2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 38 - General Services Administration (§§ 931 — 934d) › Subchapter III - Functions and Programs of the Administration (§§ 933 — 933m) › § 933g - Program for the use of space and lease of offices

(a) No department, agency or public corporation of the Government of Puerto Rico, except the municipalities and those public corporations whose organic acts provide otherwise, created or which may be created in the future, may move or acquire new premises for the installation of offices or for any other purpose, without the prior approval of the Administration. The latter may exempt from the aforesaid approval, such agencies, types of premises, and make such other exemptions as it may deem convenient. The Administrator shall establish, by regulation, the conditions and proceedings pursuant to which any exemption shall be granted.
In approving the contracts for the leasing of premises submitted to his consideration, the Administrator shall see to the compliance with the basic norms of the necessity of space that he shall adopt which shall include directives to determine the needs of the government body in relation to:
(1) Existing and projected programs, personnel and equipment.
(2) Physical conditions of the proposed premises, as compared with the one it is occupying and the actual need for space and future necessities reasonably foreseen.
(3) Adequate location of the government agency according to the programs of work it undertakes and its basic responsibilities.
(4) The determination of cost, which should be made in consideration to the most economical methods compatible with the interest of the Government so that the service be efficiently rendered. Every lease contract submitted for the approval of the Administrator shall be accompanied by a certificate of the head of the petitioning government agency or his authorized representative, establishing that steps were taken to obtain the most reasonable rent possible.
In the cases of moving, this provision shall be applicable only when the rent of the new premises to be acquired is higher than the rent paid by said government agencies for the premises they occupy.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall not authorize disbursements for the payment of lease contracts of newly acquired premises unless said leases have been previously approved by the Administrator or his representative.
For the purposes of this section, “premises” shall mean any type of physical space and facilities for the installation of offices or for any other purposes among which the following may be mentioned, without it being understood as a limitation: public schools and buildings complementary to public schools, libraries, bookstores, students and teachers residences; multiple service centers such as cafeterias, meeting and amusement rooms; public hospitals, nursing and convalescing homes and buildings complementary to said hospitals such as nurses residences, cafeterias, laundry and physical and vocational rehabilitation centers.
(b) The heads of the government agencies are hereby authorized, subject to the provisions of this chapter, to grant lease contracts on premises for official use for terms of more than one (1) year, but not to exceed five (5) years, subject to the following:
Prior to their execution, these contracts shall be submitted for approval of the Administrator, of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget and of the Secretary of the Treasury, in that order, who shall establish the procedure to be followed in seeking the approval of each one of them, respectively. The intervention of the Secretary of the Treasury and of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall be as to the correction of the obligations and the availability of funds, respectively. If the premises to be leased are located in the United States or in any foreign country, the term may be for up to a maximum of ten (10) years, subject to the requirements and conditions herein established and any others that, by regulation, may be established by the Administrator, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Bureau of the Budget.
(c) Lease contracts on premises shall only be executed for terms of more than five (5) years and up to a maximum of thirty (30) years, if they meet the requirements that by joint regulation, may be established by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget and the Administrator, provided that there be involved buildings of new construction the cost of which exceeds two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) or the rent of which exceeds twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000) annually, including also those buildings already constructed and not yet leased and those which on the effective date of this act are under construction and are leased to the Government within the term of one (1) year after approval thereof, upon authorization of the Administrator. In adopting the norms that shall regulate said contracts, the following general directives shall be taken into consideration:
(1) Any lease contract for a term of more than five (5) years shall be submitted to a call for bids.
(2) The petitioning agency shall submit, after a call for bids, evidence warranting that the use to which the premises shall be devoted justify the term requested for the lease and that the Public Buildings Authority does not have available the facilities sought. The petition shall be accompanied by a certificate of the Director of the Authority.
The joint regulation shall establish the acceptable justifications which shall be as specific as possible. These justifications shall be adopted on recommendation of the Public Buildings Authority.
(3) The call for bids and the public auction procedure shall be under the charge of the Public Buildings Authority.
The calls for bids shall be approved, prior to their publication, by the Administrator, by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Bureau of the Budget.
(4) There shall be a Bidding Board in charge of the award of the bids which shall adopt the rules for the auction procedure and it shall be composed of the Administrator, the Executive Director of the Public Buildings Authority, the Secretary or Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, the Director or Assistant Director of the Bureau of the Budget and the Director of the agency, department or public corporation for whom the building on bid shall be constructed.
(5) The Board shall hold a public auction to select the developer of the project. In considering the proposals, it shall take into consideration the price, design and quality of the facilities offered. The Board may award the contract to the bidder who, in its opinion, and taking into account the aforementioned factors, offers the best facilities for the price which may be most convenient. It shall not be necessary to submit final blueprints of construction in this auction, it being sufficient to present complete preliminary drawings covering all the phases of the project such as architecture, structure, electricity, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing, including the corresponding specifications approved by the Regulations and Permits Administration.
The price offered in making the proposal shall be binding on the bidder except when it is shown, to the entire satisfaction of the Board, that certain conditions have arisen which could not be reasonably foreseen at the time of making the bid and that they have caused a rise in the cost of the project.
In such cases the Board shall make the corresponding readjustments in the price.
For the purposes of this section, “developer” shall mean the natural or artificial person who shall promote the project, organizing the work of each professional sector that may be necessary and he shall execute the lease contract with the Government. He should be at the time of the contract with the Government, owner of the land, except in such cases where the Government is the owner thereof.
(6) In any lease contract for a term of more than five (5) years, a clause shall be included in which the government agency is granted the option to acquire the right of ownership on the building, during the life of the lease, subject to the terms and conditions agreed upon at the execution of said contract.
(7) When the structure shall have been constituted on land belonging to the Commonwealth or any instrumentality covered by this chapter, the latter may choose to sell the land to the owner of the project or permit the construction without selling the land, in which case the value of the land, as established in the call for bids, shall be deducted from the rent, by means of a formula agreed upon and subject always to the other provisions of this chapter.
(8) In the case that the land is reserved for public use, the property owner thereof may also make a bid. If the contract is awarded to another bidder, the latter shall pay the market value of said land to the property owner.
(9) No provisions herein shall be understood to bar the Public Buildings Authority from leasing buildings or premises for a term of up to thirty (30) years and then sublease them to other government agencies.
(d) There shall be included in the Operating Budget of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico the necessary amounts for the payment of the rental rates corresponding to the contracts executed. If no funds are appropriated for such purposes in any year, the rent due shall be paid from any funds in the Commonwealth [Treasury] not otherwise appropriated.
History —July 23, 1974, No. 164, Part 1, p. 752, § 22; May 19, 1976, No. 50, p. 132, § 1; June 20, 1977, No. 78, p. 160, § 1; June 4, 1978, No. 33, p. 128, § 1.