Brazil’s Santa Catarina state signs agreement to use blockchain in public procurement

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Santa Catarina state government has just signed an agreement to use blockchain technology in public agencies, more precisely to help the public sector ensure smoothness and transparency in contracting processes.

A publication in the State Official Gazette on July 9 cites the technical cooperation agreement between the State Secretariat of Administration, through the Directorate of Bidding and Contract Management, and Rutgers University, through the Rutgers Accounting Research Center and Continuous Auditing & Reporting Lab.

According to the document, the goal is to establish “cooperation for the sharing and exchange of information, methodologies, tools, and technical knowledge, to enable projects and actions aimed at improving public procurement in the State of Santa Catarina.

The text also says that “the cooperation agreement involves the activities related to implementing a model for improving the efficiency and reliability of state public procurement through blockchain technology.

The agreement is valid for 12 months from the date of signature. The signers of the publication in the Official Gazette are Jorge Eduardo Tasca, State Secretary of Administration, and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, CARLab /RUTGERS coordinator.

The state of Santa Catarina has been showing interest in blockchain for some time now. Late last year, the Court of Auditors of Santa Catarina became the first institution to use blockchain solution to query CNPJs in Brazil when it announced the hiring of Dataprev to perform the integration of the TCE/SC with bCNPJ, the Federal Revenue’s blockchain solution that allows the consultation of the National Register of Legal Entities of Brazil.

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