Panama Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in panama, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Law 22 establishes the principles and procedures that govern public contracts and dictates that government procurements (including independent entities and state-owned enterprises) must be conducted under its regulations and published electronically in a system known as “PanamaCompra”. The Direccion Nacional de Contrataciones Publicas - DGCP (General Directorate of Public Procurement) is an autonomous entity responsible for administering the PanamaCompra electronic system. The DGCP regulates, interprets, supervises, and advises on the contractor selection procedures carried out by state institutions and is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller General of the Republic and the policies of the Executive Branch. However, the Panamanian government has multiple outstanding payment issues with U.S. companies. Due to the pandemic, this problem has increased.

Panama is an observer to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), an agreement that establishes rules requiring open, fair, and transparent competition conditions to be ensured in government procurements. Additionally,  the U.S.-Panama TPA (Chapter 9) requires fair and transparent procurement procedures for procurement covered by the TPA.

The United States continues to stress the need to increase transparency and accountability in the judicial process and government procurement. The Panamanian government’s historic inability to pay suppliers and contractors continues to be a liability that U.S. and Panamanian companies endure when doing business with the government. We encourage U.S. companies interested in pursuing public tenders in Panama to apply for support from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Advocacy Center.

The Panama Canal represents significant business opportunities for U.S. exporters with annual purchases of as much as $250 million, including port and marine equipment, building materials, industrial equipment, transportation materials, and equipment.  Despite being a government agency, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is a unique organization that, by constitutional law, is autonomous, runs a profitable and efficient operation, has full control over its budget.  The ACP has an excellent payment record.

The Commercial Service maintains Commercial Liaison Offices in the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. These institutions are active and have several lending programs in Panama. For more information about projects, visit Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.

 

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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