Colombia Enhances Government Procurement

In recent years, Colombia improved its efficiency in the use of public funds, especially with regard to the royalty system and public procurement mechanisms. An example is the implementation of the new General Royalty System in 2012, which has reduced irregularities found by the Attorney General’s Office in the management of municipalities.

These are some of the findings of the 2019 Economy and Development Report (EDR) “Integrity in Public Policy” published by CAF—development bank of Latin America—, which highlights Colombia’s efforts while noting that the nation has a long way to go in preventing corruption. This task, as described in the 2019 EDR, is shared by most countries in the region. According to the report, Latin America has seen an improvement in the implementation of systems to reduce and minimize corruption, but it must work harder to ensure integrity of public policies and guarantee that governments’ actions are more transparent and pursue the true interests of the people.

“The analysis suggests that the effort made thus far has been significant, but there is still work to be done to fill legal or regulatory gaps and to ensure effective implementation of the measures proposed. In particular, it is necessary to invest in capacities of agencies in the integrity policy architecture, such as comptrollers, electoral authorities, prosecutors, courts, civil service administration agencies, among others,” said Pablo Sanguinetti, Vice President of Knowledge at CAF.

In addition, the 2019 EDR puts forward a number of key tasks that Latin American governments should consider in their efforts to curb and prevent corruption, which are organized into four axes of action: the design of rules and control systems in public administration, entry mechanisms into bureaucracy and politics, citizen oversight, and governance of private interests. Concrete proposals include:

• Adopting decision protocols and formulas based on objective criteria.
• Revamping audit systems and building investigation and law-enforcement capacities.
• Promoting competitive and transparent electoral systems.
• Professionalizing civil service and ensuring access to civil service is based on merit.
• Improving information and dissemination systems on the actions of government and officials.
• Empowering citizens and encouraging more vigilant attitudes.
• Ensuring the operation of complaint and whistleblowing channels, and leveraging technology to create new spaces.
• Strengthening institutions to prevent payment and offering of bribes by individuals and to encourage the adoption of compliance programs within companies.
• Investing in better lobbying regulation, in the identification and management of conflicts of interest.
• Improving decision-making processes in particularly vulnerable activities, such as the provision of public infrastructure.

The event was kicked off by Carolina España, CAF representative in Colombia, and Beatriz Londoño, secretary of Transparency. Gustavo Fajardo, senior economist at CAF, will present the 2019 EDR. The session will also feature a panel moderated by Leopoldo Fergusson of the Faculty of Economics of Los Andes, with Vivian Newman Pont, director of the Center for Studies in Law, Justice and Society, Dejusticia; Andrés Hernández Montes, executive director of Transparencia por Colombia and Pablo Sanabria of the School of Government of Los Andes, expert in public management, public employment, open government, corruption and transparency and local governance. Lastly, María Margarita Paca Zuleta, director of the School of Government, will adjourn the event.

download the report