Art. 199. Management of the qualification system for the general contractor

1. The certification that the general contractor has the necessary prerequisites shall be issued in accordance with what is set forth in Article 197 and shall be determined in the context of the qualification system provided by such Article.

2. In the case of delay in issuing the certification attributable to the SOA, the expired certification shall remain valid for the purpose of participating in the tenders and to sign contracts, until the issue of the renewed certification.

3. The certifications that the prerequisites have been satisfied issued by the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transportation shall be valid for a period of three years.

4. The Ministry of Infrastructures and Transportation shall also issue the certification set forth in paragraph 1 for requests received as of the date of entry into force of this Code, as well as those that are received until the entry into force of the Decree set forth in Article 83, paragraph 2. Such Decree also establishes the assessment criteria by the contracting authority of the certificates presented at the time of tenders for the sole award to a general contractor, during the period of coexistence of the qualification certificates issued by the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transportation and those issued in the manner set forth in Article 84.