Tender transparency and competitive integrity: EY, PPU and wherEX join forces in workshop series

When there is no transparency in bidding processes, free competition is being undermined. That is why the consulting firm EY, the law firm PPU and wherEX organized a series of workshops entitled "Competitive Integrity: Towards a world-class standard".

During the workshop, attorney Ignacio Larraín of PPU explained the regulatory framework for anti-competitive behavior. He specifically referred to collusion, the most serious anti-competitive offense. This crime eliminates free competition in the market, affecting prices and quality of goods and services. He also pointed out the risks and penalties inherent to bidding processes.

How to prevent this type of crime? According to the lawyer, both the OECD and the FNE consider that there is no single formula to avoid collusion in bidding processes and that it depends on each case, but there are recommendations to do so.

"The first thing is proper communication. When there is not enough information, interested parties may not want to participate because they don't have enough information. Or because they see that the same bidders always participate. Likewise, it is key to design bidding processes with bases that establish clear rules from the beginning. This is transparency in bidding. In this way, maximum supplier participation is achieved. At the same time, it is essential that the bidding process favors competition and reduces communication between potential candidates. Criteria must be carefully chosen with defined guidelines and those who make purchasing decisions must be trained on the risks of collusion", commented Ignacio Larraín.

Economic risks due to lack of transparency

During the meeting, EY Forensic and Integrity Services partner Jorge Vio also participated, who spoke in depth about fraud and the dangers of a lack of transparency in bidding processes. He warned that these illicit acts, whether intentional or not, can turn into major corporate crises.

To anticipate this type of situation, the executive pointed out some keys. First, prioritize risks and monitor them permanently. In this way, the company will be able to ensure due diligence when making complex decisions. In addition, it is important to take advantage of the value of data, technology and analytics that can help in the search for abnormal situations.

Transparency in bidding processes thanks to technology

Finally, Felipe Manterola, co-founder of wherEX, a digital platform for industrial marketing, spoke about how technology has opened up processes. "Through digitized purchasing processes, competition is improved and better compliance and management standards are measured. All this favors corporate integrity," he said.

"A company can have a well-defined regulatory framework, a corporate culture with values and even a sophisticated compliance policy, but this will be useless if there is no technology in place to measure and detect all possible situations effectively," explained the wherEX executive.

The digitization of processes generates market openness and with this openness, competition and transparency can be built. On the one hand, it allows a purchasing company to know all the market players and, on the other hand, it allows suppliers to compete on equal terms.