Project information

StatusFinalist
URLGo to website
CategoryPublic Administration
Public services - administration and management
CountryMexico
Operational areasUrban
Target groupsYouth, Women, Men
Fixed connectionDSL
Wireless connectionWiFi
Access pointsBusiness, Home, School, Library, Cafe
InteractDesktop Computer, Laptop, PDA
Software License TypesProprietary

Project location

Random images Challenge 2008

SAE On Line Auctions: A transparent and democratic way to socialize government goods/assets.

  • Brief description
  • The site www.saecomercial.com.mx is an innovative initiative of the Mexican public administration in order to make available to all Mexican citizens government goods and assets by on-line auctions. In order to make this project fully transparent and administratively efficient, we invited eBay to collaborate by establishing the platform, using its best technologies and fallowing the pertinent process and rules, accordingly to the corresponding Mexican Laws. The site was launched in August 2005, and since then up until now we have reached more than 22,000 free registered users, and have sold thousands of goods for over 25 million dollars, with a 35% average margin over the starting price of the goods. The merchandise comes from several federal government entities, such as customs, the justice department and the federal treasury, just to mention a few. After a good is legally received, every item is valuated in order to set an initial and actualized commercial price, and afterwards it is listed in the system. Most of the auctions last at least 15 days, and in order to assure serious biding, the SAE requires a guarantee deposit equivalent to USD$500. If a participant does not win the auction, his or her money is returned. In the case of the auction winner, the deposit is considered as part of the total payment of the item. By having these goods/assets auctioned on-line they become available to any and all Mexican citizens.
  • Vision, Objectives and Goals

  • Vision:To count with an innovative and transparent process returning public goods back into the private sector and returning capital back into the community, offering 24 hours a day 7 days a week availability, from any place in our country. We aim to make this service available to all citizens regardless of age (providing they are over 18), gender and origin. Not only do we wish to direct it to all Mexicans but also offer a transparent process to do so. Since all information in on-line, users can verify all information on-line.

    Objectives:

    • Simplify the government´s monetization process from the commercial act of these goods into the Mexican economy.
    • Socialize government goods, generating equal opportunity for all.
    • From such transactions, generate the largest possible amount of money in order to integrate it back into the government´s budget for community services.  
    Goals:
    • Reintegrate government goods to the Mexican economy.
    • Have a transparent process with the Mexican Society.
    • Use already proved solutions in the private sector and apply them to the public administration.
    We target to have as many users as possible, in order to give back the opportunity to the community and aid the federal governments´ budget. However, it is important to point out that we have already been able to reach more than 22,000 users.
  • How does ICT contribute to the organisational objectives
  • ICT provides this project with the ideal resources in order to be able to carry out this project for the federal government. These resources are crucial, the platform we have, which allows for these on-line auctions was made possible due to eBay’s proved technologies. Allowing there to be a on-line transactional system for a traditional process. Users not only count with personal accounts, where they can revise their history and other user’s bids. The site works as a Customer Relationship Manager simplifying the site´s auction organization. Taking into consideration the data bases, proved technology, processes and availability; we made the decision to generate this new way to reincorporate goods to the society, with a open process, since the platform emulates a traditional auction where any participant is aware about the other participants’ bids in every auction. Likewise, the administrative process of generating public auctions on-line is more efficient since we can open an auction for a single good as well as for thousands of them. In the traditional manner of auctioning, creating an auction implies having a considerable stock of goods, also the potential participants usually must go to the corresponding location of the event, sometimes spending resources on the venue infrastructure and such, and finally there is the corresponding associated implied time. With this platform any Mexican citizen is able to participate from any location of the country at any given time. We send promotional information to all of our more than 22,000 registered user, about goods such as vehicles, real estate, jewelry, etc.
  • Transferability

  • Any other government agency in charge of dealing with goods or real estate is subject to be an entity which this project may be transferred to, with an important impact on the return on the investment and on the monetization of such assets. Ebay and DAE would be able to aid any entity that would wish to apply this process.  

  • Project summary
  • The SAE (Servicio de Administración y Enajenación de Bienes) is a special agency of the federal Mexican government that is in charge of the administration of every federal property or good that because the law has been applied have gone through the process of being taken in by the government and then are  commercialized and reincorporated to the Mexican economy. It must be noted, that in Mexico by law all goods that are confiscated by the government, must be auctioned back into the community.  One of the main goals of this administration is the transparency of the process of monetization of these goods from the public sector into the private sector and the transfer of the income back into the country´s economy. With eBay’s participation in the  project and taking into consideration that they are the most recognized and biggest on line auctioneer in the world, the SAE was able to generate a new site with the eBay’s technology and hosting, as well as with the participation of a Mexican consultant, "DAE" (Despacho de Asesoria Empresarial). This is one of the best Mexican consulting companies, in charge of the administration of the platform technology and the administrative process of the auctions.Two and a half years since the first auction and with these 3 actors (SAE, eBay and DAE), we now count with a sustainable project, due to the fact that it is payable with the resources obtained through the sales, and it has proved to be a very transparent tool for everyone in our country.  We have reached sales for more that $25 million USD. It is important to mention that we have sold for example, a real estate property in Ensenada for $1.9 million USD, 2 airplanes, thousands of cars, hundreds of commercial establishments, thousands of toys, televisions, and even a horse and 7 bulls. We have more than 22,000 register users with enthusiastic participation due to the fact that the final price has been, in average, 35% higher than the starting price. We have had auctions in which there have been up to 90 participants, which have made over 300 offers for a single good. With the implementation of the ICT project, we have obtained credibility sustained with the broad participation of the people, permanent availability from anywhere, reliability in the transaction process, and the socialization of government goods.