This chapter presents an assessment of existing practices and policies supporting the strategic planning of investments in digital government in Chile. It reflects on the existing co-ordination and coherence between key actors within the Chilean public sector for the management of financial resources on digital transformation, the government approach to risk assessment and management in the implementation of digital government investments, and the methods and processes to define the value proposition of digital investments in public sector institutions.
Digital Government in Chile
Strengthening the Management of Digital Investments
Abstract
An effective implementation of digital government requires a strategic approach that enables coherent and sustainable investments in government digital transformation. Forecasts indicate that governments are continuing to increase their expenditure on information technologies (IT) in the public sector, with estimates of annual growth of 8% (Gartner, 2023[1]). This highlights the need for strengthened capacities to manage the opportunities and risks of digital technologies in the public sector (including cybersecurity), ensuring that invested resources deliver expected benefits.
In this scenario, strategic planning for digital government is crucial for optimising resource allocation, ensuring alignment with broader societal and policy goals, and fostering adaptability in a rapidly changing technological landscape. Strategic planning for digital government investments promotes purposeful, targeted, and effective investments, rather than fragmented and inefficient ones. Such an approach promotes scalability and interoperability, allowing different public sector institutions to integrate their efforts coherently and avoid costly, isolated technology siloes. Adequate planning of digital government investments also contributes towards a future-proof digital government policy, ensuring that today's investments remain relevant and adaptable as policy goals, needs and technology evolve.
Promoting strategic planning of digital government investments is therefore essential for a cost-effective, sustainable, and results-oriented digital transformation of the public sector. As underlined by the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[2]), strengthening government capabilities to plan investments on digital government for the short, medium and long term requires solid institutional leadership and set-up, inter-institutional co-ordination and alignment, and specific policy levers that support an adequate value proposition and risk assessment to underpin the strategic planning of digital government initiatives.
Building on the OECD Digital Government Investments Framework, this chapter provides an assessment of the ongoing practices and culture related to strategic planning of digital government investments in Chile. Following the first pillar of the framework, this chapter is structured in three subsections:
Strategy, alignment and co-ordination: the extent to which key stakeholders in the Chilean public sector, involved in the management of digital government investments, are effectively aligned and co-ordinated for whole-of-government planning, execution, and monitoring of spending on government digital transformation.
Risk management: methods and processes in place to ensure that digital government investments are conducted under a risk-based approach, in which the government takes proactive measures to understand the multiple risks of digital and ICT projects – including, for example, cybersecurity threats, legacy technologies, obsolescence, and the adoption of new and emerging technologies. This approach helps protect critical digital public infrastructure and promotes a human-centric approach to digital government investments.
Value proposition: also known as business cases, these are methods and processes for the multi-dimensional value estimation of digital and ICT projects, outlining the rationale for initiating a project or undertaking a particular action. Value proposition processes serve as a decision-making tool for organisations, providing a structured way to evaluate the risks, costs, and benefits associated with a specific initiative, and enabling an understanding of needs, synergies, and adherence to central/federal digital government standards.
Strengthening capabilities to manage digital government investments in Chile
In 2021, Chile’s public sector spent CLP 450.000 million (USD 625 MM) on digital products and services, 4.8% more than the previous year1. This trend is set to continue, as the Government seeks to establish Chile as a mature, robust, and innovative digital government.
It is therefore imperative to improve digital investment capabilities across Chile’s public sector – embedding the planning, delivery, and oversight necessary to ensure that the Government is conducting the required digital investments in the right ways to deliver its intended outcomes. This is not only part of making the best use of government resources, but also an opportunity to introduce greater innovation into the public sector and enhance existing tools and processes to enable it. Introducing a framework for digital investment would help the public sector evolve in a sustainable way alongside Chile’s digital transformation, reducing the stress it risks placing on traditional budgeting, governance, and delivery processes.
This tension was clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, which was an accelerator of digital transformation around the world. Many organisations were forced to rapidly adopt new solutions and ways of working to support the public health response. It put strain on public governance as governments tried to keep pace with the spread of the virus, often due to short timeframes, rapidly changing requirements, and changes in responsibility between government entities. While there were examples of innovative collaboration between the public and private sectors, there were also examples of breakdowns in transparency, governance, and even unrealised benefits without the right governance in place.
Digital transformation is not losing focus after the pandemic. It has instead reinforced the expectation from citizens that government services should be simple, agile, safe, responsive, and digital. While there is consensus behind this ambition, governments are still trying to leverage an outdated, siloed, and unsuitable funding and delivery model to try and achieve it (Long, C.; Gates, N., 2023[3]). This needs to be updated to introduce a solution-driven approach that understands and prioritises its impact (op.cit.). This post-pandemic era presents a valuable opportunity for the Government to reset and consider implementing a new approach to digital investment that will support a more strategic response to address this problem.
The Chilean public sector has been characterised by a strong reputation for sustainable and prudent fiscal policy (OECD, 2022[4]). This is reflected in sound public governance, in which the Ministry of Finance holds a primary role in articulating core public administration functions, including budgetary policy, public procurement, and civil service. To secure strategic and operational alignment, the Ministry of Finance works closely with the Ministry Secretary General of the Presidency, which is responsible for leading governmental relations with both chambers of the National Congress and coordinating policy efforts and priorities across the public sector2.
In this context, the governance framework for digital government in Chile went through a reshuffle during 2024, reallocating the body responsible for digital government from the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency to the Ministry of Finance. This transition was formalised through Law 21.6583, which established the Digital Government Secretariat (DGS) within the Ministry of Finance, replacing the former Digital Government Division at the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency. The new distribution of institutional responsibilities mandates the DGS to propose to the Minister of Finance a digital government strategy and coordinate its implementation4. This legal mandate reaffirms the leadership and political commitment to the strategy, as recommended by the OECD (OECD, 2016[5]) and in line with the OECD Council Recommendations for Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[2]).
Regarding digital government investments, the new institutional framework presents an opportunity to enhance co-ordination and alignment in the way the public sector invests in the digital transformation of their services, processes and infrastructure. Following the Digital Government Investments Framework outlined in the previous section, the new governance facilitates co-ordination and alignment between key stakeholders, including the Digital Government Secretariat (DGS), the Budget Directorate (DIPRES), ChileCompra, and the Modernisation Co-ordination at the Ministry of Finance. This new structure can facilitate a joint approach to the way the public sector asses the value, risks and benefits of digital government investments, to secure strategic decision-making in which investments support the accomplishment of strategic goals.
Following the principles outlined in the OECD Digital Government Investments Framework, this restructured setup facilitates collaboration among key stakeholders, including the Digital Government Secretariat (DGS), DIPRES, ChileCompra, and the Modernisation Secretariat. This shift can not only streamline decision-making but also foster synergies among these entities, ensuring that investments in digital government are aligned with strategic goals, are implemented coherently, and monitored to secure the realisation of intended benefits.
Key Stakeholders
The key actors in Chile’s digital government investment ecosystem include the:
Modernisation Co-ordination: as part of the Minister of Finance’s cabinet, it oversees the modernisation policy of the Chilean government, including the implementation of the Modernisation of the State Agenda 2022-2026 and digital government policy. The Modernisation Co-ordinator chairs the Modernisation of the State Committee, an ad-hoc board to follow-up this agenda’s development.
Digital Government Secretariat: within the Ministry of Finance is the unit responsible, upon the Minister’s approval, for the development and implementation of the Digital Government Strategy. It was created in March 2024 with the transfer of responsibilities for digital government from the Digital Government Division (DGD) at the Ministry of the Secretary-General of the Presidency. The DGS is responsible for co-ordinating, advising and supporting the strategic use of digital technologies, data and public information to improve management across the public sector and the delivery of services. Furthermore, the DGS must develop and operate shared platforms and services, at least for interoperability and digital identity.
Modernisation Secretariat: under the Ministry of Finance, the Secretariat co-ordinates flagship modernisation projects, providing technical and financial assistance. The Secretariat has worked to improve the efficiency and efficacy of public institutions in Chile since 2015, as well as to increase citizen satisfaction with public services (OECD, 2020[6]), including the ongoing implementation of the Service Quality and User Experience System. The Secretariat has been instrumental in the embedding of digital efforts as part of Chile’s broader public sector reform agenda (OECD, 2019[7]), including the design and piloting of the value proposition system EVALTIC.
Budget Office (DIPRES): is the key entity responsible for the preparation and administration of Chile’s national budget and related policy, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of its execution. As part of this, it plays an important role in monitoring the financial progress of digital government investment underway (ECLAC, 2023[8]). This makes it a key policy actor in the implementation of the new digital investment framework.
ChileCompra: the central purchasing body (CPB) for Chile’s public sector. Its digital marketplace, MercadoPublico, comprises several dedicated framework agreements that enable ICT procurements (OECD, 2019[7]).
Note: Author’s elaboration.
Policy and legal frameworks
Underpinning the work of these institutions, Chile relies on an ecosystem of policy and legal frameworks relevant for the management of digital government investments:
State Modernisation Agenda: it defines the government’s flagship initiatives to modernise the public sector, including digital government policy, civil service, and improved quality of, and satisfaction with, public services (OECD/CAF, 2023[9]). Since 2012, all administrations have issued a modernisation agenda, underscoring the strategic relevance of these instruments to advance key public transformation initiatives (OECD, 2019[7]). For the period 2022-2026, the agenda sets specific actions related to improving spending on digital in the public sector, including a revisited framework for EVALTIC as well as a dedicated policy for ICT procurement.
Digital Transformation Law (N° 21.180): issued as part of Chile’s previous digital government strategy (2018-2022), the law enhanced the legal and regulatory framework for digital government, facilitating the acceleration of digital integration and interoperability of public institutions. The law requests that public institutions prioritise a ‘digital-by-default’ approach to digital transformation, as well as the adoption of shared services and platforms across Chile’s public sector (OECD, 2019[7]). It is complemented by Law N° 21.464, which postpones the entry into force of Law N° 21.180, giving central and local governments more time to prepare for its implementation.
Digital Government Secretariat Law (N° 21.658): this legal instrument, enacted in February 2024, establishes the Digital Government Secretariat in the Ministry of Finance, transferring and upgrading the previous responsibilities of the Digital Government Division in the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency. The Secretariat is responsible for proposing a Digital Government Strategy to the Minister of Finance and co-ordinating the Strategy’s implementation, securing an integrated, whole-of-government digital government approach. The law reorganises the functions of digital government within the Ministry of Finance, an institution that already oversees other key functions for the transformation of the public sector, such as the Modernisation Secretariat, ChileCompra, DIPRES, and the General Treasury of the Republic.
EVALTIC: the whole-of-government value proposition and approval process to assess digital projects (both outsourced and in-house) as part of the annual budgeting process. It is implemented by DIPRES in co-ordination with the Digital Government Secretariat to ensure that initiatives are aligned with the government’s priorities and standards for digital transformation, including cloud technologies, digital identity (ClaveUnica), and agile project management. The system aims to increase the efficiency of public expenditure through economies-of-scale, as well as to improve the quality of digital projects by focussing delivery efforts on efficiency gains and public value creation. Since 2022, EVALTIC has a legal status as part of the annual Budget Law (N° 21.640 for the fiscal year 2024), which makes it mandatory. Further details about the formulation, approval and follow-up processes to EVALTIC are presented in the section on Value proposition.
Public Procurement Law (19886): it establishes the key principles that govern public procurement in Chile, including equal treatment of sellers, free competition, transparency, compliance with Chile’s laws and contract terms, as well as the prohibition of unfair enrichment by either party (McKenzie, 2023[10]). Law 19886 works in complement to the Ministry of Finance’s regulatory decree, Supreme Decree No. 250 of 2004, to govern the behaviour and practices of buyers and sellers navigating the public procurement process in Chile (op.cit.). The Government recently passed reforms to Law 19886 to modernise public procurement in Chile, seeking to improve the quality of public spending, encourage more competitive procurement processes, foster the participation of small-to-medium-sized enterprises, and increase integrity and transparency standards in public procurement (Ministerio de Hacienda, 2023[11]). Changes also incorporate new public procurement mechanisms that enable greater agility and experimentation, such as competitive dialogues and innovation partnerships. However, other more fit-for-purpose procurement mechanisms to support digital government, such as dynamic purchasing systems (DPS), have not been included during the law’s development process (further discussed in Chapter 3).
Other legal frameworks under discussion: during the preparation of this report, two other legal frameworks were being discussed at the Congress with an important impact on the way digital investments are managed in Chile’s public sector. First, the development of a dedicated agency to oversee the quality of public policy, with the purpose of addressing the limited system-wide approaches to evidence-based policymaking in the country (Cámara de Diputados y Diputadas, 2024[12]). Aspects related to the monitoring and evaluation of investments in digital government, as well as the feedback loop to inform strategic planning and decision-making based on the results and benefits delivered by these investments, should be co-ordinated and/or fall under the remit of this agency. Second, a new legal framework for personal data protection, which aims to better address considerations for the improved handling of personal data in the digital age (Senado de Chile, 2024[13]; Ministerio Secretaría General de la Presidencia, 2024[14]). These considerations may have an important impact on the way investments are formulated, developed and monitored, as new principles and requirements for handling personal data may need to be embedded into investment processes from the outset when approaching project appraisal, approval, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
By addressing the strategy, alignment, and co-ordination of its digital government investments, the Chilean Government can create an environment that ensures these investments deliver the right outcomes, align with broader strategic objectives, and represent the best use of public resources. To achieve this, it is necessary to consider the leadership required to drive digital government, the strategic framework for planning investments, and the governance and co-ordination mechanisms that support them.
The context for the implementation of the Digital Transformation Law 21.180 (Ministerio Secretaría General de la Presidencia, 2019[15]) stresses the need for Chile and the digital government agenda to have competent, equipped and resourced leading authorities and governance mechanisms for its timely implementation. The Law mandates that public sector institutions digitalise all internal administrative processes, while maintaining user access to services through both online and offline channels for a period of eight years, during the transition to a paperless administration set for 2027. Under the gradual implementation timeline through 2027, public sector institutions and sub-national governments must digitalise all administrative procedures. The DGS is responsible for implementing key digital public infrastructure to support full enforcement, such as digital notifications, a citizen folder and wallet, and a strengthened digital identity system alongside its corresponding regulatory framework. However, there is consensus that the DGS does not currently have the capacities needed to effectively accomplish these tasks, including sufficient legal mandate, administrative competences, and human and financial resources. In order to ensure that investments in digital government are aligned with the NDGS and the Digital Transformation Law, Chile could consider renewing the mandate of the DGS to more effectively steer the digital transformation of the public sector. The new institutional setup presents a golden policy window for Chile to build an agile and solid governance that enables a fit-for-purpose leadership for digital government.
Strategic framework for planning investments
The strategic planning of digital government investments aims to support the implementation of the NDGS by ensuring that digital and ICT needs are correctly identified and respond to strategic and long-term goals. Likewise, the presence of a NDGS, or a similar instrument, is pivotal for a coherent approach to digital government investments, as it helps set specific priorities and guide public sector institutions in identifying and planning their digital needs.
In Chile’s Modernisation of the State Agenda, spending on IT in the public sector is one of the key issues to be addressed in the coming years, with actions ranging from improving digital government governance to implementing dedicated ICT procurement policies and strengthening EVALTIC (Gobierno de Chile, 2019[16]). The priority of this policy area has been reinforced through a loan with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), supporting the implementation of the Digital Transformation Law and strengthening the investment framework for digital government (Ministerio Secretaría General de la Presidencia, 2023[17]; Inter-American Development Bank, 2023[18]).
Selected pillars and actions within Chile’s Modernisation of the State Agenda 2022-2026
Source: (Ministerio de Hacienda, 2022[19]).
At present, Chile does not have an NDGS in place, or a similar comprehensive instrument, that serves as a guide for public sector institutions in the identification and prioritisation of digital needs. The NDGS issued for the period 2018-2022 continues to be the reference for some key priorities and actions of the Digital Government Secretariat and public sector institutions in Chile (for example, the national digital identity system, ClaveUnica) (División de Gobierno Digital, 2019[20]). Currently, Chile is working on a new NDGS that will be issued during 2025. However, in the absence of such a strategic instrument, priorities for digital government are currently set by the implementation of the Digital Transformation Law 21180 (Ministerio Secretaría General de la Presidencia, 2019[15]).
For the effective implementation of the Law, the DGS is mandated to provide a set of scalable digital public infrastructure to equip service providers with the tools needed to digitalise their internal administrative processes, including:
internal digital communications within and between public sector institutions
digital notification to natural and legal persons
digital by default administrative procedures
digital files and folders
digital identity
data interoperability between public institutions
At the same time, digital government is a pillar of the Modernisation of the State policy in Chile. Under the remit of the Ministry of Finance and the Modernisation Secretariat, the current policy instrument to guide the national modernisation agenda includes digital government as one of its transversal pillars to enable the improvement of government processes and services (Ministerio de Hacienda, 2022[19]). The agenda combines the enabling conditions for digital transformation (e.g. framework for investments on digital government) with policy goals regarding quality and convenience of government services. Key actions within the pillar include:
Implementation of the Digital Transformation Law 21180
National data strategy and interoperability framework
Improved governance for the digital transformation of public services
Integrated platform for digital public services
Development of a national policy for ICT procurement with focus on cloud
Improvement to the digital government investment system
National cybersecurity policy
Despite the strategic relevance of the abovementioned policy frameworks in supporting digital government in Chile, they do not provide clear and comprehensive strategic guidance for public sector institutions to plan and prioritise their investments. The actions outlined are generally more technical than strategic, offering limited direction for aligning investments with broader policy goals. The absence of a clear strategy that sets priorities and guides institutions when building the case for digital investments represents a significant gap in the strategic planning of digital investments in the Chilean public sector. Chile could consider formulating a single instrument that articulates existing policy frameworks – such as the upcoming NDGS, modernisation agenda, and the service quality policy – and translates them into a whole-of-government target-state blueprint or architecture to guide investment (e.g., focusing on reusable capabilities). This approach is similar to that of Australia, where a centrally developed strategy and structured investment oversight approach help to ensure greater alignment across digitally enabled investment proposals in the public sector (Box 2.1).
In Australia, the Government has developed its national Data and Digital Government Strategy to deliver its 2030 vision of “simple, secure and connected public services, for all people and business, through world class data and digital capabilities.” (Australian Government, 2023[22]) The strategy is supported by an Implementation Plan that clearly outlines the initiatives that are required to help deliver this vision, as well as the specific timeframes for their delivery.
Both of these documents are then complemented by the Australian Government Architecture (AGA), which provides federal departments and agencies with the “policies, standards and designs, which provide guardrails for users to follow.” (DTA, 2023[22]). This is integrated in the Australian Government Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework – a whole-of-government, end-to-end framework for the Government to manage digital government investments across the entire project lifecycle to guide decision-makers on how best to identify new opportunities, address existing challenges, minimise duplication, reduce risk and costs, and improve delivery to more quickly meet the needs of its citizens.
Source: (Australian Government, 2023[21]).
A promising development is the Ministry of Finance’s decision to set up a National Technology Investment System (Cámara de Diputados y Diputadas, 2024[12]). There is then an opportunity for this system to use these policy levers to introduce better alignment between strategy, compliance with laws and policies, and better decision-making for digital government investments. The system will aim to:
manage with evidence the mismatch between digital technology demand and financing capacity under the framework of the budget formulation process.
have high quality standards for assessing and segmenting technology investments in Chile.
contribute with a guiding approach to technology procurement.
contribute to the deployment of shared services.
implement a technology investment system under a reference framework design, following the policy recommendations from the OECD outlined in this report.
In the absence of a common strategic framework or blueprint to guide planning of digital investments, more digitally mature public sector institutions in Chile leverage their strategic plans to plan and identify their digital needs. Evidence from the fact-finding mission indicates that more mature public sector institutions have established dedicated internal procedures to identify and plan digital needs. This is the case of the Internal Revenue Service (Servicio de Impuestos Internos, SII), the National Police of Chile (Carabineros de Chile) and the Budget Office (Dirección de Presupuestos, DIPRES), which all have dedicated strategic IT plans as part of broader institutional strategic planning to set their internal priorities and digital needs. For example, SII has in place a 4-year IT strategic plan that sets a pathway for capital and operational expenditure on digital technologies, annually revisited as part of the budget annual cycle and the formulation of EVALTIC. Looking ahead, Chile could consider leveraging the experience of digitally mature public sector institutions to explore the formulation of institutional IT strategic plans across the public sector, embedding these plans into an end-to-end and whole-of-government framework for digital government investments.
Governance and co-ordination frameworks
An end-to-end and whole-of-government framework for digital government investments relies on the alignment and co-ordination between digital government, budgeting, and public procurement authorities (OECD, 2025[22]). Limited co-ordination and governance instruments between these relevant authorities are seen as major barriers for effective planning and execution of investments in government digital transformation across selected OECD countries. In contrast, mature digital governments bring together stakeholders to ensure co-ordination and foster collaboration throughout the lifecycle of digital government investments. This includes setting specific co-ordination mechanisms to achieve close alignment and communication between the relevant stakeholders.
In Chile, the governance for digital government investments is mainly structured around the implementation of the value proposition and investment approval system EVALTIC (División de Gobierno Digital, 2022[23]) (further details on the structure, process, components and relevance of EVALTIC are presented in the following subsection Value proposition and in Chapter 4 subsection Project approval). Following the OECD’s recommendation to Chile for the development of a business case standard (OECD, 2019[7]), EVALTIC was created to have a standardised process for value proposition and technical assessment of investments prior to budget discussions. It is currently managed by DIPRES in co-ordination with the Modernisation Secretariat and the Digital Government Secretariat. It only comprises two of the core building blocks (value proposition and approval) for an adequate management of investments in public digital transformation. A cross-cutting issue observed through this assessment is the absence of a comprehensive, end-to-end and whole-of-government framework that effectively serves to ensure value for money, coherence, and alignment within the Chilean public sector when investing in digital technologies.
Source: Author’s elaboration.
As such, EVALTIC does not represent a comprehensive, end-to-end approach to managing digital government investments in Chile, as information after the technical assessment is not registered or managed within the system. Once technical evaluations are issued, there is no further information regarding the final allocation or execution of funded digital and ICT projects.
The absence of such a comprehensive framework creates significant issues for adequate management of investments. As observed during the fact-finding mission, there is no coherent lifecycle approach for digital transformation projects meaning the outcomes and lessons are not informing the design of future projects. This fragmented approach means that DGS and DIPRES only have consistent data until the moment of technical approval, prior to budget allocation. Afterwards, there is no follow-up on how resources are executed in practice. Further, evidence from the fact-finding mission indicates that there is a lack of clarity regarding how much money is allocated to the digital transformation of the public sector in Chile, which hinders strategic decision-making and reduces the capacity of the public sector to effectively carry out transformative, cross-cutting digital government initiatives and shared services. For projects that are outsourced through the public procurement system, aggregated figures can be obtained from MercadoPúblico, Chile’s public procurement e-procurement platform. However, it is not possible to trace back how spending through public procurement responds to the value proposition, technical assessment, and funding allocation done through EVALTIC. In this regard, Chile may consider continuing efforts to integrate existing digital systems such as SIGFE, MercadoPublico and EVALTIC to enable better financial traceability of investments and expenditure.
The limited ability to trace spending across the project lifecycle implies the absence of a digital baseline within Chile’s public sector, which constrains the capacity to make strategic decisions and mitigate potential risks – for example, avoiding obsolescence and continuity risks, as well as enabling a clearer understanding of the sufficiency of financial resources. This considerably disempowers DGS in its function to co-ordinate the digital government agenda, as well as DIPRES in its mission to secure efficient spending and benefits realisation.
In this regard, Chile could consider defining a comprehensive framework building on the policy recommendations provided in this report, which together constitute a robust approach to managing digital investments in the Chilean public sector, including planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation stages. The investments framework would benefit from having detailed tracking of investments – from conception to monitoring and evaluation – including relevant budget allocations, spending, and procurement activities. This would enable a consistent understanding of digital needs across the Chilean public sector. Other OECD countries have made progress in establishing such a comprehensive framework for digital government investments, and lessons emerging from their design and implementation can also inform the approach that Chile may choose to take in the coming months (Box 2.2 and Box 2.3).
Together with the Treasury and Government Chief Digital Officer, New Zealand’s Digital Investment Office (DIO) helps to ensure that digital government investments deliver the right outcomes in support of government-wide digitalisation strategies. It provides advice at the planning stages to ensure that investments are effective, efficient, and in alignment with strategic objectives and key guiding principles. The DIO also monitors investments and market trends to inform future decision-making.
To support the delivery of its digital vision, Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency established the Australian Government Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework (IOF) to support departments and agencies in making the right investments, at the right time, and in the right way. It includes six ‘states’ that make up an end-to-end approach to digital government investments:
Strategic planning: defines the strategic direction for the government’s digital delivery and future objectives and identifies capability gaps through an integrated view of digital investment.
Prioritisation: prioritises and advises on investments that align to the strategic direction.
Contestability: assesses whether proposals are robust and meet whole-of-government digital and ICT policies and standards prior to government consideration.
Assurance: provides assurance to government that projects are on-track to deliver expected benefits.
Sourcing: provides strategic sourcing advice and ensures the government has access to value for money digital and ICT-enabled procurement arrangements.
Operations: underpins effective decision making by providing information and analysis on the operations of the Australian Government’s digital and ICT landscape.
The IOF is mandatory for eligible digital government investments above certain investment thresholds.
Source: (DTA, 2025[25]).
A comprehensive investment framework requires strengthening the co-ordination and alignment between relevant budgeting, digital government, and public procurement authorities. At present, co-ordination between EVALTIC stakeholders is not formally institutionalised within the Chilean public sector, where instead informal co-ordination mechanisms and networks within the public sector are generally relied upon. The current arrangements would benefit from a dedicated governance mechanism between the DGS, DIPRES, Modernisation Secretariat and ChileCompra, in alignment with existing co-ordination governance mechanisms for digital government and modernisation of the state policies. Chile’s administrative culture on public expenditure has encouraged a centralised approach to managing digital investments under the remit of DIPRES, and to a very limited extent to DGS. However, it is observed that such an approach is currently limiting investments in public digital transformation to a value for money discussion. Looking ahead, a revisited governance framework for digital government investments could consider defining an adequate governance architecture for digital government, assessing existing roles and mandates, including having a more balanced ownership of EVALTIC between DIPRES and DGS. While the responsibility of managing EVALTIC resides in DIPRES, DGS’s new mandate requires strengthening its capacity to co-ordinate and steer the digital government agenda in Chile. For this purpose, Chile could consider either sharing the responsibility of EVALTIC with DGS to fully fulfil this mandate or ensure that DGS’s views and priorities are fully reflected in the formulation and operation of EVALTIC.
Furthermore, such an approach would require the creation of dedicated institutional structures, with appropriate human and financial resources, within both DIPRES and DGS, as well as the establishment of co-ordination mechanisms to facilitate its effective implementation. Securing these dedicated structures would be particularly critical for a robust investment framework, as the current management of EVALTIC within DIPRES falls under the responsibility of the IT Division (which is also responsible for the technical management of Chile’s public financial management system, SIGFE, and other key information systems for budget activities, among other duties), and within DGS, under the Project Management Office (PMO) Department for Policy and Studies. The experience of other OECD countries can be illustrative, such as the case of Ireland and their Digital Government Oversight Unit, a dedicated structure to follow-up critical investments in digital government across the Irish public sector (Box 2.4). Similarly, the formal institutionalisation of a dedicated and comprehensive digital government investments framework should build upon the experience and expertise already residing in agencies with more mature digital capabilities. Currently, this experience, feedback to EVALTIC, and, more broadly, different institutional approaches to plan, execute and monitor investments on IT, are not being systematically captured or disseminated to develop maturity across the whole of government. Chile may also consider establishing informal communities of practice or networks of ICT and digital experts that can serve as a sounding board for testing reforms to EVALTIC, as well as collectively identifying pain points and areas for improvement.
Sitting within Ireland’s Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the Digital Government Oversight Unit (DGOU) is responsible for overseeing new digital and ICT-related investments. Its role is to help ensure that these initiatives align with government policies and supporting strategies, and that appropriate governance arrangements are in place to assure their successful delivery. The DGOU also coordinates a peer review process for digital and ICT investments considered to be of significant scale, risk, or strategic importance.
At a higher level, in the implementation of the Digital Ireland Framework, the Senior Officials Group on Digital Issues and the Digital Regulators Group work closely together to ensure cross-government co-ordination and report progress to Ireland’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment.
The adoption of a risk-based approach to digital government is essential for the resilience of public services and operations (OECD, 2014[2]). An adequate risk management approach is fundamental in the management of digital government policies, addressing the multifaceted risks associated with digital transformation, including safeguarding the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of digital assets and citizen data (OECD, 2022[28]; OECD, 2022[29]; OECD, 2022[30]). A robust risk management strategy is therefore key to mitigating potential issues and optimising returns on investments, thereby ensuring the resilience and sustainability of government investment portfolios (OECD, 2022[28]). This is particularly relevant in the context of digital government strategies, given the lifespan of digital technologies and issues related to legacy technologies, their obsolescence, and impact on service continuity. As observed across OECD countries, risk management takes an important role in the way governments address strategic use of digital technologies in the public sector – at least for selected, critical projects (Figure 2.3).
Note: Percentages based on 38 Countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Romania and Peru. Q: Has the leading digital government unit conducted dedicated risk assessments for digital/ICT projects at the central/federal government?
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Digital Government
In Chile, the digital risk management agenda is under the remit of the Ministry of Interior and Public Security through the National Policy for State Cybersecurity (Box 2.5). Within its five priority areas, the new cybersecurity policy includes a dedicated action line focused on advancing a resilient digital infrastructure across sectors, ensuring the continuity of public services, and adopting a risk-based management approach (Ministerio del Interior y Seguridad Pública, 2023[31]). The enactment of this policy indicates the establishment of a co-ordinated, whole-of-government approach to managing risks in digital government – an element that has been absent from current and past digital government policy instruments.
The cybersecurity policy has been recently formalised through the Framework Law on Cybersecurity (Ministerio del Interior y Seguridad Pública, 2024[32]). This legal framework establishes an operational framework for co-ordinating relevant public sector entities and other relevant stakeholders to monitor digital risks across Chilean government, society and economy, including the government’s response to cyberattacks on national digital infrastructure. Under this remit, the Ministry of Interior and Public Security co-ordinates digital risk management within the public sector along with the DGS, including requirements to guarantee public service continuity.
The Ministry of the Interior and Public Security (MISP) coordinates the National System for Cybersecurity and the National Cybersecurity Policy, through the Interministerial Committee on Cybersecurity and the Government's Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), which monitors, detects, and responds to cyber incidents on the State's Connectivity Network. This new policy relies on the recently approved Law 21663 on cybersecurity. The overall policy underlines the following aspects:
Resilient infrastructure prepared to withstand and recover from cybersecurity incidents and socio-environmental disasters, under a risk management perspective.
Rights of individuals, including protecting the rights of individuals on the Internet, through the strengthening of existing institutions responsible for cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity culture in Chile, focusing on education, best practices, responsibility in handling digital technologies, and the promotion and guarantee of individuals' rights.
National and international co-ordination, creating public governance to coordinate the necessary actions in cybersecurity.
Despite this recent policy development, Chile does not have a structured approach to identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with digital technologies across the public sector. Currently, EVALTIC’s project formulation process incorporates a brief section for applicants to declare general risks associated with the implementation of the project (División de Gobierno Digital, 2023[33]). However, the formulation process does not include a risk assessment for the operation, running or maintenance of digital and ICT projects, leaving critical service disruption issues largely unaddressed at the cross-institutional level. Therefore, the information collected through EVALTIC is solely used ex ante for technical assessment, and there is no systematic approach to leveraging this information in ways that support investment management and oversight.
Standardised mechanisms to identify risks associated with digital and ICT projects are not a common practice across Chile’s public sector institutions. As seen in Figure 2.3, such mechanisms are available in only 21% of surveyed public sector institutions in Chile, while for most investments, they are only considered good practice, or do not exist at all. Therefore, several instances of severe service disruption can be attributed to a limited risk management approach to digital technologies in the public sector, such as recent incidents involving the ChileCompra marketplace5 and the operation and availability of ClaveUnica6, both of which were targeted by ransomware attacks in 2023 and 2020, respectively. These attacks caused serious service disruptions affecting both government operations and delivery of public services. Plausibly, some digitally mature public sector institutions such as the SII have deployed more structured processes to manage and mitigate risks associated with the adoption and use of digital technologies. However, at the central level there are no guidelines or common procedures that support institutions to effectively identify, assess and mitigate possible risks.
Note: Percentage based on answers from 104 institutions. Q: “Does your institution have a standardized mechanism to identify risks associated with the development (formulation and implementation) of digital/ICT projects?”
Source: OECD (2023), Survey on Digital Government Investments in Chile
Given the expansive budget allocated to digital technologies in Chile’s public sector, the absence of a comprehensive risk management approach poses significant risks to government operations and service delivery, and may also jeopardise the effective implementation of the Digital Transformation Law. The limited risk-related information gathered through this process does not enable an adequate assessment of IT obsolescence in the public sector or other critical issues that may disrupt continuity. The delayed treatment of obsolescence can mean that public sector institutions do not have access to appropriate technology, increasing operational expenditure to maintain the operation of obsolete technology. Similarly, issues related to service disruptions caused by obsolete digital technologies are currently largely unaddressed within Chile’s digital government policy. Furthermore, it was also observed that the risk of not proceeding with investments (e.g., the impact of not investing in specific projects or technologies) is not currently considered in the existing value proposition system – unlike other OECD countries with a more solid approach to digital government investments, such as Australia.7 This information is critical to better understand obsolesce risks and to establish a sound business case – for instance, to invest in digital public infrastructure that is critical for the effective functioning and resilience of the public sector.
Looking ahead, Chile could consider developing a comprehensive risk management system for digital government, leveraging existing efforts for assessing and approving digital and ICT investments, to ensure that risks are identified, assessed, managed, and mitigated in a timely manner. This could comprise reforming the EVALTIC system to ensure that execution and operation risks are correctly identified and assessed, taking into consideration the developments of OECD countries such as in Australia, Canada (Box 2.6) and New Zealand (Box 2.7).
Canada’s Treasury Board is responsible for the Policy on the Management of Projects and the Standard for Project Complexity and Risk. To support compliance with these policy levers, it has developed the Project Complexity and Risk Assessment Tool (PCRA) – a questionnaire that ‘deputy heads' are required to use to accurately assess each of their proposed projects and assess its level of risk and complexity to inform the approval process.
While the PCRA is not specific to digital and ICT projects, section 4.5 of the directive enables Treasury Board with the ability to use third-party reviews to provide more specialised assessment of specific risks for in-flight projects.
Source: (Government of Canada, 2019[34]).
New Zealand’s Government have established a process and guidance on how best to understand, prioritise, and manage risks. It advises first consulting with internal and external stakeholders to understand both the business and technical context, before undergoing a process to:
1. Identify the risks: engage stakeholders to compile a comprehensive list of risk scenarios, causes, and impacts.
2. Analyse the risks: based on impact and likelihood, use the provided risk scales, matrices, and ratings to assess the risks and identify controls.
3. Prioritise the risks: based on the ratings and tolerance of the organisation for these risks.
4. Evaluate the risks: categorise the risks in terms of required action (avoid, treat, transfer, accept) and the level of ownership or escalation required for each risk (e.g. chief executive).
Once this is done, the Government has provided a template risk assessment report to be used to manage the controls identified in the process to ensure effective and ongoing risk management.
In line with the recommendations to elevate EVALTIC into an investments management system, Chile could consider defining a tier-based risk system to identify, assess and monitor risks based on budget thresholds, paying greater attention to high-risk or expensive investments that require close oversight by the competent cybersecurity and digital government authorities. As stated in Chapter 4 on Monitoring and Evaluation, further efforts are needed to ensure that critical projects and large spending on digital technologies in the Chilean public sector are monitored in ways that secure benefits realisation and compliance with broader policy goals and initiatives. A tier-based risk monitoring system could be complemented by the establishment of a dedicated body for the continuous oversight of high-risk and expensive investments in digital and ICT projects across the public sector, such as the ongoing work in France (Box 2.8) and Australia. Furthermore, given the limited availability of standardised mechanisms to manage risks at the institutional level, Chile could consider developing detailed guidance and support to less digitally mature public sector institutions for the management of their digital assets and key digital infrastructure, in line with technical documents and guidelines elaborated by other OECD member countries.
In France, DINUM established a dedicated team to oversee the most complex, expensive and/or risky investments in digital government. As part of this process, DINUM publishes an overview of the country’s key digital and ICT projects every 6 months. The overview includes all projects valued over EUR 9 million and identifies the projects that are the most strategic or sensitive, allowing the government to monitor them, propose actions, and ensure that the projects deliver the expected outcomes to best meet the needs of users. In certain cases, high-risk projects are subject to intervention. By publishing this information openly and transparently, DINUM also encourages greater accountability in project delivery.
Source: (DINUM, 2024[36]).
A strengthened approach to risk management for digital investments in Chile could leverage the existing know-how and practices within the Chilean public sector. This is the case of the General Government Internal Audit Council (Consejo de Auditoría Interna General de Gobierno, CAIGG) and its official risk management system, in place for the Chilean public sector. CAIGG is the entity responsible for assuring effective and efficient internal government procedures. Within this role, CAIGG leads the risk management approach for the Chilean public sector. This work includes detailed protocols and risk management tools that can be leveraged for select, high-risk investments. Despite existing challenges in terms of the CAIGG’s capacity to conduct internal auditing (De la Cruz and Garcés, 2022[37]), CAIGG has developed the Internal Risk Management Framework8 which includes a detailed risk management matrix that can be leveraged for risk management when investing in digital government (Box 2.9). This framework is informed by the international standards ISO 31000 on risk management9 and on risk management techniques10.
Chile’s Council of General Internal Auditors of the Government (CAIGG), founded in 1997, acts as a strategic advisory body to the Presidency, with a mandate to strengthen public sector governance through improved internal auditing, risk management, and administrative probity. CAIGG coordinates the work of internal audit units across ministries and public services under the Executive branch, promoting coherence, transparency, and accountability in the management of public resources.
A cornerstone of CAIGG’s work is its Internal Risk Management Framework, which provides a structured approach to identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks within public administration. This framework aims not only to control existing risks but also to foster a proactive culture of risk awareness and resilience across government entities. The framework encourages institutions to design and implement risk maps, conduct internal control assessments, and set up early warning systems. It promotes the integration of risk management into everyday administrative decision-making, aligning risk tolerance with strategic objectives. CAIGG supports this process through the issuance of technical guidelines, the standardisation of risk categories, and the provision of training and capacity-building initiatives for internal auditors and risk officers.
A key feature of the framework is its emphasis on cross-institutional collaboration. CAIGG facilitates regular exchanges of information and good practices among ministries, municipal governments, and public agencies. This collective learning process enhances the overall integrity of the system.
Source: (CAIGG, 2024[38]).
Identifying and assessing the digital needs of public sector institutions is an essential factor in comprehensive and sustainable digital government policies. Outlining and considering the viability of investments, as well as their potential to drive value creation in alignment with the government’s strategic objectives, is a necessary step in investment decision-making. Value proposition mechanisms should encourage early engagement with all stakeholders to conduct assessments and fine-tune the investment proposal. This should be based on standardised assessment processes to support evidence-based investment decisions.
A common mechanism for this purpose is a business case, which provides a structured and standardised method to estimate costs, benefits and potential risks associated with a specific initiative. As highlighted in the OECD Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies (OECD, 2014[2]), it is important to evaluate the economic, social, environmental, and political impacts of investments. Business cases provide an opportunity for governments to ensure consistency in the public sector’s digital investment portfolio. Chile is currently within the cohort of countries that has a common model in place for all investments in digital government (Figure 2.6).
Note: Percentages based on 38 Countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Romania and Peru. Q: Is there a standardised model/method to develop and present the value proposition of digital/ICT projects (e.g. business cases) within the central/federal level of government?
Source: OECD (2022), Survey on Digital Government
Formulation process
Chile’s governing value proposition system is denominated EVALTIC (División de Gobierno Digital, 2022[23]; División de Gobierno Digital, 2023[33]). Initiated in 2017 by the Modernisation of the State Programme at the Ministry of Finance (currently the Modernisation Secretariat), in co-ordination with the DGS and DIPRES, EVALTIC was created to address the limited strategic and co-ordinated approach to public expenditure on digital technologies in the Chilean public sector. At present, the initiative is led by DIPRES with the support of the DGS and the Modernisation Secretariat. In its current format, EVALTIC’s process spans from May to July each year, covering the formulation and technical evaluation of submitted investment proposals (Figure 2.7).
Source: Author’s elaboration.
When looking at EVALTIC’s formulation process, the system currently comprises the value proposition of investments across different types of projects.
New projects: projects for which no prior value proposition has been made. This type requires the most comprehensive set of information, including alternative technical solutions, feasibility and sustainability factors, alignment with existing core digital government systems and infrastructure (e.g. ClaveUnica), project implementation aspects, and expected capital and operational expenditure across different types of expenditure within Chile’s budget system.
Carry-over projects: projects which have been previously approved through EVALTIC that, given their multi-annual nature, require the securing of further resources for their implementation.
Operational continuity projects: these include the purchase of IT equipment or licenses to ensure operational continuity in cases of obsolescence or expanding IT needs.
DIPRES and DGS have developed dedicated forms to be completed by public sector institutions for each type of project (Table 2.2) with the purpose of providing technical and business details needed to assess the pertinence of investments. Most information for the three types of projects is requested through the EVALTIC platform, hosted on the DIPRES website11. However, there is consensus that information requested for EVALTIC assessments add limited value to the investment formulation process because often specific fields are case-dependent (e.g., when requesting the preference of specific methodologies such as agile development).
Despite broad support for EVALTIC across participant institutions and stakeholders, the current application process is in need of reform to better calibrate requirements and evaluation efforts. This is particularly relevant to better account for value, risk, cost and other considerations in adequately assessing investments and their contribution to the broader strategic vision of the Chilean government. The current investment typology does not fully reflect the strategic value of these investments to broader policy goals, such as the Modernisation of the State Agenda, the upcoming Digital Government Strategy, or the ongoing implementation of the Digital Transformation Law.
The current format of new, carry-over and operational continuity projects needs to evolve toward a business-oriented classification that reflects the extent to which investments are helping to transform existing processes or supporting the evolution of existing efforts. Furthermore, different ways to conceptualise a project makes it difficult to have coherent assessment and approval of digital needs. There is a need to clearly define what a project is, what it involves, and how it is linked to institutional strategic and IT plans. At the institutional level, only more digitally advanced public sector institutions are aligning their digital government efforts within institutional strategic plans or dedicated IT development strategies, such as the case of the Tax Revenue Service (Servicio de Impuestos Internos, SII).
In this context, Chile could consider revisiting the existing project definition and tiering system to better reflect the strategic digital needs of public sector institutions and to better calibrate requirements and evaluation efforts to account for value, risk, cost and other considerations. A more sophisticated tiering model which balances applicants’ needs and requirements, as well as an evaluation of effort or intensity, is needed as a backbone of the new, revisited system. Similarly, a revisited formulation typology would require rethinking the strategic information needed to effectively evaluate the strategic and technical soundness of investments. Within this approach, the information requested to assess investments would be oriented toward assessing their strategic soundness and would better contribute to an evidence-based understanding of their scope, impact and risks – key aspects to be considered during the evaluation period.
Several OECD countries have transited towards a tiered model that better reflects the strategic contribution of digital investments by, for example, leveraging Gartner’s Run-Grow-Transform Model (Table 2.3). Such a model would enable EVALTIC to better calibrate the digital needs of public sector institutions – whether to support existing operations, enhance or expand existing digital capabilities, or to digitally transform government processes and services. In its implementation, it would be important to consider how investments may transit across the three states of Run-Grow-Transform and the considerations needed for their adequate assessment.
The formulation of value propositions through EVALTIC is prompting public sector institutions to take a more strategic and planned approach to defining their investments in digital government. Considering that the formulation process is regularly scheduled in May-June each year, public sector institutions start planning their business cases as early as December the previous year. Evidence from the fact-finding mission indicates that more mature public sector institutions such as the SII have internal protocols and processes to prepare the business cases, as well as internal governance mechanisms to prioritise initiatives to be presented during the EVALTIC process. Often, roles and functions are unclear at the institutional level, reflecting the generally unstructured and non-standardised approach taken across the public sector during the formulation phase (Figure 2.8).
Note: Relative percentage based on 260 answers from 104 public sector institutions. Q2: What are the teams involved in the EVALTIC process in your institution?
Source: OECD (2023), Survey on Digital Government Investments in Chile
While early value proposition helps anticipate and plan needs, it is sometimes too early in the budget formulation process as needs change, posing further institutional constraints and internal iterations that add more steps to a process that is already perceived as cumbersome and bureaucratic. Looking ahead, Chile could consider standardising and providing further guidance and common approaches for the preparation phase of EVALTIC formulation across the public sector. While existing guidelines contribute to having a common understanding of the scope and specificities of the process, less digitally mature public sector institutions are facing strong operational and strategic constraints in a context of limited political support and prioritisation, as well as teams dedicated to multiple tasks with often unclear internal roles and mandate over the formulation of business cases. To address this, Chile could leverage the internal approach that more digitally advanced institutions have implemented, such as those established by the SII, the National Policy (Carabineros) and the General Treasury (Tesorería General de la República, TGR), to organise the formulation process, bringing together strategic, technical and administrative perspectives while aligning investments to internal strategic planning efforts.
Assessment and iteration processes
Once information is collected, the assessment and iteration processes are carried out. For this purpose, DGS and DIPRES have established a peer-review process in which senior and expert digital government officials participate ad-honorem to evaluate project proposals between June and July each year, including possible iterations if the formulation is unclear or further evidence is requested. To complement these efforts, DIPRES introduced a pool of external senior evaluators to assess the most complex and expensive projects. However, the current evaluation process is posing several challenges to all involved parties, including applicant institutions, evaluators and EVALTIC’s governance mechanism (Figure 2.9), in particular regarding the format and burden observed in the process.
Note: Relative percentage based on 230 answers from 104 public sector institutions. Q4: Regarding the project formulation stage of the EVALTIC process, what are the three main challenges that your institution faces when presenting digital/ICT projects?
Source: OECD (2023), Survey on Digital Government Investments in Chile,
Currently, EVALTIC stage deadlines and iterations are perceived as being cumbersome and unclear. Despite the instructions in the guidelines for the formulation and evaluation of value proposition12, iterations are perceived as not being well defined, even when general deadlines and the limit of a maximum of two iterations are considered. Back and forth between applicants and evaluators is perceived as cumbersome and that often language used by both parties does not enable clear communication about needs and expectations. Improved communication and training could be considered by Chile in order to address some of these shortcomings. Similarly, further efforts are needed to train applicants and evaluators to clearly formulate their applications, comments and iterations during this phase, which would reduce frictions and extensions that put further stress on EVALTIC processes.
Furthermore, the current typology of new, carry-out and operational continuity projects, as well as the internal selection and allocation of evaluators to each of these, is constraining the strategic value of the process and not optimising the effort and experience of evaluators. There are no precise, agreed or transparent criteria to allocate evaluators to each project, and this exercise does not consider the expertise of government officials involved in the process. The adoption of a more strategic tiering system to classify investments would be of added value to the process, making sure that evaluation is performed according to the strategic value of investments. Building on this more appropriate tiering system, Chile could consider allocating evaluators according to the strategic relevance and complexity of investments. As is suggested in Table 2.3, investments intended to expand or transform digital capabilities may be significantly more complex than the updating of basic hardware and IT equipment. Currently EVALTIC is not making any distinction between these cases when evaluating investments, as well as when allocating government human resources to assess these proposals.
Post-evaluation process
Once the assessment of value propositions through EVALTIC is completed, results are transmitted to applicant institutions. Given the current governance of EVALTIC, approved investments are shared with the Director of DIPRES and its team of sectoral specialists that are responsible for negotiating and allocating resources to each public sector institution during budget discussions at the Congress (between September and November each year). Despite the structured and rigorous approach to formulate and assess investment proposals, the results of EVALTIC are non-binding – i.e., it is one input considered for budget allocation, which remains at the discretion of sectoral specialists. This is plausible given the importance of political decision-making over public expenditure, but it creates disincentives for public sector institutions to provide comprehensive and accurate information during the formulation and assessment phases, especially if, in the end, the results of EVALTIC do not have a larger impact on budget decision-making.
In terms of the scope of EVALTIC during the budget preparation and discussion, the system does not record any feedback loop in terms of how its information is used by sectoral experts during budget discussions. Since sectoral experts have different levels of technical understanding about digital technologies in the public sector (hence the need for EVALTIC), technical assessments issued by EVALTIC may or may not be considered. As a result, investments that do not receive a positive technical assessment by EVALTIC can still be approved by sectoral experts. Therefore, there is no comprehensive view of which investments received funding, in what amount, and how the resources are tentatively distributed according to Chile’s budget classification system (e.g., how many resources are allocated for OPEX and CAPEX purposes).
Acknowledging the political nature of public budget discussions between public sector institutions and DIPRES’ sectoral specialists, Chile could consider closing the feedback loop existing between EVALTIC and the budget formulation process. For approved investments, this may include adding a tag that can be traced across the budgeting (SIGFE) and public procurement (MercadoPúblico) information systems. Such information could be retrieved and integrated into EVALTIC to enable the DGS and the broader state modernisation ecosystem (e.g. Modernisation of the State Committee) to conduct regular analyses of selected investments, as well as to support oversight downstream during the implementation and maintenance phases. On the other hand, non-approved investments that finally received budget could be integrated into EVALTIC for further analysis and oversight, information that currently is not consistently gathered or consolidated.
Finally, Chile would benefit from having a clearer and more structured knowledge management approach that leverages the information consolidated into EVALTIC.
References
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[4] OECD (2022), OECD Economic Surveys: Chile 2022, OECD Publishing, Paris,, https://doi.org/10.1787/311ec37e-en.
[29] OECD (2022), OECD Policy Framework on Digital Security: Cybersecurity for Prosperity, OECD Publishing, Paris,, https://doi.org/10.1787/a69df866-en.
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[2] OECD (2014), Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0406.
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[13] Senado de Chile (2024), Boletín 11092-07 sobre protección de datos personales, https://tramitacion.senado.cl/appsenado/templates/tramitacion/index.php?boletin_ini=11092-07.
← 1. Based on the evidence provided by Chile’s Digital Government Secretariat, the estimated expenditure (ejecución presupuestaria) on digital goods and services in the central government.
← 5. See more details in https://www.chilecompra.cl/2023/10/chilecompra-informa-medidas-y-comunicaciones-tras-ciberataque-a/
← 6. See more details in https://www.senado.cl/noticias/ciberseguridad/hackeo-a-clave-unica-demandan-esclarecimiento-de-las-circunstancias-del
← 7. See ‘Templates to download’ at https://www.digital.gov.au/investment/contestability/iiap and the ‘Assurance Framework for Digital & ICT Investments’ at https://www.digital.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2025-05/IOF-Assurance-Framework.pdf
← 8. See more details in https://www.auditoriainternadegobierno.gob.cl/formatos-requeridos-gestion-de-riesgo/ and https://www.auditoriainternadegobierno.gob.cl/publicacion/formato-matriz-de-riesgos/
← 9. See more details in https://www.iso.org/iso-31000-risk-management.html
← 10. See more details in https://www.iso.org/standard/72140.html