The presidential directive 08 of 2022, signed on September 17, and known today by WEEKwill allow the country savings of 4 billion pesos over the next four years.
It is a directive that promotes the “rationalization, probity and efficiency” of public spending. In the document, the directive orders the application of measures to optimize resources in public procurement, austerity in operating and investment expenses, and measures to promote transparency in management.
In the first place, in the Executive Branch, the measures to contract for the provision of services will be stricter. These management support officials will only be hired “when they are strictly necessary.” They will be hired due to the volume of work for plant employees and the need for specialized knowledge.
“The need for these contracts must be justified in detail, case by case, in the pre-contractual documents, among others, with process figures, the number of projects, monthly management, reasons for the complexity of the service to be contracted and the time during the which this support will be required, which in no case will have a vocation for permanence, ”says the nine-page directive.
These contracts may not be used to make up for insufficient personnel, nor if there is a definitive vacancy in the personnel plants for more than six months.
Study and inter-administrative contracts should also be streamlined. The entities must check if there are previous studies or designs, to be used totally or partially. On the other hand, direct selection contracts may not be used to circumvent statutory selection procedures. For autonomous estates or fiduciary assignments, close monitoring must be done on a monthly basis.
In addition, public entities must include the specifications of the merit contests to select contract auditors, thus revealing direct relationships with the executing companies, in search of a conflict of interest.
Regarding the acquisition mechanisms, the Government recommends that the purchases made by the entities be made through Colombia Compra Eficiente, where the demand for goods and services is grouped. Also, mandatory justification will be requested from bidders who did not rectify their bids, in order to maintain real competition in contracting.
Colombia Compra Eficiente, according to the document, must show monthly the data that allow monitoring the level of competition in contracting. In addition, measures will be implemented to quickly settle the contracts.
In another section, compensation for vacations is prohibited. The heads of Human Talent must plan the vacations of the officials from the beginning of each year and must comply with them.
Travel expenses are also cut. Each entity must justify the need for each trip, the reason why virtual means are not used and the number of people who will travel, “procuring the number strictly necessary and whose functions are directly related to the purpose of the commission”.
To review the progress of works, the trips will be planned quarterly in advance and they will always travel in economy class, taking advantage of a trip to a certain area so that it works for various purposes. For the purchase of tickets by supply contract, the reverse auction will be used.
In terms of vehicles, they may only be assigned to management-level officials and “exceptionally with prior justification” for advisory-level officials. As much as possible, electric cars or alternative energy sources should be prioritized over those that use fossil fuels. Contractors will not have vehicles and all entities will have to measure fuel consumption.
Regarding the leases of headquarters, it is encouraged that, before renewing contracts, it is reviewed if a public entity will not have a similar property available, in order to celebrate the contract with the entity. In addition, to avoid this expense, all possible remote work will be implemented, in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Labor and ICT.
The use of public resources for events is prohibited, entities must install saving taps and light bulbs. In addition, to be friendly to the environment, the air conditioners and fire systems will be updated.
Security schemes must always be justified with risk level studies. On the other hand, the entities will have to study if they need human surveillance. Otherwise, it might be supplied with cameras, alarms or devices.
For management transparency, complaint channels will be set up and Anonymous surveys will be applied periodically among proponents of contracting processes, in order to verify equitable conditions.
Finally, when the State is sued, “the evaluation of the legal and economic convenience of presenting counterclaims is recommended.”
“Through the implementation of these measures, spending must be reduced by 105 items for the Acquisition of Goods and Services of all entities with respect to the previous term, and in terms of contracting the provision of services, the decrease will be 30 %”, concluded the directive, which invites other branches of public power to do the same.
