What happens if the administration delays the signing of the contract?

The final guarantee, to put it without as much roll, is the financial padlock that they put to public contracts. Imagine that the government wants to hire you to build a bridge or something, but they don't trust that you are going to comply with yes or yes. Then, they ask you for this insurance - which can be a bank guarantee, a policy or something similar - to cover your backs if you put back or water.

There is not a single way of presenting it, but the typical thing is to go to the bank or the insurer and take the guarantee for a percentage of the value of the contract. Sometimes they tell you a fixed amount and now, it depends a lot on who is tendering and how confidence they have you.

And when do they return it to you? Well, when you finish the work, you deliver what you promised, and do not leave pending or broncas. If everything goes well, they return your guarantee, sometimes you have to ask for it, other times they return it alone, but you always have to be shot with that procedure, because nobody wants the money to stay stuck “by administrative error.”

Now, if you fail and do not fulfill the contract, forget that they return it to you. The contracting entity can execute the guarantee and there you lost that money. Basically, it is his way of saying: "I don't trust promises, I want facts."

In short, the definitive guarantee is that uncomfortable but necessary insurance in public procurement. If you do everything well - interrogations, you meet deadlines, you follow the rules - they return it and all happy. But if you laugh ... well, even how to help you, compa.