Frequently asked questions about Brazilian public tenders

In principle, yes. Law 14,133/2021 (Brazil's Public Procurement Law), in Article 70, sole paragraph, provides that foreign companies that do not operate in Brazil must present documents equivalent to those required of Brazilian companies, as set out in federal regulation. Whether and how foreign bidders may take part in a given procurement is defined by its tender notice (edital), so read it carefully before anything else. In practice, many requirements — issuing Brazilian tax invoices (nota fiscal), short delivery and technical support deadlines, payment in Brazilian reais — are much easier to meet with a local presence.

Law 14,133/2021 defines it in Article 6, item XXXV: a tender conducted in Brazil in which foreign bidders are allowed to take part, with the possibility of quoting prices in a foreign currency, or a tender whose contract may or must be performed wholly or partly outside Brazil. Article 52 regulates it: the tender notice (edital) must follow Brazil's monetary and foreign trade policy guidelines, and when foreign bidders are allowed to quote in a foreign currency, Brazilian bidders may do the same. Most tenders listed on this site are domestic procurement, published in Portuguese for the Brazilian market; the tender notice states when a procurement is international.

Yes. Documents in a foreign language generally must be accompanied by a sworn translation into Portuguese (tradução juramentada), made by a sworn public translator registered in Brazil. Foreign public documents, such as certificates of incorporation, generally also need an apostille: Brazil has applied the Hague Apostille Convention since 2016 (for countries outside the Convention, consular legalization is used instead). Check the tender notice for exactly which documents are accepted and in what form, and start early, because translation and apostille take time.

In Portuguese: tender notices, bidding systems and communications with the contracting agency are in Portuguese, and bids and documents must be submitted in Portuguese or with a sworn translation. Prices are generally quoted in Brazilian reais (BRL, R$). International tenders may have specific rules — for example, allowing prices in a foreign currency — so always check the tender notice (edital).

The usual routes are: setting up a Brazilian subsidiary with its own CNPJ (Brazilian company tax ID), which can then bid like any local company; working through a local distributor or partner that already sells to the government; or, when the tender notice (edital) allows it, joining a consortium. Before committing, read our guide on how to take part in a public tender and browse the open tenders sorted by deadline to see what government agencies are buying right now.

It is an independent search engine for Brazilian public tenders (licitações). It gathers the procurement notices published on the National Public Procurement Portal (PNCP) and lets you search by keyword, state, city, government agency, procurement method, category, value range and deadline — just as you would search for anything else online. The official address is www.todaslicitacoes.com.br.

Exclusively from the public APIs of the PNCP (Brazil's National Public Procurement Portal), the official repository created by Law 14,133/2021 (Brazil's Public Procurement Law), Article 174, where every government agency is required to publish its procurement. Nothing is edited: the subject, estimated value, deadlines, items and documents appear exactly as the agency published them, and every tender page links to the official publication.

Several times a day. Each update round adds the procurement published in the last few hours and re-checks the notices whose deadline is still open. Each tender page shows the date of the agency's most recent update on the PNCP.

No. It is a private, independent service run by Spartan TI, with no ties to the Federal Government, the PNCP or the contracting agencies. The site does not receive bids, does not run bidding sessions and does not replace the tender notice (edital).

Searching is free and requires no sign-up. The site is supported by advertising. There is also a commercial API, with a key and higher quotas, for those who need to integrate the data into their own systems — see the API page.

The most common reasons: the agency has not yet published it on the PNCP (some municipalities publish late); the procurement belongs to a state-owned company with its own procurement rules (Law 13,303/2016) that does not use the PNCP; or the notice was just published and has not yet been picked up by an update round. If you have the link to the procurement on the PNCP, open the tender page using the same number — the site tries to import it on the spot.

Yes. Procurement data is public. We only ask that you cite the source (PNCP) and, if possible, link to the corresponding tender page on this site. For bulk use, use the API within the published limit.

If the error is in the source, only the agency can correct it on the PNCP. Even so, let us know by e-mail at [email protected], including the PNCP control number shown at the bottom of the tender page: we can flag the page or take it down until the notice is republished.

Tenders are published in Portuguese, so type the product or service into the search box using the words the government uses — for example "material de expediente" (office supplies) instead of "papelaria" (stationery), or "gêneros alimentícios" (foodstuffs) instead of "comida" (food). Then filter by state and set the status to "open". The category pages already group the terms used in each industry, by state and by city.

It is the reference price calculated by the agency before publishing, based on market research. It is not the amount that will be paid: after the bidding, the price usually drops. As a rule, a bid above the estimated value is disqualified.

Because the agency did not publish the value. This happens when the budget is confidential (orçamento sigiloso) — Law 14,133/2021, Article 24, allows the estimate to be kept secret until the end of the bidding phase — or when the field was simply left blank. A zero value on the PNCP does not mean a free purchase.

The opening date is when the system starts accepting bids; the closing date is the deadline for submitting them, usually the same moment the bidding session begins. All times are in Brasília time.

It is the procurement's unique identifier on the official portal, in the format agency CNPJ-1-sequence/year (the CNPJ is the Brazilian company tax ID). It appears at the bottom of every tender page and is used to locate the official publication and to cite the tender unambiguously.

It is the code of the Administrative Unit of General Services (Unidade Administrativa de Serviços Gerais), used by Compras.gov.br (the federal e-procurement system) to identify the buyer. It helps you find the tender inside the federal system.

Price Registration System (Sistema de Registro de Preços). The winner signs a price registration record (ata de registro de preços) that locks in the price for up to one year (renewable for one more year, Article 84 of Law 14,133/2021), and the agency buys as needed. Winning an SRP tender does not guarantee that the full quantity will be purchased.

In the "Tender documents" section of each tender page. The files are served directly from the PNCP. If there is no document, use the "View on PNCP (official)" button or the bidding system indicated by the agency.

Yes. Every tender page with a closing date has a "Save to calendar" button, which creates an event with a reminder one day before the deadline.

Any company with an active CNPJ (Brazilian company tax ID), a registered business activity (CNAE) compatible with the subject of the contract and up-to-date qualification documents. Individuals can take part in some cases, such as auctions and certain services. You do not need to have sold to the government before.

Yes, on the system where the bidding takes place, as indicated in the tender notice (edital): Compras.gov.br (federal government and many states and municipalities), BLL, BNC, Licitanet, Portal de Compras Públicas or the agency's own portal. On Compras.gov.br, you log in with a gov.br account, and supplier registration is kept in SICAF (the federal supplier registry). Register well in advance: it can take a few days.

Legal qualification (habilitação jurídica: articles of association), tax and labor compliance (federal, FGTS severance fund, labor, state and municipal certificates of good standing), economic and financial qualification (balance sheet and bankruptcy clearance certificate) and technical qualification (technical capacity certificates). The tender notice states exactly what applies to each procurement. See the guide on qualification documents.

No. Law 14,133/2021 prohibits requiring a local address as a condition for participation, and electronic bidding lets you take part from anywhere in the country. However, factor in freight, delivery time and technical support when setting your price.

The law sets minimum periods between publication and the bid date (Article 55 of Law 14,133/2021): 8 business days for purchases of goods at the lowest price; 10 business days for common services and common engineering works; 25 business days for special services and special works; 35 business days when the award criterion is technique and price or best technique. In electronic direct awards (dispensa eletrônica), the notice stays open for at least 3 business days.

After the bid submission deadline, the bidding phase opens. In open mode, it lasts 10 minutes and is automatically extended by 2 minutes whenever a bid is placed in the final 2 minutes. The lowest price (or highest discount) wins, and only then are the first-place bidder's documents reviewed.

You submit your proposal adjusted to your final bid, along with the qualification documents, within the deadline set in the tender notice. Once they are approved, the award (adjudicação) and ratification (homologação) follow, and then the contract or the price registration record (ata de registro de preços) is signed. After that come delivery or performance, and payment under the terms of the contract.

Yes. Anyone may file a challenge to the tender notice (impugnação) or a request for clarification up to 3 business days before the opening date (Article 164). Decisions made during the session can be contested through an administrative appeal within 3 business days (Article 165) — in a reverse auction (pregão), the intention to appeal must be stated right after the result is announced. See the guide on administrative appeals.

It may be. The tender notice may require a bid bond of up to 1% of the estimated value (Article 58) and a performance guarantee, generally of up to 5%, which may reach 10% in complex contracts and 30% in large works backed by a surety bond (Articles 96 to 99). The accepted forms are a cash or government-bond deposit, a surety bond (seguro-garantia), a bank guarantee (fiança bancária) and a capitalization bond (Article 96).

Under Law 14,133/2021: the reverse auction (pregão), competitive bidding (concorrência), the design contest (concurso), the auction (leilão) and the competitive dialogue (diálogo competitivo). The price quotation (tomada de preços) and invitation (convite) methods ceased to exist when Law 8,666/1993 (the former procurement law) was repealed on December 30, 2023. See the tenders by procurement method.

The reverse auction is used for common goods and services — those the market offers with standard specifications — and is decided by lowest price or highest discount. Competitive bidding is used for works, special services and more complex engineering services, and may weigh technical quality in addition to price.

It is direct contracting allowed by law in specific cases (Article 75), such as low-value purchases, emergencies or when a previous tender attracted no bidders. Even without a tender, the process is public: in an electronic direct award (dispensa eletrônica), the agency publishes a notice and accepts bids from any interested party for a few days. It is an excellent entry point for small businesses.

The limits in Article 75, items I and II, are adjusted every year by decree. In 2025 they were R$ 125,451.15 for works, engineering services and vehicle maintenance, and R$ 62,725.59 for other purchases and services. Always check the decree in force in the year of the procurement.

It is direct contracting when competition is not feasible: an exclusive supplier, an established artist or a specialized technical service by a provider of recognized expertise, among other cases listed in Article 74. The agency must justify both the choice and the price, and everything is published.

It is the method in which the government sells — vehicles, unserviceable equipment, real estate and seized goods — and the highest bid wins. Inspect the item beforehand: it is sold as is.

It is an auxiliary procedure in which the agency registers every interested party that meets the conditions, with no price competition, and distributes the demand among them — common for health services, auctioneers and school meals supplied by family farming (agricultura familiar).

Yes. The MEI receives the same preferential treatment as a microenterprise under Complementary Law 123/2006 (Small Business Statute). The catch is revenue: a large contract can push the MEI over its annual revenue limit and cause it to lose MEI status. See the article Can an MEI take part in public tenders?.

Tie preference (empate ficto): a bid up to 5% above the best one in a reverse auction (pregão), or up to 10% in other methods, can be lowered to beat the best price; time to regularize expired tax certificates after winning (5 business days, extendable for the same period); tenders exclusive to ME/EPP for items of up to R$ 80,000; and a reserved quota of up to 25% for divisible goods.

The tender notice (edital) says so, and the list of items on the PNCP shows the type of benefit for each item — this information appears as a label in the items table of the tender page, when the agency publishes it.

Law 14,133/2021 requires payments to be made in the chronological order in which they become due, by funding source (Article 141), and late payment accrues inflation adjustment and interest. Punctuality varies widely between agencies; each buyer's history on the PNCP and on the government agencies page helps you assess it.

Only if the tender notice allows it, and within the limit it sets. Responsibility toward the agency remains with whoever signed the contract.

The sanctions in Article 156 range from a warning and a fine to debarment from bidding for up to 3 years and a declaration of ineligibility (inidoneidade) for up to 6 years. Before placing a bid, double-check the delivery deadline, quantity and logistics. See the article on sanctions in public tenders.

Yes. The public API returns the same search as the site, in JSON, with no key required and a limit of 60 requests per minute per IP address. For higher volumes there is the commercial API, which uses a key.

Yes. Every tender page has a JSON version at the same address ending in .json (for example, /licitacao/<page-name>.json), declared in the page header with <link rel="alternate" type="application/json">. It includes the agency, subject, values, dates, items, documents and the date of the last update on the PNCP.

Yes. The site publishes an llms.txt with the full content of the guides and categories, an llms-full.txt with all open tenders, and files by state. It also registers WebMCP tools (navigator.modelContext) so that in-browser assistants can search for tenders and read the tender page that is open.