In December 2024, the Judicial Council (Consejo de la Magistratura, CM) of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires engaged the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to analyse the use and functioning of the CM e-procurement platform known as JUC (Justicia Compra) and benchmark it against good practices in OECD countries. Buenos Aires’ Judicial Branch is a pioneer among local judiciaries in Argentina in terms of using electronic platforms for the procurement of goods and services and understands the strategic power of procurement.
This report provides an overview of JUC’s main features and achievements, such as a relatively fast take up of e-procurement. It discusses challenges such as the need to extend e-procurement to the pre- and post-tendering stages of the public procurement cycle and for increased professionalisation of the e-procurement workforce. It provides recommendations for tackling for tackling the main challenges and an action plan to facilitate their implementation and monitoring. Implementing these recommendations would position the CM even further ahead in e-procurement than other local judiciaries in Argentina and set it on a path to become a benchmark in Latin America.
The report provides an overview of the public procurement system of the CM, followed by the most recent digital transformation efforts and how they apply to public procurement, including experimentation with digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). It discusses the governance of JUC and the roles of different stakeholders, including both internal and external actors. It also analyses the importance of building capabilities and capacity for e-procurement. The report reviews the JUC functionalities and the potential integration with other CM systems to maximise their impacts. Finally, it suggests the need to develop a risk management framework for CM’s public procurement, in particular risks that may affect JUC, and potential indicators to assess its performance.
The report is based primarily on information collected through an OECD fact-finding questionnaire and a fact-finding mission in April 2025. During the mission, the OECD consulted a wide set of stakeholders, including different CM units and various departments of the city government, as well as businesses, suppliers, academics, and civil society organisations. The report brings together the visions and the opportunities identified by different stakeholders to upgrade JUC and advance the digital transformation of public procurement in the CM.
The findings of this report build on previous work by the OECD Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division, particularly regarding the implementation of the OECD 2015 Recommendation on Public Procurement and the digital transformation of public procurement in OECD Member and partner countries. This report adds to a growing portfolio of OECD projects on public procurement in Latin America, including in OECD countries, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico; accession candidate countries Brazil and Peru; Paraguay and Ecuador; and with partner organisations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.