Glossary
Portuguese public tender terms, in a few lines
40 terms you will find in tender notices and documents, kept in Portuguese as they appear there, with an English explanation and the article of the Public Contracts Code where there is one, as in force since 1 October 2026. To go further, each term links to the matching guide.
- Adjudicação (award)
- The adjudicação is the act by which the public body accepts the only bid received or chooses one of the bids in a procurement procedure (Article 73 of the CCP). It is the decision that says who won. After it, the winner submits the qualification documents and provides the guarantee, and only then is the contract signed. It can lapse if the winning bidder fails those steps.
- Guide: Qualification documents in Portuguese tenders: what to submit and when
- Adjudicatário (winning bidder)
- The adjudicatário is the company, or group of companies, to which the public body decided to award the contract. It is the tender winner. From the award notice on it has its own deadlines: submitting the qualification documents, providing the guarantee and accepting the draft contract. On base.gov it appears as the party receiving the contract price.
- Guide: Qualification documents in Portuguese tenders: what to submit and when
- Ajuste direto (direct award)
- The ajuste direto is the procedure in which the public body invites a single company to bid, with no notice and no competition. Since 1 October 2026 it can be used up to less than €75,000 for goods and services and less than €150,000 for works (Articles 19 and 20 of the CCP). The contract is published on base.gov after it is signed.
- Guide: Direct award and invited quotes in Portugal: 2026 limits
- Ajuste direto simplificado (simplified direct award)
- The simplified direct award is the simplest public purchase: the public body awards directly against an invoice, with no e-procurement platform and no written contract, when the price does not exceed €5,000 for goods and services or €10,000 for works (Article 128 of the CCP). These contracts last at most three years and the price cannot be revised (Article 129).
- Guide: Direct award and invited quotes in Portugal: 2026 limits
- Anúncio de procedimento (tender notice)
- The tender notice is the official publication that opens an open tender: it appears in the Diário da República (the official gazette) and on the Portal BASE and, above the EU thresholds, also in the Official Journal of the European Union. It states the public body, the subject, the CPV code, the maximum price, the bid deadline date and time, and the platform where the documents are. Deadlines are counted from it.
- Guide: Deadlines and extensions in Portuguese public tenders
- Audiência prévia (prior hearing)
- The prior hearing is the bidders' right to respond in writing to the preliminary report before the panel writes the final report and, later, the winning bidder's right to be heard before the public body declares the award lapsed (Article 86(3) of the CCP). The panel sets the deadline, usually five days, and in the flexible tender it can be cut to three.
- Guide: Qualification documents in Portuguese tenders: what to submit and when
- Caderno de encargos (contract specifications)
- The caderno de encargos is the tender document with the clauses of the contract to be signed (Article 42 of the CCP): subject, delivery deadlines, price and payments, penalties, guarantees and technical specifications. For works it includes the detailed design. It can set base parameters that bids must respect, or be excluded. It is the document the winner will have to deliver on.
- Guide: How to read a caderno de encargos (contract specifications)
- Caução (performance guarantee)
- The caução is the guarantee the winning bidder provides, within 10 days of the award notice, to secure the signing and performance of the contract (Articles 88 to 90 of the CCP). It is worth at most 5% of the contract price, or up to 10% if the price was found abnormally low, and is provided by deposit, bank guarantee or surety insurance. It is released at the end, in stages when there is a long warranty.
- Guide: Performance guarantee in Portuguese tenders: how much and when
- CCP (Código dos Contratos Públicos)
- The Código dos Contratos Públicos (CCP) is the Portuguese law that governs how public contracts are formed and performed. It was approved by Decreto-Lei n.º 18/2008 and revised several times; the latest revision is Decreto-Lei n.º 177/2026, in force since 1 October 2026, which raised the direct award and invited quote limits and simplified qualification.
- Guide: Direct award and invited quotes in Portugal: 2026 limits
- Concurso limitado por prévia qualificação (restricted tender)
- The restricted tender with pre-qualification has two stages: first, companies apply and the public body qualifies those that meet minimum technical and financial capacity requirements; then only the qualified ones are invited to bid. It is used for complex or high-value contracts, and it is announced like an open tender.
- Concurso público (open tender)
- The open tender is the procedure open to any interested company: the public body publishes a notice, makes the documents available on the e-procurement platform and evaluates every bid received against the award criterion. Minimum deadlines are 6 days (goods and services) or 14 days (works), and 30 days when the notice goes to the EU Official Journal (Articles 135 and 136 of the CCP).
- Guide: Deadlines and extensions in Portuguese public tenders
- Consulta prévia (invited quotes)
- The consulta prévia is the procedure in which the public body invites at least three companies to bid and picks the best, with no public notice. Since 1 October 2026 it can be used up to less than €130,000 for goods and services and less than €1,000,000 for works (Articles 19 and 20 of the CCP). The special consulta prévia requires five invitees and goes up to €2,000,000.
- Guide: Direct award and invited quotes in Portugal: 2026 limits
- CPV (code)
- The CPV, Common Procurement Vocabulary, is the European classification of 8 digits plus a check digit that identifies what a tender is buying, for example 45000000-7 for construction. Every notice in Portugal and the European Union uses it, in the version of Regulation (EC) No 213/2008. It is the first filter of any tender search or alert.
- Guide: CPV code: what it is and how to find yours
- Critério de adjudicação (award criterion)
- The award criterion is the rule the public body uses to choose the winning bid. The CCP allows a single criterion, the most economically advantageous bid, in two forms: single factor, usually the lowest price, and multi-factor, where price is combined with other factors with set weights in an evaluation model (Articles 74 and 139). The tender rules must state it before bids are submitted.
- Guide: Award criterion in Portuguese tenders: price, multi-factor and scoring
- DEUCP (ESPD)
- The DEUCP, or European Single Procurement Document (ESPD), is the EU standard declaration in which the bidder states that it is not barred and that it meets the procedure's requirements. It is mandatory in procedures with a notice in the EU Official Journal (Article 57(6) of the CCP) and replaces handing in the qualification documents straight away, which only the winner submits.
- Guide: Qualification documents in Portuguese tenders: what to submit and when
- Documentos de habilitação (qualification documents)
- The qualification documents are the proof, submitted only by the winning bidder after the award, that it can contract with the State: certificates of regularised status with Social Security and the tax office, criminal record and, for works, the IMPIC licence (Articles 55 and 81 of the CCP). Since 2026 the public body should fetch the ones it can through data sharing and only ask for the rest.
- Guide: Qualification documents in Portuguese tenders: what to submit and when
- Empreitada de obras públicas (public works contract)
- The public works contract is the contract by which a company undertakes to carry out works for a public body for a price: building, rebuilding, repairing or demolishing buildings and infrastructure. It has its own rules in the CCP (Articles 343 onwards), higher limits for direct award and invited quotes, and requires an IMPIC contractor licence or certificate.
- Guide: Direct award and invited quotes in Portugal: 2026 limits
- Entidade adjudicante (contracting authority)
- The entidade adjudicante is the public body, or equivalent, that launches the procedure and buys: councils, hospitals, schools, institutes, state-owned companies and other bodies listed in Articles 2 and 7 of the CCP. It sets the documents, evaluates the bids, awards and pays. On Adjudica every public body has a public page with the contracts and tenders it has published.
- Erros e omissões (errors and omissions)
- Errors and omissions are the flaws in the tender documents that interested companies spot and must report in a list, in the first third of the bid period: data that does not match reality, missing quantities, technical conditions that cannot be met or design errors (Article 50(2) of the CCP). Those the public body does not expressly accept are treated as rejected; in works, failing to point them out has costs during the contract.
- Guide: How to read a caderno de encargos (contract specifications)
- Esclarecimentos (clarifications)
- Clarifications are the questions interested companies can ask about the tender documents in the first third of the bid period, and the answers the public body must give by the end of the second third (Article 50 of the CCP). The answers become part of the documents and prevail over them. A late answer forces an extension of the deadline (Article 64).
- Guide: How to read a caderno de encargos (contract specifications)
- IMPIC
- IMPIC, the Instituto dos Mercados Públicos, do Imobiliário e da Construção, is the public body that regulates public procurement in Portugal and runs the Portal BASE, where every public contract is published. It also issues the public works contractor licences and certificates required as qualification for works contracts. Adjudica's data comes from the Portal BASE, as open data.
- Impugnação (challenge)
- A challenge is the way to contest a decision in the procedure, such as the exclusion of a bid or the award to another bidder. It can be administrative, addressed to the public body itself, or judicial, in the administrative court, through pre-contractual litigation, with short deadlines counted from the notice. In the flexible tenders created in 2026, administrative challenge deadlines can be cut to three days.
- Lote (lot)
- A lot is a separate part of a tender that can be awarded on its own, for example by area or by type of product. Splitting into lots makes it easier for small companies to take part, and the CCP requires the public body to justify a decision not to split above certain amounts (Article 46-A). There can be one award per lot, at different times (Article 73(2)).
- Peças do procedimento (tender documents)
- The tender documents are the documents that define a tender (Article 40 of the CCP): in an open tender, the notice, the programa do procedimento (tender rules) and the caderno de encargos; in direct awards and invited quotes, the invitation and the caderno de encargos. They are available on the public body's e-procurement platform. Clarifications and corrections published during the bid period become part of them.
- Guide: How to read a caderno de encargos (contract specifications)
- Plataforma eletrónica (e-procurement platform)
- The e-procurement platform is where the public body publishes the documents and where bidders submit their bids, with a qualified electronic signature (Article 62 of the CCP). Several certified platforms operate in Portugal, such as acinGov, Vortal, anoGov and SaphetyGov, and each public body picks its own. The notice on base.gov says which, and the company registers on each one.
- Prazo de apresentação das propostas (bid deadline)
- The bid deadline is the time, set in the notice or invitation, to submit the bid on the platform. Open tenders have legal minimums: 6 days for goods and services, 14 for works and 30 with a notice in the EU Official Journal (Articles 135 and 136 of the CCP). It runs continuously, weekends and public holidays included, and ends at the set time.
- Guide: Deadlines and extensions in Portuguese public tenders
- Preço anormalmente baixo (abnormally low price)
- A price is abnormally low when the public body finds, with reasons, that it is not enough to meet the legal obligations and costs of the contract (Article 71 of the CCP). The law sets no percentage: the documents can set a threshold or the public body decides case by case. Before excluding, the panel must ask for written explanations; the bid is only excluded if the explanation is not accepted.
- Guide: Abnormally low price in Portuguese tenders: what it is and how to justify it
- Preço contratual (contract price)
- The contract price is what the public body pays for everything the contract covers, as set in the winning bid, excluding VAT (Article 97 of the CCP). It is the amount published on base.gov for each contract and the basis for calculating the guarantee. Do not confuse it with the maximum price, which is the ceiling the public body set before the tender.
- Guide: Performance guarantee in Portuguese tenders: how much and when
- Preço máximo (maximum price)
- The maximum price is the most the public body is willing to pay for the contract, set in the caderno de encargos or the tender rules (Article 47 of the CCP). In the documents it appears under another technical name. A bid above it is excluded. Since 2026 setting it is optional; without a maximum price, the public body can decide not to award if every price is unacceptable for the market.
- Guide: How to read a caderno de encargos (contract specifications)
- Programa do procedimento (tender rules)
- The programa do procedimento is the tender's rulebook (Article 41 of the CCP): it sets the bid documents, the award criterion and evaluation model, the deadlines, the guarantee, the qualifications required and how to submit on the platform. It is not the caderno de encargos, which holds the contract clauses. In direct awards and invited quotes, the invitation plays this role.
- Guide: How to read a caderno de encargos (contract specifications)
- Proposta (bid)
- The bid is the statement by which the bidder tells the public body it wants to contract and on what terms (Article 56 of the CCP). It is made up of the documents in Article 57: the price and the other attributes open to competition, the required terms and conditions and, for works, the unit price list, the work plan and the financial schedule. Since 2026 it counts in itself as a declaration that the bidder is not barred. It must be in Portuguese unless the tender says otherwise (Article 58).
- Guide: Qualification documents in Portuguese tenders: what to submit and when
- Prorrogação do prazo (deadline extension)
- A deadline extension gives more time to submit bids. It is mandatory when the public body answers clarifications late or changes key points of the documents (Article 64(1) and (3) of the CCP), and optional at the reasoned request of any interested company (paragraph 4). It benefits every bidder and is published by notice.
- Guide: Deadlines and extensions in Portuguese public tenders
- Relatório final (final report)
- The final report is the document in which the panel, after weighing the bidders' comments at the prior hearing, confirms or changes the ranking of the bids and submits it to the competent body for the decision (Article 148 of the CCP). The award decision is based on it and notified to every bidder.
- Relatório preliminar (preliminary report)
- The preliminary report is the document in which the tender panel proposes the ranking of the bids and the exclusion of those that break the rules, with reasons (Article 146 of the CCP). It is sent to every bidder, who has a prior hearing period to respond in writing before the final report. This is where you contest the scoring and exclusions.
- Revisão de preços (price revision)
- Price revision is the update of the contract price during the contract, by a formula set in the caderno de encargos, to reflect changes in labour, materials and equipment costs. It is typical of long works contracts and protects the contractor from inflation. In simplified direct award contracts the price cannot be revised (Article 129 of the CCP).
- Subcontratação (subcontracting)
- Subcontracting is when a third company, the subcontractor, carries out part of the contract under the winning bidder's responsibility. The CCP governs it in Articles 316 onwards, and in works the subcontractors can be named in the bid to cover licence categories the bidder lacks, with a commitment statement. The caderno de encargos can limit it.
- Guide: Qualification documents in Portuguese tenders: what to submit and when
- TED and JOUE (OJEU)
- The JOUE, the Official Journal of the European Union, is where notices for tenders above the EU thresholds must be published, and TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the online version of that supplement, searchable by CPV code and country. In 2026 and 2027: €5,404,000 for works; for goods and services, €140,000 for central government and €216,000 for other bodies; €750,000 for Annex IX services such as security, catering, legal, training and events (Article 474).
- Guide: Deadlines and extensions in Portuguese public tenders
- Tribunal de Contas (Court of Auditors approval)
- The Tribunal de Contas approval (visto) is the prior review that public contracts above an amount set each year in the State Budget law must pass. The contract only has financial effect after the approval, which can delay the first payments by weeks. In these contracts the winning bidder may have to present a corruption prevention plan (Article 81(9) of the CCP).
- Valor estimado do contrato (estimated contract value)
- The estimated contract value is the price the public body expects to pay for everything the contract covers, including extensions and benefits for the winning bidder, calculated on objective economic criteria (Article 17 of the CCP, since 2026). It is this value, not the maximum price, that decides whether the public body can use a direct award or invited quotes or must open a tender, and whether the notice goes to the EU Official Journal.
- Guide: Direct award and invited quotes in Portugal: 2026 limits
- Visita ao local (site visit)
- The site visit is the inspection of the works or service location that the documents can provide for or require before bids are submitted. The CCP says the time needed for the visit must be taken into account when setting the deadline (Article 63(2)). When it is mandatory, missing it can lead to the bid being excluded, so book it early, in the first third of the bid period.
- Guide: Deadlines and extensions in Portuguese public tenders
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