Impacts of the public procurement reform in Chile on the municipal level

Abstract

This study measures the impact that the Reform of the System of Public Procurement, driven by Chile's central government, had in the municipalities. Traditionally, local governments present unequal development, at least in terms of the level of resources and the size of population looked after. Moreover, many studies show that municipalities have lead the ranking in the perception of corruption in Chile. Two hypotheses were proposed. The first is that the impacts and benefits, that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)-driven reform have had on public procurement tend to be less than desired. The second affirms that an e-procurement system can significantly augment the level of transparency; however, an automatic reduction in the level of corruption will not be apparent. The study was based on two surveys conducted with municipality buyers and vendors. Corruption and transparency were chosen as the primary focus. Other impacts measured include the efficiency of the internal processes, cultural aspects and normative and institutional aspects. The most relevant conclusions were two - the reform of public procurement in Chile increased the level of transparency; and the greatest transparency perceived in purchasing processes has not shown a lessening in the level of corruption.