TCU postpones decision on tender to deepen Port of Santos channel

Contract provides for dredging to deepen the navigation channel of the Port of Santos to 16 meters (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) postponed, during Wednesday’s (26) session, until September 9 the vote on the case concerning the tender for the dredging project to deepen the navigation channel of the Port of Santos to 16 meters. The process was challenged through a petition filed by DTA Engenharia. The company opposes the tender won by Jan De Nul. Both companies participated in the bidding process.

Reporting Justice Bruno Dantas requested that Autoridade Portuária de Santos (APS) and Jan De Nul, which have already signed the R\$ 617.9 million contract, be heard again.

Dantas said that, in principle, he had voted to annul the entire bidding process, starting with the tender notice. “Considering that the irregularities identified affect the substance of the judgment and the economic core of the tender, compromising the selection of the most advantageous bid and legal certainty, in the view of this rapporteur, the appropriate course would be to annul the entire bidding process, from the tender notice through the subsequent stages”, he said.

Despite this position, the justice accepted a suggestion presented by Justice Benjamin Zymler to ensure that the winning company and APS have an opportunity to respond before the decision is made. Dantas clarified that “although my current vote contains grounds for annulling the bidding process, it will be necessary to submit a new vote after the statements are made and the technical unit’s analysis is completed.”

Validated

For A Tribuna , APS President Anderson Pomini said that the contract had already been validated by the Federal Court, “Now, opening the adversarial proceedings is very important so that Port of Santos can demonstrate, once again, the regularity of the bidding process, with the validation of the contract and the start of the works”, stressing that “the service to deepen the navigation channel to 16 meters is a need that has been anticipated for 20 years.”

APS signed the contract with Jan de Nul, worth R\$ 617.9 million, on June 12. With a five-year term, the agreement also includes two years of maintenance dredging. The work order was scheduled to be signed on June 17, but this did not occur due to an injunction granted by the court the previous day in favor of DTA Engenharia, which also filed a petition challenging the tender with the TCU.

For now, APS has obtained judicial authorization to proceed with the process, but the matter is still subject to appeals.

Another case

The other case under review by the TCU, with Justice Benjamin Zymler as rapporteur, concerns a petition filed by Etesco Construções e Comércio, leader of the Santos Dragagem Consortium. The company was disqualified from the tender held in 2025 and pointed to irregularities in the bidding process. Etesco filed its petition with the TCU last year and managed to halt the progress of the tender twice, in January this year. In May, the Court overturned the decision and allowed the bidding process to proceed. The company requested reconsideration by the TCU and, on the 5th, a decision was issued ordering a new suspension.