The PPP Law and its Regulations whose main purposes are the generation of better financing schemes for infrastructure projects and the elevation of the country’s competitiveness were published in 2012 and recently amended. In this area, along with a new Strategy to Promote Federal PPP projects (the Strategy, as described below) and a new 2030 National Program for Sustainable Infrastructure that is currently under preparation, we do not expect any other important changes in the near future.

The federal government has implemented several programs to facilitate, promote and develop projects. For instance, on March 2017, the Ministry of Treasury presented the Strategy to Promote Federal PPPs (the “Strategy”) as a mechanism to foster and publicize long-term infrastructure projects. The Strategy aims to: (i) guarantee that the tender processes are conducted to allow participation, competitiveness, fair treatment, efficiency and transparency, and (ii) supervise the development of projects throughout all stages to guarantee that they comply with their purpose, reach their goals and result in benefits.

Also, the federal government has launched a platform called Proyectos Mexico/Mexico Projects Hub which is fully aligned with the Strategy and has been designed to promote not only the PPP projects covered under the umbrella of the Strategy, but also other highly relevant infrastructure projects that are currently being implemented or will be implemented soon in Mexico.

On the other hand, there is a legislative proposal to abrogate the Works Law. Senators submitted a proposal to issue a new law with the main purpose of ensuring competition, transparency and efficiency in the processes to contract public works, as well as to harmonize Mexican legislation with the best international practices. If the Congress approves this proposal, some of the most relevant changes will relate to liability for public officers and transparency, as the main goal of this new law is to end corruption.

Finally, regarding the fairly recent legal framework implemented as a result of the above referred Constitutional energy reform, we do not expect major changes to it in the short term, although Mexican agencies are constantly working to adapt their procurement processes to international standards expediting all contracting procedures and conducting them with full transparency.