GCA Title 5, Chapter 5
5 GCA GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS CH. 5 GUAM PROCUREMENT LAW
CHAPTER 5 GUAM PROCUREMENT LAW
2024 NOTE: Pursuant to 5 GCA § 1510, I Maga’hågan/Maga’låhen Guåhan means the ‘Governor of Guam’ and I Maga’håga/Maga’låhi means the ‘Governor.’ Pursuant to 2 GCA § 1101, I Liheslaturan Guåhan means the ‘Guam Legislature and I Liheslatura means the ’ Legislature. ’ 2014 NOTE: The Comments found in this Chapter, unless otherwise specified, were before the Guam Legislature, and are included herein as previously published, as part of the legislative history of this Chapter. Other annotations, including Notes from the Compilers in past publications of the GCA, indicate where relevant laws have been amended or passed since enactment of this Chapter. In the transition from the GC to the GCA, the term Part was replaced with the term Subarticle. COMMENT: This Chapter is essentially the Model Procurement Code approved by the American Bar Association in 1979. A model code is one which provides a guide for the jurisdictions which wish to adopt it, but does not require that it be followed precisely. It is different from a uniform code, the latter being intended to unify the laws of the jurisdictions which adopt it. The ABA and the drafters of the Model Procurement Code recognize the wide organizational differences between the states and jurisdictions under the U.S. Therefore, there are many portions of this Model Code which are optional, or which may be modified. This Act has modified the model code to suit Guam’s organizational structure and function. Because this Act intends that the Policy Office adopt implementing regulations, Model Regulations are also available, and must be examined and changed to coincide with the version of this Act actually adopted by the Legislature. The Official Comments to the Model Procurement Code are a part of the Legislative History of this Chapter and, also, may be obtained from the American Bar Association. COMMENT: This Chapter was enacted as part of the Government Code, sections 6950 through 6982.2, plus amendments conforming other portions of the codes to this law. Since then, there have been a number of amendments to the Chapter. Because of the single source, note that the only mention of SOURCE following individual sections will be to the source of amendments only. NOTE: Provision for the issuance of a promissory note to creditors of the Government of Guam was enacted by P.L. 19-010:33 (Nov. 14, 1987) [§ 22415 of this Title]; as the Prompt Payment Act, providing for interest on late payments by the government. See §§ 22501-22507 of this Title.
5 GCA GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS CH. 5 GUAM PROCUREMENT LAW
ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS
Subarticle A Purposes, Construction and Application Subarticle B Determinations Subarticle C Definitions Used in this Chapter
SUBARTICLE A
PURPOSES, CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION
- § 5001. Purposes, Rules of Construction.
- § 5002. Supplementary General Principles of Law Applicable.
- § 5003. Requirement of Good Faith.
- § 5004. Application of this Chapter.
- § 5005. Severability. [Omitted.]
- § 5006. Construction Against Implicit Repealer.
- § 5007. Policy Against Advance Payments.
- § 5007.1. Advance Payment for Medicines Allowed.
- § 5008. Policy in Favor of Local Procurement.
- § 5008.1. Policy in Favor of Native or Grown-in-Guam Horticultural Products.
- § 5008.2. Policy in Favor of Renewable Energy Purchase of Service.
- § 5008.3 Energy Efficient Products Mandate.
- § 5009. Effective Date.
- § 5010. Policy in Favor of Planned Procurement.
- § 5011. Policy in Favor of Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses.
- § 5012. Qualifications of a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business.
- § 5013. Policy in Favor of Women-Owned Businesses.
§ 5001. Purposes, Rules of Construction.
(a) Interpretation. This Chapter shall be construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies. (b) Purposes and Policies. The underlying purposes and policies of this Chapter are:
- to simplify, clarify, and modernize the law governing procurement by Guam;
- to permit the continued development of procurement policies and practices;
- to provide for increased public confidence in the procedures followed in public procurement;
- to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of all persons who deal with the procurement system of Guam; (5) to provide increased economy in Guam activities and to maximize to the fullest extent practicable the purchasing value of public funds of Guam;
- to foster effective broad-based competition within the free enterprise system;
- to provide safeguards for the maintenance of a procurement system of quality and integrity; and
- to require public access to all aspects of procurement consistent with the sealed bid procedure and the integrity of the procurement process.
5 GCA GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS CH. 5 GUAM PROCUREMENT LAW
(c) Singular-Plural and Gender Rules. In this Chapter, unless the context requires otherwise: (1) words in the singular number include the plural, and those in the plural include the singular; and (2) words of a particular gender include any gender and the neuter, and when the sense so indicates, words of the neuter gender may refer to any gender. (d) Policy Concerning Sheltered Workers or Persons with Disabilities. If any entity of the government of Guam or any entity expending governmental funds intends to procure any supply or service which is offered by a nonprofit corporation employing sheltered workers or persons with disabilities, or a government of Guam entity employing sheltered workers or persons with disabilities, then that entity shall procure such supply or service from that nonprofit corporation or government entity if the supply or service is available within the period required by the procuring entity. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any nonprofit corporation or government of Guam entity employing sheltered workers or persons with disabilities that had an existing contract or contract in force on March 1, 2001, with the government of Guam, which shall include line agencies and autonomous agencies of the government of Guam such as the Guam Power Authority, the Guam Telephone Authority and the Department of Education, shall continue said contracts for two (2) years hence, ending March 31, 2003. (e) Procurement of local produce and fish from local farmers and fishermen may be made without competition provided that the farmers or fishermen are registered with the Department of Agriculture and further provided that the prices offered do not exceed the standard of pricing as negotiated by the Department of Agriculture. Any farmer or fisherman awarded a contract pursuant to this section shall not be required to post any of the bonds required under Article 5 of Chapter 5, Title 5, Guam Code Annotated, the Guam Procurement Act. (f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, procurement of air travel vouchers by the government of Guam, including the legislative, judiciary and executive branches, and all autonomous and semiautonomous agencies, including the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport Authority, Guam, the Guam Telephone Authority, the Guam Power Authority, the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority, the Guam Housing Corporation, the Guam Economic Development Authority, the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority, the University of Guam, the Jose D. Leon Guerrero Commercial Port of Guam, the Guam Rental Corporation, the Guam Community College, the Guam Water Works Authority, the Government of Guam Retirement Fund, the Guam Mass Transit Authority, the Guam Visitor’s Bureau, the Public Defenders Service Corporation, the Guam Educational Telecommunication Corporation, the Guam Election Commission, the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Education, the Guam Environmental Protection Agency and the Guam Vocational Rehabilitation, from local travel agencies with valid business license and on good standing with the Department of Revenue and Taxation shall be rotated fairly and competitively to insure that no single travel agency or a small group of travel agencies monopolize the sale of air travel vouchers to the government of Guam. The Director of the Department of Administration, who shall be responsible in administering this Act as it applies to the executive branch, with representatives from the executive, judiciary and legislative branches shall be responsible, within ninety (90) days from the enactment of this Act, for the development of the necessary rules and regulations to insure that the intent of this Act is followed and implemented by all branches and agencies of the government of Guam and pursuant to the Administrative Adjudication Law. Each branch of the government of Guam, executive, legislative and judiciary, shall be responsible in implementing and adhering to the rules and regulations developed herein in their own respective branches. Failure to procure air travel voucher following the rules and regulations developed herein shall invalidate and render the approved travel authorization null and void and any expenditure shall be completely and totally the responsibility of the traveler and any expenditure
5 GCA GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS CH. 5 GUAM PROCUREMENT LAW
the government of Guam incurred shall be reimbursed by the respective traveler. The traveler shall not be reimbursed in any manner whatsoever for any of these expenditures. Anyone authorizing such reimbursement shall be guilty of fraud and shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. SOURCE: GC § 6950. Model Procurement Code (hereafter - MPC) §1-101. Subsection (b) amended by P.L. 18044:25 (Nov. 14, 1986). Subsection (d) added by P.L. 18-015:X:26 (Sept. 25, 1985); amended by P.L. 18-032:5 (Apr. 24, 1986); P.L. 26-031:8 (July 30, 2001). Subsection (e) added by P.L. 23-018:3 (May 30, 1995). Subsection (f) added by P.L. 24-085:2 (Oct. 6, 1997). 2025 NOTE: Reference to ’ A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority ’ replaced with ’ Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport Authority, Guam ’ pursuant to 12 GCA §1102(a ). Reference to the ‘Port Authority of Guam’ replaced with the ’ Jose D. Leon Guerrero Commercial Port of Guam’ pursuant to 1 GCA § 835. 2024 NOTE: Reference to ‘territorial’ replaced with ‘Guam’ pursuant to 1 GCA § 420. In light of the privatization of the Guam Telephone Authority and the repeal of Title 12 GCA Chapter 7 by P.L. 27-110:6 (Nov. 1, 2004), the Guam Telephone Authority is no longer an autonomous agency or an instrumentality of the Government of Guam. 2023 NOTE: References to ‘Territory’ replaced with ‘Guam’ pursuant to 1 GCA § 420. 2009 NOTE: P.L. 28-045:10 (June 6, 2005) changed the name of the Department of Education to the Guam Public School System. P.L. 30-050:2 (July 14, 2009) reverted the name of the Guam Public School System to the Department of Education. COMMENT: While it is the intent of the MPC to ‘simplify’ state procurement procedures, the effect on Guam will be to somewhat complicate them. This is because procurement law under Executive Order 65-12A on Guam is vague and leaves much to administrative direction. At least, this Act will regularize and centralize procurement on Guam and, in so doing, attempts to save money for the Territory and make procurement more certain and regular for the vendors. (1995) The Legislative Intent for the addition of subsection (e) and Chapter 68 of this Title is state to be: Section 1. Legislative Intent. The Department of Education is required to provide a hot breakfast and hot noon meal to the students in the public schools. The Department of Youth Affairs is required to feed their clients daily. The Guam Memorial Hospital is required to provide nutritional food for its patients. The Department of Corrections must provide three meals a day to each of its inmates. To carry out these mandatory tasks, each of these organizations must procure enormous quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as other foodstuffs, on a daily recurring basis. To stay within their approved budgets, they each make almost superhuman efforts to obtain this produce from any available source, either from on island or from off island. Since it is the goal of the department of agriculture to promote the efforts of all local farmers and fishermen and to ensure the expansion of the local agricultural, fishing and aquacultural industries, markets must be established and maintained to ensure that the farmers and the fishermen have a viable continuing market for the results of their hard labor. The Department of Agriculture must continue to find local markets for the local produce. Therefore, the department shall be required to work with the various Procurement Officers of the Government of Guam and non-profit organizations which are in the business of feeding people, to maintain a market all year round for the crops of the farmers, fishes from the fishermen, and other local producers of foodstuffs. (P.L. 23-018:1).
§ 5002. Supplementary General Principles of Law Applicable.
Unless displaced by the particular provisions of this Chapter, the principles of law and equity, including the Uniform Commercial Code of Guam, the law merchant, and law relative to capacity to contract, agency, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, or bankruptcy shall supplement the provisions of this Chapter. SOURCE: GC § 6950.1. MPC § 1-102.
§ 5003. Requirement of Good Faith.
This Chapter requires all parties involved in the negotiation, performance, or administration of Guam contracts to act in good faith. SOURCE: GC § 6950.2. MPC § 1-103. 2024 NOTE: Reference to ‘territorial’ replaced with ‘Guam’ pursuant to 1 GCA § 420.
5 GCA GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS CH. 5 GUAM PROCUREMENT LAW
§ 5004. Application of this Chapter.
(a) General Application. This Chapter applies only to contracts solicited or entered into after the effective date of this Chapter unless the parties agree to its application to a contract solicited or entered into prior to the effective date. (b) Application to Guam Procurement. This Chapter shall apply to every expenditure of public funds irrespective of their source, including federal assistance funds except as otherwise specified in § 5501 of this Chapter, by Guam, acting through a governmental body as defined herein, under any contract, except that this Chapter shall not apply to either grants or contracts between Guam and another government. Nothing in this Chapter or in regulations promulgated hereunder shall prevent any governmental body or political subdivision from complying with the terms and conditions of any grant, gift, bequest