The Uruguayan State Spent at Least 127 Million Pesos on Catering Services

According to an analysis based on public data obtained from https://www.comprasestatales.gub.uy and our own estimates, the Uruguayan State allocated at least 127 million pesos (equivalent to about 3.15 million dollars at the average exchange rate for the year) to catering services in 2024. This amount reflects the expenditure of various public agencies, although the available information presents significant gaps that required estimates to reach a more representative figure.

The total expenditure is distributed among 34 agencies and 87 sub-agencies, with an official record of 610 catering purchases totaling $98,141,346. This results in an average of $160,624 per purchase and a median of $51,240, indicating a wide variability in amounts. However, this figure doesn't include estimates for agencies with incomplete or missing data, which raise the total to the mentioned 127 million pesos.

Among the analyzed agencies, municipalities, ministries, public companies, and the University of the Republic (UdelaR) present different levels of transparency. For example:

-Ministries: The Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) doesn't provide data, so an average based on the other ministries was assigned to it.

-Public companies: Entities like BPS, BHU, ANCAP, and AFE did not publish information, and values based on similar companies were assigned to them.

-UdelaR: Seven faculties do not report expenses, so an average calculated based on the 11 faculties and university centers that did was applied to them.

A relevant aspect is that the data doesn't include catering expenses of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP), as it was not possible to distinguish which amounts correplied to services for students and which to other activities. 

However, it is known that ANEP spent a total of $128.7 million in 2024, distributed as follows:

- Council of Initial and Primary Education: $2,813,455

- Council of Secondary Education: $671,590

- Council of Technical-Professional Education: $78,913,534

- Council of Teacher Education: $38,956,609

- Central Steering Council: $7,374,765

All data comes from https://www.comprasestatales.gub.uy, but the lack of updating and completeness in the records poses a challenge to obtaining an accurate view. The methodology employed included assigning estimated values to agencies with missing information, based on averages or comparable entities. Although this allows for a more realistic figure, the final amount of 127 million pesos could be even higher if complete data were available.

The expenditure on catering services by the Uruguayan State in 2024 reveals both the magnitude of these contracts and the shortcomings in the transparency of public information. With an estimated total of 127 million pesos, equivalent to 3.15 million dollars, the need to improve data recording and publication systems to ensure more effective control over the use of public resources is evident.