Summary.
Article 1 proposes to replace Article 24 of Law 22 of 2006, as systematically arranged in its Consolidated Text of 2020. The provision addresses legal incapacity to contract with state entities. It would allow natural persons who have legal capacity under ordinary law, and legally constituted legal entities, whether domestic or foreign, to contract if none of the listed impediments applies to them. The amendment concerns public procurement and sets conditions affecting persons seeking to contract with the State.
The first circumstance covers persons in arrears on a penalty for breach of a contract or purchase order, as well as persons disqualified from contracting with the State. The second covers anyone who has taken part in any way in preparing, evaluating, awarding, or concluding a contractor selection procedure, an exceptional procurement procedure, or a special procurement procedure. The proposed wording treats those forms of participation as circumstances preventing a person from contracting with state entities.
The provision also covers persons convicted in Panama by a final court judgment and given the additional penalty of disqualification from performing public functions, together with a sanction disqualifying them from contracting with the State. It further includes persons declared to be in liquidation and persons who have supplied false information required under Law 22 of 2006. These circumstances are set out as impediments to contracting under the proposed Article 24.
For foreign legal entities, the text requires lawful incorporation under the rules of their own country and compliance with provisions of national law applicable to their activities or operations. Another circumstance applies where a contract has been terminated administratively because of negligent or intentional breach, under the procedure established by Law 22 of 2006, for as long as the disqualification lasts. The final numbered item in the supplied passage refers to natural or legal persons convicted by a final court judgment during the ten years preceding the call for the public procurement proceeding.
State entities that award contracts and natural and legal persons interested in public procurement procedures would be connected with the amendment. Its content could also affect domestic and foreign suppliers, legal entities in liquidation, and persons involved in preparing, evaluating, awarding, or concluding state procurement procedures. The text identifies Panama as the place of one of the court convictions included among the listed circumstances.
What it proposes.
- Legal capacity and impediments to contracting with state entities.
- Conditions for domestic and foreign natural and legal persons.
- Disqualification and other circumstances related to public procurement.
Who it would affect.
- Natural persons seeking to contract with state entities.
- Domestic or foreign legal entities seeking to contract with state entities.
- Contracting state entities.
Key points.
- Proposes to replace Article 24 of Law 22 of 2006 on legal incapacity to contract.Art. 1
- Would allow natural persons with legal capacity and legally constituted legal entities to contract if none of the listed circumstances applies.Art. 1
- Lists arrears on penalties arising from contracts or purchase orders and disqualification from state contracting as impediments.Art. 1
- Includes participation in preparing, evaluating, awarding, or concluding procurement procedures.Art. 1
- Covers certain final court convictions in Panama, liquidation, and false information provided as required.Art. 1
- Requires foreign legal entities to be lawfully constituted in their own country and to comply with national law applicable to their activities or operations.Art. 1
- Covers administrative termination of a contract for negligent or intentional breach while the disqualification remains in effect.Art. 1
- The final numbered item in the supplied passage refers to final court convictions during the ten years preceding the call for the public procurement proceeding.Art. 1