The New Bidding Law offers opportunities to improve infrastructure projects and prevent socio-environmental impacts

The New Bidding Law (Lei nº 14.133) passed in April 2021 introduces detailed requirements for preliminary technical studies in Brazilian infrastructure projects. CPI/PUC-Rio argues that this creates an opportunity to introduce a formal pre-feasibility analysis phase to prevent low-quality or infeasible projects from proceeding. While the law improves transparency via a single official website and expands the oversight role of legal advisory bodies and courts of accounts, it is criticized for reducing mandatory social participation. The authors recommend that future regulatory decrees mandate the publication of key preparatory documents and formally integrate pre-feasibility assessments to better align technical studies with environmental licensing.

• The New Bidding Law introduces a more detailed approach to preliminary technical studies, which CPI/PUC-Rio suggests should be treated as a new planning stage rather than being equivalent to Feasibility Studies (EVTEA).
• CPI/PUC-Rio proposes a pre-feasibility analysis consisting of 10 structuring questions and a socio-environmental complexity assessment to be evaluated by an independent commission to either authorize or veto a project before it reaches the bidding phase.
• The new law expands the oversight of the preparatory phase by requiring assessments from legal advisory bodies, such as the federal Attorney Generals Office (AGU), and establishes courts of accounts as entities for risk management and preventive control.
• Transparency is improved through the mandate of a single official website for bidding notices and contracts, but this is offset by a reduction in social participation, as the law now only encourages rather than mandates public hearings.
• The law allows for unilateral contract termination by the Public Administration if an environmental license is impossible to obtain or causes substantial changes to preliminary engineering studies, placing the obligation to obtain the license on the contracted party.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2021). The New Bidding Law offers opportunities to improve infrastructure projects and prevent socio-environmental impacts. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-new-bidding-law-offers-opportunities-to-improve-infrastructure-projects-and-prevent-socio-environmental-impacts/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. The New Bidding Law offers opportunities to improve infrastructure projects and prevent socio-environmental impacts. 2021. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-new-bidding-law-offers-opportunities-to-improve-infrastructure-projects-and-prevent-socio-environmental-impacts/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=The New Bidding Law offers opportunities to improve infrastructure projects and prevent socio-environmental impacts |date=25 May 2021 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-new-bidding-law-offers-opportunities-to-improve-infrastructure-projects-and-prevent-socio-environmental-impacts/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2021new, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{The New Bidding Law offers opportunities to improve infrastructure projects and prevent socio-environmental impacts}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2021}, month = may, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-new-bidding-law-offers-opportunities-to-improve-infrastructure-projects-and-prevent-socio-environmental-impacts/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }