The IGAE report on Adif and Carreteras contracts reveals a worrying pattern: project modifications after awarding, criteria based on value judgments, and systematic cost overruns. This case underscores the opacity and blind spots in public procurement processes. 3D technology and data visualization emerge not as a magic solution, but as a proactive auditing tool capable of modeling and dissecting the entire lifecycle of a contract, making irregularities visible that are currently detected a posteriori.
4D Modeling and Visual Traceability of the Bidding Process 🔍
A digital twin of the contracting process would integrate all documentation and its versions into a single visual platform. The contract timeline (4D) would be modeled: initial specifications, submitted bids, evaluation minutes with their weighted criteria, and all subsequent modifications. Each change in the project or price would be visually linked to the administrative decision that authorized it, highlighting deviations. In a case like the one analyzed by the IGAE, this tool would have allowed immediate visualization of how the three contracts to the same awardee followed an identical pattern of post-award revaluation, triggering early alerts.
Towards a Transparent Administration by Design 💡
The implementation of these solutions is not only a technical challenge, but a philosophical shift. It involves building a transparent administration by design, where every decision leaves a verifiable and visualizable digital trail. This would strengthen the prevention of fraud, provide more powerful tools to control bodies like the IGAE, and, crucially, restore citizen trust. The technology to do it exists; political will is required to institutionalize transparency.
Could digital twins of public contracts become the definitive tool for auditing and preventing opaque budgetary modifications after awarding? 🤔
(P.S.: the SCRA is like autosave: when you fail, you realize it existed)