New Bidding Law, which comes into effect in December, still concerns public managers

The professor of Tax Law at Ibmec Brasília Thiago Sorrentino warned, this week, of the financial and administrative consequences that smaller municipalities will have with the new Bidding Law, which will come into force in December of this year. The new model was supposed to be implemented in April 2023, but public managers gained more time to adapt to the new rules. The government extended the deadline, meeting the claim of mayors through the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM).

Sorrentino pointed out that thousands of municipalities do not have trained employees. in addition to material and technical conditions to meet all the requirements of the new legislation, which was created to replace the old law 8666 (which governs the various forms of contracting in public management).

“Many municipalities, especially those with less than 20,000 inhabitants, are quite susceptible to the strict regulation of the bidding law, due to the need to comply with and observe the way in which they carry out their contracts”, noted the expert.

The professor recalls that disrespect for the Law has financial and administrative consequences for the municipality: “The city hall can suffer numerous sanctions, be prevented from carrying out some types of operation, be condemned to reimbursement of money that was not well used or that was used in a irregular or illegal hiring”, he declared.

In addition, the expert warned about the criminal and property consequences that may weigh on managers. Regardless of malice (intention to do something illegal), public servants in general, including mayors, may suffer deprivation of liberty, be obliged to reimburse any expenses with their own assets and respond in the criminal sphere for acts in violation of the legislation.

“Therefore, the municipalities really have reason to be concerned and to try to adapt – as quickly as possible – to the new legislation”, he pondered.

Impacts

The new bidding regime modernizes the legislation and, among other provisions, guarantees greater transparency and security for the execution of contracts, through “competitive dialogue” and virtual auction, in addition to the adoption of the virtual auction in all spheres of public administration and the creation of the federal government procurement system.

Lawyer Ariel Uarian Queiroz Bezerra, specialist in Regulatory, Legislative and Administrative Law, explained that the new Bidding Law was created in 2021 and had already granted two years for mayors, governors and even the Union to adapt to the new model, before it law 8666 was repealed.

“In fact, the Provisional Measure issued by the Lula government extended the validity of Law 8666 – the old bidding law – to December 29, 2023. With this, municipalities will gain more time to adapt, to train their public servants. and apply the new bidding law”, he clarified.

March of Mayors

The XXIV March of Mayors to Brasília, an event held at the end of last March by the CNM, concluded with the preparation of a “letter” addressed to the country’s authorities – in particular the Presidency of the Republic, the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF). ).

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One of the demands of the March was the request that the new Bidding Law only come into effect from April 1, 2024, so that mayors would gain an “extra” period to adapt to the new model. The deadline extension was met, but it only goes through December 2023 instead of April 2024.

Research recently released by the Confederation revealed that more than 60% of the entity’s associates still do not feel safe to instruct bidding procedures in the dictates of the new law. The survey covered more than a thousand Brazilian municipalities.

Technical support

According to the president of the CNM, Paulo Roberto Ziulkoski, the government will provide technical support so that managers can comply with the law. In addition, according to him, the entity also intends to help the mayors: “The Confederation will support the training of municipal servants, for the necessary adaptation to the new bidding law”, guaranteed Ziulkoski.