Two South American records, published under different rules and in different currencies, and each led by exactly the kind of institution that reveals how a state is organised. Brazil’s is federal and health-heavy; Ecuador’s is dollarised and utility-led.
| Brazil | Ecuador | |
|---|---|---|
| Notices sampled | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Currency | BRL | USD |
| Value stated | 83% | 96% |
| Median notice | BRL 265,205 | USD 55,925 |
| Leading buyer | Secretaria de Estado da Saúde (32) | Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador (25) |
| Second | Comando do Exército (28) | Ministerio de Salud Pública (24) |
| Third | Estado do Ceará (22) | Empresa Eléctrica Pública Estratégica (20) |
READ OF THE MONTH
Brazil’s top three are a state health secretariat, the army command and a state government — a federal record where the states do much of the buying and health carries the volume. Ecuador’s are an electricity corporation, the health ministry and a second public power company, which is a much more centralised and much more utility-weighted picture. The detail that makes Ecuador unusually easy to work with is the currency: the country is dollarised, so 96% of its notices carry a value already denominated in US dollars, with no conversion and no rate to defend. Among the markets covered here only Liberia offers the same convenience. For anyone comparing contract sizes across continents, those two records are the ones that need no arithmetic at all.
Data: Otnox — live procurement intelligence across 56 markets. Basis: the 1,000 most recent notices per market, 2026-06-26..2026-07-26.
