Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER
PRESS RELEASE
The OCPR Registry of Contracts does have the contracts available to the public
October 7, 2021
The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico (OCPR) indicated that LUMA Energy's contracts registered in its portal are indeed available to the public, like the other Government contracts. This, contrary to the information that has been offered in the media that the Office will not give publicity or access to the contracts registered by this entity.
The Registry of Contracts, as conceived in Act No. 18 of October 30, 1975, as amended, and the regulation adopted for those purposes, has the purpose of ensuring transparency in all governmental contracting and fostering citizen oversight. The Office, in compliance with this Act, has made public information on the contracts registered by LUMA Energy since July 2021. These contracts, like those of the other entities that register contracts, go through a process of review for, among other things, complying with Act 243-2006 and Section 6109 of Title 26 of the United States Code on the disclosure of social security and employer identification numbers. The contracts registered by LUMA Energy will be available as said review is completed. They may also be requested through the Office's website, by accessing the Registry of Contracts and clicking the icon (yellow envelope) that appears next to the contract.
On September 24, 2021, we received a letter from Representative Hon. Luis Raúl Torres Cruz, chairman of the Committee on Economic Development, Planning, Communications, Public Private Partnership and Energy. In it, he requested that the Office evaluate whether LUMA Energy, as Operator of the Transmission and Distribution System of the Electric Power Authority, has the obligation to comply with the following governmental contracting requirements, among others: be reduced to a written contract, maintain a registry establishing its existence, send a copy to the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, and accredit that it was executed and granted fifteen days beforehand.
On October 4, 2021, the Office answered the Representative's inquiry in the affirmative:
“At the outset, our answer to your question of whether the private operator must comply with the aforementioned requirements is in the affirmative. In addition, we inform you that, since July of this year, LUMA Energy, as operator, registers and submits the contracts of which it is a contracting party, thus complying with the clauses analyzed at this Office which, as we understand, oblige it to do so”.
As part of preparing the inquiry, the following was included on page 3 of the letter:
On the other hand, we advise you that Section 13.2(c)(i) and (ii) of the contract grants the right, to both LUMA Energy and PREPA, to judicially protect what they might consider privileged information, trade secret or commercially sensitive matter:
[…] (ii) in connection with requests or orders to produce Confidential Information protected by this Agreement in the circumstances provided in Section 13.2(b) (Proprietary Information – Permitted Disclosures), each Party receiving such a request or order (A) shall promptly notify the disclosing Party of the existence, terms and circumstances of such requirements(s) so that the disclosing Party may seek an appropriate protective order or waive compliance with the provisions of this Agreement, and (B) shall cause its Representatives to, cooperate fully with the disclosing Party in seeking to limit or prevent such disclosure of such Confidential Information. (Our emphasis)
It was also indicated that: “However, at this time, we cannot answer under which circumstances this section would finally apply, since we are awaiting the final resolution of certain judicial processes”.
Offering this guidance should not have been interpreted to the effect that the Office will not give publicity or access to the contracts registered by LUMA Energy. We clarify that nowhere in the letter was said information denied.
The process of the availability of Government contracts is the same for all agencies, corporations and municipalities. As the removal of the social security numbers of contractors and contracting parties is validated, the contract is reflected on the page, by download. In this way, every citizen can view the registered Government contracts in the OCPR Registry of Contracts section.
Lisandra Rivera Rivera, Lic. R-168
Director
Office of Press and Communications
Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico
(787) 250-3322
lriverar@ocpr.gov.pr
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