In an effort to foster fiscal decentralization within the Government of Mexico, DevTech, under contract to ICMA, lent strategic support to the Fiscal Coordination Commission. DevTech worked to enable the Commission to become the key forum for dialogue on fiscal decentralization and to develop concrete proposals for changes and/or improvements to existing laws and policies that the Commission can take to the Mexican National Congress for approval. These efforts helped the Commission to better articulate the demand for fiscal decentralization in the country and develop specific initiatives to reform/improve upon existing laws, regulations, and practices.

DevTech assessed the state of intergovernmental relations (distribution of revenues, spending, etc. and the legal framework for the federal and state constitutions and local government law); trained members of the Commission in transfer systems, assignment of roles and responsibilities, service delivery models and best practices based on international experience; designed and supervised a variety of technical studies; and organized a seminar to review these studies and to arrive at consensus positions on the future of fiscal federalism.

DevTech helped the Instituto para el Desarrollo Técnico de las Haciendas Públicas (INDETEC) publish these studies in a single volume book titled: Enfoques Alternativos del Federalismo Fiscal en México (Alternative Foci for Fiscal Federalism in Mexico).

This final work represented a broad consensus for reform, endorsed by the major players, but based on solid technical analysis. The broad distribution and discussion of this book will ensure that these issues can start to rise to the top of the political and legislative agenda.