The Portuguese Covid-19 public procurement rules

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a driver of new State legislation in several fields. This article addresses the special public procurement rules enacted in this context, including some challenges such not-so-reflected legislation raised. The ‘successive’ exceptional public procurement regime implies very complex hermeneutics regarding both the subjective and objective scope of application and the discretionary legal requirements established therein. The key measure is a particular direct award regime that has raised some doubts regarding the need for such solutions when compared to those in the Directive. There has already been some monitoring of the regime’s implementation that has underlined the need to continue monitoring ‘the planning, the implementation and management of the public emergency answer’.