How to read a tender notice without getting lost

A tender notice may run to 80 pages, but only about ten decide whether you should take part. Learn where to look first and what to write down.

Updated Oct 23, 2026 · Busca Licitações

This text was written for companies registered in Brazil. Foreign suppliers should also read how foreign companies can bid in Brazilian public tenders.

Tender notices (editais) are long because they repeat the law. The part that actually changes from one tender to another fits in a few pages — and that's where your attention should go. This is the reading roadmap experienced suppliers use.

Start with the terms of reference

Almost always labeled Annex I, the terms of reference (termo de referência, TR) describe what the agency wants: technical specification, quantity, delivery deadline and location, warranty, acceptance conditions. If what you sell doesn't match exactly, stop here. A difference in paper weight or in a piece of equipment's capacity is already grounds for disqualification.

Then the item list

It shows the quantity and estimated unit value of each item. Compare it with your cost before anything else — on Busca Licitações, this list appears on each tender's page, without opening the PDF. If the agency's estimate is below your purchase price, the numbers don't work.

Qualification: the list of documents

Look for the "habilitação" (qualification) or "documentação" (documentation) section. Check off each requirement and confirm you have the document, valid today. Pay special attention to technical qualification (certificates with a minimum quantity) and economic and financial qualification (liquidity ratios, minimum net worth, share capital). These are what eliminate new companies.

Deadlines and dates

Note three: the deadline for requests for clarification or challenges (impugnação), the bid submission deadline and the date and time of the bidding session. Add the delivery period after winning — ten calendar days for an imported item is usually unworkable.

Payment and price adjustment

See how many days the agency takes to pay after certifying delivery and whether long contracts provide for price adjustment. A twelve-month contract with no adjustment clause amid inflation is a risk that must go into the price.

Penalties

Late-delivery fines, warnings, debarment from bidding and declaration of ineligibility. Read them to size the risk: delivering late can cost more than the contract's margin.

Warning signs

• A specification describing a single brand without allowing an equivalent;
• Certificates required for a quantity close to or above the total being procured;
• A delivery period out of line with the market;
• On-site installation required with no provision for its cost;
• Samples due within 24 hours.

None of these automatically makes a tender notice illegal, but all of them can be challenged when they restrict competition without technical justification. The challenge is free and filed by email or through the system itself.

Pick an open tender, download the tender notice from its page and read it in this order. By the third time, it takes twenty minutes.