On September 04, 2017 a law was enacted requiring all state and public-private entities to create Transparency Units responsible for receiving reports of possible corruption, investigating possible acts of corruption and supervising the execution of state contracts.
Transparency Units ("TUs") were created in 2009 through Supreme Decree No. 29894, which required each Ministry under the Executive branch to create a Transparency Unit responsible for the promotion of ethics, social control and accountability.
Law 974 for Transparency Units, enacted on September 4, 2017, extends the obligation to create TUs to all public institutions at the central state level, as well as to public companies, public-private partnerships and financial institutions. The Law requires all such entities to create a permanent internal unit that is responsible for handling corruption investigation reports, investigating possible corruption crimes and related misconduct, as well as "putting forth transparency and corruption fighting policies."
The Transparency Units must also be authorized to request supporting documentation regarding the entities' public contracting processes, as a corruption-prevention measure. While investigations by TUs do not suspend a public contracting process, a final report from the TU making a finding of corrupt conduct would give place to such suspension. TUs must inform the Ministry of Justice of all reports of corruption received.
The expansion of the TUs to additional entities is in line with international recommendations, such as the recommendations made by the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC), which recommended that Bolivia adopt rules for the control and supervising of state contract adjudication.
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