How it works

We start with public records, not accusations. Portal BASE defines the population for Portuguese totals; other sources provide supplementary evidence.

Base price, contractual price and reported final price represent different things. Older records may retain a mixed legacy value until reimport; unknown values are not zero.

Descriptive indicators cover repeated awards, publication more than 10 days after signing, recorded participation and missing fields. Ten days is an analytical configuration, not a determination of legal compliance.

Threshold proximity, peer comparisons, price outliers and Benford distributions are exploratory and belong in advanced tools. Severity does not establish confidence or a probability of corruption.

Every indicator needs sufficient input data. We expose missing fields and catalogue versions. Individual links and private notes require appropriate access. Always check the original record.

Open Contracting Partnership — Red flags in public procurement

2026-10-30.1

A1 · Repeat Direct Award · high

At least two direct awards to the same buyer and supplier in the current and two previous calendar years, with base values reaching the configured €20,000 services/goods or €30,000 works amount.

procedure_type, publication_date, base_price

A2 · Late Publication · medium

Publication is more than 10 calendar days after signing. This configured delay is not a legal deadline determination.

publication_date, celebration_date

A5 · Proximity to configured amounts · medium · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

Base value lies within 5% below one of the configured comparison amounts. Proximity alone does not establish splitting or a legal violation.

base_price

A6 · Low Competition · medium

One bidder is recorded. Missing bidder data is not treated as one bidder; the procedure must be checked in the source.

bidder_count

A7 · Abnormal Direct-Award Rate · medium · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

Direct-award use exceeds 80% and the CPV peer median by more than 25 percentage points, with at least 10 buyer contracts.

procedure_type, cpv_code

A9 · Price Overrun · high · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

Reported final price divided by a positive base price exceeds 1.5; high priority begins at 2.0. Only reimported records with separate contractual prices are compared.

base_price, total_effective_price, contracted_price

A9 · Abnormal Price Reduction · low · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

Reported final price is below half the positive base price. A reduction is descriptive and requires source review.

base_price, total_effective_price, contracted_price

B2 · Supplier Concentration · high · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

One supplier receives at least 70% of a buyer's recorded awards, with at least 5 buyer and 3 supplier contracts. This is a count comparison.

publication_date

B3 · Price High · high · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

Base price is at least 2.5 standard deviations above its CPV division and year peers; at least 10 observations are required. Quantities and specifications may differ.

base_price, cpv_code, publication_date

B3 · Price Low · high · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

Base price is at least 2.5 standard deviations below its CPV division and year peers; at least 10 observations are required. Quantities and specifications may differ.

base_price, cpv_code, publication_date

B5 · Benford's Law Deviation · high · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

A buyer's first-digit distribution departs from Benford's distribution using chi-square with at least 20 observations. Data selection can invalidate the diagnostic; it is not evidence of fraud.

base_price

C1 · Missing Supplier NIF · medium

A recorded supplier has no NIF, or a positive reported final price has no recorded supplier. This describes source completeness.

total_effective_price

C3 · Missing essential fields · low

CPV, procedure or base price is absent, or the absolute base price exceeds €1 trillion. The name refers to this software's required fields.

base_price, cpv_code, procedure_type

C7 · Potential Conflict Of Interest · high · Experimental indicators and advanced analysis

A reviewed person identity links supplier and public roles. Person-level evidence is available only through restricted access and requires independent verification.

publication_date