Brazilian public procurement in one paragraph
Since 30 December 2023, the federal government, states, the Federal District and municipalities all buy under one law: Lei 14.133/2021. It replaced Lei 8.666/93, the old pregão law and the RDC. State-owned companies (estatais), such as Petrobras, follow Lei 13.303/2016 and their own regulations instead. Procurement is electronic by default; an in-person session must be justified and recorded on video. Municipalities of up to 20,000 people have until about April 2027 to go fully electronic.
Where Brazilian tenders are published
| Where | What’s on it |
|---|---|
| PNCP (pncp.gov.br) | The mandatory national portal. Every tender notice (edital) and its annexes must be published here, from every level of government. It can also run tenders itself. |
| Compras.gov.br | The federal government’s procurement platform: R$465 billion and 282,000 processes in 2025. |
| Other platforms | State platforms such as BEC/SP and private ones such as BLL, Portal de Compras Públicas and Banco do Brasil’s Licitações-e. Since November 2025, any public or private platform can run tenders if it is integrated with the PNCP; 205 were in 2025. |
| Official gazettes | An extract of each notice also appears in the federal, state or municipal gazette and a major newspaper. |
Here is what’s open across Brazil today:
The values in 2026
Lei 14.133’s values are updated every year. Decreto 12.807/2025 sets them for 2026:
| What | 2026 value |
|---|---|
| Direct award (dispensa): works and engineering services | R$130,984.20 |
| Direct award: other goods and services | R$65,492.11 |
| Large-scale contracts (grande vulto) | R$261,968,421.04 |
| Verbal contracts allowed up to | R$13,098.41 |
State-owned companies set their own direct-award limits under Lei 13.303: by default R$100,000 for works and R$50,000 for other goods and services. Future annual updates will come from the Ministry of Management and Innovation.
How contracts are procured
There are five procedures (modalidades):
- Pregão: required whenever the object can be described by usual market specifications. In practice it is an electronic reverse auction (pregão eletrônico), the most common procedure in Brazil.
- Concorrência: for special services, works and engineering, and other contracts that need more than price.
- Concurso: for technical, scientific or artistic work.
- Leilão: for selling assets.
- Diálogo competitivo: for innovative or complex contracts.
Direct contracting without a tender covers small values (dispensa) and cases where competition is impossible (inexigibilidade). Price registration (sistema de registro de preços) creates price agreements (atas) valid for a year, extendable once, that agencies call on as needed, and other agencies can join them.
Usually only the winner’s documents are checked. The price or proposal is judged first, and the qualification documents (habilitação) come after, unless the notice reverses the order.
Minimum time to bid (working days from publication):
| What’s being bought | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Goods, by lowest price or highest discount | 8 |
| Common services and common works, by lowest price or discount | 10 |
| Goods, by other criteria | 15 |
| Special services and special works | 25 |
| Technique-and-price or best technique | 35 |
| Design-and-build (contratação integrada) | 60 |
Typically, Brazilian tenders give 20 days from publication to deadline, so you need to move fast.
What you need to qualify
Qualification (habilitação) has four parts: legal, technical, tax, social and labour, and economic and financial.
Foreign companies. Foreign firms not operating in Brazil can present equivalent documents from their home country. They can register in SICAF, the federal supplier register:
- No CNPJ needed: you register with an equivalent ID, such as a tax number or a D-U-N-S number.
- Translations: a free translation is enough to register. At the contract stage you need a sworn translation with an apostille or consular legalisation.
- Representative: you must appoint a legal representative in Brazil with powers to receive legal notices and answer for the company.
Foreign technical certificates are accepted with a Portuguese translation. A foreign firm only needs to have requested registration with a Brazilian professional council, such as CREA for engineering, by the time it signs the contract.
Guarantees:
- Bid guarantee: up to 1% of the estimated value, returned within 10 working days.
- Performance guarantee: up to 5% of the contract value, or 10% for complex or risky contracts, and up to 30% for large-scale works, with a clause letting the insurer step in.
- Forms: cash or government bonds, surety insurance (seguro-garantia), a guarantee from a bank authorised in Brazil, or a capitalisation bond.
Preferences:
- Micro and small businesses (revenue up to R$4.8 million): exclusive participation for items up to R$80,000, quotas of up to 25% for divisible goods, and a tie-break letting a bid within 10% of the best price (5% in a pregão) match it.
- National products: buyers can apply a margin of preference of up to 10% for Brazilian manufactured goods and services, and up to 20% for Brazilian-developed innovation, on products listed by the government. The list grew in July 2026.
How bids are assessed and challenged
Award criteria include lowest price, highest discount, best technique, technique and price, highest bid and greatest economic return. Every contract must name a price adjustment index, and continuous services can be adjusted after a year.
Challenges:
- The notice: challenge the edital up to 3 working days before opening. The buyer must reply within 3 working days.
- A decision: state your intention to appeal immediately at the session, then file the grounds within 3 working days. The authority can reconsider within 3 working days, and a higher authority decides within 10.
- The audit courts: anyone can report irregularities to the Federal Audit Court (TCU) or the state audit courts.
Getting paid
- Order of payment: each body pays in chronological order by funding source and contract type, so you can’t be skipped in the queue.
- Federal deadlines: 10 working days to certify the invoice, then 10 working days to pay. Both are halved for small contracts.
- Remedy: a contractor can terminate if payment is more than 2 months late.
- Express purchases: a new government marketplace for e-commerce purchases, Sicx, started on 8 September 2026 and pays within 30 days at most.
Bidding from outside Brazil, including from India
Brazilian law treats foreign bidders equally. Officials may not treat Brazilian and foreign companies differently, and international tenders can’t create barriers for foreign bidders beyond the legal preference margins. If foreigners may quote in foreign currency, so may Brazilians, and taxes are equalised across bids. Foreign companies can join consortia, which no longer have to be led by a Brazilian firm.
Trade agreements give some countries more:
- Brazil isn’t in the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. It has been an observer since 2017, applied to join in 2020, and withdrew its market-access offer in 2023.
- Mercosur partners (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay) have had access to Brazil’s central-government procurement since August 2024, under the Mercosur procurement protocol.
- EU companies gained treaty access for the first time under the EU–Mercosur interim agreement, which Brazil has applied since 1 May 2026. It covers federal bodies and about 20 states, but not municipalities, state-owned companies or health. Brazil keeps its preference margins and small-business set-asides.
India has no treaty-based access. It is a GPA observer too, and the India–Mercosur preferential trade agreement covers goods only. Talks to expand it began on 14 September 2026, and nothing so far mentions procurement. Indian companies compete under Brazil’s domestic equal-treatment rules, which are still a real opening.
In practice, for an Indian company:
- Register in SICAF as a foreign supplier, and appoint a legal representative in Brazil.
- Prepare documents early: home-country equivalents, Portuguese translations, and sworn translations with an apostille for the contract stage.
- Plan for guarantees from a bank authorised in Brazil, or use surety insurance.
- Move quickly. Pregão deadlines can be as short as 8 working days, so watch the PNCP daily for your categories.
- Consider a consortium with a Brazilian partner for works and engineering, where CREA registration and local references help.
What changed in 2025–2026
- November 2025: Lei 15.266 created Sicx, made a unified supplier register in the PNCP mandatory, and opened procurement to any integrated public or private platform.
- December 2025: new federal rules for competitive dialogue. Their start date may slip to the end of 2026.
- 1 January 2026: new values: direct award up to R$130,984.20 for works and R$65,492.11 for goods and services.
- April 2026: amended rules on labour guarantees in contracts.
- 1 May 2026: Brazil began applying the EU–Mercosur interim agreement, the first treaty access for EU firms to Brazilian procurement.
- July 2026: more products became eligible for the national margin of preference.
- 8 September 2026: Sicx, the express purchasing marketplace, came into operation.
- 14 September 2026: India and Mercosur began talks to expand their trade agreement.
Brazil tenders closing soon
Open now, closing soonest first.
See every open tender in Brazil
Questions
Can Indian companies bid for Brazilian public contracts?
Yes. Lei 14.133 forbids officials from treating Brazilian and foreign companies differently, and international tenders can’t create barriers for foreign bidders beyond the legal preference margins. Indian firms have no treaty-based access, though: India and Brazil aren’t parties to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, and the India–Mercosur trade agreement covers goods only. You will need SICAF registration, a legal representative in Brazil, and documents in Portuguese.
Can a foreign company register in SICAF without a CNPJ?
Yes. Foreign suppliers not operating in Brazil can register in SICAF, the federal supplier register, with an equivalent identifier such as a tax number or D-U-N-S number instead of a CNPJ. A free translation is enough to register, but a sworn translation with apostille or consular legalisation is needed at the contract stage, and you must appoint a legal representative in Brazil.
What is pregão eletrônico?
An electronic reverse auction, the procedure Brazilian law requires for goods and services that can be described by usual market specifications. Bidders submit prices, then bid them down online, and only the winner’s documents are usually checked. Bids can close in as little as 8 working days for goods.
What is the direct-award limit in Brazil in 2026?
R$130,984.20 for works and engineering services, and R$65,492.11 for other goods and services, under Decreto 12.807/2025. State-owned companies follow their own limits under Lei 13.303: R$100,000 and R$50,000.
How do I appeal a Brazilian tender decision?
State your intention to appeal immediately at the session, then file your grounds within 3 working days. The authority can reconsider within 3 working days, and a higher authority then decides within 10. You can also challenge the tender notice up to 3 working days before opening, and anyone can report irregularities to the audit courts.
Do small businesses get preference in Brazil?
Yes. Micro and small businesses (with revenue up to R$4.8 million) get exclusive participation for items up to R$80,000, reserved quotas of up to 25% for divisible goods, and a tie-break: a bid within 10% of the best price (5% in a pregão) can match it.
Sources
- Lei 14.133/2021: the public procurement and contracts law (compiled text)
- Decreto 12.807/2025: values of Lei 14.133 updated for 2026
- Lei 15.266/2025: Sicx, the unified supplier register and procurement platforms
- Decreto 13.106/2026: regulation of Sicx (express purchasing system)
- Lei 13.303/2016: state-owned companies
- Lei Complementar 123/2006: micro and small businesses
- Decreto 12.953/2026: EU–Mercosur interim trade agreement
- WTO: parties and observers to the Government Procurement Agreement
- EEAS study: public procurement in the EU–Mercosur agreement, access of EU companies to the Brazilian market (June 2026)
- Mercosur–India: launch of negotiations to expand the preferential trade agreement (14 September 2026)
- PNCP: Portal Nacional de Contratações Públicas
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.