COVID-19 Regulations: Frequently Asked Questions – General Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP)

By Adolfo González-Ruiz – Associate

1. Is the General Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP) working?

The DGCP has closed its offices as of March 23, but maintains a telephone support service at (507) 515-1500. In addition, you can send written queries to the following email addresses:

Customer Service: info@dgcp.gob.pa .

Directorate of Policies and Purchasing Management: Acuerdomarco@dgcp.gob.pa

Legal Department: legal@dgcp.gob.pa

Directorate of Supervision of Contractor Selection Procedures: fiscalización@dgcp.gob.pa

Exceptional Contracting Procedures Directorate: dipec@dgcp.gob.pa

2. Has any Law or Decree been published regarding Public Tenders?

The Ministry of Health, through Article 9 of Executive Decree No. 507 of March 24, 2020, ordered the suspension of all terms within administrative processes followed by the different institutions. Pursuant to Executive Decree No. 507 of March 24, 2020, the DGCP published Resolution No. DGCP-056-2020 of March 26, 2020, by which the suspension of the terms stipulated in the Single Text of Law 22 of June 27, 2006, ordered by Law 61 of September 27, 2017, for the different stages of the contractor selection procedure that are currently underway is ordered.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Health modified Article 9 of Executive Decree No. 507 of March 24, 2017, by Executive Decree No. 513 of March 27, 2020, including exceptions to the suspension in the case of contractor selection procedures carried out for the contracting of works, purchases of equipment, hospital supplies, medicines; and other goods, services or articles, which have passed the proposal stage.

By Executive Decree 534 of April 16, 2020, a new article is added to Executive Decree No. 507 of March 24, 2020, adding article 9-A that exempts from the suspension of terms the administrative procedures of the Ministry of Health, the Social Security Fund (CSS) and all its dependencies that have as their purpose the ordinary operation of the health system.

In relation to the Pre-Contractual or Contractual procedures called for the acquisition of services or works, described in the previous paragraph, the formal requirements for participation may be temporarily adjusted, based on the Procedures Manual issued by the DGCP.

For the purposes of the provisions of article 9 of the aforementioned Executive Decree 534 and when necessary, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health to reactivate the operation, activity and mobility of the successful bidders, who so require in accordance with the provisions of section 34 of article 2 of Executive Decree 507 of March 24, 2020. Said section deals with the specific companies whose reactivation is authorized by the Ministry of Health by resolution, for their operation, activity and mobilization.

3. Can procedures be carried out online?

Yes, the DGCP is processing online processes for Certification of Nominative Shares, filing of Claims Actions, and Registration of Proponents on the “PanamaCompra” website.

4. Is it permissible to file complaints against Public Acts before the DGCP? How do I file a complaint?

Yes, it is permitted to file a Claim Action online against ongoing public events.

The procedure for filing a Claim Action is as follows:

• You must send an email to fiscalización@dgcp.gob.pacon where you attach the claim action, power of attorney and evidence, in a legible manner and following the formalities established by Law.
• The email must have the following subject line: Filing of Claim Action.
• From the date the email is sent, the DGCP will proceed with the publication of the claim action and begin the calculation of the admission or non-admission of said claim.
• If accepted, the bidding entity has a period of 3 business days from the day after the publication of the resolution to submit the Conduct Report.
• Other procedures established by law are followed.