Central purchasing systems – Alentejo´s region case

Central purchasing systems are centralised negotiation and purchasing systems available for contracting authorities and managed by public or private entities or public services.
Under the terms of Portuguese Law, No 111-B/2017, central purchasing systems are intended to award tenders for the execution of public works contracts, the supply of movable goods and the provision of services, at the request and on behalf of the contracting authorities, to conclude framework agreements, known as public supply contracts, the object of which is subsequently to award public works contracts or the rental or purchase of movable property or the purchase of services, set up dynamic purchasing systems for the use of the contracting authorities, setup electronic catalogues for the contracting authorities, etc.
Intermunicipal Central purchasing systems currently cover 33 municipalities from 3 intermunicipal communities and more than 100 suppliers, but they may also cover entities that need to follow the Public Contracts Code rules, namely municipal services and others, as long as they manifest their interest, which includes the adhesion to its principles and the acceptance of the Regulation and the execution rules. Each intermunicipal community coordinates its own system and the municipalities can choose if they implement public procurement themselves or as part of a call for tenders issued by the central purchasing system.