How to bid for public tenders in Uruguay.

Uruguay at a glance

Who the TOCAF covers:

• the branches of the state and departmental governments;
• autonomous entities and decentralised services;
• other public administrations.

State enterprises such as UTE, ANTEL and ANCAP follow it unless their own laws provide special regimes, and they can use raised limits. Contracts financed by the IDB, the World Bank or other lenders follow the lender’s rules, but must still be published on the ARCE portal.

Frameworks first. Before tendering, buyers must check ARCE’s framework agreements and dynamic systems, and buy through them where they cover the item.

Thresholds and procedures (2026, including VAT)

Raised limits for qualifying state enterprises (those with audited internal controls that use ARCE’s catalogue and online bidding):

• direct purchase up to UYU 1,371,000;
• price competition up to UYU 6,853,000;
• shortened tender up to UYU 68,525,000.

Other points:

• Indexing. The amounts are indexed to inflation each December and include VAT.
• Exceptions. More than 40 listed exceptions allow direct procedures regardless of value, such as sole suppliers, failed tenders and documented urgency.
• Notice periods:
  • a public tender is published at least 15 days before opening, or 20 days when bidders from abroad are needed or desirable;
  • a shortened tender is published at least 10 business days before opening, and a price competition 3 business days.
• Reverse auctions (pregón) are available for precisely specified items.
• Contract changes. Quantities can grow by up to 20% or shrink by up to 10% on the original terms.

Who can bid

• National and foreign companies with legal capacity may contract with the state, unless disqualified.
• RUPE registration is required, with an exemption for non-domiciled foreign suppliers of exclusive goods or services to state enterprises.
• Local representation. The tender states whether foreign firms need a local representative or a Uruguayan domicile. A foreign winner must set a domicile in Uruguay.
• Language. Bids must be written in Spanish. Catalogues may be in another language if the tender allows, but the buyer can ask for a translation.
• Trade agreements:
  • EU–Mercosur: the interim agreement has applied provisionally since 1 May 2026, and Uruguay notified in time. Its procurement chapter gives EU firms access to covered Uruguayan procurement.
  • WTO: Uruguay became a WTO GPA observer in June 2026, which gives no market-access rights.
  • Chile: a procurement agreement with Chile is reported to be in force.

Registering in RUPE as a foreign company

1. Register online on the ARCE site (“Registrarse como Proveedor”):
   • choose the foreign tax code option and the entity type “Entidad no residente” (non-resident foreign legal person);
   • your user code is your country’s three-letter code plus your tax code;
   • fill in your supplier record: representatives, bank account and products. Your status becomes EN INGRESO, which is enough to bid online.
2. Prepare your documents:
   • a notarial certificate or home-country public document covering your name, legal form, incorporation, registry, tax ID, address, corporate purpose and representatives’ powers (statutes alone aren’t enough);
   • powers of attorney, protocolised in Uruguay;
   • proof of home-country tax and social-security compliance, or a notarised sworn statement if your country issues none;
   • the RUPE application form with notarised signatures;
   • at least one bank account (foreign accounts need a SWIFT code).
3. Ask the buying agency’s state notary to pre-check your drafts before you legalise anything abroad. ARCE recommends it.
4. Legalise and translate:
   • legalise foreign documents; Uruguay accepts apostilles;
   • have them legally translated into Spanish;
   • present them no more than 60 days after issue.
5. Deliver the originals to a RUPE service point. A state notary validates them, and your status becomes ACTIVO, which you need to be awarded. Some tenders require ACTIVO even to bid.

Bidding, step by step

1. Find the call on comprasestatales.gub.uy and download the tender conditions (pliego particular). Check:
   • the procedure;
   • the opening date;
   • whether online bidding is used;
   • whether ACTIVO status or local representation is required.
2. Register in RUPE as above.
3. Ask questions through the channels in the tender. Amendments must be notified at least 2 days before the deadline.
4. Submit your bid in Spanish, with any bid-maintenance guarantee. Claim national or SME preferences explicitly, with the required certificates.
5. Opening is in person or electronic, with the record e-mailed to bidders. Formal defects can be fixed within 2 business days; buyers can extend that for foreign suppliers, and then it applies to everyone.
6. Evaluation is by an advisory commission. Bidders within 5% of the best offer can be invited to improve their offers. For contracts above four times the shortened-tender limit, bidders get 5 days to review the file before the award.
7. Award. The contract is perfected when the award is notified. Lodge the performance guarantee, and payment goes to your RUPE-registered bank account.

Guarantees and payment

• Forms: cash, public securities, a bank guarantee or surety insurance.
• Bid-maintenance guarantee:
  • a fixed amount set in the tender;
  • required only for bids at or above the shortened-tender limit (UYU 13,705,000 in 2026);
  • if the tender makes it optional and you skip it, failing to maintain your bid costs a 5% fine.
• Performance guarantee:
  • 5% of the award;
  • required only for awards of 40% of that limit or more (UYU 5,482,000);
  • if the tender makes it optional and you skip it, breach of contract costs a 10% fine.
• Payment terms are set in each tender, with no statutory default number of days. The tender must state the currency, the conversion method and any price-adjustment formula.

How bids are evaluated

• Objective criteria. The tender must set either weighted criteria, or minimum requirements followed by price. Buyers can’t ask for documents they can get from RUPE, and only the winner has to prove it can contract.
• Prices are never confidential.
• The award goes to the most advantageous offer. Close bids can be improved, and remaining ties settled by reverse auction, a split award or a lottery.
• National-industry preference:
  • 8% for national goods (at least 35% national content), services and works, at equal quality;
  • an optional 4% for firms employing Afro-descendant, disabled or trans people;
  • it doesn’t apply to state enterprises’ purchases for services they run in free competition, and trade agreements are respected.
• SME programme. Certified Uruguayan micro and small firms get 8%, or 16% combined with the national preference; medium firms get 4% or 12%. SMEs can also claim a 10% share of quantities in some tenders. Foreign bidders benefit only indirectly, for example by partnering with a certified Uruguayan SME.
• Innovation procurement (rules renewed in May 2026) is limited to firms based in Uruguay, including those partnered with foreign firms.

Challenging a decision

• Administrative remedies:
  • a request for revocation to the same authority, within 10 business days of notification;
  • where that authority sits in a hierarchy, a hierarchical appeal filed jointly;
  • for decentralised services, an annulment appeal to the Executive as well;
  • departmental-government acts are challenged by reposición and apelación.
• Your duties when filing: send a copy to the Tribunal de Cuentas within 48 hours. A lawyer must sign the filing.
• Suspension. Challenges suspend the procedure unless the administration gives reasons that urgent needs or serious harm require it to continue. Bad-faith challenges can lead to suspension from RUPE.
• E-notification. Since the 2025 budget law, notices go to your RUPE e-mail and count as received 3 business days after sending. Your deadlines run from then.
• Courts:
  • once the administrative route is exhausted (expressly, or by deemed denial after 150–250 days), sue for annulment within 90 days;
  • awards go first to the specialised first-instance courts, with appeal to the TCA (Tribunal de lo Contencioso Administrativo);
  • interim suspension is available.

What changed in 2025–2026

• December 2025: the 2025–2029 budget law reworked the TOCAF:
  • buyers must use frameworks first;
  • direct-purchase limits were reset;
  • raised limits were set for state enterprises;
  • standard tender conditions and e-notification to RUPE e-mail were introduced.
• January 2026: the 2026 thresholds took effect.
• February 2026: ARCE updated its RUPE guide for foreign companies.
• 1 May 2026: the EU–Mercosur interim agreement began applying provisionally, with Uruguay among the first countries.
• May 2026: new innovation-procurement rules.
• June 2026: Uruguay became a WTO GPA observer.

Live Uruguayan tenders

See also which countries can bid on which government tenders.

Questions

Sources

• TOCAF, consolidated text (IMPO)
• ARCE: 2026 procurement amounts
• ARCE: RUPE guide for foreign companies (2026)
• Compras Estatales: calls and awards
• Código de lo Contencioso Administrativo, Ley 20.333 (IMPO)
• WTO: Uruguay becomes an observer to the Government Procurement Agreement (June 2026)

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.