of bodies
- Bursts13above 89% of bodies
- Direct61.4%above 40% of bodies
- Express window1.4%above 53% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Presidencia de la República345 contracts$ 1,43 mil M
- Concentration23.1%above 64% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct39.8%above 25% of bodies
- Express window3.9%above 73% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Comando General de la Fuerza Aérea1352 contracts$ 1,39 mil M
- Concentration10.2%above 16% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct73.2%above 52% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Consejo de Educación Secundaria940 contracts$ 1,39 mil M
- Concentration29.1%above 75% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct26.2%above 17% of bodies
- Express window5.0%above 77% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Poder Judicial1581 contracts$ 1,36 mil M
- Concentration8.3%above 8% of bodies
- Bursts4above 79% of bodies
- Direct56.1%above 34% of bodies
- Express window0.8%above 41% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Hospital Español4975 contracts$ 1,35 mil M
- Concentration16.3%above 41% of bodies
- Bursts7above 85% of bodies
- Direct94.8%above 85% of bodies
- Express window0.9%above 45% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Paysandú1057 contracts$ 1,29 mil M
- Concentration7.5%above 6% of bodies
- Bursts6above 82% of bodies
- Direct72.5%above 50% of bodies
- Express window2.9%above 67% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Florida1114 contracts$ 1,27 mil M
- Concentration14.4%above 34% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Direct28.8%above 19% of bodies
- Express window4.2%above 75% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Tacuarembó114 contracts$ 1,24 mil M
- Concentration19.4%above 52% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window2.8%above 66% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Direc. General de Secretaría.939 contracts$ 1,15 mil M
- Concentration12.4%above 23% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct74.1%above 53% of bodies
- Express window0.6%above 38% of bodies
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Intendencia de Rivera72 contracts$ 875 M
- Concentration17.6%above 44% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct1.4%above 7% of bodies
- Express window5.6%above 80% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Servicios Ganaderos2955 contracts$ 867 M
- Concentration45.0%above 88% of bodies
- Bursts7above 85% of bodies
- Direct61.0%above 40% of bodies
- Express window1.0%above 46% of bodies
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Dirección General Impositiva692 contracts$ 815 M
- Concentration11.7%above 21% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct19.0%above 15% of bodies
- Express window1.0%above 48% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Universidad Tecnológica del Uruguay1706 contracts$ 647 M
- Concentration4.3%above 0% of bodies
- Bursts2above 74% of bodies
- Direct59.2%above 38% of bodies
- Express window1.1%above 49% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies