Using data and transparency to increase the participation of local suppliers and small businesses in public contracts: this is the focus of the solutions planned by the cities that took part in the 12-week mentoring program offered by Transparência Brasil and the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP). The training and exchange of experiences is part of the What Works Cities initiative, promoted by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

In the last week of September, Curitiba and Mogi das Cruzes presented the action plans they drew up during the period. Mariana López, OCP’s Latin America program manager, points out that the coincidence of the approach of prioritizing the increased participation of local companies caught her attention. In both cases, the integration of the different sectors of the municipalities is the key to achieving the objectives set.

The capital of Paraná will hold training sessions to promote entrepreneurship and participation in tenders and will collect data on the experiences of small suppliers in bidding processes. They will rely on platforms and initiatives already developed by different bodies, such as the Municipal Institute of Public Administration and the Curitiba Development and Innovation Agency. López, from OCP, highlighted “Curitiba’s clear identification of the problem and the development of a very specific and consistent action plan to tackle it”.

The data on contracting, already produced by Curitiba’s electronic purchasing system, will be published on a panel to be inserted into the city’s Transparency Portal. This way, anyone will be able to follow the evolution of the presence of local and smaller companies in contracts and processes.

According to Pedro Planas, technical advisor to Curitiba’s Comptroller General, the mentoring “proved to be a very important tool for collaborating in the development of the Comptroller General’s action plan. The technical meetings held were essential for fostering ideas and practical actions.”

During the mentoring, Mogi das Cruzes identified that mapping the municipality’s procurement process – an instrument presented to the municipalities in the What Works Cities training – would be a useful tool for identifying opportunities for improvement. The municipality’s team intends to include phases in the procurement process to collect suppliers’ opinions on problems and difficulties. The results will be shared with the public via a panel. “I was very impressed by the high level of commitment from different sectors of the city to the initiative,” said López.

In parallel, Mogi will open more calls for tenders aimed at small and medium-sized companies, and will collect more data on the types of suppliers that participate in and win tenders. The city’s contracts will include standard clauses on data production and sharing, so as to ensure that the city accesses or owns the data produced by companies. In the long term, the idea is to have better governance over them.

Jamile Santana, head of the Transparency and Integrity Promotion Division of the municipality’s Government and Transparency Secretariat, highlights the importance of the mentoring: “It allowed us to organize efforts, involve key areas of the municipality and move forward with an action plan that raises integrity, expands access for local suppliers and ensures that public resources are used in an increasingly efficient and responsible manner.”