P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 933a
(a) Powers.— The Administration shall provide to the agencies, departments, and instrumentalities of the Executive Branch, except for the Office of Government Ethics, the University of Puerto Rico, the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, the Planning Board, and the State Elections Commission, or those exempt from the provisions of Act No. 96 of June 29, 1954, as amended, through their Organic Acts, the means of acquiring supplies and nonprofessional services, as well as the means of acquiring and disposing of surplus public property. The Administration may extend any of these services offered by the Purchasing, Service, and Supplies Program to such municipality, public corporation, agency, department, instrumentality, or any other government body that may request it, even if it is not required by law to make its purchases through the Administration. Should any of said bodies request any services from the Purchasing, Service, and Supplies Program, it shall do so in accordance with the regulations to be approved by the Administrator for the implementation and development of all its powers within said Program. Such powers shall include the following:
(1) To prescribe the guidelines or model specifications for supplies and nonprofessional services and to enforce their compliance. In order to implement this power, a Regulating Board is hereby created, presided over by the Administrator or his authorized representative, which shall be also composed of representatives of the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Consumer Affairs, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Economic Development Administrator and two (2) additional members who cannot be government employees or officials. The additional members of this Board shall be appointed by the Administrator and may receive per diems according to the applicable laws and the regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Board shall act as advisor to the Administrator in drafting or reviewing the guidelines or model specifications which he shall approve, which, once they have been approved, shall be applicable to any purchase of supplies or nonprofessional services until they are uniformly rescinded as to their condition and scope. Any interested supplier may inspect the guidelines or model specifications and submit his recommendation to the Board, as prescribed through regulations to be approved by the Administrator. The Administrator may appropriate funds and designate the personnel needed for the functioning of the Board, which may request technical assistance, services and cooperation from government and private entities for the performance of its duties.
(2) To prescribe the procedures and the date for filing with the Administration the estimates of probable needs for specific periods of time and the method of authenticating and reviewing the same.
(3) To prescribe the procedures and the date for filing with the Administration of purchasing requisitions, the future period to be covered by said requisitions and the method for the authentication and revision thereof.
(4) To prescribe the requirements for purchasing applications and the procedures and conditions for their filing with the Administration.
(5) To assure that all the supplies and nonprofessional services requested are provided pursuant to the legal methods of acquisition.
(6) To determine when a competitive bidding is in order and to establish the procedure therefor.
(7) To establish the requirements, obligations and responsibilities that a bidder or a natural or juridical person shall comply with in order to participate in the bidding.
(8) To establish the general conditions of any offer to be accepted and evaluated in addition to the guidelines for the adjudication of the award to the lowest bidder in purchases or to the highest bidder in sales, provided they are within the terms, conditions and specifications of the competitive bidding.
(9) Among other circumstances, to refuse offers when the bidder is irresponsible; his offer is unreasonable; the nature, quality or description of the supplies or nonprofessional services do not comply with the terms, conditions and specifications of the competitive bidding, thus constituting an irregularity or serious informality of the offer; or when thus required to protect the public interest.
(10) To prescribe the terms for purchase orders or contracts, in accordance with the purchasing applications and the necessary terms and conditions.
(11) To authorize purchase orders and contracts, after the obligation of funds to cover the payment of the supplies received or the nonprofessional services rendered.
(12) To cancel competitive biddings or purchase orders for the protection of the public interest in the event of special circumstances and adequate justification.
(13) To require of the bidder who is awarded the bid a guarantee of the type and amount deemed convenient to ensure compliance with the purchase order or contract.
(14) To establish, through regulations, the procedure to make purchases without competitive bidding, under any of the following circumstances:
(A) An emergency: as defined through regulations.
(B) The amount involved shall not exceed four thousand dollars ($4,000).
(C) The purchase is made from the Government of the United States or from its agencies and instrumentalities or of any foreign country, or from departments, agencies, quasi-public corporations, their subsidiaries and affiliates and any other instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of articles that are produced, manufactured or assembled in Puerto Rico.
(D) The minimum prices are fixed by law or a competent government authority.
(E) There is only one source of supply.
(F) No offer is made in the competitive bidding and the opportunity to acquire the needed supplies or nonprofessional services is in jeopardy.
(15) To authorize, through delegation, any agency, department or instrumentality of the Executive Branch legally bound to make its purchases through the intervention of the Administration, as well as to acquire certain supplies or nonprofessional services without said intervention, prescribing the terms, form and manner of making said purchase.
(16) To designate purchasing delegates for each agency, department or instrumentality of the Executive Branch legally bound to make its purchases through the intervention of the Administration, as well as to prescribe the requirements and duties of its functions through regulations.
(17) To administer and be in charge of all existing or future main warehouses and repair shops for office equipment and furniture by regulating the services rendered by them.
(18) To dispose of specific public property declared as surplus, but which is obsolete and useless, through these means, among others: transfer to the agencies, departments or instrumentalities of the Executive Branch legally bound to acquire and dispose of the property through the intervention of the Administration; transfer or sale at a nominal price to those agencies, departments, instrumentalities, government bodies or municipalities which are not legally bound to acquire and dispose of the property through the intervention of the Administration; transfer or sale at a reasonable price to private entities which are bona fide nonprofit institutions with a social purpose, and qualified in some of their social programs to receive funds from the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; transfer or sale to a specific federal or state government body of the United States of America; transfer, sale, assignment, donation or conveyance of reusable equipment or property to agencies, public instrumentalities, municipalities or private individuals whose purpose is that of providing persons with disabilities with such equipment in order to improve, maintain or enhance their functional abilities in their habilitation, educational or rehabilitation processes or in establishing independent living conditions; or sale at public auction among interested bidders.
For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the meaning stated below, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(A) Habilitation.— Shall mean physical or emotional restoration services, to include the providing of assistive technology for persons and children with disabilities as necessary within their vocational rehabilitation process, with the purpose of optimizing their residual functional abilities in order for them to be better enabled and fitter for the workplace and to establish more independent living conditions.
(B) Educational.— Shall mean the development of the intellectual capabilities of individuals, from schooling at the primary stages of childhood to training specific to certain trade or profession which suit their interests and aptitudes.
(C) Rehabilitation.— Shall mean services offered to persons and children with physical, mental or cognitive disabilities to suit their individual needs and to develop, enhance or strengthen their capabilities, skills, abilities and attitudes, so as to enable them to train, enter, secure or advance in a job or toward more independent living conditions, while considering their interests and making informed choices.
(D) Independent living.— Shall mean the process whereby a person with a significant disability acquires greater control over his/her life, supported by informed choices, within the framework of four core services known as: information and referral, independent living skill-building training, peer counseling, and individual and system intercession.
(19) To dispose of public property declared as surplus for agricultural use or to be used for the exercise of the industrial arts and crafts, or that may be of benefit for fishing activities or for passenger public transportation, for its fair market value, to be determined through the corresponding evaluation appraisal procedure, to every farmer, aquaculturist, aviculturist, artisan, fisherman and public carrier authorized by the Public Service Commission, respectively, that may certify their status as such, as established herein.
(A) Every farmer, aquaculturist, aviculturist, artisan, fisherman and public carrier interested in acquiring surplus property for agricultural, industrial, arts and crafts, fishing or passenger public transportation purposes, respectively, shall so attest to it before the General Services Administrator through a sworn statement stating that either agriculture, the arts and crafts, the fishing trade, or the passenger public transportation, respectively, is the sole or main income source, which should be at least fifty percent (50%) of its annual gross income. Said statement shall be accompanied by a certification by the Secretary of Agriculture of Puerto Rico, in the case of farmers, aquaculturists, aviculturists, and fishermen, from the Economic Development Administration in the case of artisans, and exclusively the Public Service Commission in the case of passenger public carriers, or a certification of any association or cooperative constituted by farmers, aquaculturists, artisans or fishermen, and which is duly registered with the Department of State. The General Services Administrator shall maintain the names of the farmers, aquaculturists, aviculturists, artisans, fishermen and passenger public carriers who have registered before him to certify themselves as farmers, aquaculturists, aviculturists, artisans, fishermen or passenger public carriers. It shall be the responsibility of the Administrator to notify them whenever any surplus property becomes available for their use.
The Administrator shall adopt in its regulations on surplus property any standards and procedures for the implementation of this clause.
(B) After every agency of the Executive Branch or municipality has rejected the government property declared as surplus by the General Services Administration and which may be used for agricultural purposes or for the exercise of the industrial arts and crafts, or that may be of benefit for fishing activities or for passenger public transportation, the Administrator may consider petitions from farmers, aquaculturists, aviculturists, artisans, fishermen and passenger public carriers who have informed on their interest on said property. The General Services Administrator may sell the surplus property to any farmer, aquaculturist, aviculturist, artisan, fisherman and passenger public carrier who have requested the same pursuant the announcement published in a newspaper of general circulation of Puerto Rico. Whenever there is more than one petition for a property declared as surplus, the Administrator shall award the same through a drawing among the interested parties. The petitions shall be processed in the order received; Provided, That equipment units shall be sold to farmers, aquaculturists, aviculturists, artisans, fishermen and passenger public carriers individually, one at a time. The farmers, aquaculturists, aviculturists, artisans, fishermen and passenger public carriers shall make the payment based on the price fixed by the concerned agency or corporation as established in the first paragraph of this clause.
(C) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Autonomous Municipalities Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, §§ 4001 et seq. of Title 21, regarding the acquisition, disposition and public auction of real and personal property, competent authorities in the municipal governments shall adopt similar standards to those established herein in order to grant preference to farmers, aquaculturists, aviculturists, artisans, fishermen and passenger public carriers of their corresponding municipalities, whenever there is municipal surplus property available for agricultural use or for the exercise of the industrial arts and artisanship, or that could be useful for fishing activities or for passenger public transportation.
(D) Whenever proof is presented that the farmer, aquaculturist, aviculturist, artisan, fisherman and passenger public carrier does not have the sufficient financial means to acquire the property for its fair market value, authorization may be granted to offer discounts from taking into consideration income and family unit composition.
(E) Public corporations shall adopt similar standards to those established herein if their respective organic laws so do allow.
(20) To determine the surplus public property to be sold among the interested bidders who qualify to participate in a specific competitive bidding.
(21) To destroy specific surplus public property when its useless condition has been previously proven or the value and the amount involved warrant its destruction; delegate the power to destroy the surplus public property to the head or authorized representative of the agency, department or instrumentality legally bound to acquire and dispose of the property through the intervention of the Administration but always after determining the condition or the value and the quantity of the property involved. The Administrator shall grant the delegation, item by item, and establish through regulations the internal controls to ensure strict compliance with the terms of said delegation.
(22) To authorize any agency, department or instrumentality of the Executive Branch legally bound to make its purchases through the intervention of the Administration to acquire specific supplies or nonprofessional services on the open market.
(23) To prescribe the manner in which the supplies and nonprofessional services shall be acquired, delivered, stored and distributed.
(24) It shall be the duty of the General Services Administration to subject the approval and validation of all purchase orders, bids or goods and non-professional services acquisitions to strict compliance with the preference procurement policy set forth in Act No. 42 of August 5, 1989, known as the “Preference Procurement Policy Act of the Government of Puerto Rico” and compliance with certain measures that guarantee compliance with said policy. For such purposes, the Administration shall oversee that each of the components of the Executive Branch under its jurisdiction shall adopt cautionary measures to ensure that the mandatory application of the preference margins set forth in referenced Act No. 42 is acknowledged in each of the goods and non-professional services acquisition processes.
The Administration shall ensure that an official affirmation and acknowledgement statement of the required application of the preference procurement policy, as set forth in Act No. 42, for such procedures, is published in each of the convocation to bid or to any other procedure for the adjudication of goods and non-professional services carried out in or for the different agencies and instrumentalities of the Executive Branch under its jurisdiction. Said statement shall be expressed briefly and clearly, and shall provide an adequate notification to all bidders in such a manner that, if so entitled, said bidders may request the application of the preference percentages provided in the aforementioned Act.
The Administration shall prepare, by means of regulations approved to such effects, a document in the nature of a form, containing the foregoing statement, to be used by the agencies and instrumentalities in the procedures for the preparation of their respective convocations.
The Administration shall in turn, request from the agencies, by petition of the interested party, within a term of thirty (30) days from the awarding of the contract for the purchase or acquisition of non-professional services through formal or informal bids or open market, as a condition for the validity of the same, a certification stating that prior to said contracting, notice was served regarding the general requirements and rights granted pursuant to the Preference Procurement Policy Act to the parties interested in contracting said services or purchases, as well as of the right of each bidder to challenge the procedures if not held according to the preferences set forth in the aforementioned Act, and of the fact that all awards for goods or non-professional services not in agreement with the preference procurement provisions set forth in Act No. 42 shall be void.
The Administration is hereby empowered to rescind or annul all purchase orders, bids, or adjudication procedures of goods or services in which there was no strict compliance with the preference procurement policy that covers products and services with preferential margins pursuant to the Preference Procurement Policy Act of the Government of Puerto Rico de Puerto Rico, and in which there was not satisfactory compliance with the requirements set forth herein.
Moreover, it shall be the responsibility of the Administration to require a final certification from each agency and instrumentality stating that the same have adhered to the provisions of the Preference Procurement Act and that the aforementioned provisions have been adopted to protect the legal preferences established in favor of national products and services, as defined and set forth preferentially by said Act No. 42, prior to the approval or validation of any purchase order, bids, or informal adjudication of goods and services procedures.
(b) Confidentiality of the reports.— The reports of probable needs submitted by the agencies, departments or instrumentalities of the Executive Branch legally bound to make their purchases through the intervention of the Administration shall be confidential, except when needed for official purposes. Any official or employee who unofficially and in violation of this provision discloses said reports, their contents or any information regarding the needs stated may be dismissed from his office or employment, pursuant to the applicable precepts of Act No. 5 of October 14, 1975 and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. The sanction of dismissal shall not hinder the application of § 934c of this title, or the corresponding action for the violation of the provisions of §§ 1001—1013 of this title.
(c) Nullity of purchase or sale.— Any purchase or sale made in violation of the provisions of this section and the regulations approved hereunder shall be null and void. If public funds have been invested, they may be recovered through a civil action of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico against the official who has authorized said purchase or sale.
History —July 23, 1974, No. 164, Part 1, p. 752, § 16; Aug. 4, 1979, No. 196, p. 566, § 2; July 12, 1986, No. 120, p. 387; Sept. 6, 1996, No. 198, § 1; Dec. 3, 1998, No. 283, § 1; Nov. 16, 2002, No. 262, § 1; Sept. 3, 2003, No. 251, § 1; Dec. 12, 2007, No. 187, § 3; Aug. 13, 2008, No. 268, § 1; Dec. 1, 2010, No. 181, § 3.