What each one is
BASE describes itself as the portal that centralises information on public contracts concluded in mainland Portugal and the autonomous regions, and its footer names IMPIC, the public institute for public markets, real estate and construction. The CCP requires information on the formation and execution of public contracts to be published on the public contracts portal (art. 465(1)), and publication of a contract made by direct award or prior consultation is a condition of its effectiveness for any payment (art. 127(1) and (3)).
PLACSP is provided by the Directorate-General for State Heritage of the Ministry of Finance (LCSP art. 347(1)). The buyer profile, which gathers a contracting body's documents and information, must be hosted on it for State bodies (art. 347(2)); autonomous communities may set up similar services for their own bodies and, if they do not, host profiles directly on PLACSP (art. 347(3)).
What this means when you search
- BASE is the place to see what Portuguese buyers actually signed, including direct awards (ajuste direto). It also lists notices published in the Diário da República.
- PLACSP hosts the buyer profiles of State bodies. Autonomous communities may run their own service and must still publish all calls and results on PLACSP (art. 347(3)), but where the two differ the regional record prevails, and local bodies may choose either one, so check both.
- Above the EU thresholds the notice is also sent to the Publications Office of the EU and published in TED (Directive 2014/24/EU arts. 49 and 51; LCSP art. 135(1)). Watching only one national portal misses part of the market.
Where Sinal fits
Sinal reads BASE, PLACSP, TED and several regional sources, and puts each notice in the same shape, with a link back to the original record. The Coverage page lists each source and its limits.