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Direct award (ajuste direto)
The public body picks and invites one company directly, with no tender open to everyone. The Public Contracts Code only allows it below certain values or in situations set out in law.
Glossary
Terms used on this site
Public contracts have their own vocabulary. Here is what each term means in plain English and where you see it in the records.
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Open tender (concurso público)
Any company can bid on the published notice. The public body chooses the bid by criteria set in advance.
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Restricted consultation (consulta prévia)
The public body invites several companies to bid, instead of opening the tender to everyone.
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Procedure (procedimento)
How a public body chooses the company that gets a contract: open tender, restricted consultation, direct award and others set out in law.
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NIPC (company tax number)
Número de Identificação de Pessoa Coletiva: the nine digits that identify a company or other organisation. We use it to group contracts by the same company, even when the name is spelled differently.
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NIF (tax number)
Número de Identificação Fiscal. For public bodies such as councils and hospitals it is also nine digits and identifies the body in contracts.
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Awardee (adjudicatário)
The company that gets the contract, that is, the supplier. In a tender, the bidders are the other companies that also submitted a bid.
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Contracting body (entidade adjudicante)
The public body that contracts and pays: a council, a hospital, a ministry, a school.
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Contract price (preço contratual)
The value agreed in the contract. It is not what has been paid: a contract can be amended and payments are made over time.
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Visto (Court of Auditors)
Before some contracts take financial effect, the Court of Auditors checks that they comply with the law and grants or refuses the visa. The decision is recorded in the court file.
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Portal BASE
The official portal for Portuguese public contracts, run by IMPIC (the Institute for Public Procurement, Real Estate and Construction). It is the source of the contracts we show.
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TED
Tenders Electronic Daily: the supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union where notices of contracts above certain values are published.
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Portugal 2030
Portugal's European funds programme for 2021 to 2027. Each funded project has a beneficiary and an amount of support.
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Legislative initiative (iniciativa)
A bill, draft law or resolution put to the Assembly of the Republic, with the path it took up to the vote.
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RSS
A feed that your news reader or an RSS app checks to tell you when something new appears, with no account and no email.