Every step to bid in Colombia.

This is the checklist behind a bid in Colombia: every account, certificate and signature a tender involves, in roughly the order you need them, with who may lawfully handle each one. How Colombian procurement works overall (procedures and thresholds in SMMLV, national-industry points, Mipyme-only calls, guarantee amounts and challenges) is in How to bid for public contracts in Colombia.

Before you bid

1. Your supplier account on SECOP II. Almost every public contract is commented on, bid for and signed on SECOP II, run by the Agencia Nacional de Contratación Pública – Colombia Compra Eficiente (ANCP-CCE). Opening the account takes three steps:

• The administrator user: the first person registers a personal user, the usuario administrador. It must be someone at your company, your legal representative or an employee, using their own email and password and accepting the Terms and Conditions.
• The supplier account: that user creates the account (name, NIT, Mipyme size, the women-owned flag, the legal representative) and uploads the registration documents: a capacity-indicator certificate, a list of your experience, your last audited financial statements signed by the legal representative, and an authorisation for entities to query databases, which you sign.
• Other users: anyone else who will work on your bids registers their own user and requests access; the administrator accepts it.
• Cost, time and validity: free and active as soon as it is completed, with no further validation by CCE; it lasts indefinitely, as long as you keep the data and documents updated.
• From abroad: the same steps, choosing your country and organisation type. You need no RUP or Colombian NIT to open the account; the home tax ID is used.

2. The RUP (Registro Único de Proponentes), if you are domiciled or have a branch in Colombia. Kept by the chamber of commerce of your principal domicile (any chamber can receive the request), it certifies your experience by UNSPSC code and your legal, financial and organisational capacity, and entities verify those requirements only from the RUP certificate. It is not needed for contratación directa, mínima cuantía, health services, the sale of state assets, agricultural goods on commodity exchanges, the commercial activities of state industrial and commercial companies, or concessions.

• Cost: on the 2026 national tariff (Decreto 1074, article 2.2.2.46.1.7), registration or renewal COP 831,000 (68.58 UVB), an update COP 444,000, and a certificate COP 75,000.
• Time: the chambers publish no verification time, and an entry becomes firm only after a 10-business-day public challenge window following publication.
• Validity: a year. Renew by the 5th business day of April, or the RUP lapses and must be filed again.
• Who does it: a contador, with a lawyer for the legal-capacity points, assembles the file: UNSPSC codes at the third level, experience certificates from third parties or the contracts themselves, financial statements signed by the legal representative and the revisor fiscal or contador, the size certificate and the group or control certificate. Your legal representative signs the application form and the certificates.
• From abroad: not required without a domicile or branch in Colombia; the entity checks capacity directly from your bid. Once you open a branch, the branch registers and renews its RUP using the parent company’s financial information.

3. The certificado de existencia y representación legal. The chamber-of-commerce certificate proving that your company exists, its corporate purpose, who its legal representative is and any limits on their powers. Anyone can order it online, the same day, with your NIT. The pliego sets how old it may be at closing (60 calendar days for a Mipyme-limitation request). Check that the limits on your representative’s powers cover the value of the bid.

4. Financial statements and capacity indicators. Audited statements with notes, signed by your legal representative and your revisor fiscal (or contador). Entities measure liquidity, debt, interest coverage, ROE and ROA from them. For RUP holders the indicators come from the RUP, using the best of the last 3 fiscal years. Their timing depends on your year-end audit, and they are renewed each year.

5. Certificates that open doors or earn bonus points. Each is free, self-issued the same day, and co-signed by your legal representative and your contador or revisor fiscal:

• Mipyme size certificate (size ranges of Ley 590 de 2000 and Decreto 1074; the RUP certificate can prove it instead). It lets a Colombian Mipyme at least 1 year old ask for a Mipyme-only call and earn Mipyme bonus points. The request must be made at least 1 business day before the opening act, with chamber or RUP certificates dated no more than 60 calendar days before the request window.
• Women-owned or women-led enterprise certificate: more than 50% of the shares held by women for at least 1 year, or at least 50% of management posts held by women. It earns bonus points (up to 0.25%) and differential requirements in licitación, selección abreviada de menor cuantía and concurso de méritos, for enterprises domiciled in Colombia.
• Workers-with-disability certificate: issued by the Ministerio del Trabajo on your request as employer. It earns up to 2% under Decreto 0287 de 2026, is checked at bid and during the contract, and the headcount must be kept up throughout.

6. Your RUT and NIT. The DIAN tax register gives you the NIT used for invoicing, payment and Colombian tax obligations. Colombian companies have it before bidding; it is free and needs no renewal, only updates. A contador or lawyer can file it as your apoderado.

7. The RPBN, for goods made in Colombia. The Registro de Productores de Bienes Nacionales of the Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo, filed through VUCE, proves your goods are national in goods tenders where the national-industry points depend on origin. Your legal representative signs the form under oath with a digital certificate from a certification entity authorised by the SIC. It lasts 1 year; renew one month before expiry.

8. Framework agreements. To sell through the Tienda Virtual del Estado Colombiano (TVEC), you must first win CCE’s own tender for that framework agreement, which asks for a bid bond of 1,000 SMMLV. Your legal representative then signs the agreement, and you answer entities’ quotation requests in the catalogue for its term.

With your bid

9. The cover letter and the pliego’s forms. The carta de presentación de la oferta and the standard formats are how you present the offer and make the pliego’s declarations. They can be ready the same day and are signed by your legal representative, or by an apoderado under a poder especial. Under CCE’s concept C-011 de 2026, an offer can be rejected for a missing signature only if the pliego expressly makes that a rejection ground.

10. A poder especial, where someone else signs or submits. It authorises an apoderado, often a local lawyer, to submit the offer and act for you; pliegos often ask foreign bidders without a branch to appoint one domiciled in Colombia.

• Form: your legal representative signs it with a nota de presentación personal before a notary, the only formality CCE allows entities to demand for powers.
• Time and validity: 1–3 days to sign, plus apostille time if signed abroad; valid for the process or period stated in it.
• From abroad: sign before a notary at home and have it apostilled, or sign at a Colombian consulate.

11. A consorcio or unión temporal agreement, for joint bids. It names the joint representative and, for a unión temporal, each member’s share and scope. A lawyer drafts it, each member’s legal representative (or apoderado) signs, and it is uploaded with the offer; allow 1–5 days. On SECOP II a plural bidder account is created, and the members’ users can act in it.

12. The parafiscales certificate (article 50, Ley 789 de 2002). It states that your company has paid health, pension, occupational-risk, family-compensation-fund, ICBF and SENA contributions for its staff for at least the last 6 months; pliegos usually ask for the 6 months before closing. It is needed to sign, renew or close out a public contract, and it is drafted from your PILA payment records.

• Who signs: your revisor fiscal (with professional card) if your company is legally required to have one, otherwise your legal representative. It is free and done the same day.

13. Experience. Certificates from past clients, public or private and in any country, or copies of executed contracts, coded by UNSPSC to match the pliego’s codes and values in SMMLV. You ask your former clients to issue and sign them. RUP holders rely on the experience registered in the RUP.

14. Capacidad residual (K de contratación), for works. Works bidders prove spare capacity with lists of the works contracts they have in execution, directly or through consortia and companies, and the audited income statement of the best of the last 5 years. Your contador compiles it in 1–3 days and your legal representative signs; RUP holders add only the best-year income statement.

15. The national-industry declaration (Ley 816). The format, set by the pliego, through which you claim the national-industry points, with its evidence: the RPBN for goods, or for services, at least 40% Colombian staff where no relevant Colombian goods exist. Your legal representative signs the origin declaration. It is used in most processes except reverse auctions and mínima cuantía.

16. The bid guarantee (garantía de seriedad de la oferta). It covers you withdrawing the offer, refusing to sign, failing to post the performance guarantee or failing to extend validity. Decreto 1082 allows three forms: an insurance policy, a bank guarantee or stand-by letter of credit from a bank authorised by the Superintendencia Financiera, or a trust (patrimonio autónomo). The minimum amount is set by Decreto 1082 and explained in the main guide.

• Who does it: an insurer or bank, usually through a broker, issues it naming the entity as beneficiary. You are the policy holder (tomador): you sign the application and pay the premium, which the insurer or bank sets.
• Validity: from submission until the performance guarantee is approved. It is uploaded with the offer on SECOP II, and is optional in mínima cuantía.

17. Submitting. The offer goes in by envelopes (sobres) on SECOP II before closing. Any user on your account can upload and submit it, and the submission binds your company, so approve the final file in writing first.

If you’re in line for award

Before contracting, entities run background checks, and foreign winners turn their bid-stage copies into formal documents.

Once a document is apostilled, entities may not ask for any further authentication. For the COPNIA permit, the request letter can come from your company, the engineer or a representative, with the apostilled and translated degree, ID and employment contract or offer letter; Colombian engineers named as key personnel use their matrícula profesional.

Before the contract and the first invoice

Approve the contract on SECOP II. The contract is approved by clicking Aprobar contrato from the user of your legal representative, an apoderado or another authorised person. If another user approves it, the entity rejects it and resends it. A lawyer may approve it only from their own user and with an express power to sign.

The performance guarantee and related cover. The garantía de cumplimiento runs until the contract is liquidated, with longer cover for wages and stability, plus any advance, wages and benefits, works stability and civil-liability cover the pliego requires. The insurer issues it against the signed contract; it is uploaded to SECOP II and approved by the entity. You sign the application and any counter-guarantee and pay the premium. Foreign winners usually need a Colombian insurer.

A branch, for foreign winners of works, services or concessions (sucursal de sociedad extranjera). Required when the contract is works, services, a concession or anything needing permanent presence in Colombia. A Colombian lawyer, under a power from the parent, records the parent’s apostilled and translated documents in a public deed before a notary, appoints the branch’s legal representative and registers the branch at the chamber of commerce. Your board or assembly adopts the resolution to open it and grants the powers. The branch lasts indefinitely, with its matrícula mercantil renewed yearly, and then gets its own RUT and NIT and, for future bids, its RUP.

RUT and NIT for a foreign winner. In practice needed before invoicing and payment. A contador or lawyer in Colombia files it as your apoderado, with your apostilled existence and legal-representation document in Spanish (Decreto 1625 de 2016, article 1.6.1.2.11 num. 5) and the power of attorney you sign abroad and apostille.

Through the contract. The parafiscales certificate is needed again to renew or close out the contract, and the disability headcount behind any bonus must be maintained.

Who does what

The professionals involved

If your company is from abroad

You don’t need a Colombian branch or a RUP entry to bid, but if you win works, services, a concession or any contract needing permanent presence in Colombia you must then open a branch; who may bid and on what terms is explained in How to bid for public contracts in Colombia. The document equivalents:

• Existence and representation: home-country documents proving that your company exists, what it may do and who represents it, in place of the chamber certificate and RUP. The pliego says which; sometimes it asks for more than one, such as a Chilean company’s certificado de vigencia together with its estatutos. Natural persons use their passport.
• Copies and translations: simple copies and simple Spanish translations with the bid; apostilles and official translations after award.
• Powers: signed before a home notary and apostilled, or at a Colombian consulate.
• Accounts: statements under your home-country rules, audited, with what is needed to convert currency and a simple Spanish translation. If your home approval date falls after the 5th business day of April, you may file statements signed by your representative with an auditor’s pre-report.
• Experience: from clients in any country, with copies and translations following Circular 17.
• Parafiscales: without staff on Colombian payroll you usually declare that you have no employees in Colombia, depending on the pliego.
• Background checks: a company with no Colombian ID is generally not in the Procuraduría’s system, and the pliego decides what replaces it; the Contraloría check applies once you hold a Colombian NIT.
• Mipyme and women-owned certificates: for Colombian enterprises only.
• Guarantees: from an insurer or bank authorised in Colombia; bank instruments must be first-demand and irrevocable.
• ISO certificates: usually accepted from your home country if issued by an accredited body; check the pliego.
• Contract approval: your legal representative needs their own SECOP II user on the account, or you approve through an apoderado.

Pitfalls

• Never share a SECOP II password. Credentials are personal and count as an electronic signature, and every action any user takes on your account binds your company.
• Limit what other users can do. Your administrator should restrict each added user’s profile (for example, no account configuration) and remove access when the work ends.
• Put approvals in writing. Before anyone else submits an offer, an observation or an expression of interest for you, record your approval of it.
• Get the power’s formalities right. A power for a procurement process needs a nota de presentación personal; one signed abroad also needs an apostille or a consul’s signature.
• Renew the RUP on time. Colombian firms must renew it by the 5th business day of April, and only firm RUP data counts. A foreign company without a domicile or branch should not register at all.
• Mipyme-only calls exclude some bidders. Foreign companies, and companies less than 1 year old, cannot take part in Mipyme-limited processes.
• Don’t re-translate. Prepare the simple translation carefully: the official translation after award must render exactly the text you submitted.
• Check for blockers before you bid. A legal representative with police-code fines unpaid for 6 months or more, or a company in the Contraloría’s bulletin, cannot contract with the state.
• Only your appointed revisor fiscal signs as revisor fiscal. Your own shareholders appoint the revisor fiscal, who must be independent of management; another contador can’t sign the parafiscales certificate in that role.

Doing it with askTender

In Colombia, your askTender Partner is added as a named user on your company’s account on SECOP II and works under their own login. You keep your own login, and sign what only you can sign: the cover letter or the power for your apoderado, the certificates your legal representative co-signs, the guarantee application, and the contract approval from your own user. The askTender Desk prepares the forms, certificates and offer file; askTender Partners, such as a contador, an abogado or an official translator, do the steps their licence covers.

Questions

Sources

• Colombia Compra Eficiente: SECOP II manual for registering suppliers
• Decreto 1082 de 2015, compiled (Función Pública)
• Colombia Compra Eficiente: guide for foreign suppliers
• Colombia Compra Eficiente: Circular 17 on foreign documents, powers and translations
• Colombia Compra Eficiente: contract management on SECOP II
• Colombia Compra Eficiente: concept C-011 de 2026 on signing the offer
• Ley 789 de 2002 (Secretaría del Senado)
• Ley 1123 de 2007: the lawyers’ disciplinary code (Secretaría del Senado)
• Procuraduría General de la Nación: disciplinary-record certificate
• COPNIA: temporary permits for foreign engineers
• VUCE: registering in the Registro de Productores de Bienes Nacionales
• ONAC: Colombia’s national accreditation body

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.