Decree Establishing the Special Rules and Procedures for Defense or National Security Public Procurement
- The decree, signed 1 December 2025, establishes for the first time a dedicated 41-article legal framework for defense-or-national-security public procurement, called for by Article 3 of the 2009 procurement law.
- It defines the scope of covered contracts (Article 5): weapons and war materiel, classified security equipment, related life-cycle works and services, defense-strategy studies, and construction of buildings with a sovereign character.
- It sets confidentiality safeguards, including closed-session ('huis clos') handling of disputes, and leaves implementing modalities to a future Council-of-Ministers arrêté (Article 40).
- It was issued by decree because the legislature is currently inoperative, per the preamble, and repeals contrary laws, decree-laws and decrees (Article 41).
This decree, issued by Haiti's Conseil Présidentiel de Transition (CPT) on 1 December 2025 and published as a special issue of Le Moniteur (No. 68-A) on 17 December 2025, establishes special rules and procedures for public procurement in the defense-or-national-security domain, a category the Law of 10 June 2009 on Public Procurement (Article 3) explicitly reserved for separate legislation. The decree's preamble notes that the legislature is currently inoperative and that the Executive is therefore legislating by decree on matters of public interest.
Article 3 sets out the guiding principles -- competition, transparency, ethics and efficient use of public funds. Article 4 defines the key terms: 'autorité contractante,' 'marché public de défense ou de sécurité nationale,' 'personne responsable du marché,' 'spécialiste en marché public' and 'opérateur économique.' Article 5 enumerates the categories of contracts covered, including weapons, munitions and war materiel (whether purpose-built or adapted from civilian use); security equipment involving classified or protected information; related works, supplies and life-cycle support services; studies and expertise tied to defense strategy or protective equipment; and the design, construction or rehabilitation of buildings with a 'sovereign' character, including those housing the security and defense institutions, detention centers, and the offices and residences of the Head of State and Prime Minister.
Later chapters (not reproduced in full here) set out contracting-authority obligations, procedural safeguards and confidentiality requirements, including provision for disputes to be heard in closed session ('à huis clos') given the sensitivity of the information involved. Article 40 provides that implementing modalities are to be set by an arrêté taken in Council of Ministers, and Article 41 repeals contrary laws, decree-laws and decrees. It was signed at the Palais National by the Conseiller-Président (Laurent Saint-Cyr) on behalf of the CPT, the Prime Minister (Alix Didier Fils-Aimé) and the full cabinet. Any obligation, threshold or procedural detail should be verified directly against the decree's text.
How to cite
Transitional Presidential Council of Haiti (CPT), 2025, Decree Establishing the Special Rules and Procedures for Defense or National Security Public Procurement, https://cnmp.gouv.ht/uploads/documents/1768239191_Decret_March___Defenseou_Securit___N_260112_012430.pdf