National Regulation of Public Procurement
Key features of public procurement system
- In e-procurement, supplier qualification is verified only for companies submitting the best offer
- For foreign companies bidding, a local partner company is mandatory, but registration of a local representative office is allowed after the end of the bidding process
National Law:
- Federal Law on Bidding and Administrative Contracts No. 14,133 dated April 1, 2021;
- Law on Rules for Tenders and Contracts 8,666 dated June 21, 1993;
- State-Owned Enterprises Accountability Law 13,303 dated June 30, 2016;
- Law on Auction Procedures for Procurement of Public Goods and Services 10,520 dated July 17, 2002;
- Government Decree on Electronic Public Procurement 5,450 dated May 31, 2005;
- Law 12,349 dated December 15, 2010. Law on Rules for Tenders and Contracts (No. 8,666) was amended in order to promote the development of national industry (in particular, the possibility of giving preference to national goods and services in public procurement was prescribed).
- Law on Auction Procedures for Procurement of Public Goods and Services 10,520 and State-Owned Enterprises Accountability Law No. 13,303 establish a reverse auction procedure for electronic procurement (Pregão). One of its main features is the inversion of the bidding procedure stages: bidding is carried out before the qualification documents are analyzed, which will be analyzed only for the company that submitted the best offer.
SAI Brazil Cases
Monitoring of the Implementation of the National Public Procurement Portal
SAI: Brazil
Title: Monitoring of the Implementation of the National Public Procurement Portal
The monitoring commenced in December 2021 to assess the progress of the project to launch the National Public Procurement Portal by the Federal Government. Federal Court of Accounts of Brazil monitored the operation of the Portal launched under the new version of Federal Law on Bidding and Administrative Contracts No. 14,133 dated April 1, 2021.
Audit Objectives:
- To verify the efficiency of the Portal, availability of criteria and regulatory documents to ensure compliance with public procurement legislation;
- availability of resources to finance the modernization of the Portal.
Audit Criteria:
Availability of a schedule for launching the Portal, stages and objectives of its operation, compliance with federal legislation on public procurement.
The monitoring revealed a number of shortcomings in the Portals’ operation:
- lack of a detailed schedule for launching individual platforms and features of the Portal in accordance with the previously adopted Strategy;
- lack of regulatory documents to ensure full compliance with legislation (primarily the Federal Law on Bidding and Administrative Contracts);
- lack of modules and systems necessary for full compliance of the Portal features with statutory provisions;
- failure to implement controls designed to ensure effective correlation between the data disclosed on the Portal.
In the auditors' opinion, the project is being implemented successfully, given limited financing and human resources.
SAI Brazil instructed the Steering Committee of the National Public Procurement Network to send, by December 30, 2023, a consolidated report on all developments implemented on the Portal, as well as to submit a complete and substantiated planning document outlining a strategy, timetable, implementation stages, responsible persons, objectives and actions necessary for the full implementation and operation of the Portal.
SAI Brazil ordered the relevant ministry to address the shortcomings within 2 months.