President Ivan Duque published a decree regulating the implementation of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the realm of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The Minister of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTIC), Sylvia Constaín, said that under the new regulation “the scheme that existed until, which consisted of the Government having to think about something, open a bidding process and then invite the private sector to participate, is changed”. With this decree, the Government will be able to receive proposals directly from the private sector in order to promote projects. The legislation is already in force.

Key points of the regulation:

• The PPPs of Information and Communication Technologies will consist of projects in which a private investor is entrusted with the design and construction of an infrastructure and its associated services, or its construction, repair, improvement or equipment.

• Individuals interested in participating in this initiatives in the ICT sector should remember that they will not be able to present private initiatives related to contracts already awarded or in execution, or when the state entity has advanced the structuring of the project. If such a proposal is submitted, it will not be taken into account for evaluation.

• If a private initiative that does not require the payment of public resources is approved by the state entity, that entity shall publish on the website of the Electronic System for Public Contracting (SECOP) the agreement in question, along with details of the contract and its annexes, for a period of six months.

• In relation to the handling of information, it establishes that the contracts of the PPPs involving the capture, processing and use of data, will have to incorporate the necessary measures to guarantee the fulfillment of all the legal and regulatory requirements concerning data handling and information. This includes the protocol that will be defined by the MinTIC, within the following four months for the delivery of the information to the end of the contract and the explicit stipulation of the extinction of the right of exploitation of the data on the part of the contractor.

• The Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTIC) will be in charge of issuing guidelines and requirements for the viability of the projects that use the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mechanism.