{"id":13586,"date":"2026-05-26T19:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T00:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/?p=13586"},"modified":"2026-05-25T12:35:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:35:46","slug":"electoral-tribunal-plans-7-1-million-dollar-santiago-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/politics-government\/electoral-tribunal-plans-7-1-million-dollar-santiago-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Electoral Tribunal Plans 7.1 Million Dollar Santiago Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Electoral Tribunal of Panama<\/a> will build a new regional headquarters in Santiago de Veraguas<\/a>. The project carries a budget of 7.1 million dollars<\/strong>. Five companies have already expressed interest in the construction tender.<\/p>\n

The new facility will sit on a 5,143 square meter property. It is adjacent to offices of the Comptroller General and the Ministry of Agricultural Development. The project includes two interconnected buildings. The main structure will have two floors. A smaller annex will house the identification card factory.<\/p>\n

Ariadna Bruggiati, the Infrastructure Director for the Electoral Tribunal, detailed the plans. The main building will contain offices for Civil Registry and Identification divisions. The second level will host electoral courts and the Electoral Organization Directorate. The annex will store sensitive materials used for the General Election Plan. A dedicated elevator will transport those materials.<\/p>\n

\"1440px
Tribunal Electoral Albrook by Fernandofrancisco, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=57248303<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The complex will include parking for 61 vehicles. The roof is designed to support a future additional floor. The architectural style draws inspiration from the main Tribunal headquarters in Anc\u00f3n, Panama City. It features colonial and Anglo-Canal design elements. But Bruggiati noted modern touches will be included.<\/p>\n

“The main facade will have the largest amount of glass,” Bruggiati said. [Translated from Spanish]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The tender is scheduled for June 18. This marks a renewed effort after a previous attempt two years ago failed to materialize.<\/p>\n

Contractor Concerns Over Financial Requirements<\/h2>\n

A dispute has emerged over bidding conditions. During a homologation meeting on May 14, several companies raised objections. The core issue involves net worth requirements.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Mu\u00f1oz, representing Intra Nover, explained the problem. To achieve maximum scoring, a company must prove net worth equal to three times its bid amount. With a reference price of 7.1 million dollars<\/strong>, that means demonstrating nearly 21 million dollars in net worth. Mu\u00f1oz asked the Tribunal to reduce the requirement to two times the bid value.<\/p>\n

Br\u00edgido Poveda, from the institution’s legal advisory team, defended the condition. He stated the Tribunal has spent years trying to develop a regional headquarters in Veraguas that meets institutional needs. The current regional office operates from a commercial plaza space.<\/p>\n

“We need to guarantee that the winning company has sufficient resources to completely execute the work. For the moment, that requirement remains,” Poveda said. [Translated from Spanish]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Representatives from Constructora Pac\u00edfico Atl\u00e1ntico called the requirement excessive. Ilsen M\u00e1rquez, from Constructora AEI, argued the condition could be exclusionary. She noted that company net worth does not necessarily guarantee project completion.<\/p>\n

“A company can have a high net worth and still face difficulties during execution,” M\u00e1rquez said. [Translated from Spanish]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She pointed out that existing guarantees already provide protection. These include performance bonds, financing intent letters, and bank references. The other participating companies echoed these concerns.<\/p>\n

\"gangas<\/p>\n

The Electoral Tribunal maintained its position but took note for possible evaluation. Poveda reminded participants that an earlier version of the bidding terms required net worth equivalent to five times the reference value. The Tribunal already reduced that to three times after previous assessments.<\/p>\n

The bidding process follows standard Panama public procurement requirements<\/a>. Government entities must balance contractor capacity with competitive access. The outcome of this dispute could affect how many firms ultimately submit formal proposals.<\/p>\n

Construction would provide Santiago de Veraguas with a permanent government facility. The city serves as the capital of Veraguas Province. A dedicated electoral headquarters would replace leased commercial space. This represents a long-term investment in regional administrative infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The Tribunal will decide whether to adjust the financial requirements before the June 18 tender date. Contractors await that decision. The project timeline depends on resolving this procedural disagreement first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Electoral Tribunal of Panama will build a new regional headquarters in Santiago de Veraguas. The project carries a budget of 7.1 million dollars. Five companies have already expressed interest in the construction tender. The new facility will sit on a 5,143 square meter property. It is adjacent to offices of the Comptroller General and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,87,36],"tags":[4499,4497,4500,4498,4501],"class_list":["post-13586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics-government","category-featured","category-investments","tag-headquarters-construction","tag-panama-electoral-tribunal","tag-panama-electoral-tribunal-plans","tag-santiago-de-veraguas","tag-santiago-headquarters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13587,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13586\/revisions\/13587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}