智利尚未簽署GPA，但透過分別與歐盟及美國簽訂的雙邊FTAs，互相開放給予國民待遇。智利所有的政府機關與公共機構之採購皆需依照二○○三年七月三十日新制定的政府採購法（Government Procurement Law (Law No. 19.886)）辦理，但公共工程及公營事業則不受該法約束，在智利個別行動計畫(IAP)中，當局表示希望未來亦能將公共工程及公營事業納入適用政府採購法範圍。智利政府採購資訊系統ChileCompra已於二○○二年開始啟用，期能建立一個透明、節省經費並促進電子商務的政府採購制度。智利表示其政府採購法規皆符合APEC六項不拘束原則，第五章規定成立政府採購法庭(Court of Government Procurement)以監督管理採購爭議案件。此外，二○○四年四月將成立的政府採購理事會（Directorate of Public Procurement）為一專門處理政府採購異議申訴案件的特別法庭。
Chile Government Procurement System
Paragraph one of the Law 19.886 recognizes the principle of value for money assuring a cost-benefits analysis, non-discrimination among bidders and explicitly indicates that the price alone is not enough indicator of a good offer.
Regarding transparency, it is Chapter IV of Law 19.886 (articles 18, 19, 20 and 21) and document “circular” Nº4 (20.01.03) which covers the main aspects of this non-binding principle. Chapter IV of Law 19.886 commits all public agencies under the scope of the law to develop all its procurement processes, goods and services contracts, and public works through digital or electronic systems settled by the Directorate of Government Procurement. Additionally, a Procurement Information System was created which is available to public access and free. The regulation is still being developed.
Article 20 of the law obliges to deliver - through that electronic system – the basic information required for procurement. This information should be complete and in a timely manner, both for the application process and for the results.
Article 21 states that those public bodies exempted from this law should, notwithstanding, complies with these three previous articles.
Chapter V of the law covers the main aspects of fair dealing and accountability and due process, as by default, non-discrimination provisions. It makes so by creating a Court of Government Procurement which shall oversee all the procurement processes contestations.
There are plans to translate the page content in the short term. ChileCompra has begun the process of translating the website’s contents to be available once the new platform is established (mid February).
ChileCompra, Chile´s electronic platform for government procurement has been operational for the past three years. However, only as of 2003 has it been mandatory for all the public institutions to post their purchase requirements in ChileCompra. All government procurement (but those exempted by law) are posting their procurement requests, among them all public works and housing. However, incorporation of municipalities will be made gradually (being the 341 Municipalities online on December 31, 2004) and in 2005, the Armed Forces.
All legislation is easily accessible in the website of Chilecompra, http://www.chilecompra.cl/centro_informaciones/fr_centro.html
Chile’s plans on transparency improvement points to be coherent with transparency as defined in the APEC non-binding principles: sufficient and relevant information in a timely manner, i.e., at least 40 days before every bid or contract over 1,000 UTM (around US$42,800 in 2003) and 10 days for procurements over UF 10 (around US$ 245 in 2003); this information should be accessible to the public in general at no or reasonable cost in www.chilecompra.cl ; likewise, the results are to be published in the same website within 10 days after the adjudication of a bid. All the relevant information is available in the same site. As indicated in the last version of the IAP, the main objective is to find an easy, free and simple way to display the information regarding procurement actions, guaranteeing consistency, relevance and reliability.
The rights of bidders are detailed in the Law 19.886 (Chapter V). In general, both natural or legal persons, with an interest in the respective administrative procedure of procurement, have the right to contest in court against any illegal or arbitrary act or omission between the approval of the bid terms of reference and its results. The action should be lodged within 10 labor days of the knowledge of the act (or omission).
With the creation of the new Institution – the Directorate of Public Procurement - a special tribunal will be created (as of April 2004) to process all complaints in regard to public procurement. The information of the Tribunal will be made available in ChileCompra. The procurement Tribunal will be the first administrative instance for complaints and the second is the Santiago Court if Appeals.
Chile will work on the completion of the base year situation for the next update of its IAP to enable other economies and experts to measure Chile’s cumulative improvements. Meanwhile, all improvements made are available (in Spanish for the moment) in the Information Sector – Centro de Información: Informe de Gestión y Estadistica at www.chilecompra.cl