In 2009 and 2015 Portugal's Court of Auditors conducted audits of public works overspending. The audits revealed that significant financial overruns and deviations from contract implementation deadlines were a widespread practice. Among the reasons given were:

• poor public works planning;
• absence of designated persons responsible for public works;
• lack of control and analysis of costs associated with the project life cycle.

Given the inadequate implementation of recommendations from past audits, the Portuguese Court of Auditors decided to conduct a re-audit.

Audit Objectives:

To verify whether corrective actions have been taken by the Government as well as by the direct implementers — Infrastructure Portugal (Infraestruturas de Portugal, IP) and Lisbon Metro (Metropolitano de Lisboa, ML).

Deficiencies in carrying out public works affecting time and cost overruns have been corrected

The analysis of complaints, appeals and revelations received by the Court of Auditors (PEQD, Art. 3.5 of Report No. 6/2023) identified seven local authorities, in which cases attesting to illegal practices in public procurement were detected.

Audit Objectives:

• To evaluate the compliance of pre-contractual procedures for the acquisition of goods and services with the Public Contracts Code and relevant laws.

To verify the legality of selection of service providers for the implementation of public contracts, including through direct procurement.

• Lack of qualified personnel in local authorities to implement the agency’s activities (large number of procured services by profile).
• The internal control system is imperfect, as controls and procedures have not been established to guarantee the legality and monitoring of public procurement processes and accounting information.
• Contracts for procurement of goods and services were concluded and implemented with irregularities, especially in the field of school education

The Portuguese Ministry of Education has authorized the purchase of 1.05 million computers and communication services for primary and secondary schools in three phases:

Phase 0 (100k units), Phase 1 (350k units) and Phase 2 (600k units).

The Portuguese Court of Auditors audited the contracts for the purchase of 350,000 computers and connectivity tools in Phase 1, totaling EUR 126.8 million, signed by the General Secretariat for Education and Science (SGEC) in 2020 and 2021, to verify the legality of the contracts and their performance.

Audit Objectives:

To identify the legality of the contracts concluded for the purchase of computers and their subsequent connection in the first phase of the acquisition of equipment for primary and secondary schools in Portugal.

The audit found no non-compliances with applicable legal regulations. The performance of computer contracts reached 100% (EUR 104.4 million), and less than 65% (EUR 14.6 million) for connectivity contracts.

An assessment of monitoring, management and control systems identified weaknesses related to the hardware and quality of computers and the effectiveness of operating systems and other software.

Portugal followed the centralized European vaccine procurement procedure, which was crucial to ensure access to effective and safe vaccines in sufficient quantities, at affordable prices and in the shortest possible time.

Audit Objectives:

Audit of the COVID-19 vaccination program implemented in Portugal by public authorities was conducted to assess its effectiveness and efficiency, taking into account the objectives set, the resources used and the results achieved

The implementation of the program was in line with international recommendations. A logistical system for vaccine storage and distribution ensured timely and proportional distribution of vaccines to vaccination sites. Nevertheless, at the end of 2022, the vaccine dose loss rate was 11.2%, corresponding to 3.5 million unused vaccine doses (equivalent to around EUR 54.5 million), partly as a result of the over-acquisition promoted in the EU to avoid the risk of shortages.

The Court of Auditors provided several recommendations regarding the identification and adoption of strategies to manage the effects and impact of COVID-19 on the public health system and ensure its resilience, as well as planning to respond to future public health emergencies.

The Court of Auditors of the Portuguese Republic audited the implementation of public procurement in accordance with the 2020 National Strategy for Green Public Procurement (ENCPE 2020 - Estratégia Nacional de Compras Públicas).

Audit Objectives:

To identify the effectiveness of the implementation of the 2020 National Strategy for Green Public Procurement.

The audit revealed that:

• environmental criteria have not been developed by the Government or adapted to the context of the Portuguese Republic;
• there is no established assessment of the inclusion of environmental criteria in public procurement;
• program implementation is not monitored.