The Government published this Friday, in the Official Gazette, changes to the Public Contracts Code through Decree-Law No. 177/2026, of September 4th. These new rules enter into force on October 1st and have as their main objective accelerating public procurement and reducing the bureaucracy that has been pointed out as one of the main obstacles to public investment execution.
Among the main changes is the increase in the thresholds for using direct award and prior consultation, procedures that allow contracting without public tender or with simplified consultations. The Executive justifies that this measure aims to adapt the complexity of procedures to the value and nature of contracts, following European trends and reducing administrative costs.
The diploma also introduces greater flexibility in public tenders, allowing contracting authorities to have more procedural discretion in tenders below European thresholds when simplification or speed of the procedure is at stake. In practice, public entities now have more room to choose and adapt the process of procurement procedures.
The Decree-Law justifies the reform with the slowness of procedures, excessive bureaucratic burden and outdated norms of the Public Contracts Code. The stated objective is to make public procurement more efficient, agile and transparent. Among the new features is also the creation of a new possible grounds for non-award: the absence of satisfactory proposals.
