Yokasta Guzmán: INAIPI case is not indicative of the purchasing system
SANTO DOMINGO. -The CEO for the Purchase and Public Procurement Directorate (DGCP), Yokasta Guzman, stated that the case of irregularity recently detected in the National Institute for Early Childhood Care (Inaipi) No. is a indicative of the state of work de purchases and public contracts.
"I do not see it as an indication of how the purchasing system is, I see it as one of the many possibilities that there may be in a purchasing system," pondered the official during the webinar "The use of open data in hiring public ”, co-organized with the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and the DGCP.
Guzmán stated that any case, weakness or situation that occurs in a process de purchase or hiring is a straight to improve purchasing and budget systems and accountability, “for me the challenge is to make more commitments to continue working in favor of transparency, the management of these inclusive purchasing processes and the participation of women in purchasing systems ”, he highlighted.
On how to prevent corruption in state purchases, he said that there is no perfect purchasing process. "The day they tell you that a purchase process was prefect, it begins to doubt and searches very well because there will surely be great problems," he highlighted when answering a journalist's question, while considering that where several people intervene and when the process is very complex and depends on planning, budget and purchasing, so there can be no perfection.
“Now, there are fatal errors such as not publishing, when our regulations require full publicity. When there is a process that is not published, for us it is fatal because from non-advertising everything else can be given, ”said Guzmán.
As for how avoid that fraud, Oscar Hernandez, project manager for Latin America of Open Contracting Partnership, stressed that the emphasis is on prevention and currently the countries face a double challenge: on the one hand, the governments they have to buy manner speed boat tour y effective and on the other, they must avoid who is appropriate of the public resources irregularly.
“Really having data published in real time helps both for the control agencies and for the citizens to monitor these processes and, on the other hand, having that information in real time, not only helps external actors, but also the same governments that are now looking for suppliers and different elements and need the same supplies to be able to fight the epidemic, "said Hernández.
At virtual meetingwhich was moderate by the journalist Rosa Alcantara, coordinator of the Bachelor of Social Communication and Digital Media of the INTEC, participated also Andres de la Rosa, coordinator of information analysis of the National Procurement and Contracting System; Nagore of the Rivers, Director of Marketing and Communication at TECH Friendly; Esmerarda Montero, teacher of Social Communication and Digital Media at INTEC, and Argenida Romero, reporter and editor of the newspaper Diario Libre.
Open Data Portal
Andrés de la Rosa, Information Analysis Coordinator of the National Procurement and Contracting System, presented the new open data portal aimed at disseminating the strategic information available on the National Procurement and Contracting System, in a consumable format and easily accessible , where you can find purchasing processes, awarded contracts, registration of State suppliers and a catalog of women.
De la Rosa said that the Dominican State buys everything and now in the period of economic contraction, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it wants to incentivize suppliers and people who are willing to innovate to participate through the transactional portal, because It is completely electronic and receives online offers.
On how companies can orient and innovate to make offers to the public administration, Nagore de los Ríos, director of Marketing and Communication at TECH Friendly, said that companies must behave intelligently and have the knowledge to define an action plan .
Likewise, the INTEC teacher, Esmerarda Montero, stressed that the importance of having databases, especially when applied in markets, lies in knowing customers, being able to know exactly the basic data of customer segmentation and preferences, hobbies, basic tastes and favorite brands.
“Being able to handle large volumes of data from different sources allows us to maintain constant communication with customers, learn about the purchasing trends of the target market and, most importantly, personalize customer service, and this in turn allows us to generate branding strategies. and advertising and use specific customer segments to place products reaching the buyer or user directly, "said the doctor in Communication.
Intuitive portals
In that order, Argenida Romero, journalist and editor of Diario Libre, said that when public institutions started the open data process, access to their portals was quite difficult, uncomfortable and not very intuitive, and even in some state institutions chaos remains. .
“The use of open data in journalists is still in its infancy. The Dominican journalist for many years had been accustomed to obtaining data through sources, so the use of portals has been a learning process on the road, especially since the State has had a poor interest in finding a way that journalists can learn or have easier access, is very focused on civil society, "said Romero.