Sharon Day, the United States Ambassador, and Elian Villegas, the Minister of Finance, signed the agreement to create the system to access historical information
about the purchases made by the different public organizations in Costa Rica.
- Ministry of Finance photo -
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Published Friday, January 15, 2021
U.S. donates $250,000 to create a monitoring
system for government purchases
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The United States government, through the embassy, donated $250,000 to the Ministry of Finance from the cooperation program called Financing Opportunity, as part of the Small Grants: Continued Civil Society Engagement- Government Strengthening program to create a so-called Public Purchases Observatory system.
On Thursday, Sharon Day, the United States Ambassador, and Elian Villegas, the Minister of Finance, signed the agreement to create the system to access historical information about the purchases made by the different public organizations in Costa Rica.
“This project will put power in the hands of citizens so they better understand how public tenders are granted (referring to government purchases agreements)," Ambassador Day said. "Fiscal transparency informs citizens about how government tenders are spent and it is a critical element of effective public financial management, which also helps governments to be accountable, build market confidence and sustainability."
The project will be led by specialists from the ministry and the International City-County Management Association, ICMA.
The Washington, DC-based organization, ICMA is an international association of managers who provide advice and services to governments.
"We do this by working with our more than 11,000 members to identify and speed the adoption of leading local government practices to improve the lives of residents," the organization said in its statement. "ICMA offers membership, professional development programs, research, publications, data and information, technical assistance, and training to thousands of city, town, and county chief administrative officers, their staff, and other organizations throughout the world."
According to the ministry, among the main benefits obtained with the implementation of this system are:
• Increase citizen participation.
• Increase accountability of the proper use of government resources.
• Build a tool that promotes the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of public purchases.
• Establish good practices to improve public systems with a long-term vision.
• Contribute to the development of more competitive markets, promote competition, innovation and opportunities.
• Identify improvement opportunities to carry out more efficient processes for public organizations.
• Improve the scrutiny that people can do about government income generated through taxes.
• Evaluate the purchasing systems made by public organizations.
“The signing of this agreement is a great advance in the matter of transparency of public purchases in the country. With its implementation, efficiency and intelligence in public spending will be improved and it will help to reduce the fiscal deficit," Minister Villegas said. "Also, thanks to the use of innovative technologies, it will be possible to have first-hand information for decision making."
The Public Procurement Observatory will begin in 2022.
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What other improvements could the government make to be transparent in giving more access to information about public spending? We
would like to know your thoughts on this story.
Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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