How to bid for public contracts in Chile.

Chile at a glance

Ley 19.886 covers the supply of goods and services. Public works follow a separate regime under the Ministry of Public Works.

Procedures and thresholds

All thresholds are set in UTM, so their peso value rises each month. Amounts below use October 2026’s UTM.

The reform also added reverse auctions, innovation contracts and competitive dialogue.

Minimum time to bid in a public tender:

• 30 days at 5,000 UTM or more;
• 20 days from 1,000 to 5,000 UTM (can be cut to 10 for simple goods and services);
• 10 days from 100 to 1,000 UTM (can be cut to 5);
• 5 days under 100 UTM.

Free trade agreements can set longer minimums for covered purchases.

Other rules:

• Evaluation committee: tenders over 1,000 UTM are evaluated by a committee of at least three officials, named before bids are opened.
• Standstill: above 5,000 UTM, the contract can’t be signed until 10 business days after the award notice.

Who can bid

Ley 19.886 expressly allows “chilenas o extranjeras”, Chilean or foreign, suppliers. To be awarded a contract you must be registered and “hábil” (eligible) in the Registro de Proveedores, with up-to-date information.

• The regulation defines a foreign supplier as a company constituted abroad, or a person, with no domicile or residence in Chile. The registry has its own “Extranjeros” category.
• No nationality price preference. Chilean law doesn’t favour Chilean products or companies on price. It does favour SMEs and local suppliers in specific ways (see below), and foreign firms register outside the SME categories.
• Consortia: a Unión Temporal de Proveedores (UTP) lets companies bid together without forming a new company. Members are jointly and severally liable and appoint a common representative. It’s the usual vehicle for a foreign firm partnering with a Chilean one. See consortium and joint venture bidding rules.

Trade agreements: Chile isn’t a party to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, but its free trade agreements open its procurement to many partners, including:

• the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Central America, Colombia, Uruguay, the original Trans-Pacific (P4) partners and the EFTA countries;
• the EU, through the EU–Chile Interim Trade Agreement, in force since 1 February 2025 with an improved procurement chapter.

Above their thresholds, these agreements add guarantees: minimum bidding periods, non-discriminatory specifications and challenge rights. Since Chilean law doesn’t discriminate by nationality anyway, companies from other countries can also bid.

Registering, step by step

1. Create a Mercado Público user and company account.
   • Chilean companies use ClaveÚnica.
   • Foreign companies create a user and register in the “Extranjeros” category, paying the registry fee through ChileCompra’s Compraquí site.
   • No Chilean RUT is needed to register.
2. Upload the documents for accreditation in the Registro de Proveedores:
   • proof of identity, nationality and domicile;
   • your incorporation document or equivalent;
   • a certificate of good standing, or equivalent;
   • proof that your representatives’ powers are in force;
   • a sworn statement that you’re not debarred by the World Bank, IDB, AIIB, EBRD or AfDB;
   • your beneficial owners: anyone with 10% or more, or effective control.
3. Simple copies are enough to register. At contracting, the buyer asks for apostilled or legalised documents, with Spanish translations of anything in another language. Start the apostille process before you need it.
4. Pay the annual or six-monthly registry fee. ChileCompra sets it by resolution, with lower rates for SMEs; check the current amount when you register.
5. Keep your information current. You must stay “hábil” through to contract signature, and foreign suppliers declare their annual sales when registering or renewing.

Bidding, step by step

1. Find opportunities on mercadopublico.cl: search tenders, set category alerts, and read buyers’ annual procurement plans.
2. Read the bases (tender rules) closely. Chile applies strict adherence to the bases, so a missing document can make a bid inadmissible. Use the tender’s Q&A forum and attend any site visits.
3. Prepare your bid online: administrative, technical and economic annexes, plus your UTP agreement if bidding as a consortium.
4. Attach a bid guarantee only if the bases require one. That’s only possible, exceptionally, in tenders over 5,000 UTM.
5. Submit before the electronic deadline. The buyer may ask you to correct formal errors, but price errors can’t be corrected.
6. Evaluation and award. Evaluation follows the criteria in the bases, and the award decision is published on Mercado Público.
7. Sign the contract (electronic signature is allowed) and provide the performance guarantee. Apostilled documents are due at this stage.
8. Deliver, receive the purchase order and invoice. You’re paid within 30 days (see below).

If you win, you’ll usually need a Chilean RUT, and often a local entity or agent, to issue Chilean electronic invoices. Plan your tax set-up early.

Guarantees and payment

Bid guarantee (garantía de seriedad): only exceptionally, for public-interest reasons, in tenders over 5,000 UTM, and capped at 3% of the tender amount.

Performance guarantee (garantía de fiel cumplimiento):

• Mandatory for contracts over 1,000 UTM, at 5% of the final net price. It can be higher for abnormally low bids or risky contracts.
• Below 1,000 UTM, the buyer may still require it, with reasons.
• For service contracts it stays valid for at least 60 business days after the contract ends, and also secures workers’ wages and social security.

Form: any instrument that’s payable at sight, irrevocable and on first demand, paper or electronic. In practice that’s usually a bank guarantee, a vale vista or a first-demand insurance policy. The bases can’t restrict you to one type of instrument.

Payment: within 30 calendar days of the buyer receiving your invoice. The bases or contract can extend this to 60 days, but only with stated reasons.

Evaluation and preferences

• Criteria: evaluation weighs economic and technical factors over the contract’s life, such as price, experience, methodology, quality, after-sales service and delivery time. The bases must state a tie-break rule.
• Sustainability: the reform added value-for-money and life-cycle principles, and buyers must consult the circular-economy platform.
• Complementary criteria can reward social-economy firms, gender equality, women’s leadership and under-represented groups. They must weigh less than the technical and economic criteria and can’t exclude anyone.
• SME and local preferences:
  • Compra Ágil is reserved for SMEs and local suppliers.
  • Municipalities and regional governments may give local-supplier points in tenders under 500 UTM.
  • Framework catalogues can be zoned by region.

Challenging a decision

1. Complaint on Mercado Público (optional): within 5 business days of learning of the problem. The buyer must answer within 5 business days, and filing pauses the court deadline.
2. Tribunal de Contratación Pública: a specialised procurement court. Filing is electronic, within a strict 10 business days of when you knew, or should have known, of the problem.
   • Since the reform it hears disputes during contract execution as well as during the tender, plus registry decisions and actions to annul contracts.
   • It doesn’t award damages.
3. Appeal to the Santiago Court of Appeals within 10 business days. The judgment isn’t suspended while the appeal runs.

What changed in 2025–2026

• The reform’s first full years. Ley 21.634 and Decreto 661/2024 took effect on 12 December 2024, bringing:
  • Compra Ágil written into law and reserved for SMEs and local firms;
  • new procedures, including innovation contracts, competitive dialogue, reverse auctions and Compra por Cotización;
  • mandatory registry eligibility with beneficial-owner disclosure;
  • a wider remit for the Tribunal.
• EU–Chile Interim Trade Agreement in force from 1 February 2025, improving access for EU bidders.
• The Tribunal now sits in two chambers (2025), with new judges appointed in 2026.
• UTM values keep rising (CLP 72,151 in October 2026), so every threshold’s peso value moves each month.

Live Chilean tenders

For the other side of the market, see which countries can bid on which government tenders.

Questions

Sources

• Ley 19.886 on public procurement (BCN LeyChile, consolidated text)
• ChileCompra: Registro de Proveedores del Estado
• ChileAtiende: registering as a supplier on Mercado Público
• ChileCompra: procurement chapters of Chile’s free trade agreements
• SII: UTM values 2026
• EU Access2Markets: EU–Chile Interim Trade Agreement

This guide explains the rules in plain English; it isn’t legal advice. Procurement rules change, and each tender document sets its own conditions — it always prevails.