What it does not mean
It is not automatically an invitation to bid or a substitute for the contract notice; its legal effect depends on the route used.
In practice in Portugal
A buyer may send the Official Journal a prior information notice for the contracts it expects to award in the next 12 months at or above the EU threshold; it covers at most 12 months (CCP, Article 34(1) and (3)).
It can shorten the wait later: for a concurso público with EU publication, the minimum tender period falls from 30 to 15 days if the prior notice was sent between 35 days and 12 months earlier and held the information then available (Article 136(1) and (2)).
In practice in Spain
The LCSP lets buyers publish a prior information notice for harmonised contracts they plan to award; it covers at most 12 months and may be published in the Official Journal or on the buyer's profile (Article 134(1), (2) and (6)).
In an open procedure it allows a tender period of 15 days, instead of 35, if the notice was sent between 12 months and 35 days before the contract notice and contained the information then available (Article 156(3)(a)).
What you see on the notice
- TED: the heading reads “Planning” and “Prior information notice or a periodic indicative notice used only for information”; it can show an estimated value and states that the call will follow.
- On a notice used only for information there is usually no deadline and no documents yet.
How Sinal shows it
Prior-information records can appear in the notice stream and support buyer discovery.
- These notices carry the type badge “Prior info”, so they can be told apart from calls in the feed.
- They are a way to find a buyer before the call: the buyer's name is normally the same one you will see on the later notice.