Portuguese Audit Court

Portugal

The Portuguese Audit Court finds systemic abuse of direct awards

Back in 2021 the then Portuguese government decided to make procurement more flexible as to ensure the Recovery and Resilience Facility money was spent quickly. In 2023 I warned about some of the risks that the reform had introduced here and here. Fast forward to 2024 and the Portuguese Audit

Public Procurement

Some updates on the Portuguese train tender

Over the weekend it was news in Portugal that the tender for 117 trains had been challenged in court by CAF and Stadler, two of the economic operators which presented themselves. In and of itself, this is unsurprising since by default most tenders in Portugal are challenged in the courts

Public Procurement

Looking into Antonio Costa legacy as PM from a procurement perspective

With today's announcement of his resignation on the back of a corruption probe, the time of Antonio Costa as Portuguese Prime-Minister reached its end. I think it is appropriate to look into his legacy of 8 years as PM in the field of public procurement. The transposition of

Public Procurement

Do electric ferries dream of batteries?

I was in Portugal for the last few days and the talk of town for the last week or so is yet another procurement case gone horribly wrong. Transtejo, the public company who runs the ferries in Lisbon acquired 10 electric ferries to renew its fleet with the Portuguese Audit