Documents Needed to Bid on Public Tenders in Brazil (2026)

This is the checklist behind a bid in Brazil: every document and step a Brazilian tender involves, in the order you meet them, with who may lawfully handle each one. How Brazilian procurement works overall, from procedures and minimum deadlines to preferences, appeals and payment, is in How to bid for public contracts in Brazil; the foreign-supplier registration is walked through in SICAF registration for foreign companies.

Before you bid

1. Your company identity. A Brazilian bidder needs a CNPJ from the Receita Federal, which the fiscal qualification checks first. A contador registers the company through the Junta Comercial and Receita systems; your administrator signs the articles (contrato social or estatuto) and is named as the person responsible for the CNPJ. It lasts while the company is active, and your SICAF registration lapses if the CNPJ isn’t regular at the Receita. The legal qualification (habilitação jurídica) itself consists of the articles, their amendments and proof of the administrators’ election, from the Junta Comercial or the Registro Civil de Pessoas Jurídicas. New articles or amendments are drafted and countersigned by an advogado before filing; the administrators sign them.

2. Logins: gov.br, and an ICP-Brasil certificate where needed.

gov.br account at silver (prata) or gold (ouro) level, one for each person who operates SICAF or Compras.gov.br. It is free and done the same day: silver by facial recognition against the driving-licence database or validation through an accredited bank; gold by facial recognition against electoral records, the CIN identity-card QR code or an ICP-Brasil e-CPF. Each person levels up their own account, including your legal representative. An accountant or bid consultant uses their own account and is then linked to your company.
ICP-Brasil certificate (e-CNPJ or e-CPF), a qualified certificate that can be used to log in to SICAF, to link the CNPJ to your representative’s gov.br account and to give a qualified electronic signature. Only your legal representative can obtain the e-CNPJ, after identity checks at an accredited registration authority, and only they hold and use it. Some contracts, platforms and state or municipal systems ask for it.

3. SICAF level I. This is the basic entry in the federal supplier register, and all you need to take part in an electronic pregão, a dispensa eletrônica or an electronic concorrência.

Cost and time: free, and about 10 minutes online.
Valid: 1 year, renewed automatically while the CNPJ or CPF is regular at the Receita; each document keeps its own validity.
Who does it: a partner listed in the Receita’s QSA, or the person responsible for the CNPJ, logs in once with their own gov.br and registers (credencia) the company. That person can then designate any CPF, such as your accountant or bid consultant, as responsável pelo cadastro under Segurança > Alterar responsável pelo cadastro da empresa, and from then on that person keeps SICAF up to date under their own login.

4. SICAF levels II to VI (optional). These pre-load the qualification documents: legal qualification, federal tax and labour, state and municipal tax, technical, and economic-financial. Where the edital allows it, the buyer then checks the winner by consulting SICAF instead of asking for files. They are free. The responsável pelo cadastro uploads and refreshes documents; fiscal and labour regularity is largely pulled in automatically from the issuing bodies. SICAF does not compute your financial ratios.

5. Other platforms. States, municipalities and state companies often run tenders on other PNCP-integrated platforms, such as Portal de Compras Públicas, BLL, Licitações-e and BEC/SP, each with its own supplier registration and sometimes a paid subscription. On Portal de Compras Públicas, registration is free but bidding needs a paid subscription. Your legal representative accepts each platform’s terms and creates the company’s admin access, then adds advisers as users where the platform allows.

6. Small-business status. A micro or small enterprise (ME up to R$360,000 revenue, EPP up to R$4.8m) has items up to R$80,000 reserved, quotas of up to 25% of divisible goods, a tie-break within 10% (5% in a pregão), and 5+5 working days to fix tax or labour irregularities after winning. The status comes from your Receita Federal classification, which Compras.gov.br reads automatically, and applies per calendar year. Your accountant keeps the classification right; you confirm in the system, under penalty of law, that your public contracts haven’t exceeded the annual limit.

7. Sector registrations, where the tender asks.

CREA or CAU. Engineering and architecture firms may start work only once registered with the regional council together with their technical staff, and tenders may ask for it. The responsible engineer applies under their own registration and your administrator signs the company’s application. Fees are annual.
ANVISA registration for medicines, medical devices and other health products, which can’t be sold or delivered unregistered; health tenders ask for the registration number at bid stage. It is held by the Brazilian registration holder, the manufacturer or an importer with its own technical lead, and a reseller shows its right to sell, for example with a manufacturer’s support letter.

With your bid

8. Read the edital, and challenge it if needed. The notice, its reference terms and annexes are public on the PNCP and Compras.gov.br. Clarification requests and challenges (impugnações) can be filed up to 3 working days before opening. Anyone may file one, but the legal reasoning is an advogado’s work.

9. The proposal and the mandatory declarations. Before the session opens, the proposal (price per item, brand or model, attachments if asked) goes into Compras.gov.br, and it can be replaced or withdrawn until opening. With it you make the system declarations: that you meet the qualification requirements; that the proposal meets the edital; that you comply with the job quota for people with disabilities and rehabilitated workers; that you use no prohibited child labour; and that your price covers all labour rights. ME and EPP bidders also declare they haven’t passed the annual limit. They are free and take minutes, but false declarations carry sanctions, so you confirm each one yourself before anyone ticks it.

10. Bid guarantee (garantia de proposta), where the edital requires it. Up to 1% of the estimated value, returned within 10 working days of contract signature, and forfeited if the winner refuses to sign or to present documents. It can be cash or public bonds (caução), surety insurance (seguro-garantia) from a SUSEP-authorised insurer, a bank guarantee (fiança bancária) from a bank authorised by the Banco Central, or a capitalisation bond. The insurer or bank issues it in favour of the buyer; your company is the policyholder (tomador) and signs the application and counter-guarantee.

11. Consortium commitment, if you bid together. A signed public or private commitment (compromisso de constituição de consórcio) naming the lead firm. Members are jointly liable and can’t bid twice; the winning consortium must be constituted and registered at the Junta Comercial before the contract. An advogado drafts the commitment and later the deed, and each member’s legal representative signs. Foreign members may join and no longer need a Brazilian leader.

12. Site visit or declaration. Where the edital requires knowledge of the site, your technical lead either visits on the buyer’s date or signs a formal declaration of full knowledge of local conditions, which the edital must allow instead. It is free.

13. National preference margin. For goods on the federal preference lists, buyers may apply a margin of up to 10% for Brazilian manufactured goods and services, and up to 20% for Brazilian-developed innovation. You confirm the product’s origin in the proposal.

14. The session. You, or a named user of your company bidding under their own gov.br, take part in the session in Brasília time. The open mode runs 10 minutes plus 2-minute extensions; the open-closed mode 15 minutes plus a random close. Whoever bids for you does so only down to the floor price you set in writing.

If you’re in line for award

The pregoeiro may negotiate, then gives the best-ranked bidder at least 2 hours, extendable, to send the adjusted proposal and the qualification documents through the system’s attachment function, up to 20 MB per file. Documents already in SICAF can replace uploads where the edital allows.

Document	Issued by	Who can get it for you	Cost, time and validity	What only you do
Federal tax certificate (CND or CPEND, joint Receita Federal–PGFN, including social security contributions)	Receita Federal and PGFN	Anyone, online from the CNPJ; your contador regularises any debt for a “positive with negative effect” certificate	Free; immediate if regular; 180 days	Keep taxes paid
FGTS certificate (CRF)	Caixa Econômica Federal	Anyone, by public online consultation of the CNPJ	Free; immediate if regular, up to about 5 working days after a paid guide is processed; 30 days, renewable from the 5th day before expiry	Keep FGTS deposits paid
Labour-court certificate (CNDT)	Tribunal Superior do Trabalho	Anyone, online from the CNPJ; “positive with negative effect” is accepted	Free; immediate; 180 days	—
State and municipal tax registration and certificates	State SEFAZ; municipal finance department of your seat	Your contador, who handles registrations and any debts	Most issued online from the CNPJ	—
Bankruptcy certificate (certidão negativa de falência)	Court distributor of the state Tribunal de Justiça at your seat	Requested online where the court offers it, or by your contador or advogado	Asked in tenders requiring economic-financial qualification	—
Balance sheet and DRE, last 2 financial years	Your company, signed by its CRC-registered contador and its administrator	Your contador prepares, signs and transmits them via ECD (SPED)	Valid until the next ECD deadline	Co-sign as administrator
Financial ratios declaration (LG, SG, LC)	Your contador	Your contador computes and signs it under their CRC	Tied to the balance sheet used	—
Technical capability certificates (atestados de capacidade técnica)	Your former public or private clients	Drafted for your clients to sign	Free; no expiry	Ask former clients to sign
ART and CAT	CREA	The registered engineer files the ART and requests the CAT	No expiry (historic record)	—

Points to know:

Two years of accounts is the rule. Companies under 2 years old give their last year, new companies an opening balance sheet, and ME or EPP supplying goods for immediate delivery are exempt.
Ratios. If any ratio is 1 or less, the edital may ask you to prove minimum capital or net worth instead, up to 10% of the estimated value for future deliveries, works and services; consortia can be asked for 10–30% more unless all members are ME or EPP. Minimum turnover and profitability ratios are prohibited.
Atestados can be demanded only for the most relevant parts of the contract, each at least 4% of the estimate, and for up to 50% of their quantities, with no limits of time or place; continuous services may ask for up to 3 years’ track record. For engineering, the CAT belongs to the professional and counts for the company only while that professional is on its staff.
Quality and product certificates, when the edital asks: product certification by an Inmetro-accredited body as a condition of acceptance, and ISO 9001 or other certificates from an Inmetro-accredited body as quality evidence. You contract the body and undergo the audit or supply samples.
Samples or a proof of concept may be required from the provisional winner, or a manufacturer’s solidarity letter from a reseller. You ship the samples or run the demo.
Appeals. Declaring the intention to appeal happens in a window of at least 10 minutes right after the result; the reasons follow within 3 working days, and rivals have 3 working days to respond. An advogado writes the reasons.

Before the contract

Performance guarantee (garantia contratual). Up to 5% of the initial contract value (10% where complexity and risk justify it), using the annual value for long continuous contracts, and up to 30% as seguro-garantia with a step-in clause for large-scale engineering works. You choose the form from the same four as the bid guarantee and sign as tomador; the edital must give at least 1 month after homologation for seguro-garantia. It covers the contract term plus the period the edital sets.

Sworn translations and apostilles (foreign winners). Free translations carry you through registration and bidding; before signing, they are replaced. Foreign public documents, and notarised private ones such as a power of attorney, are apostilled in their country of origin or, for non-Apostille countries, legalised at a Brazilian consulate. A tradutor público registered with a Junta Comercial then makes the sworn translations under their own registration. By statute, foreign documents and their translations take effect before Brazilian public bodies once registered at a Registro de Títulos e Documentos; buyers’ practice varies.

Authorisation to operate, if the work amounts to operating in Brazil. A foreign company can’t operate in Brazil, even through branches, without federal authorisation, so contracts that need a local establishment may require authorisation or a Brazilian subsidiary. An advogado advises and files; your board resolves and signs.

Sign the contract or price-registration record (ata). Contracts can be signed electronically, at the level each body sets: a gov.br advanced signature, which is free, or an ICP-Brasil qualified signature. Your legal representative signs, or your own procurador with a power of attorney the buyer accepts. Before signing, the buyer checks fiscal regularity, the CEIS and CNEP sanctions registers and the CNDT. A winning consortium must be constituted and registered first, and a foreign engineering firm must show it has applied for CREA registration.

Who does what

Step	Who can do it	What only you do
CNPJ, articles and amendments	A contador registers; an advogado drafts and countersigns new acts	Sign the acts; be named responsible for the CNPJ
gov.br account	—	Validate your own identity
ICP-Brasil e-CNPJ	—	Obtain, hold and use it personally
SICAF level I	Prepared for you	Log in once to register and designate the responsável pelo cadastro
SICAF levels II–VI	Your accountant or bid consultant, as responsável pelo cadastro	—
Other platforms	Prepared for you; advisers added as users where allowed	Accept the terms; create the admin access; pay any subscription
Clarifications and challenges	An advogado	—
Proposal and session	A bid consultant, as a named user under their own gov.br	Approve each declaration and set the written floor price
Bid and performance guarantees	An insurer or a bank authorised in Brazil	Sign the application and counter-guarantee as tomador
Consortium commitment	An advogado drafts	Sign
Tax and labour certificates	Issued online from the CNPJ; a contador clears any debt	Keep taxes and contributions paid
Balance sheet, DRE, ratios	A CRC-registered contador	Co-sign the statements
Atestados	Drafted for your clients	Ask former clients to sign
ART, CAT, site declaration	A CREA-registered engineer	—
Sworn translations, registration	A tradutor público; a Títulos e Documentos registrar	Supply apostilled originals
Contract signature	Your own procurador with a power of attorney	Sign personally, or appoint the procurador

The professionals involved

Professional	Licensed or regulated by	What they do for a bidder
Contador	Conselho Federal de Contabilidade and the regional CRCs	Keeps the books; draws up and signs the balance sheet and DRE; signs the financial-ratios declaration; sends the ECD; clears tax and FGTS debts so certificates come out clean; handles the CNPJ, state and municipal registrations and ME/EPP classification; can keep SICAF levels II–VI current as responsável pelo cadastro
Advogado	Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (Conselho Federal and state sections)	Reviews the edital and files clarifications and challenges; writes appeals and responses; drafts powers of attorney and consortium commitments; can be a foreign company’s legal representative in Brazil; countersigns incorporation acts; advises whether contract work amounts to operating in Brazil
Tabelião de notas and Registro de Títulos e Documentos (cartório)	State Tribunais de Justiça; Conselho Nacional de Justiça	Public powers of attorney, signature recognition and certified copies; notarial minutes; registration of foreign documents and their sworn translations; apostilles for Brazilian documents going abroad
Tradutor e intérprete público	State Juntas Comerciais; DREI	Sworn Portuguese translations of foreign statutes, certificates, balance sheets, powers of attorney and atestados
Engenheiro or arquiteto	CONFEA and the CREAs; CAU for architects	Acts as your responsável técnico; registers the ART for each contract; applies for the CAT; signs the site-visit or substitute declaration; prepares the technical proposal, budgets and team and equipment list
Insurer or bank	SUSEP; Banco Central do Brasil	Bid and performance guarantees as seguro-garantia or fiança bancária; capitalisation bonds
Inmetro-accredited certification body	Inmetro (Cgcre), under Conmetro	Product certification against Brazilian norms; laudos and ISO management-system certificates; certification of designs, completed phases, materials or staff when the edital requires it
Bid consultant (assessoria em licitações)	Not regulated	Watches the PNCP and Compras.gov.br; prepares proposals, cost spreadsheets and the habilitação file; bids as a named user under their own gov.br; keeps SICAF current; tracks certificate expiry and session deadlines
Legal representative in Brazil (procurador) of a foreign supplier	No specific licence	Holds express powers to receive service of process and answer administratively and in court; is the Brazilian contact for platforms; signs in Brazil within the powers granted

If your company is from abroad

You don’t need a Brazilian company or a CNPJ to bid, but you must appoint a legal representative in Brazil; who may bid from abroad, and on what terms, is explained in How to bid for public contracts in Brazil. For the paperwork:

A foreign company not operating in Brazil gets a system-issued identifier in SICAF instead of a CNPJ, logs in through the “Fornecedor Estrangeiro” tab rather than gov.br, and needs a CPF only for a person, such as its Brazilian representative, who wants a gov.br account; it registers on Compras.gov.br separately under the foreign-supplier profile. The representative’s powers come from your own power of attorney, signed before a notary in your home country and apostilled. Your certificate of incorporation, articles and board minutes stand in for the Brazilian corporate acts; home-country tax and social-security good-standing documents replace the CND, CRF and CNDT, and where your country issues no equivalent you declare that in SICAF; a home insolvency-register extract replaces the bankruptcy certificate; audited or official home statements replace the Brazilian balance sheet, with the same ratios computed from them. All of these need only a free translation to register and bid, and a sworn translation with apostille to sign. Foreign atestados are accepted with a Portuguese translation, and for engineering you need only show that you’ve applied for CREA registration by signature. Guarantees must still come from a bank authorised in Brazil, a Brazilian insurer, or cash or bonds, and an ANVISA registration must be held by a Brazilian importer or distributor. On Portal de Compras Públicas, the international route takes authenticated equivalent documents, with the authentication dated within 6 months, by email, plus your Brazilian representative’s ID and CPF or CNH, power of attorney and proof of address. ME/EPP benefits aren’t available without a Brazilian classification.

Pitfalls

Never share your gov.br password, e-CNPJ or PIN. Advisers are added as users, or designated responsável pelo cadastro, under their own CPF and gov.br account.
Put the bidding limits in writing. Your company is legally responsible for everything its representative does in its name in the session, so fix the items and the floor price beforehand.
Confirm every declaration yourself. False declarations carry sanctions.
Track certificate expiry. The CRF lasts 30 days, the CND and CNDT 180 days; ME and EPP get 5+5 working days to fix tax or labour irregularities only after winning.
Work in Brasília time. Miss the 10-minute appeal window or the 2-hour document deadline and the right is gone.
Foreign winners: start apostilles and sworn translations before the session. Free translations stop being enough at signature.
Never rent or borrow technical acervo. Only your own experience, or your listed staff’s, counts; CONFEA and the CREAs treat assigning acervo between companies as fraud.
SICAF and Compras.gov.br are free. Ignore any third-party page that imitates a government portal and asks for a registration fee.
Linked companies can’t compete with each other. Companies linked as controller, controlled or affiliated may not compete in the same tender (Lei 14.133 art. 14 V), and acting for two competing bidders risks the crime of frustrating competition (Código Penal art. 337-F).

Doing it with askTender

In Brazil, your askTender Partner is added as a named user on your company’s account on Compras.gov.br and works under their own login. You keep your own login and sign what only you can sign: setting up SICAF with your gov.br, approving each declaration and the floor price, the guarantee applications, your corporate acts and the contract. The askTender Desk prepares the proposal and the document file, tracks the certificates and deadlines and coordinates the translations; askTender Partners, such as a contador, an advogado, a CREA-registered engineer or a tradutor público, do the steps their licence covers.

Questions

Which documents do I need to take part in a Brazilian federal tender?

Only SICAF level I, a free online registration that takes about 10 minutes, plus a login to Compras.gov.br. With the proposal you tick the mandatory declarations in the system. The qualification documents, such as tax and labour certificates and the balance sheet, are checked only for the winner, either by consulting SICAF or by upload.

How long are Brazilian tax and labour certificates valid?

The joint federal tax certificate (CND) and the labour-court certificate (CNDT) last 180 days, the FGTS certificate (CRF) 30 days. All three are free and issued online from the CNPJ, immediately if the company is up to date.

Does an accountant have to sign the balance sheet?

Yes. The balanço patrimonial and DRE for the last 2 financial years are signed by a CRC-registered contador and by the company’s administrator. Where the edital asks for liquidity ratios, the accountant also signs a declaration that you meet them.

Can someone else bid for my company on Compras.gov.br?

Yes. Your legal representative adds them as a company user, and they bid under their own gov.br account. Your company stays legally responsible for everything they do in its name, so set written limits such as items and a floor price. Nobody should ever use your gov.br password or e-CNPJ.

When are sworn translations needed?

To sign the contract or price-registration record. Free translations are enough to register in SICAF and to bid, but before signing, foreign documents must be apostilled (or legalised at a Brazilian consulate) and sworn-translated by a public translator registered with a Junta Comercial.

Can a foreign bank issue my guarantee?

Not on its own. A bank guarantee must come from a bank authorised by the Banco Central do Brasil; the alternatives are cash or public bonds, surety insurance from a SUSEP-authorised insurer, or a capitalisation bond.

Sources

This guide explains the rules in plain English; it isn’t legal advice. Procurement rules change, and each tender document sets its own conditions — it always prevails.