A utilização da ciência de redes e da medida de capacidade de difusão para análise da rede de empresas das licitações do governo federal

Abstract

The objective of this research is to analyze the interaction of bidding companies by means of network science measures, especially their capacity to disseminate information, focusing on the identification of suspicious cartel-forming practices among these companies. The fraudulent practice of some companies in bidding processes can be identified by direct complaints or by the proactive measures based on data analysis that can be done by state institutions assigned to control bidding processes. Due to the large volume of information generated in these processes, limited resources and time for proper inspection of all companies that provide goods and services to the public sector, it is important to find ways to analyze data more efficiently. Thus, a quantitative survey was conducted based on secondary data retrieved from the federal government website called “Transparency Portal” so we could map and analyze the networks of bidding companies that actually participated in auctions of six items of hospital safety equipment in 2019. The results indicate that the application of these network measures, especially the capacity for disseminating information, has the potential to contribute to the study of fraudulent practices within public tenders.