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

Hospital -Centro Geriátrico Dr. Luis Piñeiro del Campo1126 contracts$ 197 M
- Concentration22.6%above 62% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct6.0%above 10% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de San José367 contracts$ 181 M
- Concentration17.3%above 43% of bodies
- Bursts2above 74% of bodies
- Direct38.3%above 24% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Canal 5 - Servicio de Televisión Nacional600 contracts$ 177 M
- Concentration7.6%above 7% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct51.7%above 31% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Odontología351 contracts$ 177 M
- Concentration13.7%above 28% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct1.1%above 6% of bodies
- Express window2.5%above 63% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Policía Científica320 contracts$ 174 M
- Concentration26.5%above 71% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct49.1%above 28% of bodies
- Express window0.9%above 42% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Secretaría679 contracts$ 172 M
- Concentration13.8%above 29% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct83.8%above 64% of bodies
- Express window1.8%above 56% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Laboratorio Químico Industrial Francisco Dorrego985 contracts$ 166 M
- Concentration13.4%above 27% of bodies
- Bursts2above 74% of bodies
- Direct95.3%above 86% of bodies
- Express window2.4%above 61% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración336 contracts$ 163 M
- Concentration34.1%above 82% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct26.2%above 17% of bodies
- Express window6.0%above 81% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Secretaría486 contracts$ 163 M
- Concentration22.9%above 63% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct67.7%above 46% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Registros393 contracts$ 158 M
- Concentration20.4%above 57% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct76.3%above 55% of bodies
- Express window3.8%above 71% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Hospital Vilardebó542 contracts$ 155 M
- Concentration9.7%above 13% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct54.4%above 33% of bodies
- Express window10.0%above 90% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Instituto Uruguayo de Meteorologia INUMET781 contracts$ 152 M
- Concentration25.9%above 69% of bodies
- Bursts4above 79% of bodies
- Direct2.8%above 8% of bodies
- Express window2.8%above 65% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Secretaría794 contracts$ 145 M
- Concentration12.0%above 22% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct86.5%above 69% of bodies
- Express window5.7%above 80% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo370 contracts$ 144 M
- Concentration39.5%above 85% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct59.6%above 39% of bodies
- Express window0.7%above 40% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Artigas34 contracts$ 143 M
- Concentration46.2%above 89% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Servicio Nacional de Sangre313 contracts$ 142 M
- Concentration19.4%above 51% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window8.3%above 87% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Contaduría General de la Nación520 contracts$ 142 M
- Concentration26.5%above 71% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct69.2%above 47% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Florida438 contracts$ 142 M
- Concentration18.5%above 48% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Instituto Nal.de Reumatalogía Prof.Dr. Moisés Mizraji571 contracts$ 141 M
- Concentration24.7%above 67% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct93.3%above 81% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Red de Atención Primaria de Canelones115 contracts$ 139 M
- Concentration40.5%above 86% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct57.5%above 36% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Consejo de Formación en Educación154 contracts$ 138 M
- Concentration20.4%above 56% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct56.8%above 35% of bodies
- Express window4.3%above 76% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General del Registro de Estado Civil197 contracts$ 130 M
- Concentration25.2%above 69% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct85.6%above 66% of bodies
- Express window3.3%above 69% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Asistencia y Seguridad Social Policial315 contracts$ 129 M
- Concentration44.7%above 87% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct53.3%above 32% of bodies
- Express window1.7%above 55% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Universitario Regional Litoral Norte427 contracts$ 129 M
- Concentration6.9%above 4% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct5.0%above 10% of bodies
- Express window2.5%above 64% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Corte Electoral382 contracts$ 124 M
- Concentration9.2%above 12% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct38.7%above 24% of bodies
- Express window3.9%above 73% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies