Article 49.-A credit can only be transferred on the express authority of the principal. In this case the credit can be transferred once only, and on the terms and conditions specified in the original credit, with the exception of the amount of the credit and of the time of validity, which both may be reduced.

If a Commercial Documentary Credit is transferred by fractions, such fractional transfers shall be considered as constituting one single transfer only.

Authority to transfer a credit covers authority to transfer it to another place. Bank charges entailed by such transfers are payable by the original beneficiary unless otherwise specified. During the validity of the original credit, payment may be made at the place to which the credit has been transferred.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CUBAN PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTS

By

H. P. Crawford

Division of Commercial Laws

Legislation respecting this branch of the law of contracts was first enacted under the "Pliego de Condiciones" of 1846, during that period of Cuban history commonly referred to as the colonial regime. Additional legislation followed in 1861, and in 1886 this type of legislation was considered as permanently completed by the Royal Decree of June 11 of the last named year. Since the days of the colonial regime, particularly in recent years, much social legislation has been enacted in Cuba which fundamentally affects employer and employee alike; it is now the desire of the Cuban Government to harmonize and embody in a single decree all previous decrees and enactments on this subject.

CONDITIONS GOVERNING BIDDERS

Legal and Professional Capacity. Under the provisions of Decree No. 1180, published in the Gaceta Oficial, Extraordinary Edition No. 143 of May 6, 1936, either Cubans or foreigners may be bidders for the execution of public works provided they are in possession of their civil rights individually in accordance with the laws of their respective nationalities, and that business entities and corporations be lawfully constituted and recognized as such under the laws of Cuba. It is not necessary under the new decree that a bidder possess the academic diploma corresponding to the nature of the works which the proposal embodies. When a proposal is made by a person without academic diploma, or by a business entity or company, both in the proposal as well as in the contract resulting therefrom, the name of the person with the academic title corresponding to the type of works undertaken, and upon whom the active direction of the works will be conferred, must be clearly stipulated. In cases where the magnitude of the works does not require the services of a technical overseer, the Secretary of the governmental department involved may relieve the contractor of the obligation of designating one.

The academic diplomas to which the preceding paragraph refers are those of Architect, Master of Works, Civil Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Industrial Engineer, and Agricultural Engineer and Expert Surveyor of Lands issued by national institutions. However, diplomas granted by foreign universities, after being duly legalized for the purpose of being used in Cuba, will also be accepted in public bids; nevertheless in the declaration of special conditions published by the Cuban Government, the class of diploma to be held by the representative whom the successful bidder is to designate for the technical direction of the works must be specified. (Articles 1 to 4.)

Municipal License Tax. All bidders should attach to their proposals a receipt showing that they have paid the municipal tax corresponding to the license for a "contractor of works;" the date of the receipt also should show that it is not de

linguent. The omission of this requirement will be sufficient cause for rejecting the proposal, however, the receipt will be returned immediately to the bidder as soon as a record thereof has been made. (Art. 5.)

Registration of Diplomas. The academic diplomas held by the contractors or their representatives should be recorded in the "Registry Book of Contractors" kept in the respective Secretariat, and at the request of those interested certificates will be issued to them showing their status before the board of public contracts (Tribunal de Subasta). (Art. 7.)

Presentation of Bids. All bids for the execution of public works must be made on the printed forms which will be supplied to bidders, at the office indicated in the announcement, to be submitted in a sealed envelope, addressed in conformity with the provisions in the announcement and reaching the hands of the public officer to whom it is addressed before the hour fixed for opening the bids, in triplicate copies, and in strict observance of the requirements specified in the conditions. All numbers and prices appearing in the proposals must be expressed in words and figures. (Art. 7.)

Documents To Be Attached. Each bid should have attached thereto and considered as a part of the same, a copy or sample of the announcement of the public undertaking, a copy of the specifications or conditions for the letting of public workx, and a copy of the facultative, economic and specific conditions of the undertaking and the printed form of the proposal. Bidders may request these sheets personally or by mail in the office of the undertaking as indicated in the announcement, where all pertinent information will be given them respecting the works to be let; also, all plans and descriptions necessary for a clearer understanding of the works will be placed at their disposition. (Art. 8.) Each bid must be signed by the bidder with his customary signature and should express his domicile and post office address; (Art. 10.) when the proposal is signed by an attorney in fact or an agent of the company or corporation and his authorization to contract in the name of his principal is not known to the board of public contracts (Tribunal de Subasta) or is not generally known in the place where the bid is to be let, the public officer in charge of opening the bids is endowed with the discretionary power of demanding proper written authorization before taking a bid into consideration. (Art. 12.)

Kind of Money and Other Details. The prices stipulated in all proposals refer to money of legal tender in Cuba, and bids in which prices are quoted by unit of work must be totalized, although errors in such calculations will have no consequences in view of the fact that contracts will be let on the basis of the results obtained by the Department. However, all blank spaces in proposals must be filled in and any additional charge, limitation or stipulation may vitiate such proposals to the end that they may be rejected. (Arts. 13, 14, 15 and 16.)

After the bids have been opened, no subsequent explanations respecting them may be filed by bidders, and all prices must be entered in the Comparative Summary of the Board, however, small omissions on the part of bidders will not necessarily constitute grounds for rejection, moreover, any bidder is free to withdraw upon communicating his intention in writing to the public officer in charge prior to the opening of the proposals. (Arts. 17 to 20.)

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Proposals should be prepared without assistance from employees of the Department of Public Works, and when it is shown that any one bidder is interested in more than one proposal, all of his proposals will be rejected under such circumstances. Should two or more bids prove to be identically the same, open bidding shall be held between them. If this cannot be done in the act of opening the bids because certain of the tied bidders or their representatives lack authority to modify their original proposals, they will be called together within 24 hours for this purpose, and a public record shall be made of the result. (Arts. 21 to 23.)

Protests. All bids shall be opened and read in a loud voice at the appointed place and hour; when a bidder desires to enter a protest, he may do so before the Department of Public Works through the public officer in charge of the bidding. The protest must be filed within 48 hours or the right to protest becomes barred forever. (Arts. 24 and 25.)

Source of Materials. The present decree clearly provides that bidders must state in their proposals whether the "articles, effects or materials" which they intend to utilize in the execution of the work are produced in Cuban territory or are "elaborated, fabricated or manufactured "in factories established in Cuba, and whether the latter belong to private individuals or organizations, of Cuban or foreign nationality, stating the place where such factories and their head offices are domiciled. "In equality of conditions, preference will be given to the proposal which may offer materials of national origin." (Art. 26.)

Analyses and Samples. Whenever it is required by the Schedule of Facultative Specific Conditions, a certificate of chemical analysis and of resistance must accompany the proposal; the omission of this requirement vitiates the proposal. Samples adequately marked, of the materials to be used, may also be required of bidders. (Arts. 27 and 28.)

Bonds. A bidder's bond must be posted either in Cuban legal tender or in Cuban bonds; the latter will be accepted at the value of their quotation on the Stock Exchange of Habana. The amount of the bond must be sufficient to cover the expenses of the request for bids, nevertheless, not less than 3 percent of the proposed cost of the works. Bidders should enclose the bond in a separate envelope, sealed, and marked on the outside with the word "bond." When the bond posted is composed of national bonds of Cuba, the income derived will remain the property of the bidder, furthermore, the board will promptly reject all bids not accompanied by the bond specified in the announcement of economic conditions.. However, when a bond is not required by the conditions, bidders may submit evidence of their financial resources if required to do so. (Art. 29.)

As soon as the reading of the proposals has terminated, the bonds will be returned to the unsuccessful bidders. The bonds corresponding to the two lowest proposals, as well as the bond of any bidder who has filed a protest, will be retained. Upon the actual letting of the contract, only the bond of the bidder receiving, the contract will be retained as a partial or total guaranty of fulfillment. (Art. 30.) However, in the act of receiving the formal contract, the bidder to whom it has been adjudicated must post an additional bond of the same type as that already described