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 Especializado de Ojos900 contracts$ 121 M
- Concentration21.7%above 60% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Direct94.7%above 84% of bodies
- Express window1.1%above 50% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Unidad Reguladora de Servicios de Comunicaciones681 contracts$ 120 M
- Concentration13.8%above 29% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct50.0%above 30% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Río Negro39 contracts$ 118 M
- Concentration21.4%above 59% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Rivera215 contracts$ 112 M
- Concentration18.1%above 46% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct79.3%above 60% of bodies
- Express window3.6%above 71% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Medicina351 contracts$ 106 M
- Concentration9.6%above 13% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct57.1%above 35% of bodies
- Express window1.5%above 54% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Veterinaria468 contracts$ 106 M
- Concentration11.3%above 19% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct54.7%above 33% of bodies
- Express window9.7%above 89% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Intendencia de Maldonado47 contracts$ 104 M
- Concentration17.4%above 44% 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 Zonas Francas124 contracts$ 102 M
- Concentration32.8%above 79% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct58.3%above 37% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Auxiliar de Carmelo24 contracts$ 96,1 M
- Concentration39.3%above 85% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct64.7%above 43% of bodies
- Express window5.9%above 81% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Universitario Regional Este946 contracts$ 95,6 M
- Concentration14.7%above 35% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct57.3%above 35% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Loterías y Quinielas264 contracts$ 93 M
- Concentration19.4%above 53% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct58.9%above 37% of bodies
- Express window3.3%above 69% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable223 contracts$ 90,4 M
- Concentration30.2%above 76% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct72.7%above 50% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Coordinación1278 contracts$ 90,3 M
- Concentration26.4%above 70% of bodies
- Bursts7above 85% of bodies
- Direct59.3%above 38% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Inst.Nal.Donac.yTrasp.Células,Tej.y Organos563 contracts$ 86,4 M
- Concentration19.5%above 53% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct10.5%above 13% of bodies
- Express window5.3%above 79% of bodies
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Dirección General de los Servicios205 contracts$ 84,6 M
- Concentration10.6%above 17% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct69.3%above 47% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Canelones504 contracts$ 84,6 M
- Concentration8.1%above 7% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct89.1%above 72% of bodies
- Express window2.5%above 64% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Catastro219 contracts$ 83,1 M
- Concentration15.5%above 38% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct9.1%above 12% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Unidad Reguladora de Servicios de Energía y Agua353 contracts$ 78,7 M
- Concentration20.3%above 56% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct55.3%above 34% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Química144 contracts$ 74,4 M
- Concentration13.6%above 28% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct31.8%above 21% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Artes744 contracts$ 73,7 M
- Concentration30.6%above 77% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct28.9%above 19% of bodies
- Express window2.6%above 65% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Auxiliar de las Piedras455 contracts$ 72,5 M
- Concentration16.4%above 41% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct95.3%above 85% of bodies
- Express window0.8%above 40% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Jefatura de Policía de Montevideo450 contracts$ 61,2 M
- Concentration15.8%above 38% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct43.5%above 25% of bodies
- Express window9.7%above 89% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil302 contracts$ 60,9 M
- Concentration19.8%above 54% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct62.0%above 41% of bodies
- Express window0.8%above 41% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dir. Gral. Secretaría del Mrio. de Economía y Finanzas256 contracts$ 60,3 M
- Concentration6.8%above 3% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct50.9%above 31% of bodies
- Express window1.8%above 57% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Derecho136 contracts$ 60,2 M
- Concentration13.3%above 26% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct18.2%above 14% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies