Reports

Mexico has been a reform champion, having launched ambitious reforms in a broad range of areas. While the reforms are showing first positive effects they are not delivering to the extent they could. On many dimensions of well-being, including education, health and security amongst others, Mexico still lags behind the OECD average and regional development remains very uneven. While Mexico has done a lot to build a competitive economy, progress has been too slow in two complementary areas, namely strengthening institutions and fostering inclusion. The capacity of the public sector is weak, corruption remains widespread and the rule of law is week, all hindering trust in government institutions and the effective implementation of policies. Similarly, persistent inequalities and widespread poverty do not only mean that higher growth does not translate into widespread gains in well-being; these inequalities are also holding back growth as Mexico is not using all available talent. Mexico has taken measures to tackle these issues, but important implementation gaps remain. It will be important for the next government to build on past reform efforts, ensuring the full and effective implementation of already legislated changes to allow for reform continuity and to launch additional reforms in several priority areas, including the rule of law, education and social protection. Only then will Mexico be able to deliver a higher quality of life for all its people.

This report analyses the progresses made by Mexico in implementing the recommendations of the OECD 2016 Open Government Data Review. It identifies areas for further improvement and proposes a set of policy recommendations in areas such as institutional governance, strategic leadership, policy ownership, monitoring and reporting, and digital skills. The report underscores how open data policy can contribute to government priorities such as anti-corruption and social inclusion, and government’s crucial role in creating the conditions and opportunities for innovation and collaboration. It also underlines the role that actors from the private and third-sector, journalists and the academia play in ensuring policy continuity and sustainability.

This review examines the ongoing public procurement reforms in Nuevo León, Mexico: both the progress achieved so far and the many challenges that remain. It discusses the benefits of further centralisation of public procurement activities for goods and services, greater aggregation, and a shift in administrative culture from excessive formality toward strategic public procurement and value for money. The review provides concrete proposals addressing every aspect of the procurement lifecycle, from planning and market consultations to contract management.

This review highlights achievements of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, IMSS) in a number of areas – human resources, technological capacities and relations with suppliers – which were previously identified by the OECD as pivotal for the successful reform of IMSS procurement operations. This report highlights the progress made and offers recommendations to support IMSS in achieving procurement excellence and fulfilling its mandate to provide the best possible, most cost-effective healthcare services to citizens.

This review of the Mexican Federal e-Procurement system, CompraNet, assesses the system’s ability to ensure that public procurement in Mexico is efficient, effective, transparent and accountable. It measures CompraNet’s scope, functionality and use against global trends in e-procurement in order to guide its future development. The report includes input from key stakeholder groups such as contracting authorities, suppliers and civil society. It also identifies the supporting mechanisms such as legislation, policy, training, and infrastructure, that are required for the system to be successful.

Many of Mexico’s product markets remain among the most heavily regulated in the OECD. These structural flaws adversely affect the ability of firms to effectively compete in the markets and hamper innovation, efficiency and productivity. Against this backdrop, this report analyses Mexican legislation in the medicine (production, wholesale, retail) and meat sector (animal feed, growing of animals, slaughterhouses, wholesale and retail) along the vertical supply chain. Using the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit to structure the analysis, the report reviews 228 pieces of legislation and identifies 107 legal provisions which could be removed or amended to lift regulatory barriers to competition. The analysis of the legislation and of the Mexican sectors has been complemented by research into international experience and consultation with stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The OECD has developed recommendations to remove or modify the provisions in order to be less restrictive for suppliers and consumers, while still achieving Mexican policy makers’ initial objectives. This report identifies the potential benefits of the recommendations and, where possible, provides quantitative estimates.