The Comptroller General of the Republic has reformed the Regulations on the Endorsement of Public Administration Contracts. This reform defines the responsibilities of the Comptroller’s Office in relation to the enactment of the General Public Procurement Law. The obligation to migrate to electronic endorsement through the Unified Digital System (SICOP) is highlighted, and deadlines and procedures are established for the endorsement of contracts by the Comptroller’s Office and the internal endorsement of the institutions. The Comptroller’s Office will only be in charge of approving the contracts as a requirement of effectiveness. The reform also specifies the contracts subject to endorsement and the cases in which the price adjustment or review mechanism will be analyzed as part of the endorsement process.

Among the main elements that are modified in the Regulation, the following can be pointed out:

• It is clearly defined that the function of the Comptroller’s Office, when it comes to endorsements that fall within its competence, will only be to approve the contract, constituting a requirement of effectiveness and not an inspection or annulment of the award; as well as the scope of its review.
• It is exhaustively defined which contracts are subject to endorsement by the Comptroller’s Office.
• It also provides in which cases the Comptroller’s Office will analyze the price readjustment or review mechanism, as part of the endorsement process.
• The deadlines for resolving the endorsement request are established, as well as its suspensions.
• Those contracts that require internal endorsement from the Administration are listed, establishing the procedure for this.
• Finally, through transitory I, it establishes guidelines for the endorsement of contracts derived from public bidding and abbreviated bidding, with signature award acts as of December 1.

The reform to the Regulation can be consulted at the following link: https://www.imprentanacional.go.cr/gaceta/

For more information contacto to:

Juan Carlos Tristán | Partner BLP | jtristan@blplegal.com