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Latin Times
Latin Times
Politics
Mateo Moreno

Chile Audit: Gendarmería and Military Map Agency Top $10.6B Peso Overpay Under Ex-Boric Govt

Chile's former president Gabriel Boric speaks during the 'This is America' event held as part of the III Pan American Congress at the Solis Theatre in Montevideo on August 21, 2026. (Credit: Photo by Santiago Mazzarovich / AFP via Getty Images)

  • Chile's Budget Office found state agencies overpaid by CLP 10.615 billion, roughly US$11 million, on framework-contract purchases made in 2022 and 2023.

  • Just 28 of the 172 institutions reviewed account for 91.2% of the excess spending, led by the prison service Gendarmería and the Military Geographic Institute.
  • Auditors describe it as a procurement-management failure, not fraud — there's no public record of legal action tied to this specific finding.

Chile's public spending watchdog has put a price tag on years of sloppy shopping inside the state's own discount catalog. The Budget Office, known as Dipres, calculated that 28 government agencies collectively paid CLP 10.615 billion more than they needed to for everyday goods purchased through Chile's framework-contract system, or convenio marco — a pre-negotiated supplier catalog built specifically to let agencies buy quickly at competitive prices without running a full tender. The purchases span 2022 and 2023, under then-President Gabriel Boric, whose term ended on March 11, 2026.

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