Country kit
Bidding in Portugal: the country kit
What a company from another country needs to know before it bids for a public contract in Portugal.
Not legal advice. Rules and portals change: check the buyer's documents and the official portal.
Written notes last reviewed on November 15, 2026.
For a bidder from abroad
What a company from another country usually runs into. Each line names where you can check it.
- Portals
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Notices appear in the Diário da República and contracts on the BASE portal. The bid goes to one of the licensed private platforms (acinGov, Vortal, anoGov, SaphetyGov and others): the notice names the one the buyer uses, and basic access for bidders is free.
Check it at Portal BASE
- Account to submit
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To submit you need an account on the platform the notice names. Open it days ahead: some platforms check a new company by hand.
Check it at Portal BASE
- Electronic signature
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A qualified electronic signature is usually required on the bid, or on the files the documents name.
A qualified signature from a provider established in another EU state has the same legal effect (eIDAS Regulation, Article 25). Whether the platform's own tool reads your certificate is a practical matter: try it well before the deadline.
Check it at Portal BASE, EU trusted lists of signature providers
- ESPD and eCertis
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The European Single Procurement Document is accepted as a first proof that you are suitable; here it is called DEUCP (Documento Europeu Único de Contratação Pública). eCertis shows which certificates of your own country match the ones asked for.
Check it at eCertis (European Commission)
- Registers and lists
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Construction works need a permit from IMPIC (alvará or certificado). The documents say what a contractor established in another state provides instead.
Check it at IMPIC
- Language of the bid
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Bids are usually written in Portuguese. Certificates in another language usually need a translation; the documents say whether it has to be certified.
Check it at Portal BASE
From the register
Counted from the notices Aperlena reads. These lines change as the register does.
- Sources we read
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- BASE - Contratos sem anúncio prévio (IMPIC, dados.gov.pt)
- BASE - Portal dos Contratos Públicos (IMPIC)
Notices above the EU thresholds also arrive through TED, the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily.
- Open now
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903 open notices. See them
Busiest sectors: Construction work (170), Medical equipment & pharmaceuticals (146), Business services (84)
- Time to bid
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Open procedure above the EU thresholds: usually 27 to 31 days from publication to the deadline (median: 29, from 11,719 notices).
Open procedure below the EU thresholds: usually 8 to 17 days from publication to the deadline (median: 12, from 41,039 notices).
- Language of the notices
- Portuguese
- Currency
- Amounts are stated in euros (EUR).
- Working days
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Deadlines on Aperlena count working days on the national calendar of Portugal: Monday to Friday, without the national public holidays. Regional holidays are not counted.
The next national holidays on a weekday: , , ,
After the award
Not legal advice. The periods run from the day the decision is sent to you. Check your award letter and national law before you rely on any of them.
EU minimum We hold no national figures for Portugal. Shown is the minimum every EU and EEA state has to give under the Remedies Directives (89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC, as amended by 2007/66/EC). The national period may be longer.
- Standstill period
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Usually 10 calendar days from the day after the decision was sent (15 when it was not sent electronically).
The buyer usually may not sign the contract before it ends.
- Time to challenge
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Usually 10 calendar days from the day after the decision was sent.
The periods are the ones for contracts above the EU thresholds. Below them national rules differ, and some awards have no standstill at all.
On the page of an awarded notice the periods are counted from its award date, with a letter asking the buyer for its reasons. Awarded contracts in Portugal