Place the three fianzas and release them in order

As soon as the fallo is notified, have the afianzadora issue the fianza de cumplimiento on the terms the convocatoria set, in favour of the dependencia, and deliver it. The period is fifteen days following the notification of the award where the convocatoria does not name another one. Record the delivery date on the contract, not only the date on the bond.

Why: This is one of the few deadlines on a Mexican public contract that can cost you the contract itself rather than money, and it lands in the week everyone is celebrating. It is short by design and it starts on a notification rather than on a signature, so a firm that waits for the contract to be drafted before calling the afianzadora has already spent most of it.

Put the fianza de anticipo in place for the whole of the advance before any part of it is paid over, and record it against the anticipo rather than against the contract in general. Where the anticipo is granted in parts, make sure the security covers the part being released.

Why: It secures a different thing from the fianza de cumplimiento, which is why it exists separately: money handed over before there is any work to look at. That also decides when it ends. It follows the amortizacion, not the completion of the works, so on a job that finishes with the advance not fully repaid this bond outlives the project and nobody expects it to.

Enter each bond once with the four things anybody will ever ask: what it secures, its amount, the afianzadora and policy number, and the event that ends it. Then set the dates that follow from those events, so the register is what gets read rather than the folder of PDFs.

Why: Bonds fail quietly in both directions. One that expires while the risk is still live leaves the works unsecured and the dependencia entitled to say so; one that outlives its risk goes on charging a premium every year until somebody notices, which on a portfolio of finished jobs is a real number nobody has ever added up.

Every convenio modificatorio that raises the contract amount or extends the term is a change to the security as well as to the works. Have the fianza de cumplimiento endorsed for the new amount and the new period, and update the register from the endorsement rather than from the convenio.

Why: An increase agreed but not endorsed leaves the extra work unsecured, which is a finding the moment anybody audits the file and an argument the dependencia can use to hold an estimacion. It is invisible while it lasts, because the convenio is signed, the works are proceeding and the original bond is still perfectly valid for the amount it was written for.

Before the acta de entrega-recepcion is signed, provide the guarantee article 66 LOPSRM requires against defects and hidden vices for the twelve months that follow. The article lets you choose the form: a fianza, an irrevocable letter of credit, or an amount placed in trust. Choose it on cash rather than habit, and diarise the day the twelve months end.

Why: It has to exist before the works are received, so it is prepared during the busiest fortnight of the job or it delays the acta, and a delayed acta delays the finiquito and everything behind it. The choice of form is worth an hour: a trust deposit ties up cash for a year while a fianza costs a premium, and the right answer depends on which of those the firm has less of.

Release the fianza de anticipo when the advance reaches zero, the fianza de cumplimiento against the finiquito and the acta administrativa that extinguishes the rights and obligations, and the vicios ocultos security when the twelve months are up with no claim outstanding. File the paper the afianzadora needs against each one, because a cancellation is granted on evidence rather than on a request.

Why: Nobody is chasing you to stop paying, so this is the step that gets skipped on every job that ends well. The cost is not only the premium: an open bond consumes the line the afianzadora will extend you, and a firm bidding its next contract discovers its capacity is committed to three jobs it finished years ago.