Pursuant to Law No. 816, public administration entities that, under the applicable contracting regime, must select contractors through tenders, calls for bids, or public competitions are required to apply objective evaluation criteria that favour domestic industry. Art. 2 provides that bids offering goods and services of Colombian origin benefit from a margin of preference of 10% to 20%, while bids offering foreign goods and services that incorporate inputs of Colombian origin benefit from a margin of preference of 5% to 15%. The concept of “origin” for services was amended by Decree No. 680 of 2021 to encompass the domestic goods and labour required to supply those services.

Art. 35 of Law No. 2069 of 2020 establishes the tie-break mechanism applicable to public procurement processes. Where two or more bids obtain the same total score, the contracting entity must apply a series of criteria sequentially and exclusively, in the order listed, while ensuring consistency with Colombia’s international commitments, until the tie is resolved. The first criterion is a preference for national goods and services over foreign goods and services. Other criteria include the preference for companies employing at least 10% of the workforce that is indigenous, Black/Afro-Colombian, Raizal, Palenquero, and Gypsy populations, and a preference for bids submitted by SMEs, cooperatives, or mutual associations.

There have been frequent complaints about the lack of transparency and rule changes during the award of major government contracts. It has been reported that, despite Law No. 80, transparency, fairness, and truly competitive bidding conditions in many tenders remain uncertain. These factors remain significant market access barriers for some companies interested in public sector contracts.