Public works contracting entities will now be able to resort to the concept of design-build whenever they deem appropriate, according to a decree-law published this Thursday, October 23, which also increases the price thresholds for prior consultations and direct adjustments.
Published this Thursday in Diário da República (DR), decree-law no. 112/2025 makes public procurement rules more flexible with the aim of stimulating the construction sector and thus contributing to “strengthening housing supply and “mitigating the imbalance between supply and demand”.
“With a view to this mobilization, it is important, in particular, to eliminate legal obstacles to the use, by contracting entities, of the benefits of construction techniques associated with off-site manufacturing and, in general, of the advantages associated with the combined contracting of design and construction services”, reads the text of the diploma.
According to the reservation, the “immediate development” of these flexibility mechanisms does not invalidate the “need for a structural review of the Public Contracts Code (CCP), approved by decree-law no. 18/2008, of January 29, […] with a view to fully achieving the objectives of the State reform, currently underway”.
Approved by the Council of Ministers on September 18, the decree-law published today amends article 43 of the CCP, “giving contracting entities the ability to resort to the concept of design-construction not only in exceptional and duly substantiated cases, but whenever, according to discretionary judgments and in light of the public interests in question, they conclude that that contractual modality is appropriate”.
To enhance the effects of this measure, it also determines the “exceptional increase in the thresholds for the adoption of prior consultation and direct adjustment procedures, within the scope of the conclusion of contracts intended for the promotion of public housing or controlled costs”.
“Together, these measures, by creating conditions to increase the pace of construction, will promote an increase in housing supply, therefore constituting necessary changes with a view to guaranteeing the right to housing”, reads the text of the decree-law.
Thus, until the end of 2026, for the conclusion of any contracts intended to promote public housing or controlled costs, contracting entities may adopt the public tender procedure or simplified tender limited by prior qualification, when the value of the contract is lower than the thresholds referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 or 4 of article 474 of the Public Contracts Code, as the case may be.
It is also now possible to adopt the simplified prior consultation procedure, with an invitation to at least five entities, “when the value of the contract is, simultaneously, lower than the thresholds referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 or 4 of article 474 of the Public Contracts Code, depending on the case, and lower than 1,000,000 euros”.
The simplified direct award procedure under article 128 of the Public Contracts Code becomes possible when the value of the contract is equal to or less than 15,000 euros.
Also until December 31, 2026, in contracts for the promotion of public or controlled-cost housing, contracting entities may also opt for direct adjustment when the contract value is equal to or less than 60,000 euros.
In the case of concluding rental contracts, acquisition of movable goods or services, direct adjustment becomes possible when the value of the contract is equal to or less than 30,000 euros, while in other contracts this is possible up to a limit of 65,000 euros.
The diploma now published is applicable to public contract formation procedures initiated after its entry into force, that is, within five days.