Traceability in online public procurement processes in Colombia: A study applied to the online procurement system SECOP II

The evolution of public contracting in Colombia has allowed a substantial change of perspective and approach in relation to the role of contracting within the state apparatus. In recent years, the hiring process tends to be understood as a strategy that enables the fulfilment of objectives and that also allows these objectives to be carried out under fundamental principles of public management such as transparency, efficiency and effectiveness. The networked society open countless possibilities to optimize the relations and interactions between the members of society and government institutions, it is so in Colombia has been developed the online procurement process SECOP II for the management of contracting processes. Within this system, based on the mapping process analysis methodology has been studied the existing relationship between the purchasing entities and the suppliers within the contractual management process. This analysis has been done in order to understand the concept of traceability not only as a monitoring and observation tool, but as an instrument to obtain, organize and manage information. Traceability, as well as transparency, is an added value for the execution of processes in the public administration, which provides all kinds of data for the process optimization. Keywords: Traceability, Online Procurement, Public Procurement, Suppliers, Buying Entities, Process Analysis, Measurement Indicator