Foreword
The Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Mexico, the Superior Audit of the Federation, (Auditoría Superior de la Federación, or ASF) is one of the best institutional examples of Mexico’s commitment to digital transformation. Its efforts align, and in many ways are ahead of, various national plans and broader trends in Mexico to build a system of digital government. These trends include the government-wide initiatives of the Office for Coordination of the National Digital Strategy, within the Office of the President, as well as the Ministry of Public Administration. In the accountability and integrity domain, the digital trends are also visible in the strategies and efforts of the National Anti-Corruption System (Sistema Nacional Anticorrupción, NACS), which leads the development of the National Digital Platform (Plataforma Digital Nacional, PDN) to support NACS members with new technologies, methodologies, data science and artificial intelligence.
The ASF plays a key role in steering the NACS as well as the National Auditing System (Sistema Nacional de Fiscalización, NAS). As such, the success of the ASF’s own digital transformation is tied to these broader systems. The ASF’s work programme for digital transformation reflects the leadership’s commitment to providing its auditors with the tools and skills needed to effectively hold government actors accountable in the modern era. Like many SAIs, investment in the infrastructure, architecture, databases and capacity to facilitate the work of auditors has become an even greater imperative for the ASF in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the one hand, this context brought new challenges for auditors, such as remote auditing as well as the need for more effective and efficient identification of risks stemming from economic stimulus. On the other hand, it has inspired new solutions, including innovations around digitalisation, data and analytics for safeguarding integrity.
To support these solutions, the OECD reviewed the ASF’s use of analytics for detecting integrity risks, building on previous recommendations made in the 2017 Mexico's National Auditing System: Strengthening Accountable Governance report and the subsequent 2021 Progress Report on the Implementation of the Mexican Superior Audit of the Federation's Mandate report.
This report takes a deeper look at these issues with a focus on integrity risks and the ASF’s strategies and efforts to integrate data and analytics into its operations. The report draws from the OECD’s body of work to support governments in designing and implementing risk-based strategies and tools to strengthen accountability and safeguard integrity, as emphasised in the OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity. On a practical level, data and analytics are critical ingredients for achieving a risk-based approach, which for the ASF have implications both internally and for the institutions it oversees.
The scope of the report reflects the ASF’s priority to invest in its own digital transformation, as well as a self-awareness about how it can enhance its oversight. While it focuses on the integrity context, the report recognises that improvements in one area of data or analytics, such as detecting fraud or corruption risks, matter for other data-driven applications and even for the ASF’s broader strategy. Recommendations in this report take this into account, covering a range of strategic and operational considerations for ASF to improve the use of data and analytics.
This report was produced under the leadership of Elsa Pilichowski, Director, OECD Public Governance Directorate; János Bertók, Deputy Director for Public Governance; and Julio Bacio Terracino, Head of the Public Sector Integrity Division (PSI). The report was drafted by Gavin Ugale, Policy Advisor in PSI, with important contributions from Jacobo Pastor García Villarreal and Varun Banthia. Meral Gedik supported editing and formatting, and Charles Victor provided administrative assistance.
The report builds on nearly a decade of collaboration between the OECD and the ASF. The OECD would like to thank ASF for its fruitful co-operation and leadership. In particular, the OECD would like to thank David Colmenares Páramo, Supreme Auditor; Eber Betanzos, Technical Secretariat; Claudia María Bazúa, Financial Compliance Special Auditor; and Emilio Barriga Delgado, Federalised Spending Special Auditor; as well as their teams. Soo Jung Koh Yoo, Director for Multilateral Relations, in the ASF Technical Secretariat Office, served as the contact point for the project.
The OECD is also grateful to the peer experts who participated in a workshop on data analytics, jointly organised with ASF and held on 17-19 November 2020, including the General Comptroller’s Office of Peru, the National Audit Office of Finland and the UK Government Digital Service, along with the OECD’s Jacob Arturo Rivera Perez.
Ambassador Sybel Galván, from the Permanent Delegation of Mexico to the OECD, was instrumental in supporting the OECD in this project. The OECD Mexico Centre, under the leadership of Mario López, and the staff in charge of publications, notably Alejandro Camacho, also provided valuable support in co-ordinating the editorial process for the Spanish publication.
The report was reviewed by the OECD Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials (SPIO) on 13 April 2022 and approved by the Public Governance Committee on 13 May 2022. It was prepared for publication by the Secretariat.