Título I

This Law has the purpose of regulating purchases, sales, contracting, leases or any other modality of public acquisition carried out by:

a)The State Bodies;

b)Decentralized and autonomous entities, including the municipalities;

c)Entities or enterprises, whatever their form of organization, whose capital is comprised mostly of contributions from the State;

d)Non-Governmental Organizations and any non-profit entity that receives, administers or executes public funds. Parent Organizations -OPF- are excepted.

e)All entities of any nature that have as a source of income, whether totally or partially, resources, subsidies or contributions from the State, with respect thereto;

f)Trusts constituted with public funds and social funds;

g)The other institutions that form part of the public sector.

The foregoing entities are subject to this Law, its regulation and the procedures established by the General Directorate for State Acquisitions of the Ministry of Public Finance, within the scope of its competence, with regard to the use of public funds. The regulation shall establish the applicable procedures for the case of the entities included in subparagraphs d), e) and f).

2016 of the Congress of the Republic). In the acquisition processes carried out with resources from external loans derived from public credit operations or donations in favor of the State, its dependencies, institutions or municipalities, the policies and procedures established by the financing entities or donors shall apply, such provisions being considered as a special rule. The provisions of this Law that do not affect or contradict the acquisition policies and procedures established by the financing entities or donors shall be applied in a complementary manner. If said financing entities or donors have no regulation established for such purpose, the provisions of this Law shall apply. In all acquisitions carried out with resources from external loans derived from public credit operations, a competitive bidding process shall be complied with, under the responsibility of the executing body. In all cases, the State Contracting and Acquisitions Information System, called GUATECOMPRAS, shall be used. In the case of physical works, all disclosure indicators of the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (COST for its acronym in English) must be respected and complied with.

Congress of the Republic). The provisions contained in the preceding paragraph shall be applicable, likewise, in cases where there is a national cash counterpart.

The acquisition of goods, personal and non-personal services and supplies is authorized between the dependencies of the State bodies and between the latter and decentralized, autonomous entities, executing units and municipalities, which shall be regulated as established by the regulation of this law.

The State agencies, decentralized and autonomous entities, executing units and the municipalities referred to in Article One, may solicit offers even if the budgetary allocations to cover payments are not available. For the final award and signing of the contract, the existence of a budget line item and budgetary credits guaranteeing the resources necessary to make payments for the execution progress to be performed in the corresponding fiscal year shall be required. Once offers have been solicited, the budgetary allocation may not be transferred for another purpose, unless it is proven that the resources will not be used during the fiscal year in force to cover execution progress. When the contract remains in force during several fiscal years, the contracting entity must secure the corresponding budgetary allocations.

Contravention of the provisions of this article makes the corresponding public officials or employees liable as established in Article 83 of this Law, without prejudice to any other liabilities that may apply.

For the effective application of the present law, public entities, before the start of the fiscal year, shall schedule the purchases, supplies and contracting to be made during the same.

The State Contracting and Procurement Information System denominated GUATECOMPRAS is a system for transparency and efficiency in public procurement. Its consultation shall be public, unrestricted and free of charge, and it shall provide information in electronic and open-data formats on the mechanisms and provisions regulated in this Law and its Regulation.

The system shall be developed, administered and regulated by the Ministry of Public Finance, which is the governing body of the system, and it shall be used by all subjects obligated under this Law, for purchases, sales, contracting, leases or any other modality of public procurement. Therein shall be published information relating to all phases of the public procurement process, as well as the codifications or catalogues established for public procurement.

The GUATECOMPRAS system shall provide the necessary tools for information to be published and supplied in a complete and timely manner, as established by the governing body, continuously and dynamically incorporating the electronic tools and forms necessary for each phase of public procurement processes, including contracting, performance and settlement. The electronic and digital information to be published in the system shall include, but shall not be limited to: calls to submit bids, receipt of bids, clarifications, objections, responses, modifications, bids, awards, contracts and their modifications, variations or extensions, surety insurance and any document supporting the procurement file until completion of the procurement process. No public official shall limit, alter or restrict the public information that the GUATECOMPRAS system must contain.

Subjects obligated in accordance with this Law shall publish in the GUATECOMPRAS system the information that the current regulations establish as mandatory requirements, within the time limits established in the rules, regulatory provisions and the respective decisions.

Use of electronic forms is mandatory in all public procurement processes.

Public procurement schedules and their modifications shall be published in GUATECOMPRAS, and may be adjusted when necessary by the higher authority, by means of a duly justified decision.

The GUATECOMPRAS system shall allow access to other registries and systems related to public procurement.

or for its deduction. In the case of imported goods, non-compliance by GUATECOMPRAS users with the provisions of this article shall be sanctioned as provided in Article 83 of this Law.

In the case of physical works, all disclosure indicators of the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (COST for its acronym in English) must be respected and complied with, to increase transparency and accountability in the public-works construction sector, through the disclosure of key information, that allows the adoption of international procedures and good practices, to exercise more efficient control in the contracting and execution of public works.

The regulation of this Law shall establish the conditions related to this matter.

The State bodies and the entities referred to in Article 1 of this law may, by exception, directly import goods when:

a)The value in each case does not exceed the amount established for acquisitions under the quotation regime;

b)They are not produced in the country, or are produced in insufficient quantity for the respective need;

c)There is no stock of imported origin, nor representatives of suppliers or distributors duly accredited in the national market, or, where such exist, the price of importing them directly, including customs duties, taxes, insurance, fares, per diems and other attributable expenses, is lower than that of the same goods in the national market.

In the case of supply of imported goods, the exchange rate for the purchase of foreign currency in effect eight (8) days before the submission of the offer shall be taken into account. The regulation shall specifically determine matters relating to the application of this article and its limitations.

The bids and contracts submitted and/or signed for the supply of goods and services, for the contracting of works, must contain the unit price of each of the line items comprising them, expressed in quetzales, in both figures and words, where applicable.

Price fluctuation means the upward change (increase) or downward change (decrease) undergone by the costs of goods, supplies, services and works, on the basis of the prices appearing in the awardees' offer and incorporated into the contract, which shall be recognized by the parties and accepted by them for payment; in addition, the exchange differential and cost variations shall be taken as a basis. In any case, the procedure established by the regulation of this Law shall be followed.

Except where a fixed price is agreed in the contracting conditions, when an adjustment for price fluctuation is made, the entities subject to this Law shall prepare a detailed report justifying such adjustment. This report shall be published in GUATECOMPRAS and shall constitute an annex to the original contract.

The National Institute of Statistics -INE- shall prepare and publish monthly in GUATECOMPRAS and on its website the reference prices or average prices, wages and indices required in the open contract and reverse electronic auction modalities.

Entities subject to this Law are obligated to provide price information for goods and services in the form and with the frequency required by the National Institute of Statistics -INE-.

In the case of imported goods and supplies, the price shall be established by a commission composed of a representative of the National Institute of Statistics -INE-, a representative of the Superintendency of Tax Administration -SAT-, and a representative of the interested entities.

The contracting authority shall request from the National Institute of Statistics -INE- the prices and indices necessary for open contract and reverse electronic auction processes. The regulation shall establish the form and specifications in which these requests shall be made. The National Institute of Statistics -INE- shall publish monthly in GUATECOMPRAS, on its website and through the means available to it, the methodological notes and procedures used.

The authorities, in accordance with this Law, shall be responsible for ensuring that the prices and indices applied in the other public procurement modalities correspond to prices in a market under competitive conditions. The authorities shall be responsible for ensuring that in the GUATECOMPRAS system all documents supporting the prices used in the award of competitions or used in non-competitive or exception-based modalities are published.

The National Institute of Statistics -INE- shall advise entities on standard methodologies for calculating price indices and other technical instruments inherent to its specialty and area of competence.

Within the framework of its mandate and competence, the Comptroller General of Accounts shall audit compliance with these provisions.