National Public Investment System of Uruguay

Uruguay

Table of Contents:

  1. Stakeholders
  2. Legal Framework
  3. Methodologies
  4. Public Investment Plans
  5. Investment Project Bank
  6. Training
  7. Project Management Cycle
  8. Public Investment Policy Cycle
Investment Map Training Methodologies Projects Bank Legal Framework Processes Stakeholders Instruments Formulación Planning Procesos transversales Budgeting Evaluation Cross-cutting Processes Evaluación ex-ante Selección Ejecución Evaluación ex-post Other Stakeholders Public Investment Policy Cycle Staturory Governing Body Law on Accountability and Budget Balance No. 18.996 of Uruguay Directorate of Decentralization and Public Investment, Office of Planning and Budget General Accounting Office of the Nation National Public Administration Entities and Agencies Dirección Financiamiento Coordinación Información Gestión de ciclo de proyectos
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Stakeholders

Statutory Governing Body:

The Budget and Planning Office (OPP) determines the guidelines for presenting public investment projects to the SNIP, prepares the general and specific methodologies for the investment project formulation and assessment. It analyzes and issues opinions on investment projects and documents required for the pre-investment phase. It performs financial monitoring of the project advances through the Project Bank. It monitors the implementation of investment projects and annually prepares the financial execution report of the investment project portfolio and the Five-Year Infrastructure Plan progress report which are part of the document “Accountability 2018 and Budget Execution Balance” prepared by the Accounting Entity of the Nation.

Related Entities:

The General Accounting Entity of the Nation is responsible for the national budget system, determines the budget limits and assigns the resources for executing the projects. It prepares the national budget bill listing the investment projects to be executed during the 5-year budget horizon. It monitors the budget execution, including public investment, through the Financial Information System. It annually prepares the “Accountability and Budget Execution Balance”.

Incorporated Entities:

The entities and bodies of the National Public Administration are in charge of the formulation and ex-ante assessment of the investment projects. Once they fulfill the requirements of the SNIP they register the projects in the “Project Bank” to proceed to their execution phase. During the execution, they report on the projects’ financial progress through the Financial Information System of the General Accounting Entity of the Nation. They perform their sector’s relevant planning and prepare a five-year investment program which they present to the General Accounting Entity of the Nation to be included in the National Budget Bill with a 5-year horizon. During budget execution, they report on the financial progress of the projects through the Financial Information System and give information on the physical-financial progress if the Planning and Budget Office requires this.

 

 

Legal Framework

The Uruguay SNIP was created in 2021 by Art. 23 of Law Nº 18,996, establishing also the Planning and Budget Office and determining that the scope of the SNIP reaches the bodies and organizations comprised in the National Budget, the autonomous entities and decentralized services of the industrial and commercial competency of the State, departmental governments, people of non-governmental public law, mixed-economy companies, both those ruled by public law and those ruled by private law and private state-owned entities, regardless of their legal nature. For its implementation, in 2015 the regulations were published in articles 23, 24 and 25 of Law 18,996, which establish the procedures the institutions included in the SNIP must fulfill, such as the obligation to register pre-investment studies of investment projects in the Project Bank and obtain the favorable technical opinion of the OPP to be able to initiate the execution stage of the public investment projects. The Technical Regulations of the National Public Investment System (SNIP), published by the OPP, define the type of ex-ante assessment necessary based on the investment amount and type of project (new, continuity, or emergency). See the complete legal framework.

 

 

Methodologies

The OPP has developed a set of general and specific methodologies for the formulation and ex-ante assessment of public investment projects. The methodologies repository is publicly accessible and is formed by the “Guide for Formulation and Assessment of Investment Projects”, which was published in 2020 and based upon the “General Methodology for Formulation and Economic Assessment of Public Investment Projects” published in January 2013. These guides consider the economic assessment of projects based on the Internal Return Rate (IRR) and the Net Present Value (NPV) of the investment projects. There are also specific guides for the sectors of education, road infrastructure, transport demand projection, health, housing and sports premises. See the full list of methodologies (Available only in Spanish).

 

 

Public Investment Plans

The Uruguay SNIP does not prepare a national public investment plan or strategy. Instead, the ministries and other government bodies can publish specific plans from their sector.

 

 

Investment Project Bank

The Public Investment Project Bank is the main tool for the Planning and Budget Office. This platform formulates and economically assesses the public investment projects that receive finance from the national budget. This platform stores all details of the investment projects and monitors the financial progress during the execution phase. Additionally, the Uruguay Territory Observatory has a publicly accessible platform with information on public investment. The investment projects are georeferenced and show general details of the project such as the current phase, total investment amount, financial progress, photos of the project. Each of the projects in the Mirador shows its link to the Sustainable Development Goals they contribute to.

 

 

Training

Through the Virtual Training Department of the Decentralization and Public Investment Directorate, the OPP offers courses and learning material on formulation, assessment and execution of investment projects. Additionally, it offers other topics focused on decentralization and planning such as territorial development and equity. The courses aim at professionalizing public officers of all government levels and citizens in general. They are given virtually through the OPP website.

 

 

Project Management Cycle

The life cycle of the investment projects starts with the formulation and preparation of the project profile by each of the bodies that receive resources from the national budget. These profiles must be prepared with the project formulation and assessment methodologies determined by the OPP for the purpose. These methodologies consider the economic assessment of the investment projects and disaster risk identification. When it is identified that projects have an environmental or social impact, the involved parties have to be consulted and an environmental authorization must be obtained from the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Organization and Environment.

In accordance with the Technical Regulations of the National Public Investment System (SNIP), imperative levels are established according to amount and complexity: new projects of up to 1 UBM: documentation at initiative level, between 1 and 5 UBM: profile level, higher than 5 UBM pre-feasibility or feasibility. Project continuity: up to 1 UBM initiative, between 1 and 5 UBM: Initiative, higher than 5 UBM: Profile. Emergency Projects: Initiative (regardless of the investment amount). Once they have all information according to the dimensions and complexity of the project, it is registered in the Project Bank.

The registered projects go through an analysis process by the OPP. As a result, the Favorable Technical Opinion is issued, which certifies that the project has met the SNIP regulations. A favorable opinion of the project is necessary to start the execution stage. During the execution stage, public bodies need to report on the financial progress of the projects through the Financial Information System of the State, which is interrelated to the Project Bank. Through the platform Observatorio Territorio Uruguay, the physical-financial progress of the investment projects can be monitored. It also gives information on the georeferenced location, alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, the responsible entity and photos of the project.

 

 

Public Investment Policy Cycle

The Public Investment Policy contemplates planning public investment on a 5-year horizon. The preparation of the national budget is done at the beginning of the presidential period. The national budget is prepared by the General Accounting Service of the Nation (CGN) every 5 years and contains the budget for all organizations, including the amounts which will be assigned each year to investment projects. In parallel, each ministry can prepare their own planning document, in accordance with the priorities of its sector.

The investment projects that are part of the budget are selected by each of the bodies and updates can be made during the budget execution period. To be able to start executing the investment budget, the projects must be registered in the Project Bank and have the Favorable Technical Opinion granted by the OPP. The organizations executing the projects need to report through the Financial Information System which shares the financial progress information of the projects with the SNIP.

Based on the information reported by the public bodies, the OPP prepares the budget execution report of the investment project portfolio, which is incorporated as part of the document published once per year “Accountability and Budget Execution Balance”. This document is publicly accessible and can be consulted by citizens on the website of the CGN.

 

Latest update: January 2, 2023