Question 1

What is the difference between BASE.gov.pt and PLACSP?

Accepted Answer

BASE.gov.pt is Portugal's central public contracts portal, run by IMPIC under the Código dos Contratos Públicos. PLACSP (Plataforma de Contratación del Sector Público) is Spain's equivalent, run by the Ministerio de Hacienda under the Ley de Contratos del Sector Público. BASE is strongest as a record of contracts actually signed; PLACSP is strongest as a live feed of open procedures. A company selling in both countries needs both, and neither is a substitute for TED above the European thresholds.

Question 2

Can a Portuguese company bid for a public contract in Spain?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Under EU public procurement law a Spanish contracting authority cannot exclude a company because it is established in Portugal, and no Spanish branch or subsidiary is required to bid. What you do need is a way to prove capacity and standing in a form the authority accepts — typically the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD/DEUC), a valid electronic signature accepted by the platform, and documentation in Spanish.

Question 3

When must a tender be published in TED rather than only nationally?

Accepted Answer

When the estimated contract value reaches the EU threshold for its category, the contracting authority must publish the notice in TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) in addition to national publication. The thresholds are set by the European Commission and revised every two years, and they differ by contract type — works, supplies and services — and by whether the buyer is a central government authority. Below the threshold, only Portuguese or Spanish national rules govern publication.

Question 4

Why do SME bids get excluded on formalities?

Accepted Answer

The most common reasons an SME bid is excluded in Portugal and Spain are administrative rather than technical: a missing or incorrectly signed declaration, an expired tax or social security clearance, a bid guarantee in the wrong form, a document submitted outside the platform's required format, or a submission finished after the clock rather than before it. None of these concern the quality of the offer.

Question 5

How do you find public tenders in Portugal?

Accepted Answer

Public tenders in Portugal are published on BASE.gov.pt, which is the central portal maintained by IMPIC; in Diário da República for the announcements that require official gazette publication; and in TED for procedures above the European thresholds. The procedure documents themselves usually live on the electronic platform the contracting authority uses — VortalNEXT, acinGov, anoGov or Saphety — which is why a notice you read on BASE often points elsewhere for the pieces.

Question 6

What are CPV codes and why do keyword alerts fail without them?

Accepted Answer

CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) is the standard EU classification that describes the object of a contract with a numeric code. Every notice above the EU thresholds carries at least one, and Portuguese and Spanish national notices generally do too. Keyword alerts fail because the same object is described in a dozen ways across two languages, while the CPV code stays stable — but CPV alone over-matches, because one code covers work you would never bid for.