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

Centro Auxiliar de Rosario295 contracts$ 54,7 M
- Concentration18.8%above 50% of bodies
- Bursts1above 72% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Escuela Nacional de Policía244 contracts$ 50,4 M
- Concentration28.6%above 75% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct58.1%above 36% of bodies
- Express window1.2%above 50% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Auditoría Interna de la Nación278 contracts$ 49,8 M
- Concentration14.2%above 32% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct50.0%above 30% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de la Biblioteca Nacional185 contracts$ 49,5 M
- Concentration24.8%above 68% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct78.8%above 59% of bodies
- Express window1.4%above 52% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Instituto de Higiene175 contracts$ 47,8 M
- Concentration14.0%above 32% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct73.1%above 52% of bodies
- Express window1.3%above 52% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Instituto Nacional del Cáncer119 contracts$ 45,5 M
- Concentration32.4%above 79% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct74.5%above 54% of bodies
- Express window5.3%above 79% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Psicología167 contracts$ 45 M
- Concentration22.7%above 63% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct60.9%above 40% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Soriano217 contracts$ 45 M
- Concentration28.3%above 74% of bodies
- Bursts3above 76% of bodies
- Direct77.8%above 58% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Direc.Sistema de Atenciòn Integral Personas Privad. Libertad387 contracts$ 44,6 M
- Concentration14.0%above 31% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct90.0%above 73% of bodies
- Express window1.9%above 58% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Calidad y Evaluación Ambiental241 contracts$ 43,3 M
- Concentration15.3%above 37% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct82.4%above 63% of bodies
- Express window2.5%above 63% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Minería y Geología356 contracts$ 43,2 M
- Concentration25.1%above 69% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct79.4%above 61% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Departamental de Artigas191 contracts$ 39 M
- Concentration48.1%above 91% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct81.8%above 63% of bodies
- Express window6.1%above 81% of bodies
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Dir.Nal. de Rec.Acuáticos(Ex-INAPE)640 contracts$ 38,8 M
- Concentration13.1%above 26% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct96.6%above 88% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Comisión del Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación311 contracts$ 37,9 M
- Concentration19.4%above 52% of bodies
- Bursts2above 74% of bodies
- Direct93.0%above 80% of bodies
- Express window9.3%above 88% of bodies
- Unexplained1above 90% of bodies
See this body’s 1 unexplained flags
Dirección Nacional de Migración227 contracts$ 37,4 M
- Concentration14.1%above 32% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct36.2%above 23% of bodies
- Express window5.2%above 78% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Ctro Inf.y Ref.Nal de Red Drogas179 contracts$ 35,5 M
- Concentration35.2%above 82% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct90.6%above 74% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Oficina Nacional del Servicio Civil453 contracts$ 35,3 M
- Concentration15.0%above 37% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct62.1%above 42% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Policía Caminera628 contracts$ 32,4 M
- Concentration20.1%above 55% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct89.2%above 72% of bodies
- Express window1.3%above 51% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Secretaría295 contracts$ 31,1 M
- Concentration6.7%above 3% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct85.6%above 66% of bodies
- Express window4.3%above 76% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General de Secretaría250 contracts$ 30,8 M
- Concentration14.8%above 36% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct87.0%above 70% of bodies
- Express window0.9%above 45% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección Nacional de Coordinación en el Interior196 contracts$ 30,6 M
- Concentration32.7%above 79% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Directnot enough data
- Express windownot enough data
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación59 contracts$ 29 M
- Concentration17.3%above 43% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct0.0%above 5% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Centro Aux. de Cardona y Florencio Sánchez80 contracts$ 25 M
- Concentration20.8%above 57% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct50.0%above 30% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Dirección General Forestal498 contracts$ 24,4 M
- Concentration11.3%above 19% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct86.0%above 67% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies
Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca102 contracts$ 22,7 M
- Concentration29.9%above 75% of bodies
- Bursts0above 66% of bodies
- Direct26.7%above 18% of bodies
- Express window0.0%above 35% of bodies
- Unexplained0above 83% of bodies