"It is one more of the issues (direct adjustment) that it is not an illegal practice, these adjustments are provided for in the Public Procurement Law, there are some public policies that may not be as competitive, that is, they are not favorable to competition, but that are justified by some reason of public interest", said this Wednesday the official.
Speaking at a press conference, in which she was questioned about the role of ARC in direct adjustments, especially those approved by the President, Ana Ramalheira stressed that these also happen in "emergency situations".
"And when it (the practice of direct adjustment) is not justified, in that case the ARC acts with recommendations and recommendations have already been made, such as that of the head of the Ministry of Finance", she stressed.
"So, it is a process that has been done to recommend the State to adopt best practices, however, there are some situations of public interest so that these adjustments continue to be registered in our public procurement market", she pointed out.
The President, João Lourenço, has been criticized, mainly by the opposition and civil society actors, for his "recourse" to direct adjustments of some contracts to the detriment of open public tenders.
The Minister of Finance, Vera Daves, sent a letter to the Presidency of the Republic, in December 2021, to alert government officials about the need to follow public procurement rules and avoid direct adjustments.
"We refer to a set of simplified contracting procedures, by material criteria, and emergency contracting, superiorly authorized by the President of the Republic", said Vera Daves, in the letter sent, on the occasion, to the Secretary of the President of the Republic for Affairs Legal.
"Many simplified and emergency public procurement procedures approved by order of His Excellency, holder of executive power, are not in compliance with the Public Procurement Law, as they do not meet the requirements for its adoption", warned the minister in a letter dated 7 December 2021 and circulated on social media.
This Wednesday, the theme of direct award was resumed in this press conference, in which the head of the Legal and Litigation Department of ARC, Adalberto Cauaia, also intervened, referring that such hiring procedure "has its justification and meets criteria".
The authority "normally works with public procurement in this regard participated and recommended some amendments to the Public Procurement Law with a view to making procedures more efficient," he explained.
"But, in the end, the problem of direct adjustments and others are legal procedures that have their justification and meet criteria, if we are asked whether it is ideal or not, it will be up to the contracting public entity to decide which is the best specific procedure that will adapt in the competition", he concluded.
