THE PURCHASING GROUPS IN THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

The centralization of purchases has been a growing strategic trend in the organizational sphere, both public and private, since it is essential to have better planning and rigor in the acquisition of goods or services. In this way, it has become essential, in several sectors, namely in Public Administration, to transfer to a single centralized entity the various activities that are part of the complete purchase process. The way in which public procurement is made operational is also aimed at pursuing political objectives, since central purchasing bodies can be a solution that makes public procurement practices efficient. Thus, this contribution aims to analyse the regime of purchasing groups in the Public Administration, whose ultimate objective is to centralize the contracting of public works contracts, leasing and acquisition of movable goods and the acquisition of services, using doctrinal study, legal and jurisprudential. In this context, an approach will be made to the first formally constituted purchasing groups - the National Public Procurement Agency, being, however, absorbed by the Public Administration Shared Services Entity. In the same way, the regime of the purchasing groups of the Portuguese Health System will be analysed, namely the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, constituting this as a purchasing groups for the health sector.