Ricardo Leyser, secretary of high performance sport in Brazil´s Ministry of Sport, has provided a noteworthy overview of why it is essential for Brazil's existing laws governing tenders for major public works to be altered to allow preparations for the 2014 World Cup and Rio 2016 move ahead at faster rates.
Commenting in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, he points out that the existing laws, which are currently being debated in Brazil´s Senate, are too focused on formal procedures, creating a range of unnecessary legal and administrative requirements that regularly lead to the paralysation or even abandonment of projects, while those that are completed are often of poor quality.
Leyser insists that there is a need for a return to the original, basic idea of public tenders: the guarantee of a fully delivered, economical and quality project. Importantly, he explains that the proposed changes under debate will allow for this simpler focus by creating greater flexibility and agility in the process, without relaxing overall controls on public spending.
The key change, Leyser points out, is the possibility to group under one contract the basic and executive projects, as well as the execution and delivery of the works; the existing law requires separate tenders for each stage. Such a combined process is common in other countries such as England and the US and, if adopted in Brazil, would help eradicate failures in the implementation of the basic projects, which are the chief causes of stoppages and delays during works, he insists. Furthermore, such failures generally result in the need for amendments and add-ons to the original project, which can significantly increase the costs of works to a point where they are no longer within legal limits and are subsequently abandoned.
Beyond reducing such delays, the streamlined contractual process would also cut significantly the time spent on the tender process, an important benefit in view of Cup and Olympics preparations with their immovable deadlines.
For Australian groups looking to enter the Brazilian market through public works, the simplified tender process should create better pathways free of legal requirements and hidden problems.