Chamber approves project that makes bidding more flexible and could lead to the formation of cartels

The Chamber of Deputies approved a bill that could impact transparency in bidding processes and lead to the formation of cartels in high-value processes. The vote took place in the early hours of this Thursday (30) in an empty plenary and without the presence of the president of the house, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), who left the session at around 8:30 pm.

The presidency of the session was initially held by deputy Maria do Rosário (PT-RS) and, later, by Sóstenes Cavalcante (PL-RJ), who led the vote on the project at 0:40 am, with 307 votes in favor, 27 against and 1 abstention (see scoreboard). The session was attended by 339 of the 513 deputies.

The project authored by Senator Tereza Cristina (PP-MS) now goes to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) for sanction. The proposal was reported in the Chamber by deputy Elmar Nascimento (União-BA), who was the rapporteur of the ceiling-breaking PEC requested by Lula during the government transition, at the end of last year. The proposal allowed the government of the then new elected president to exceed the spending ceiling by R$168 billion to resume public policies.

According to the text that modifies the Bidding Law (see here), auctions starting at R$1.5 million can be held in a closed manner, where offers do not need to be disclosed until the closing of the bidding period. According to critics, this measure could reduce transparency in processes.

“They will always be processed by the closed dispute mode, when they are intended for the contracting of works or special engineering services, common engineering services that include specialized technical services of a predominantly intellectual nature, and urban cleaning and solid waste management services”, it says the text (see in full).

This measure, according to defenders, aims to avoid unfinished works and facilitates the adhesion of municipalities to price registration minutes from other cities for government purchases as long as they are preceded by bidding.

The project also allows capitalization bonds to be used as collateral “funded by a single payment, with redemption for the full value”.

Although the bill affects the transparency of the auctions, only the PSOL and Rede benches voted against it, and Novo for obstruction. The PT-PCdoB-PV federation, the government itself and other base parties, such as MDB, PSD and Republicans, which joined in the middle of this year, voted yes to the project.

“This is a project that needed more discussion time. […] The use of capitalization bonds as collateral can be harmful to the treasury, and the closed mode [em obras de engenharia acima de R$
1,5 milhão] favors shady agreements and price combinations”, said Tarcísio Motta (PSOL-RJ).

Gilson Marques (Novo-SC) was harsher in his criticism and said that not even the president of the session would know the full content of the project, as the text was filed at around 11:30 pm without giving time for a better analysis. The project had an urgent request approved in the session, which led to criticism from the parliamentarian.

“What cannot be done is to approve the urgency, to create a very dangerous precedent, for tomorrow or the next day to vote on other atrocities here, which may not be this one, but most likely will be the next ones”, he said, announcing the obstruction of the agenda – which was won by the vote of the majority of parliamentarians.

The vote in favor of the project, however, divided the opposition. Representative Júlia Zanatta (PL-SC) criticized the progress of the session, stating that Lira had announced the end of the work twice and then “they emptied the plenary and put last-minute projects up for voting, with new reports that no one knows about” .

“We need to have time to read. Urgent request, and it is already a matter of urgency, because it was an agreement between those with the most power in this house, it cannot be like that. Every parliamentarian has to be respected here”, he said.

On the other hand, Domingos Sávio (PL-MG) defended the measure as a way to prevent unfinished works. According to him, the report voted on by the deputies is exactly the same as the one approved by the Senate and which was available for consultation since last week.

Despite the controversy, Elmar Nascimento stated that the measure “is consistent with municipal federative autonomy. In this way, this modification will result in greater speed and efficiency in purchasing and contracting by municipal entities”. The text also introduces a simplified bidding regime for agreements.

“This provides a fair guarantee for the contracted companies, which should increase the competitiveness of bidding procedures and attract the participation of serious companies committed to executing the bid object”, added Nascimento.

Shortly after voting ended, Cavalcante closed the session under protests, without allowing deputies to give further consideration to the proposal.

“This new law has barely been tested, so what is the reason for promoting changes at the drop of a hat? What is the hidden interest? Furthermore, the project approved yesterday has several worrying provisions and matters foreign to the subject of tenders and contracts”, added Marques.

According to him, there are devices that deal with agreements and public finances that can directly impact the execution of other rules and disrupt the functioning of public administration. “It’s a complex topic, with many pages. There simply wasn’t time to analyze it in depth”, he highlighted.