Santo Domingo.- In order to promote greater integrity and higher levels of transparency, the Dominican Government presented this Thursday a new module of the MapaInversiones tool that concentrates the data on public procurement carried out to attend emergency situations, beyond COVID- 19, such as hurricanes, floods, among other natural phenomena.
InvestmentMap + Emergency Module is an integrated digital platform, developed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in coordination with the Ministries of the Presidency, Economy, Planning and Development, and Finance, together with the General Directorate of Public contracts (DGCP), which details the use made by the Dominican State of public resources for the procurement of goods, services or works to mitigate disasters such as the passage of Hurricane Fiona and the trough that recently affected the National District and the Greater Saint Sunday.
President Luis Abinader assured the public that in his Government money is managed rigorously, efficiently and ethically. “In an emergency you have to act quickly, but that does not mean that you have to act opaquely. Citizens must be sure that in extreme circumstances, that their Government and their money are administered rigorously, efficiently and ethically”.
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For his part, the director of the DGCP, Carlos Pimentel, explained that this tool seeks to ensure that in the purchases and contracts carried out in periods of emergency, the publicity of the processes, a broad participation of bidders, free competition and accountability are guaranteed. , while making available to the public all the information available in simple, understandable and reusable formats.
“The objective of the platform is to promote transparency, stimulate the participation and control of citizens in public spending, based on channels to make suggestions or make complaints.
The platform integrates and visualizes the information available on the budget and the execution of works, consolidating the objective, reliable and real-time data,” Pimentel explained during a press conference led by President Luis Abinader and Vice President Raquel Peña at the National Palace. in the presence of ministers and directors of institutions that availed themselves of Decree 537-22, which authorized the use of the exception procedure for emergency purchases intended to mitigate the effects of Hurricane Fiona.
Carlos Pimentel also took the opportunity to recognize the contribution and openness of civil society actors for the validation of the usability and content of the platform.
With this initiative, the Dominican Republic becomes the first country in the region to use Investment Map in response to emergencies related to atmospheric phenomena, providing consolidated information on executed expenses, suppliers, offers, processes, active contracts, cancelled, pending, etc. finished, subscribed and articles acquired by the Government through its institutions.
The platform allows the visualization of consolidated figures on the purchasing processes managed through the Transactional Portal administered by the General Directorate of Public Contracts, as well as the contracts awarded to date and their amounts updated in real time.
In this same space you can also view the percentage breakdown of the procedures carried out by the Dominican State based on the estimated purchase amount under Decree 537-22, seen by institution and by percentage distribution of the estimated items to be acquired under this disposition, as well as the purchasing processes and contracts with the highest value assigned and awarded.
In relation to the first emergency module, it is highlighted that the Dominican State has invested more than RD$19 billion in mitigating the effects caused by this natural catastrophe, which is equivalent to an investment of more than US$340 million, all managed in 67 effective and executed emergency purchases through the Transactional Portal through 20 institutions authorized by Decree 537-22 and its modification, Decree 545-22.
MapaInversiones Dominican Republic contributes to the alignment of the country with international commitments, such as the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Standard for Transparency in the Construction Sector (CoST). In addition, it helps consolidate the progress of the Dominican Republic in terms of Transparency and Open Government
