Brazil6 min readUpdated September 24, 2026

How to sell to the government in Brazil: a guide for suppliers

Who buys and where tenders are published

Brazil's public buyers are the federal government (the Union), the 26 states and the Federal District, the municipalities, and their agencies, foundations and state companies. The general law is Law 14,133 of 2021, known as the "New Law on Tenders and Contracts" (Nova Lei de Licitações e Contratos).

The centrepiece is the National Public Procurement Portal (PNCP), created by article 174 of that law. It is the official site where procurement acts from every branch and level of government must be published in one place: annual plans, tender notices (editais), direct-award notices, price registration records and contracts. You usually do not bid on the PNCP itself. Bids go through systems connected to it. The federal government uses Compras.gov.br; states and municipalities can use other platforms, public or private, as long as they are integrated with the PNCP (art. 175). Each edital tells you which system hosts the session.

How to register as a supplier: SICAF

For federal purchases, the supplier registry is SICAF (Unified Supplier Registration System), inside Compras.gov.br. It is free and fully online; you do not need to visit an office.

1. Get a gov.br account at bronze, silver or gold level and an ICP-Brasil digital certificate (e-CPF or e-CNPJ). The federal services portal also mentions cloud certificates.
2. Go to the Federal Government Procurement Portal, choose the supplier profile (Fornecedor) and the registration option.
3. Log in with your gov.br account or certificate.
4. Complete the basic registration (credenciamento) with your CNPJ, Brazil's company tax number. Data from the federal tax authority (CNPJ, business activity, legal form, company size) loads automatically and cannot be edited in SICAF.

SICAF is organised in levels. According to the portal's FAQ, level I (credenciamento) is enough to take part in electronic purchases. The other levels prove your qualification (habilitação): level II, legal standing; III, federal tax and labour compliance; IV, state and municipal tax compliance; V, technical qualification; VI, financial qualification. When a document expires, your record shows a pending issue until you update it.

The law groups qualification into four blocks (art. 62): legal, technical, tax-social-labour and financial. An edital may accept your registry record instead of individual documents (art. 70).

If your company is foreign

• According to the Compras portal, a foreign supplier is registered by the auctioneer (pregoeiro) or tender committee using basic data: company name, international dialling codes, email, address, city, country and the details of the responsible user, whose Brazilian taxpayer number (CPF) must be in good standing.
• Foreign companies that do not operate in Brazil submit equivalent documents, as set by federal regulation (art. 70, sole paragraph).
• Experience certificates issued abroad are accepted with a Portuguese translation (art. 67, § 4).

Note that in 2025 Law 15,266 amended article 87 to provide for a unified bidder registry on the PNCP. Keep an eye on how it is rolled out.

Procurement methods

Article 28 of Law 14,133 sets five methods and forbids creating others:

• Pregão: mandatory for common goods and services, meaning those whose performance and quality can be defined with usual market specifications. Awarded on lowest price or highest discount. It does not apply to predominantly intellectual technical services or to works.
• Concorrência: for special goods and services and for common or special engineering works and services.
• Concurso: to choose a technical, scientific or artistic work in exchange for a prize or fee.
• Leilão: to sell state assets to the highest bidder.
• Competitive dialogue: the buyer holds talks with pre-selected bidders to develop solutions, then asks for final proposals.

There is also direct contracting: "inexigibilidade" when competition is impossible, for example with an exclusive supplier (art. 74), and "dispensa" in the cases listed in article 75. The value-based dispensa limits are updated every year. For 2026, Decree 12,807 of 2025 sets them as follows:

These small purchases should preferably be preceded by a notice open for at least 3 business days to attract additional quotes (art. 75, § 3). For a new supplier, those notices are a good way in. You will also meet the price registration system, where one tender produces a price record (ata) that buyers can draw on for future purchases.

Micro and small companies (ME/EPP) keep the advantages of Complementary Law 123 of 2006, which Law 14,133 applies (art. 4): a bid up to 10% above the best offer (5% in a pregão) counts as a tie and the small company may undercut it, and items up to R$ 80,000 must be reserved for small companies.

How to find and follow tenders

• PNCP: search editais by keyword and narrow the results with the portal's filters. Because publication there is mandatory for every level of government, it is the best starting point.
• The session system: once you pick a tender, take part in the system named in the edital (Compras.gov.br for federal buyers).
• Annual procurement plans: also published on the PNCP, they show what each buyer expects to purchase during the year.
• On Carbonode: the Brazil page gathers tenders from the PNCP, with titles translated into English and a link to the original notice. Always confirm the details in the official source.

Practical tips

• Minimum bid periods: between publication of the edital and the bid deadline there must be at least 8 business days for goods awarded on price or discount, 10 business days for common services and common engineering works and services, and longer for complex cases (art. 55). These are short windows, so prepare your paperwork in advance.
• Changes to the edital: if an amendment affects how bids are prepared, the edital is republished and the deadlines restart (art. 55, § 1). Keep checking until the session day.
• Questions and challenges: anyone may ask for clarification or challenge an edital up to 3 business days before opening (art. 164).
• Appeals: the general deadline to appeal a bid evaluation or qualification decision is 3 business days (art. 165).
• Time zone: Brazil has more than one time zone. Check which time reference the edital uses before the session.
• Language and currency: proceedings run in Portuguese and foreign certificates must be translated. Prices are in reais, except in international tenders that allow quotes in foreign currency (arts. 12 and 52).
• Keep documents current: tax and labour clearance certificates (certidões) in SICAF expire. An expired one on qualification day can knock you out.

Official sources

• Law 14,133 of 2021, consolidated text (Planalto) (Portuguese)
• Decree 12,807 of 2025: values updated for 2026 (Portuguese)
• About the PNCP (Portuguese)
• PNCP tender search (Portuguese)
• Register as a supplier to the public administration (gov.br) (Portuguese)
• SICAF FAQ (Portuguese)
• Complementary Law 123 of 2006 (Portuguese)

Questions