ChileCompra releases entry calendar for municipal govts.

Chile's municipal governments will begin to manage their purchases on state e-procurement portal ChileCompra by June this year, according to a statement from the portal. The country's public procurement law called for the municipalities to begin transacting at the start of January, but a government decree in August allowed for a more flexible implementation. Under a new calendar released by the government, Chile's 342 municipalities will join ChileCompra in three groups. The first group goes online on June 1, the second group on September 1 and the third and final group on December 31 this year. Indirectly supporting the transition are investments of US$4mn-5mn disbursed by the central government from a US$15mn loan provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The investments seek to update the municipal governments' software and information technology systems, and pave the way for the introduction of local e-government services.