美國聯邦採購條例中保證狀之規範與爭端解決初探

A Preliminary Study on the Regulations and Dispute Settlement of Bonds in the U.S. Federal Procurement Regulations

政府採購法 106 條第 1 項第 2 款規定：「駐國外機構辦理或受託辦理之採購，因應駐在地國情或實地作業限制，且不違背我國締結之條約或協定者，得不適用下列各款規定。但第二款至第四款之事項，應於招標文件中明定其處理方式。二、第三十條押標金及保證金。」本條文授權我國駐外採購機關於必要時得不適用該法有關押標金及保證金的規定，而我國駐外採購機關可能同意於採購契約中以華盛頓特區或各州之一的法律為準據法，因此規範美國聯邦政府採購中各種保證金的法令對於我國採購機關亦具法律上的拘束力。美國法令對於押標金、履約保證金及付款保證之要求為何？美國政府、得標廠商或其分包廠商應採取何等措施以確保保證金能發揮保護機關的功能？美國聯邦政府是否曾調查過任何保證金涉及詐偽的案件？保證人之資訊是否公開？採購機關應如何避免保證狀中保證人並不存有或無履行其義務之能力等困擾？本文為求瞭解押標金、履約保證金及付款保證之實踐，首先探究美國聯邦法典、聯邦獲得規則及行政解釋等以求解決上述問題。政府採購法及押標金保證金暨其他擔保作業辦法對於押標金、保證金及其他擔保已有明確規範，但本文仍檢視我國法令疏漏之處，最後謹提供我國駐外採購機關避免未來因誤信詐偽的保證狀而受害之建議，以供參考。

Subparagraphs 2 of Article 106 of Government Procurement Act (GPA) provides the following：''Except otherwise prohibited by the treaties or agreements to which this nation is a party, a procurement conducted by an entity stationed abroad either for itself or as agent may be exempt from the provisions of the following subparagraphs in response to local circumstances or the constraint of local practices, provided that the ways to handle the matters referred to in the following subparagraphs 2 through 4 shall be specified in the tender documentation. 2. The bid bond and guarantee bond under Article 30 hereof.''This clause gives the government procurement agencies stationed abroad the right to waive the use of bid bond and guarantee bond specified in GPA, if necessary. It becomes possible that said agencies may decide to choose Washington D.C. laws or any state laws as applicable laws in procurement contracts. Therefore, the regulations governing bonds in U.S. Government procurement shall become legally binding to R.O.C. procurement agencies. What are the requirements of the bid bonds, performance bonds and payment bonds under U.S. laws? What steps should Government, contractor, or subcontractor take to assure the bond actually will provide the promised protection? Is there any fraudulent bond case investigated by the U.S. Government? Is public information on sureties available? How can agencies avoid the disaster of relying on a bond that the surety does not exist or is unable to pay its obligations? In order to understand the practices of bid bonds, performance bonds and payment bonds, this research must first examine the clauses in United States Code, the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and administrative interpretation to resolve these problems. Government Procurement Act and Regulation for Bid Bond, Guarantee Bond and Other Guarantees provide explicit requirement of Bid Bond, Guarantee Bond and Other Guarantees. However, this research then examines shortcomings of Taiwan’s domestic laws and regulations. This study last offers suggestions to the R.O.C. Government Procurement agencies stationed abroad for avoiding the disaster of relying on a fraudulent bond.