Dominican Republic issues new rules for state digital infrastructure

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic’s Executive Branch has issued Decree No. 714-26, establishing regulations to coordinate strategic digital infrastructure and investments across the Public Administration as part of the government’s modernization and public management reform efforts.

The regulation seeks to improve the efficiency of technology spending, reduce duplication, strengthen interoperability, protect state data and ensure the security, sustainability and continuity of digital public services.

The Ministry of Public Administration (MAP) will oversee the implementation of the regulation, coordinating the identification, evaluation, prioritization and monitoring of strategic digital contracts and investments, including systems, platforms, cloud services and emerging technologies.

Public Administration Minister Sigmund Freund said the measure marks a milestone in national technology governance by addressing fragmented spending and isolated investments among government institutions.

Under Article 6, the decree declares the integration, modernization and strengthening of the Dominican State’s sovereign digital infrastructure to be of national strategic interest. Strategic investments may require prior technical evaluation, inter-institutional coordination or joint management.

The regulation also requires Executive Branch institutions to obtain a technical evaluation from MAP before acquiring complex digital platforms and solutions. It allows coordinated procurement among multiple government entities to achieve economies of scale and savings for the state.

The decree creates an Inter-institutional Technical Commission for Strategic Digital Contracting and Investments, comprising MAP, the Ministry of the Presidency, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, OGTIC, the General Directorate of Public Procurement and the National Cybersecurity Center.

The rules also promote digital sovereignty by requiring technological solutions to ensure data portability, interoperability and technical reversibility. Contracts and system designs that create exclusive commercial dependencies or limit the government’s control over its data are prohibited.

In addition, contracts involving artificial intelligence and advanced automation must include safeguards such as human oversight, traceability and transparency.

The regulation does not exempt public institutions from existing requirements on public procurement, budgeting, transparency, cybersecurity, personal data protection and other applicable laws.