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

Secretaría Nacional del Deporte682 contracts$ 636 M
- Concentration21.5%above 60% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct86.4%above 68% of bodies
- Express window2.3%above 61% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de San José123 contracts$ 636 M
- Concentration27.1%above 72% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Hidrografía510 contracts$ 634 M
- Concentration15.0%above 37% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct49.0%above 28% of bodies
- Express window7.9%above 86% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Adminstración Nacional de Correos2014 contracts$ 632 M
- Concentration30.2%above 76% of bodies
- Bursts3above 76% of bodies
- Direct33.9%above 22% of bodies
- Express window2.8%above 66% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Despacho de la Secretaría Estado y Oficinas Dependientes759 contracts$ 611 M
- Concentration19.3%above 51% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct22.4%above 16% of bodies
- Express window2.0%above 60% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Servicio Nacional de Ortopedia y Traumatología1327 contracts$ 558 M
- Concentration33.2%above 81% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Direct94.9%above 85% of bodies
- Express window3.5%above 70% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Comisión Administrativa del Poder Legislativo926 contracts$ 555 M
- Concentration12.8%above 25% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window1.0%above 48% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Hospital de Clínicas351 contracts$ 525 M
- Concentration36.6%above 83% of bodies
- Bursts6above 82% of bodies
- Direct10.5%above 13% of bodies
- Express window1.8%above 55% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Turismo668 contracts$ 506 M
- Concentration10.4%above 17% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct94.5%above 84% of bodies
- Express window9.1%above 88% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Fiscalia General de la Nación1330 contracts$ 474 M
- Concentration18.4%above 47% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct77.1%above 56% of bodies
- Express window1.8%above 56% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Treinta y Tres160 contracts$ 375 M
- Concentration17.5%above 44% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.7%above 6% of bodies
- Express window4.3%above 76% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Río Negro74 contracts$ 327 M
- Concentration33.0%above 80% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct53.7%above 32% of bodies
- Express window3.0%above 67% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Tacuarembó947 contracts$ 320 M
- Concentration22.3%above 61% of bodies
- Bursts7above 85% of bodies
- Direct70.0%above 48% of bodies
- Express window5.0%above 77% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay264 contracts$ 310 M
- Concentration9.7%above 13% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct67.1%above 46% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Instituto Nacional de Inclusion Social Adolescente431 contracts$ 308 M
- Concentration28.3%above 74% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct72.0%above 49% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Secretaría1225 contracts$ 301 M
- Concentration23.7%above 65% of bodies
- Bursts6above 82% of bodies
- Direct77.5%above 57% of bodies
- Express window1.0%above 48% of bodies
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Dirección General de Secretaría863 contracts$ 290 M
- Concentration46.5%above 90% of bodies
- Bursts5above 81% of bodies
- Direct75.2%above 54% of bodies
- Express window0.9%above 44% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Servicios Agrícolas1351 contracts$ 278 M
- Concentration44.7%above 87% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct88.0%above 71% of bodies
- Express window5.4%above 79% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Agronomía421 contracts$ 277 M
- Concentration11.9%above 21% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Direct1.3%above 6% of bodies
- Express window6.7%above 84% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Aduanas693 contracts$ 265 M
- Concentration6.2%above 1% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct25.8%above 17% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Junta Departamental de Montevideo536 contracts$ 218 M
- Concentration13.0%above 25% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct95.3%above 86% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Durazno21 contracts$ 214 M
- Concentration27.3%above 73% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional Aviación Civil e Infraestructura Aeronáut1050 contracts$ 210 M
- Concentration9.8%above 15% of bodies
- Bursts2above 74% of bodies
- Direct61.4%above 41% of bodies
- Express window0.6%above 39% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección de Educación1004 contracts$ 208 M
- Concentration18.5%above 48% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct73.4%above 52% of bodies
- Express window1.0%above 49% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Instituto Nacional de Colonización276 contracts$ 197 M
- Concentration4.7%above 1% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct18.5%above 14% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies