The Federal Supreme Court (STF) started to judge today (9) the constitutionality of the transfer of concessions and permissions for the exploitation of public services without new bidding. The action was filed in the Court in 2003 by the then Attorney General of the Republic Cláudio Fonteles. 
The issue involves article 27 of Law 8987/1995 and the interpretation that, according to the Constitution, a new bidding process would be required when there is a change in corporate control and transfer of the concession to another company that did not win the initial bid.
In judging the case, the rapporteur, Minister Dias Toffoli, understood that the bidding is required in the initial grant authorization and remains valid when the transfer occurs.
“There is no circumvention of the constitutional requirement of prior bidding for the concession of public services, contained in art. 175 of the Federal Constitution, which is duly attended to with the bidding carried out for its initial granting and whose legal effects are observed and preserved in the act of transfer upon administrative consent’, he stated.
Ministers Gilmar Mendes and Nunes Marques also followed the rapporteur. The trial was then suspended and will be rescheduled by the Court.
