MPF investigates APS no-bid contract for Santos-Guarujá tunnel project

Rail transport accounts for 21.4% of cargo handling in the country, second only to road transport (67.61%). (Sílvio Luiz/AT)

The Ministério Público Federal (MPF) has opened an inquiry to investigate the contract signed by the Autoridade Portuária de Santos (APS), in February 2025, with the Fundação para o Desenvolvimento Tecnológico da Engenharia (FDTE), linked to the Universidade de São Paulo (USP). FDTE was hired without a public bidding process, for R\$ 72.8 million, to provide technical advisory services for the execution of the Santos-Guarujá immersed tunnel project. APS states that the contract has been suspended and that no payments were made (read more alongside).

Speaking to A Tribuna, federal prosecutor Thiago Nobre said the inquiry was opened after he reviewed information about the contract published on APS’s official website. According to him, the MPF is investigating the legality of the waiver of the bidding process and whether the direct hiring of FDTE complies with the requirements of Federal Law 13,303/2016, particularly regarding the justification of the impossibility of competition. The MPF will also examine the relevance of the contract’s object and the choice of the institution, as well as the scope of services hired (management of the tunnel project).

Concern

The prosecutor explained that the investigation also focuses on the contract value and the pricing methodology, “since APS used as a cost reference a Dersa bidding process from 2014, merely adjusted for inflation, which may not reflect current market prices for technical advisory services.”

Nobre highlighted that “there is concern about the duplication of expenses,” given that the State Government hired the Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas (Fipe) to structure the project.

Investigation

Thiago Nobre also said that the MPF requested information and documents from the Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU), which “confirmed the existence of an ongoing representation process and sent copies of instructions and decisions, which have already been added to the MPF inquiry records to support the investigation.”

The prosecutor further reported that APS has already provided explanations defending the regularity of the hiring and informed that the contract is suspended. “Based on the available documents, the MPF requested detailed information about FDTE directly from APS, such as technical capacity and cost spreadsheets, and is analyzing the possibility of requesting information from other agencies or entities in the coming days.”

No deadline

According to the Ministério Público Federal, there is no deadline for concluding the investigation. “The execution of the contract remains administratively suspended by APS while the outcome of the analyses by oversight bodies is awaited,” the MPF explained.

APS says there was no spending after suspension

The Autoridade Portuária de Santos (APS) stated that the contract under investigation by the Ministério Público Federal (MPF) was suspended and that no payments were made. In a statement, the Port authority said the hiring was carried out with a “waiver of bidding, considering the institution’s recognized expertise in complex, large-scale projects, accumulated over more than 50 years of operation,” but that, as the contract was suspended, “not a single cent was paid.”

The state-owned company clarified that “the contract was conceived at a time when APS did not have guarantees on how to oversee the application of federal funds in the tunnel project.” After an addendum was signed, establishing control and oversight mechanisms, the contract lost its purpose and was therefore suspended.

“The addendum, signed between the State Government, the Ministério de Portos e Aeroportos (MPor) and APS, allows monitoring and oversight of the project, both during the construction phase and in the future operational stage of the tunnel.”

APS said it “naturally accepts the actions of oversight bodies regarding its contracts and maintains a posture of absolute transparency, making itself available to provide all necessary clarifications, reaffirming its confidence in the legality, regularity and integrity of its actions.”

FDTE is a private-law, independent, non-profit foundation created by USP in 1972. It manages and carries out studies, projects and consulting services, connecting technological and innovation demands from public agencies, companies and third-sector organizations with specialists inside and outside USP.