To promote cheaper, easier and faster ways to deliver goods and services through public procurement, while satisfying the goals of increased accountability, transparency and competitiveness, Portugal started a major reform of its overall public procurement system in 2007.
In this context, the adoption of eProcurement was part of a broader reform in the legal, regulatory and economic aspects of the Portuguese Public Procurement model. However, at the same time, eProcurement was one of the central elements of the reform and, eventually, the more significant and powerful one.
The reform of the Portuguese public procurement was supported in three major pillars:
- The new Public Procurement Law of 2008 and the Code of Public Contracts aimed to transpose the EU Directives 2004/17 and 2004/18.
- In 2007 a new entity was created: ANCP EPE, the National Agency for Public Procurement, today eSPap IP, Public Administration Shared Services and Public Procurement, that acted as the key element in the management of a mandatory National Public Procurement System (SNCP Sistema Nacional de Compras Públicas), for the central administration, and also as a central procurement body (CPB).
- The introduction of mandatory eProcurement for all public bodies, as of 1 November 2009, no matter their origin or dimension, the type of procedure or the system under which they procure. Portuguese public entities, at any level, whether central, regional/local or state-owned companies, were committed to the use of e-platforms, mandatory for tendering and awarding all public procurement procedures above EUR 5 000.
The combination of these three main factors was fundamental in the design and implementation of a correct eProcurement strategy for Portugal. Being set up at the same time, with each pillar a driving force and strengthening the others, was the appropriate arrangement to support the reform. The top-down approach and the empowerment given to the creation of the Agency, its mandatory role and connections established between SNCP and the use of eProcurement were also relevant for the consolidation and establishment of the Portuguese eProcurement reform.
In the recent years, the Portuguese public procurement system has faced new challenges and several changes that included the following.
- A new strategy for public spending management has been implemented since 2016. This has a spending review task force in key support areas such as shared services and public procurement, where digitisation and modernising became critical for obtaining efficiency and process gains.
- The implementation, starting in 2016, of the green public procurement national strategy (GPPS) for 2020. This aims for a more self-aware and social conscientious procurement on main priority goods and services with environmental impact, taking into account the life cycle cost of the goods and services procured.
- The new public procurement law of 2017 that reviewed the code of public contracts aims to transpose the EU Directives 2014/24 and 2014/25, but also to consolidate, modernise and adapt the legal building for public procurement.
For Portugal, one opportunity to further develop the national public procurement system (SNCP) based on these three factors was to start cooperation projects, among Portuguese contracting authorities, to procure together and share resources.
As stated by the European Commission, on the public procurement strategy recommendation, contracting authorities are rarely buying together so only 11% of procedures are carried out through cooperative procurement. This is a missed opportunity as buying in bulk can result in better prices and higher quality goods and services. It can also help contracting authorities exchange expertise.
In 2017, Portugal went further and decided to implement an innovative project, in Collaborative Procurement for Energy, centralising the purchasing of energy (electricity, natural gas and fuel) in its central purchasing body, eSPap.
A permanent structure was created in eSPap with a department head and a dedicated procurement team in charge of the collaborative process. Today eSPap key performance indicators integrate performance metrics for the team of cooperative procurement were already in the activity planning report for 2018 (pages 30–31).
The collaborative procurement process for energy became a strategic objective in the eSPap mission statement. This project also received EU funds (co-financing) from the European Regional Development Fund.