REGULATION
NUMBER 33
Radicado en el Departamento
de Estado
No. 6309
Fecha: 9 de abril de 2001
ON THE REGISTRY OF CONTRACTS,
DEEDS, AND RELATED DOCUMENTS AND THE SENDING
OF COPIES TO THE OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER
ARTICLE 1 - Title
This regulation shall be known
as Regulation Num. 33 on the Registry of Contracts,
Deeds, and Related Documents and the Sending
of Copies to the Office of the Comptroller.
Article 2 - Legal Base
and Purpose
This regulation is adopted
and promulgated in virtue of the authority
conferred upon the Comptroller of Puerto
Rico by Public Law Num. 18 of October 30,
1975, as amended (2 LPRA. Secs. 97 and 98).
This law requires that the departments, agencies,
instrumentalities, offices, and all other
government bodies and municipalities of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico keep a registry
of all contracts, deeds, and related documents
that they execute, including amendments to
same. It also requires that a copy of these
be sent to the Office of the Comptroller
of Puerto Rico, within the term established
by law.
This regulation is adopted
in order to establish the general rules and
procedures that are to be followed by all
government entities in preparing the above
registry and in filing copies of contracts,
deeds, and related documents in the Office
of the Comptroller. Also established are
the rules and procedures to be followed by
the Office of the Comptroller in the administration
of the registry, public examination of the
documents, and the issuance of copies. Lastly,
it is provided that the Comptroller shall
issue circular letters on more specific guidelines
concerning the provisions of this regulation.
Upon approval, this regulation supersedes the
regulation on the same matter approved on October
16, 1992, subsequently amended on July 16,
1993.
Article 3 - Definitions
1. Government entities
- Shall include all departments, agencies,
offices, and other entities and municipalities
of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It
shall also include all public corporations,
their subsidiaries, or any government entity
that has its own legal standing, created
by virtue of law or that shall be created
in the future.
2. Waiver - The legal
exception, from an order or prohibition
provided by law or regulation, granted
by any government entity, due to special
consideration.
3. Personal professional
services - Those services which principally
consist of intellectual, creative or artistic
work, or the handling of highly technical
university level skills and specializations.
Article 4 - Registry
Each government entity shall
keep a registry of all contracts, deeds,
and related documents that it executes, as
well as any amendment to same, agreement,
determination, certificate, or action that
resolves or annuls it.
Article 5 - Content of
the Registry
All contracts, deeds, and
related documents, including all amendments
and determinations that resolve or annul
the contract, shall be noted in said registry
in the order of the number assigned and the
date executed. The registry shall be identified
by volume and page and shall contain the
following information:
1) Government entity
2) Number of the contract,
deed or related document. This number shall
consists of the last of the fiscal year in
which the contract, deed or related document
is executed, followed by the number which
indicates the order in which it was received
that year, in progressive order beginning
with one (1). Amendments shall carry the
same year and record number assigned to the
contract or main document and shall be identified
with a letter from A to Z. The Office of
the Comptroller may authorize a different
numbering system to be used when the circumstances
so require. To do so, the principal official
in charge of the government entity in question
must submit a prior justified written request,
addressed to the Comptroller.
3) Date of execution
4) Contractor
5) Federal social
security number or employer account
6) Total or monthly
value or amount involved. May be an estimate
7) Volume and page
of the registry.
8) Purpose of the
contract, deed, or related document
9) Effectiveness.
Must indicate the starting and ending dates
10) Exempted. This
shall indicate whether or not the contract
is exempt from filing, as provided in Article
9-a of this Regulation. If it is exempt,
the reason for not filing same shall be identified
by using the exception number, as indicated
in Article 9-a.
11) Approval or waiver.
It shall indicate whether or not it is a
contract that requires prior approval or
waiver from any government entity in order
to be executed.
Article 6 - Filing in the
Office of the Comptroller
a. Each government entity
shall send to the Office of the Comptroller
of Puerto Rico a copy of all contracts, deeds,
and related documents which it executes fifteen
(15) days after the date of execution, except
those that are excluded by Article 9-a of
this Regulation.
-
The fifteen (15) day
period shall be extended to thirty (30)
days when the contract, deed, and related
document is executed outside Puerto Rico.
It shall be understood that said contract,
deed, or related document is executed
outside of Puerto Rico when signed by
all the appearing parties outside Puerto
Rico, or when the last one to sign does
so outside of Puerto Rico.
-
When justifiable cause
is shown, the Office of the Comptroller
may extend the fifteen (15) or thirty
(30) day period, as applicable, for fifteen
(15) additional days.
b. Copies of all contracts,
deeds, or related documents shall be true
and exact copies of the original in the power
of the executing government entity. True
and exact copies shall also be considered
to be those that are submitted by electronic
means, according to the filing procedures
established by the Office of the Comptroller.
The copies must also include the number assigned
and the date of execution. When it is a question
of deeds on the acquisition or disposal of
real property, a copy of all contracts and
documents related to the transaction shall
also be sent.
Article 7 - Conservation
of Documents by the Goverment Entity
It shall be the responsibility
of each government entity to keep, in the official
file, the original of each contract, deed and
related document, in addition to the following:
-
Copy of any document that
forms part of or is referred to in the
contract, deed, or document, including
supporting documentation on the holding
of auctions, conditions, plans and specifications.
-
Copy of documents of previous
approval or waiver, when these are a requirement
for executing the contract in question.
Article 8 - Acknowledgment
of Receipt by the Office of the Comptroller
The Office of the Comptroller
of Puerto Rico will notify the government agency
upon receipt of any filing.
Article 9 - Contracts Excluded
from Filing
-
It shall not be necessary
to send the Office of the Comptroller a
copy of the following contracts:
1) Occasional
personal services for a non-extendable
period of less than six months, and for
a cost of less than two thousand (2,000)
dollars.
Occasional is understood
to mean services that are rendered from
time to time, without any noticeable link
to previous or subsequent contracts.
2) Personal
professional services for a non-extendable
term of one year or less, and when these
services do not constitute a position or
employment and the cost does not exceed
five thousand (5,000) dollars.
Professional services
are understood to be those that require
technical or specialized, university level
knowledge in the areas or fields covered
by the contract.
It is understood that
a position or employment exists when there
are a set of duties and responsibilities
that require the employment of a natural
person and the employment of that person
is of a regular, continuous and stable
nature. That the person who carries out
such duties and responsibilities acquires
right and prerogatives, such as leaves
of absence for vacation and sickness, being
covered by the State Insurance Fund, participation
in a retirement system, and others established
by law.
3) For
works, the costs of which do not exceed
two thousand (2,000) dollars.
4) Those
that are awarded through public auction,
with the exception of those related to
construction projects or works.
The concept of construction
projects or works shall include, but is
not limited to, repairs, reconstructions,
extensions, improvements, new constructions
and preliminary studies during the planning
or surveying stages.
5) For the acquisition
of goods or services through the procedure
established in Public Law Number 164, of
July 23, 1974, known as the General Services
Administration Act, as amended, (3 L.P.R.A.
Sec. 931 et seq.).
6) For the acquisition
of goods or services through the procedure
established in the regulations on procurement
and supplies of the government entities
authorized by law to make purchases without
the intervention of the General Services
Administration.
7) For services,
leases, mortgages and sales executed by
government entities repeatedly, continuously
and habitually in compliance with their
principal regular functions, set forth
on preprinted forms and any others with
the same characteristics. In these contracts
or deeds, the only difference between one
and the other of a same class shall be
the party with whom the agency contracts,
the description of the object, the effective
date and the amount of money involved.
The latter must be adjusted to and determined
by the rates or appraisals previously approved
by the agency.
A sample copy of each
type of these contracts or deeds, and the
amendments, shall be sent to the Comptroller
of Puerto Rico. With them should be sent
a certification from the head of the government
entity, or his/her representative, attesting
to the date on which it began to be used
and accompanied by a copy of the pertinent
rates, or appraisal.
8) Right of
way [Easement] deeds in the name of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any of
its political agencies or subdivisions,
for which an amount of no more than one
thousand (1,000) dollars has been paid.
9) Any other contract
that the Comptroller determines need not
be sent to him.
b. Contracts
that need not be sent to the Office of the
Comptroller as per this Article shall always
be noted in the Registry of Contracts of
the government entity.
Article 10 - Registry of
Contracts, Deeds and Documents in the Office
of the Comptroller
a. Once the documentation
required by this regulation and by any other
guideline currently in effect is received,
it shall be recorded in the registry that
shall be kept by the Office of the Comptroller
for said purpose. Said registry shall contain
the following information:
1) Name of the government
entity.
2) Identification number
assigned to the entity.
3) Number assigned to
the document by the entity.
4) Record number that
corresponds to the document filed.
5) Date recorded.
6) Date of execution.
7) Effective life, including
the starting and ending dates.
8) Value or monthly or
total amount.
9) Purpose of the contract,
deed or related document.
10) Federal social security
number or employer account.
11) Name of contractor.
12) Whether or not
the contract requires prior approval or
waiver by any government agency in order
to be executed.
13) The registry
volume and page on which it was entered
by the executing government entity.
b. This record shall be
kept for a period of six (6) years.
c. Copies of the contracts,
deeds, and related documents, or amendments
which at the date that this Regulation goes
into effect are filed in the archives of
the Office of the Comptroller shall be kept
for a period of six (6) years, beginning
from the date filed in the Office of the
Comptroller.
d. Copies of contracts,
deeds, and related documents that are notified
after the effective date of this regulation
shall be kept for a period of six (6) years.
Article 11 - Examination
by the Public and Issuance of Copies
a. Copies
of contracts, deeds, and related documents
filed in the Office of the Comptroller by
virtue of this regulation, may be examined
by the public during working hours. The Office
shall provide reasonable access and accommodations
to any person who so requests it as a result
of physical disability.
b. The Office
of the Comptroller, at the request of the
interested party, shall issue a copy of any
document kept in this record. The applicant
shall pay the cost of said copies in internal
revenue stamps, pursuant to the provisions
of the Public Law of March 12, 1908, as amended.
When a court or official of the state or
municipal government requests a copy for
official use, said copy should be exempt
from payment.
Article 12 - Responsibilities
of Goverment Entities
Nothing stipulated in this
regulation relieves government entities from
their legal obligations to keep the original
copies of the contracts.
Article 13 - Circular Letters
The Office of the Comptroller
shall issue Circular Letters in order to establish
the guidelines it considers appropriate so
that the government entities can comply with
this Regulation. This includes, but is not
limited to, issuing model forms adopted for
the recording and procedures related to the
documents, and requiring the corresponding
certifications. It also includes requesting
copies of contracts, deeds, and related documents
by using diskettes or other electronic means
considered to be appropriate, in accordance
with technological advances.
The Comptroller shall also
provide, through circular letters, the starting
date for sending copies by diskette or the
corresponding electronic means. Meanwhile,
the same system for copies on paper shall continue
to be used, as provided in Regulation Num.
33, approved on October 16, 1992, as amended.
Article 14 - Repeal
This regulation repeals and
supersedes Regulation Num. 33 on the Recording
of Government Contracts and the Sending of
Copies to the Office of the Comptroller, of
October 16, 1992, as amended. Regulation 33
was filed in the Department of State on October
16, 1992 and was assigned record number 4807.
The amendment was filed in the Department of
State on July 16, 1993 and was assigned number
4945.
Article 15 - Sfeguard Clause
If any court with competent
jurisdiction declares any Article, provision
or phrase of this Regulation null and void,
this shall not nullify the rest of the regulation,
which shall remain in effect.
Article 16 - Effectiveness
This Regulation shall go into
effect thirty (30) days after being filed in
the Department of State.
Approved in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, today January 28, 1998.
Fdo.
Manuel Díaz Saldaña
Comptroller
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