How to bid for public tenders in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic at a glance

Procedures started before 29 January 2026 finish under the old law. Everything since uses the new procedures and names. The old comparación de precios, compras menores and licitación restringida no longer exist.

Who the law covers:

• central government and decentralised bodies;
• municipalities;
• the administrative side of the legislature, judiciary and constitutional bodies;
• public enterprises and majority state-owned companies funded with public money;
• public trusts.

Procedures and 2026 thresholds

The DGCP sets thresholds each year from the government’s revenue budget. For 2026, the open-tender thresholds were set at the DR-CAFTA values (about US$105,767 for goods and services and US$6.68 million for works). They apply from 1 April 2026.

• Reverse auctions can be used for standard goods at any value.
• Price ceiling. If the lowest price is more than 10% above the procedure’s ceiling, the buyer can’t award; it must cancel and re-tender under the right procedure.
• Minimum bid periods (business days):
  • 30 for a public tender;
  • 15 for a shortened public tender;
  • 5 or 10 for simplified;
  • 5 for reverse auctions and works by lot;
  • 3 for minor.
• Where calls are published: on the buyer’s portal, on the SECP, and in national newspapers on two consecutive days. International calls also go to international media.
• Tender documents are free. Each call must say whether it’s covered by a trade agreement and whether it’s reserved for small firms or local producers.
• When a call must be international:
  • a trade agreement or an international lender covers the contract;
  • no national bidder can do the work;
  • or a national call has failed twice.

Who can bid

• Foreign bidders are welcome. Foreign individuals and companies may bid, alone or in a consortium. Consortia are set up by notarial act, and members are jointly liable. You can submit only one bid per procedure.
• Provisional registration first. A foreign company with no legal domicile in the country can bid on a provisional RPE registration. If it wins, it must get definitive registration before the contract is signed.
• What the RPE requires:
  • legal capacity and representation;
  • a corporate purpose matching what you offer;
  • a sworn declaration of no disqualification;
  • a beneficial-ownership declaration. The DGCP checks tax and social-security status through the tax agency (DGII) and the social-security treasury (TSS).
• Documents. Under the registry rules used until 2026, foreign documents had to be apostilled (or consular-legalised) and translated into Spanish by a judicial interpreter. A new registry regulation took effect in August 2026, so confirm the current list with the DGCP.
• DR-CAFTA. For covered international tenders:
  • the tender documents must be in Spanish and English;
  • the call appears in both languages on the SECP and internationally;
  • national treatment and non-discrimination apply.
• Local presence. No general local-agent requirement was found in the law. Only small-firm reserved contracts may ask for a local domicile, and even then as a preference rather than a bar.
• Reserved lots. Lots reserved for small Dominican firms, or for national producers in social programmes, are generally out of reach for foreign firms.

Registering and bidding, step by step

1. Search tenders in the SECP public search; no login needed. Filter by buyer, category and procedure.
2. Check the call:
   • the procedure and threshold;
   • national or international;
   • any DR-CAFTA coverage;
   • any reservation for small firms or local producers.
3. Create an SECP account and apply for provisional RPE registration, with your corporate, tax-ID and beneficial-ownership documents apostilled and translated.
4. Download the tender documents free of charge. Send questions before half the bid period has passed. The buyer answers by three-quarters of the way through, and publishes the answers anonymously.
5. Prepare two envelopes:
   • Envelope A: the technical offer;
   • Envelope B: the price, a 1% bid security and a sworn non-collusion declaration. Submit electronically on the SECP.
6. Evaluation. Qualification documents can be corrected if you met the requirement at the bid date. A bid-security error can be fixed within 1–5 business days. Evaluation is pass/fail, points or both.
7. The award notice goes to all bidders within 5 business days, with the evaluation reports. You then have 10 business days to challenge.
8. Post the performance guarantee: 4% of the award, within 10 business days for foreign winners (5 for local ones).
9. Get definitive RPE registration before signing. The contract is signed within 10 business days of the award notice and registered with the Comptroller General.
10. Perform and invoice. Payment arrives through the National Treasury. Foreign bank accounts with SWIFT are allowed.

Digital signatures are valid on bids, guarantees and contracts, and buyers can’t demand a wet-ink copy of a validly signed digital document.

Guarantees and payment

• Forms: guarantees can be a bank guarantee or deposit, or an insurance bond.
• Bid security: 1% of your bid, from bid opening to contract signature. It’s not required for works awarded by lot, reverse auctions or direct awards.
• Performance guarantee: 4% of the award (1% for small firms). It’s mandatory above the equivalent of US$10,000, and kept until the contract is settled. If you don’t post it on time, the buyer can call your bid security and award to the runner-up.
• Advance-payment guarantees aren’t set by the law or regulation; advances for larger firms are set in each tender.
• Small firms (MIPYMES) get a 30% advance on signing, can’t be asked for a bid security, and may only be asked for insurance bonds.
• Payment. The buyer must pay within 30 days of the payment condition and invoice, with contractual interest if late. After 3 months of delay you may suspend work; after 5 months, seek termination and damages.
• Subcontracting is allowed up to 45% of the contract value, or 50% if subcontracting to small firms.

Evaluation and preferences

• The standard: contracts go to the qualified bidder with the most advantageous offer: best quality-cost ratio, lowest life-cycle cost, or lowest price. Weights must total 100 and can’t change during evaluation.
• Qualification criteria must be proportionate, and are normally pass/fail.
• Unusually low bids can be excluded.
• Social, environmental and innovation criteria are mandatory where relevant, for example accessibility, local hiring, gender-equality plans and recycled materials.
• Tie-breaks favour bids that hire people with disabilities, then environmental plans, then subcontracting to small firms.
• The small-firm set-aside. Buyers must reserve at least 30% of their procurement budget for small and medium firms: 20% for MIPYMES in general and 10% for women-led MIPYMES. Firms need a MIPYME certificate from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
• National producers. Poverty-relief, food, school-supply and hygiene programmes must buy from national producers directly, where supply allows. There’s no numeric price preference for national goods; national preference works through these reservations and criteria, subject to trade agreements.

Challenging a decision

• What you can challenge:
  • the procedure approval;
  • the tender documents and addenda;
  • the evaluators’ appointment;
  • your exclusion;
  • the award. Before bids are in, any potential bidder can challenge; afterwards, only affected bidders.
• Step 1, reconsideration (recurso de reconsideración): file with the buying entity within 10 business days. It decides within 10 business days.
• Step 2, appeal to the DGCP (recurso jerárquico impropio): file within 10 business days of the reconsideration decision. The DGCP decides within 20 business days (extendable by 10). It can annul decisions but can’t evaluate bids or award the contract to a particular bidder.
• Suspension. Filing a challenge doesn’t suspend anything. Ask the DGCP separately for interim measures; it decides within about 10 business days and can suspend the award or even contract execution.
• Courts. Administrative challenges are optional: you can go straight to the Tribunal Superior Administrativo, generally within 30 days. Choosing the court route ends the administrative one.
• Sanctions: suppliers can be disqualified for 1–5 or 5–10 years, and companies can face criminal liability.

What changed in 2025–2026

• 28 July 2025: Ley 47-25 promulgated.
• 28 January 2026: Ley 47-25 and Decreto 52-26 took effect, replacing Ley 340-06. They brought:
  • new procedures: shortened public tender, works by lot, simplified, minor and direct;
  • innovation partnerships and results-based contracting;
  • statutory bid periods;
  • the two-step challenge process;
  • compliance officers and citizen oversight committees;
  • tougher sanctions.
• The small-firm set-aside rose from 20% to 30%, including 10% for women-led firms, with a 30% advance and no bid security for small firms.
• 1 April 2026: new thresholds aligned with DR-CAFTA.
• August 2026:
  • the DGCP confirmed digital signatures on bids and guarantees;
  • a new supplier-registry regulation took effect, with beneficial ownership and data-sharing with the tax and social-security agencies.

Live Dominican tenders

See also which countries can bid on which government tenders.

Questions

Sources

• Ley núm. 47-25 de Contrataciones Públicas (DGCP)
• Decreto núm. 52-26, Reglamento de Aplicación de la Ley 47-25
• DGCP Resolution PNP-03-2026: 2026 thresholds
• Sistema Electrónico de Contrataciones Públicas: public tender search
• Presidencia: Ley 47-25 enters into force (January 2026)

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.