TCU Presents Technological Innovations to South African Delegation

On September 23, the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) welcomed a South African delegation from the German Cooperation Agency GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and its partners to share experiences in the use of technology for overseeing public procurement. The meeting featured the Alice platform (Análise de Licitações e Editais), the TCU's artificial intelligence tool that analyzes procurement notices and records of electronic auctions published on the Federal Government's Procurement Portal.

The meeting was chaired by the TCU's Head of the Department of International Relations, Hugo Chudyson Freire. He emphasized the importance of cooperating with international institutions from different countries to address common challenges and advance public governance. Our international engagement highlights the importance of cooperation and the exchange of good practices. More than presenting results, we seek to foster the sharing of experiences that benefit all participants, he said.

Opening the technical program, auditor Luiz Rodrigo Airosa Castro presented how the Court has been using technology to transform the oversight of public procurement. He explained that continuous auditing enables the TCU to act before expenses are executed, preventing problems and reshaping its relationship with public managers, who now see the institution not as an adversary but as a partner. In this process, he stressed that the Alice platform has become a central tool, analyzing procurement procedures daily to prevent fraud, save resources, and strengthen public governance. With the platform, we monitor procurement procedures on Compras.gov.br every day, identifying potential irregularities and helping public administration save money and deliver better results, he stated.

Next, auditors Aloísio Dourado and Rogério Sampaio Boaventura detailed the development path of the Alice platform, which began as a pilot project with a small team and a focus on the preliminary detection of inconsistencies in procurement processes. The TCU auditors explained that, over time, the tool became more sophisticated. In version Alice 3.0, it began analyzing product and service descriptions. In version Alice 3.6, it incorporated more advanced automated analysis methods, reducing inconsistencies and improving data standardization. Among the main challenges, they highlighted the wide variety of names for the same items and the need for access to integrated databases, which required negotiations with bodies such as the Ministry of Management and Innovation.

The South African delegation actively participated in the meeting, raising questions about the practical application of Alice, the challenges of data integration, and ways to strengthen cooperation between audit institutions and public managers. These interactions reinforced the interest in adapting Brazilian experiences to the local context and opened the door to future partnerships aimed at strengthening the oversight of public procurement.