Good governance in health procurement is necessary to deliver quality health care services to citizens.

The State’s Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute in Mexico (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado, ISSSTE) requested the OECD to assess the efficiency and integrity of its procurement systems and identify opportunities for improvement.

REPORT

The OECD Public Procurement Review of ISSSTE (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado) was launched in Mexico City on 14 November 2013.

The review presents an in-depth analysis of Mexico's health procurement strategies and benchmarks them with good practices of OECD countries in five areas:

• Management, coordination and communication
• Workforce organisation and capability
• Relationship with the marketplace
• Tender processes
• Transparency and integrity

ISSSTE procurement strengths:

• Strong central procurement area with significant experience and expertise
• On-going initiatives to improve the stock management of medicines
• Dedicated procurement officials willing to improve the procurement process

ISSSTE areas for improvement:

• Coordination of the decentralised procurement units through an organisation-wide procurement plan;
• Strengthening the electronic procurement system to collect data and statistics for evidence-based decision making;
• Development of the skills of the procurement personnel through regular and structured training;
• Reducing direct awards and opening more procurement opportunities to foreign bidders to increase competition; and
• A state-of-the-art market studies unit to improve price and quality of procured goods and services.

ISSSTE has taken concrete measures to implement OECD’s recommendations by:

• Strengthening the stock management of its medicines and medical products through a comprehensive database tracking inventory levels, procurement processes, suppliers, prices and non-delivery issues
• Centralising purchases of goods and services, which has resulted in important savings
• Pursuing consolidation opportunities with IMSS and other public purchasers

The OECD continues to support ISSSTE through a new project run in 2014, which focuses on:

• Improving market research in ISSSTE
• Coordinating procurement activities across the organisation
• Outsourcing of medical services
• Providing a comparative analysis of ISSSTE’s direct awards

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‌‌EVENT

On 14 November 2013 Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD launched the OECD Public Procurement Review of ISSSTE in Mexico City.

"ISSSTE has entered a new era, taking courageous measures to provide better health services. I want to congratulate the management of this institution for opening their public procurement processes to international scrutiny and for immediately implementing the recommendations of the OECD"
Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General.

More than 500 participants attended the launch including Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, General Director of ISSSTE, Luis Godina, General Secretary of ISSSTE, Alejandra Palacios, President of the Mexico Federal Economic Competition Commission, Ambassador of Mexico to the OECD Dionisio Pérez-Jácome Friscione, trade union leaders, senior officials from ministries and the Senate, university professors as well as representatives from the media and civil society.

This review is part of the series of OECD public procurement peer reviews that help countries assess their procurement systems against the 2008 OECD Principles for Enhancing Integrity in Public Procurement. The Principles, agreed by all OECD member countries, were developed to help policy makers reform the whole procurement cycle, from needs assessment to contract management and payment.

A second report by the OECD, Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement in Mexico was also launched on the same occasion in Mexico.