How can the city government track the entire flow of public finance — from budget approval to final contractor — using digital tools like blockchain?
The Problem
Problem Background
Financial transparency in public works is critical worldwide. Colombia, in particular, continues to face high corruption indices despite various efforts to enhance public financial transparency. According to the Corruption Perception Index(CPI) released by Transparency International, Colombia scored 39 out of 100, with an average score of 35.53 between 1995 and 2024(Transparency International, n.d.). The Control of Corruption, which measures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, also placed Colombia in the 44.81th percentile among all countries covered by the aggregate indicator (Kaufmann et al., 2003). This indicates that public financial transparency remains an unresolved challenge in Colombia.
The report “This is how corruption moves: A snapshot of corruption in Colombia 2016-2020” is based on the work of journalists who chronicle how corruption unfolds on a daily basis. This report includes the sectors and types of corruption in Colombia, and reveals that approximately 44% of reported corruption cases are administrative corruption, making it the largest category. Specifically, 22% occurred in contracting (public procurement) and 21% in security, marking these as the highest areas (Transparencia por Colombia, 2021). This public financial corruption has led to the outflow of approximately 92.77 billion pesos since 2016 and the loss of 13.67 billion pesos worth of resources. Such corruption hinders the implementation of various public services, including infrastructure, education, and public policy development.
Current Efforts
Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, where numerous infrastructure projects are actively underway, is also exposed to the risk of corruption. Efforts to enhance transparency in the public infrastructure sector are crucial, especially given the active progress of large-scale transportation projects like TransMiCable, TransMilenio, and the First Metro Line of Bogotá (PLMB), as well as public infrastructure projects in education, welfare, and other areas. Colombia and Bogotá have implemented various initiatives to prevent corruption and promote financial transparency, utilizing digital technologies through various websites and citizen platforms such as CoST, Bogotá Cómo Vamos, SECOP, and SIIF.
1. CoST (Infrastructure Transparency Initiative)
CoST (Infrastructure Transparency Initiative) is a leading global non-profit organization dedicated to improving transparency, participation, and accountability in public infrastructure to deliver high-quality infrastructure that enhances quality of life and strengthens economies. CoST builds trust by disclosing data through data platforms and conducts independent reviews of infrastructure projects, which is known as the CoST assurance process. The CoST assurance is appointed by CoST programs, with teams examining disclosed data to identify key concerns, data gaps, and best practices, translating technical jargon into clear information for stakeholders to hold decision-makers accountable. Bogotá joined CoST in February 2021 with an ambitious plan to improve high-value infrastructure projects. The city mandates and formalizes the disclosure of key infrastructure information, including budget, contracts, and progress, according to CoST data standards, and applies an independent assurance process to all projects to ensure the appropriateness of budget execution and procedural transparency, thereby building trust with citizens and stakeholders.
2. Bogota Como Vamos
Bogotá Cómo Vamos is a citizen-led urban monitoring system that regularly tracks and evaluates changes in Bogotá’s quality of life and municipal administration. It provides information to citizens through various annual reports, including the ‘Citizen Perception Survey (Encuesta de Percepción Ciudadana)’, the ‘Quality of Life Report (Informe de Calidad de Vida)’, and ‘City Council Monitoring Reports’. These materials offer evidence-based analysis to the media, academia, and policymakers, specifically identifying areas needing improvement. This initiative contributes to a transparent and effective government, informed citizen participation, and policy improvement through fair evaluations of urban performance.
3. SECOP (Sistema Electrónico para la Contratación Pública)
SECOP is Colombia’s electronic public procurement portal. It ensures transparency by publishing every stage of procurement: contract announcements, bidding documents, award results, and implementation status. This ensures fair competition and enables auditing by citizens and experts. SECOP I focuses on information disclosure, while SECOP II also supports transactional functions such as electronic bidding and reverse auctions. All government agencies and local authorities are required to register with SECOP and upload their procurement processes to ensure contractual transparency. The general public can freely access information on who contracted with whom, for what amount, and which companies were awarded contracts, with data available for download in Excel format at colombiacompra.gov.co/secop.
4. SIIF
5. IDU Visor de Proyectos
The Urban Development Institute (IDU) is a public agency responsible for urban development, design, and construction in Bogotá, planning roads, pedestrian areas, bike paths, and eco-friendly transport networks. The IDU Visor de Proyectos system provides a visual, map-based portal that displays ongoing projects in Bogotá on a map and allows users to view specific information for each project. This enables citizens to easily locate projects by their status and access linked contract-related information for each project.
Current Limitations & Need for New Solutions
Despite the transparent disclosure of public procurement contracts, budget allocations, budget execution, and public infrastructure project information across various Colombian and Bogotá websites, there still persist several limitations. First, financial and contracting data are dispersed across multiple platforms, making it difficult to access them in one platform. Second, information formats such as legal documents, datasets, and reports are difficult for citizens to interpret at a glance. Third, real-time tracking of financial flows in public procurement contracts is limited, restricting transparency and accountability. These limitations restrict citizens’ ability to track funding flows and understand project stages, delays, and where those delays originate. This undermines their ability to act as fair watchdogs and evaluators, ultimately weakening public trust in government transparency.
Problem Definition
How might we use advanced digital solutions to ensure full traceability of public finance flows to combat corruption?
- How can the city(Bogota) follow the flow of the government spending dedicated to a particular contract?
- How can they follow the path from the approval of the budget, through the Finance department, to the implementing agency, and on to the private contractor?
Our Goals
To address these challenges, our tasks (strategy/goals) are as follows:
- Integrate financial data, currently dispersed across multiple platforms, into one single platform for easy and convenient access.
- Ensure real-time and accurate tracking of financial flows in public works project contract procedures, enabling citizens, experts, and officials to monitor and verify these flows.
- Provide a visualized dashboard of public works and contract-related data that is easily understandable for suppliers, officials, and citizens as well.
Ultimately, this aims to guarantee full transparency and traceability in public works contracts and public financial flows, thereby enhancing citizens’ trust in Bogotá’s administration.
Solution: Blockchain for Transparent Finance Tracking
- Blockchain technology offers a promising foundation for this system.
- Rather than storing data in fragmented silos across departments, blockchain can record every financial action — like approval, verification, and payment — as an immutable, time-stamped record.
🧾 Rebuilding Trust Through Technology
- By combining blockchain technology with clear and accessible visual interfaces, Bogota can be able to move toward a new era of public finance transparency.
💡 Storyboard to begin brainstorming
If you have any ideas or feedback, it would be greatly appreciated as we work to develop our solution. Thank you!
🇩🇰 x 🇨🇴 x 🇰🇷 | Civic Tech for Transparency