Esta ley requiere que todas las agencias, instrumentalidades públicas, organismos y municipios de Puerto Rico presenten un informe anual detallado sobre el estado de todas las privatizaciones bajo su jurisdicción. El informe debe incluir documentación de contratos, partidas presupuestarias, trabajos realizados y pendientes, evaluaciones financieras y administrativas, controles internos y normas legales que autorizaron la delegación de funciones públicas. Los informes deben estar disponibles para escrutinio público en una página web de la Oficina del Contralor y en un archivo de la Oficina de Servicios Legislativos.
(Approved June 7, 2003)
To require from all agencies, public instrumentalities, organisms or municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an annual report stating in detail the status of all privatizations established under their jurisdiction, to be remitted to the Governor(ness), the Legislature, and the Office of the Comptroller.
The duties and responsibilities carried out by the state organisms respond to social purposes at the service of the people, apart from any search for profit. The State serves the collective needs and interests of its citizens. However, special circumstances that affect the good performance and operations of government organisms lead to the intervention of private entities in the performance of some duties traditionally performed by the State, in the interest of having the intervention of private entities improve the level of administrative efficiency and increase productivity in certain government organisms.
Puerto Rico has been the scenario for the repeated delegations of public duties into the hands of private organisms or institutions. However, in many of these instances, such transfers of duties have entailed unfortunate results, evidenced by the progressive deterioration of the quality of the services provided, and gross noncompliance with the obligations incurred in the granted contract.
As an example of this situation, we can mention the sale of the medicalhospital facilities or the contracting of the duties of the Aqueducts and Sewers Authority to the Water Company. But experiences have arisen in which the contracting of services from private entities has produced an improvement for the citizenry, such as the case of the mass transportation Metrobus Project. According to the duty of the State to ensure that public services respond to the needs and interests of its citizens, it is necessary to maintain a continuous scrutiny of the operations and internal affairs of the public services contracted from a private entity. In the exercise of this duty, the Act herein orders all agencies or organisms of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to render an annual report regarding all privatizations established under their authority to the Governor(ness), the Legislature, and the Office of the Comptroller. Only thus shall the organisms entrusted with the responsibility of formulating and implementing the public policy and to supervise the operation of each public entity thoroughly monitor each step of the complex process of privatization taking place in numerous units of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Section 1.- It is hereby set forth that all agencies, public instrumentalities, organisms or municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall submit an annual report stating in detail the status of all privatizations established under their jurisdiction or authority, to be rendered to the Governor(ness), the Legislature, and the Office of the Comptroller. Said aforementioned report shall be submitted to the referenced officials and organisms by June 30 of each year.
It shall hereby be understood that the aforementioned report shall include the following:
a) The documentation regarding the status of all contracts granted by the agency for purposes of privatizing any task, administration area, duty, or responsibility of the agency or organism at issue. b) All the budgetary items that defray the expenses of such privatization. c) A detailed statement including all the works, projects or services to date performed by the private entity or person, pursuant to the granted contract. In turn, all works, projects, services or duties that have not been executed, as well as the timetable projected for the completion of all works, projects, services or obligations still underway shall also be included. d) A financial and administrative evaluation performed by internal and external auditors, if available, of the tasks performed by the private entity in the discharge of the duties assumed in the contract. e) The internal controls and parameters established by the government to ensure strict compliance by the private entity with the established contract. f) The legal or regulatory norms that authorized the government entity to delegate any public duty to a certain private entity.
Section 2.- The reports required by the Act herein shall be available for public scrutiny on an Internet web page managed by the Office of the Comptroller, which shall arrange its cybernetic service in such a manner that complete access to all documentation required by this Act is provided to the people. For compliance with this duty, the necessary resources shall be
provided to this Office, for the inclusion and maintenance of this documentation in cybernetic media.
In turn, the Legislature, through its Office of Legislative Services, shall keep a file of all the documentation required herein, which shall be available for access and examination by the public.
Section 3.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 136 (H.B. 2400) of the $5^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to require from all agencies, public instrumentalities, organisms or municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an annual report stating in detail the status of all privatizations established under their jurisdiction, to be remitted to the Governor(ness), the Legislature, and the Office of the Comptroller, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $25^{ ext {th }}$ of March of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director