A report by the Comptroller General of the Republic of Chile said that the Undersecretary of Education hired companies that did not declare the bond of kinship. It may sound strange, but in Chile the awarded firms must demonstrate that there is no family relationship with the grantees.

For its part, the Secretariat told the watchdog that "administrative and technical bases require bidders to provide a sworn statement about their link at the time the contract is signed." He also indicated that "if the relationship is not delivered, they select the next bidder."

Despite this, the Body "did not attach to its response any documentation that can demonstrate compliance with the aforementioned". Therefore, the examination about hiring companies Editorial Cal y Canto, Editorial FyF, Rau & Bodenburg, Santillana del Pacífico, and Editorial Publishing Company Zig-Zag still stands. The Audit’s goal was to verify that the purchases made by the body "had been made according to the rules, that the goods purchased had been received, and that the payments are recorded fully and timely."

Another observation made by the Comptroller had to do with the textbooks given to teachers and students in elementary, middle and high school establishments that are subsidized. For its adjudication a public tender was called. In the process, the audit found irregularities: some were approved despite the fact they "did not include the name of the official in charge of the procurement process" and another case was approved even though "a declaration of bond kinship had not been presented by the companies”.

The watchdog also noted some differences between the amounts of text books purchased and those received. Such was the case of a purchase order for $ 6,744, made on January 2010, to Santillana del Pacífico SA, in which 390 copies were delivered in excess and later on, an order of $ 858 to the company Fy F ltda in December 2009, where they were missing 800 books. Even though the Comptroller saw that these mistakes were corrected, what was left uncovered was the "inefficient controls of the amount of items received and their subsequent payment."

Despite the fact that, according to regulations, the books should be inventoried so "to ensure their timely delivery and efficient administration for a smooth functioning of the Ministry," the auditors found no measure has been taken for this point. Consequently, they could not verify the percentage of stored products nor what their stock for the remaining year amounts to. Even though the Ministry did provide the audit with copy of this information for August 2011, the Comptroller kept an eye on them because the document they presented "did not fit the evaluated period," which was 2010.

IT Security 

With regard to the procurement of computer security systems in the global data network of the Ministry of Education, the watchdog noted that "we do not know how the people who make up the evaluation committees are appointed." To this situation we must also add that "participants may delegate their tasks to officials elected by them," with a consequent "risk that the Commission is composed of representatives that do not ensure the impartiality and competence." For its part, the Secretariat acknowledged the shortcomings and said that they corrected their mistakes in the following processes.

In the bidding process for IT security services, the Chilean Comptroller restated that "the affidavit on the bond of kinship was not provided."

Purchasing Plan

Even though the Undersecretary of Education has "an obligation to develop and evaluate an Annual Procurement Plan and Procedure Manual Procurement" on the data published by the agency in 2009 and 2010 it was noted that "they only displayed the top ten purchases, thus distorting the goal because it impedes an anticipation of what they are going to purchase and the amounts that will be spent, as well as when it will occur.”

Times

Just as in Argentina, in Chile a lot of time is spent from the time the audits begin, until they are approved. In this case, to evaluate purchases and contracts conducted by the Secretariat of Education in 2010, the watchdog began its field work in 2011 and only in July of 2013 was the resolution communicating the report announced.