Using a business model that privileges technological instruments and management excellence, ChileCompra has the following basic and strategic principles: free access to information, universality and non-discrimination.

Mission

The mission of the Chilean Public Procurement System, ChileCompra, is to develop policies and initiatives that provide the public procurement market with greater transparency and added value by introducing technological instruments and management excellence. 

• Public agencies running their procurement via www.chilecompra.cl, fully supporting their processes through the use of applications designed to fulfill all their requirements.
• Government suppliers with wide, unbiased access to business opportunities, smoothly operating their trading cycle through this system and making information on their products available to public agencies.
• Fully digital business cycle, capable of following up and auditing operations as well as monitoring system performance.
• Simple and transparent access to information for the community.
• Integration with other public procurement sites in Latin America and worldwide, as well as other private e-markets.

  Objectives and Goals

 Primary Goals

• To build a transparent, widely accessible public procurement system by creating information channels for suppliers and the general public to freely participate in all government contracting opportunities and results.
•  To increase public expenditure savings and efficiency by accessing the best available market prices and conditions and reducing operational costs in contracting management. 

Secondary Goals

• To favor e-Commerce and e-Government, encouraging the use of internet and integrating the procurement platform to other systems in public corporations and agencies.
•  To assure quality procurement of goods and services by obtaining the most appropriate supplies, delivering excellent public services to citizenry and businesses. 
• To support competitiveness among Chilean businesses, developing innovation projects through the purchase of goods and services.

  Action Guidelines 

ChileCompra’s action guidelines are oriented towards the achievement of our institutional objectives, and are organized into three areas that will help us achieve transparency and efficiency in public procurement management: 

• E-Commerce Platform: This action guideline shall provide public entities with an advanced E-Commerce platform, allowing the entire procurement process to be carried out online. 
• Technical Assistance: This initiative aims to create the technological, human resources and management capabilities necessary for users to take full advantage of their potential for e-Commerce. 
• Procurement Policy and Management: Through the Ministry of Finance, the government shall establish policies to make the procurement process more uniform and transparent, while implementing guidelines and framework contracts that optimize important public expenditure items.

This project includes the development of software specifically designed for an electronic marketplace (e-Marketplace), providing the Chilean State with an instrument to bring together supply and demand through an online trading system. 

ICT has been used intensely in the development of ChileCompra, including all necessary hardware infrastructure (servers, storage, communications), basic software (operating systems, databases, languages) and tailor-made software components. It is also important to point out that this instrument has contributed to the “digital literacy” process promoted by the Chilean government. 

During the development process, new technologies have also been created, such as a multi-tier solution based on .net framework, and the entire basic software platform provided by Microsoft. 

Information technologies have been essential to the implementation of this public procurement system. Through its online trading platform, the system offers free and easy access to www.chilecompra.cl, allowing any person to obtain relevant information about the public procurement market using the different tools provided on the website. Besides generating public expenditure savings, this platform has increased the system’s transparency, facilitating citizens’ access to information and control regarding public purchases. 

The system has also provided all registered government suppliers with wider access to business opportunities with the State, eliminating all types of discrimination, including business size, geographic location, or gender. Specifically, the platform allows users to search for different types of information: 

Search for Bids 

• This function guarantees transparent access to the procurement and contracting processes carried out by almost 900 public agencies that use www.chilecompra.cl.
• Searches may be performed by item, buyer and supplier.
• State buyers and suppliers have access to an extensive database, with technical and financial information enabling them to analyze supply and demand, thus improving the way they buy and bid.
• Anyone interested may see who has purchased or is currently purchasing goods or services, from whom, what was contracted and for how much—all with a precise record of prices and times.
• Each document generated during the process is also available: bidding terms and conditions, opening minutes, awarding resolutions, and any other relevant documents.

Given the nature of its design and the flexibility of its applications, this public procurement system may be replicated by other public or private institutions regardless of their size, since the model can be adjusted to the needs of each organization.

The Chilean Public Procurement System has become a reference point for good practices in Latin America and other countries around the world, as one of the most complete, transparent and efficient models in this field. For this reason, many countries have visited the Public Procurement and Contracting Bureau to observe the model’s virtues and adapt them to the reality of their own countries.

The Public Procurement and Contracting Bureau receives many international delegations of professionals from institutions dedicated to public procurement. These groups often visit our facilities for several days, seeking first-hand knowledge of the applications, modes  of operation, rules and policies, and training programs for the system’s various users. Also, professionals and directives from the Bureau are frequently invited to share their knowledge and experience in the development of these models internationally. 

Countries from the South American region such as Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay, among others, have established a close relationship with the Public Procurement and Contracting Bureau, benefiting from our collaboration and cooperation in the implementation of their respective systems. One of the most replicable and attractive applications has been our e-Catalogue purchasing system, ChileCompra Express.

ChileCompra has gone through various stages since 2003 —when it was basically an electronic “bulletin board” for public agencies wishing to publish their requirements— gradually becoming a full-fledged e-Marketplace. 

This new electronic marketplace has been implemented step-by-step, and its operation has been largely outsourced to private businesses. 

Platform I – Electronic Bulletin Board (2000-2003) 

During this stage, ChileCompra was simply an informational bulletin board, with no transactions being carried out on the platform itself. In 2002, an evaluation of the entire system identified the need to re-design the project in order to create an actual trading platform, capable of supporting the purchases of public agencies. It was also decided that a change in legislation was needed to establish mandatory use of this new system and its rules of use, applicable to all government agencies. 

Platform II – Basic Electronic Market (2003–2004) 

During 2003, a bidding process was carried out for the construction and operation of ChileCompra’s new information system, which began implementation in February 2004. This platform allowed for a totally online purchase process, including: publication of calls for bids and the use of an electronic catalogue (framework agreements), publication and downloading of bidding terms and conditions, the bidding process, electronic emission of internal authorizations for different stages of the procurement process, questions and answers for each bidding process through a specific forum, emission of purchase orders by the buyers, reception of electronic invoices, and electronic payment. 

Platform III – Electronic Trading Marketplace (2004–2007) 

During this period, the following new applications and platform improvements were developed for www.chilecompra.cl: 

• Pilot Electronic Payment (or e-Payment): allows for payment of invoices linked to purchase orders issued by public agencies through ChileCompra’s website.
• Inter-connectivity with the Official Electronic Registry of Government Suppliers, www.chileproveedores.cl.
• Website “ease-of-use”: new usability criteria have allowed for substantial improvement in user-system interaction, reducing processing times and contributing to lower costs in the procurement process.
• Electronic Tax Documents (DTE): new functions have been added to facilitate DTE management within the electronic platform.
• Integration Models: initial integration has begun between the public procurement platform and different management systems of other public agencies, seeking to produce automated, efficient internal processes and avoid redundant information processing.
• ChileCompra Express: a purchase mode featuring an e-Catalogue.

  Platform IV – Advanced Trading e-Marketplace (2007–2010) 

The new platform, called ChileCompra 2.0, includes a series of improvements to the services offered by the ChileCompra, ChileProveedores and ChileCompra Express websites, along with the creation of different applications that shall allow for substantial quantitative and qualitative advances, maintaining our reputation at the forefront of management excellence and State modernization, and adding value to the Chilean public marketplace. The main new functions include: 

• Time zone management; Management for multiple organizational levels; Multi-language; Management of multiple currencies; Evaluation tables for advanced bids; Powerful search engine (with capabilities similar to Google); Budgetary management; Financial accounting system; Inventory management; Consolidation of inter-connectivity with other systems