The Portuguese Public Procurement Case document discusses Portugal's national agency for public procurement (ANCP) and its efforts to implement e-procurement. It provides an overview of ANCP's mission to establish and manage Portugal's national public procurement system. It also describes ANCP's top priorities from 2008-2010, which included establishing framework agreements for common goods/services and developing an e-procurement technological model. The document outlines Portugal's mandatory use of e-procurement since 2009 and key results from 2010, the first year of mandatory e-procurement, including 75% of procurement conducted electronically. It concludes by discussing lessons learned and challenges in integrating procurement information and developing an end-to-end e-procurement system.

1. The Portuguese Public Procurement Case
eProcurement for the Economic Crisis
Brussels, 25th May 2011

2. Agenda
• ANCP, the National Agency for Public Procurement - overview
• The e-Procurement perspective
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3. Reforming Public Procurement in Portugal: overall context
2007 - Establishment of Agência Nacional de Compras Públicas, E.P.E.
[the National Agency for Public Procurement (Agency)]
Decree Law 37/2007, 19th February.
Mission
The mission of the Agency is to set up, implement and manage SNCP - the National Public
Procurement System (for transversal goods and services only) as well as to centrally
manage the State-owned Fleet, contributing to increase the efficiency of the Portuguese
Public Administration.
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4. The Agency’s Top priorities (2008 – 2010)
ublic tenders with the aim of awarding framework agreements covering categories of
goods and services that aim to fulfill common needs of the Public Administration (16
categories so far). This strategy aims at creating value, financial gains, savings and cost
reductions through framework agreements, which in turn promote synergies and economies
of scale as a result of a concentration process.
evelopment and implementation of a Technological Model able to provide full support to
framework agreement procedures and call-offs.
nhanced statistical information and reports on public procurement (goods and
services). Setup of a comprehensive Public Procurement Information System, responding to
both management control needs and EU requirements.
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5. Agenda
• ANCP, the National Agency for Public Procurement – overview
• The e-Procurement perspective
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6. Procurement Process
eProcurement components
Mandatory electronic use since October 2009
Within the scope of the current technological model put in place by ANCP
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7. 2010|First year of mandatory e-Public Procurement
The success of the adoption of e-Public Procurement in Portugal was based on the commitment of all stakeholders,
namely the already established Public eTendering platform operators with several years of experience in the
market. All platforms are required to be certified according specific legislation.
Players involved:
• Contracting Entities
• Economic Operators
• Public eTendering Platform Operators
• External Auditors for Platform’s compliance auditing
• National Certification Office of e-tendering Platforms – CEGER
• National Agency for Public Procurement - ANCP
• National Portal for Public Contracts – InCI (www.base.gov.pt)
• Universities / Training Faculties
Contracting authorities belonging to the Central Administration and Public Institutes must use the Framework
Agreement awarded by ANCP to contract a public e-tendering platform.
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8. 2010|First year of mandatory e-Public Procurement
Key figures and results after the first year:
E-Public Procurement in Portugal 2010
Number of Procedures Amount
Public Procurement 79.739 EUR 10.957.575.384
Electronic Public Procurement 45.013 EUR 8.200.992.596
Source: National Report on Public Procurement – InCI - 2010
75% of Public Procurement made Electronically
50%+ (38.563) of procedures where e-Public Procurement is not mandatory (limited tendering
bellow the thresholds) are carried out in e-tendering platforms as well.
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9. eProcurement – Lessons learned and major challenges
• Key issue: lack of integration of information along the procurement process making it impossible to control
and monitor
• Solution: develop an end-to-end technological model to ensure not only transparent and cost effective
procurement processes, but also the construction of the knowledge base that is needed to support strategic
decisions towards public expenditure reduction and optimization:
• It is expected that full implementation will be achieved by the end of 2013.
• The Agency believes that implementation of this model will allow it to pursue its mission along three key
strategic dimensions:
Financial – obtaining much needed savings and public expenditure reduction both in the short and the
long term;
Political – through completely transparent, rigorous and efficient procurement processes;
Social – providing a better service for all stakeholders, achieving their buy-in and contribution,
alongside a fundamental cultural change in the Public Administration towards the effective use of
taxpayers’ funds.
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