Puerto Rico Treasury (Hacienda) Secretary Ángel Pantoja said on Friday, November 13, that he will meet with teams from the General Services Administration (ASG) and Hacienda to keep the government from running short of money to pay for government vehicle fuel in December, speaking on NotiUno 630’s Sin Miedo program. ASG administrator Karla Mercado Rivera has reiterated that, unless problems with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system are resolved, the agency cannot make December fuel payments, including for emergency vehicles.
Hacienda reported Thursday at 8:00 PM that about $11.2 million in fuel has been disbursed since the system began, across five ASG-approved invoices, that the account holds $3.6 million, and that no approved invoices are pending. Mercado Rivera replied that those payments correspond to fiscal year 2026 and to prior-year own revenue of entities operating outside the system.
Pantoja said he learned of the situation Thursday, called the administrator personally, and that alternatives are on the table. He called the ERP failures part of an implementation process, comparing it to the SURI system’s adaptation period, and said the system has issued about $6 billion in payments. He gave no figure for unpaid amounts.
Senator Carmelo Ríos, chair of the committee investigating the system, asked whether the ERP has problems; Pantoja answered, "There are situations that have to be addressed, senator." Ríos said he has information that Hacienda keeps a group issuing invoices manually and that the Office of Management and Budget (OGP) and Hacienda blame each other. Pantoja said he assigns blame to no one and cannot revisit launch decisions he was not part of. Ríos said contractors "can’t hold on for 12 months in this situation."