P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 44
The following works and services may be carried out by force account or private contract, without having to try to contract them through public bidding:
(1) Works whose cost does not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) and services whose cost does not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(2) Works which, although in excess of the aforesaid amounts, cannot be contracted for after having attempted to do so through public bidding, if the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works or the General Services Administrator considers it more convenient to have the works done by force account or by private contract than to increase the prices or change the specifications in order to ask for new bids. In this case, a new attempt shall be made to contract them through public bidding, or, in default thereof, by private contract, before ordering their execution by force account.
(3) Works which, whatever their cost, are declared essential and urgent by any of the officials named in subsection (2) of this section.
(4) Works which require special care in execution from a technical standpoint, provided that any of the officials named in subsection (2) of this section do so determine it by means of a resolution.
(5) Works carried out in buildings that, because of the use they are destined for, demand extreme security and protection measures for the building as such, or their occupants, provided the Governor of Puerto Rico declares it so through an Executive Order.
The Secretary of Transportation and Public Works and the General Services Administrator are hereby empowered to establish standards and procedures through which the provisions of this section shall be implemented, except for what is covered by the General Contracting Conditions for Public Works for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
History —Political Code, 1902, § 423; May 10, 1950, No. 273, p. 708, § 1; July 13, 1978, No. 45, p. 511.