Mexico, Services, Professional Ideal

Public Tenders

Article 134 of the Mexican Constitution says that public resources “se administrarán con eficiencia, eficacia, economía, transparencia y honradez” (shall be administered with efficiency, effectiveness, economy, transparency and honesty). Government purchases and contracts are to be awarded through public tenders, licitaciones públicas. Other procedures are allowed when tenders are not suitable.

According to Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, 80 percent of federal government contracts in 2023 were direct awards. Measured by value, IMCO found that 22 percent of federal purchases in 2023 went through direct awards and restricted invitations.

Notary Patents

In Baja California, the College of Notaries favors a route to a notary’s patent made up of an initial exam and an exam by competition. In October 2019, the weekly ZETA reported that Governor Francisco Vega de Lamadrid had named a notary directly, as a 2015 reform allowed.

The president of the state’s College of Notaries said that the new notary “no se sometió al concurso de oposición” (did not take part in the competitive exam).

In November 2019, the state government ordered the withdrawal of five patents that the former governor had granted before the end of his term. It cited the principle of equality in Article 1 of the federal Constitution.

National Quality Award

Mexico’s Premio Nacional de Calidad, the National Quality Award, was created in 1989, according to the Ministry of Economy’s guide to the award. Other sources give 1990. The guide describes the award as a strategic program of the ministry. Its logo is reserved for the winners, “como sinónimo de clase mundial” (as a synonym of world class). (Video in Spanish.)

The Law on Quality

On July 1, 2020, Mexico published the Ley de la Infraestructura de la Calidad, the Law on Quality Infrastructure. It aims to promote “la calidad en la producción de bienes y servicios” (quality in the production of goods and services) through standards, accreditation, conformity assessment and metrology. It also brings the public, social and private sectors into the drafting of the Normas Oficiales Mexicanas, the country’s official standards.

The Graduate Exam

Ceneval, the National Center for the Evaluation of Higher Education, gives the EGEL, a general exam for graduates of a degree program. It assesses whether graduates have “los conocimientos y las habilidades necesarios para iniciarse eficazmente en el ejercicio de la profesión” (the knowledge and skills needed to begin practicing the profession effectively). (Video in Spanish.)

In Ceneval’s report on the exam in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering for 2021, 34.8 percent of the 979 graduates tested reached a satisfactory level and 11.4 percent an outstanding one.

The Transparency Law

On June 11, 2002, Mexico published its first federal law on transparency and access to public government information. In 2004, an assessment in the journal Nueva Sociedad called it “un instrumento valiosísimo de la consolidación democrática en México” (a most valuable instrument of democratic consolidation in Mexico). The same assessment listed weaknesses in the law and in IFAI, the institute that applied it.

Complied With Little or Not at All

In October 2016, the Institute of Legal Research of UNAM surveyed 1,200 households for its Third National Survey of Constitutional Culture. According to a press release of the Supreme Court, 84 percent of respondents said that the Constitution is complied with “poco” or “nada” (little or not at all).

According to Animal Político, one in four respondents thought that breaking the law is not so bad, and that the bad thing is to get caught.