The Jair Bolsonaro administration wants to allow foreign companies to bid for infrastructure projects and become government suppliers without the need for a Brazilian subsidiary. It will likely introduce a new measure soon.
The Ministry of Economy thinks the measure will ease the participation of international groups in infrastructure works - such as on highways, railways, and airports.
Today, the law requires a Brazilian company or even an individual to represent the foreign company in the bidding process legally. Now, a normative statement is being prepared to allow outside groups to participate directly.
Cristiano Heckert, Secretary of Management at the Ministry of Economy, estimates that the measure will be published in March and start to take effect until May. “She [company] comes in and starts bidding from anywhere in the world, wherever she is.”
In the beginning, the change will likely benefit suppliers of medicines, hospital supplies, and computer programs - of which the country is a big consumer. Consulting, cleaning, and surveillance services are also on the list. After that, more sectors will likely be disputed.
Heckert says that even infrastructure works will be auctioned under the new model. The only condition is that they are hired by the so-called RDC (differentiated hiring regime), created in 2011 to function as a faster alternative to the Bidding Law (8,666, which requires face-to-face participation in the disputes).
Today, the RDC is already present in practically all highway works of Dnit (National Department of Transport Infrastructure). Infraero (state-owned airport manager), Valec (for railway construction), and Funasa (for sanitation actions) also use the model.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon