Artificial Intelligence in Bidding Auditing

The Alice case at the CGU and TCU

Abstract

Bidding processes are particularly vulnerable to errors and deviations, and it is increasingly necessary to use databases and electronic tools to automate and streamline the analysis of these data, making the process more assertive, faster and more transparent. In this context, artificial intelligence, through robots, stands out as a mechanism capable of bringing greater effectiveness to the fight against fraud and corruption in bidding processes, since it has the ability to perform rapid and comprehensive checks in order to identify patterns of non-conformities. Given the scarcity of studies on Alice, which is a tool developed less than a decade ago by the CGU, this work, characterized as a narrative-empirical literature review, of a qualitative nature, exploratory method and bibliographic survey, searched the state of the art on the subject and found indications of positive results from the use of the robot within the scope of these two important public accounting control bodies in Brazil. It was therefore observed that Alice brought positive results for both the CGU and the TCU, with reports of greater efficiency, effectiveness and efficacy for controlling bids, in addition to allowing the establishment of a so-called preventive and continuous audit, essential for the adequate control of government purchases and contracts, protecting the public treasury from losses due to mismanagement and corruption. It was concluded that the use of an artificial intelligence tool such as Alice is promising and represents a small revolution that could mean the emergence of an Audit 4.0 in the country.