About This Book
This book of Jesús A. Villegas Ortiz, Subcontracting in the Venezuelan Public Sector provides a systematic and critical analysis of a contractual mechanism that is widely used in public procurement practice but largely underdeveloped in Venezuelan legal scholarship. Starting from the absence of an explicit statutory regulation in public procurement and concession laws, the book examines whether such silence should be understood as a prohibition or, instead, as an opening to contractual autonomy within public law constraints.
The study offers a rigorous doctrinal framework distinguishing subcontracting from related legal institutions such as assignment of contracts, delegation, and novation. It emphasizes that subcontracting does not entail the substitution of the contractor vis-à-vis the public administration, as the original contractor remains fully responsible for performance under the public contract.
The book further explores the legal and contractual limits of subcontracting, including the relevance of intuitu personae obligations, the risk of fraud on the law, and the impact of exceptional public procurement regimes. Comparative doctrine and relevant case law are examined to contextualize the Venezuelan approach within broader administrative law discussions.
Combining theoretical analysis with practical insight, this work serves as a valuable reference for practitioners, scholars, and decision-makers involved in public contracts, offering clear interpretative criteria on the admissibility, limits, and legal consequences of subcontracting in the Venezuelan public sector.
