Less than a couple of months after the enactment of Provisional Measure 727, as of 12 May 2016, which created the Investments Partnerships Programme (PPI), Decree 8,791, as of 29 June 2016, was enacted. It regulates the structure and the operation of the Council of said incentive programme for infrastructure investments.
The creation of PPI was one of the first measures of the incumbent interim President Michel Temer, and aims at enhancing the opportunities for investments and employment, guarantee and expansion of public infrastructure, foster competition for the execution of partnerships and provision of services, ensure legal stability and certainty, all having as goal a minimum governmental intervention. Additionally, it intends to strengthen the regulatory role of the Public Administration and the autonomy of technical regulatory entities.
Amongst the measures included in the PPI are the creation of the BNDES Partnership Support Fund, for an initial 10 year term, of private nature and own separate assets, which shall have as purpose the provision of services to structure project within the ambit of PPI. Such structuring may also be hired by means of the so-called Procedure for Authorisation of Studies, pursuant to art. 21 of Law 8,987, as of 13 February 1995. However, in the case of single authorisation for studies, the Public Administration shall request the following to waive their rights to take part in the bid of the project, be it as contracting party or private partner: (i) the interested party itself; (ii) its controllers and entities under common control; (iii) persons that hired the interested party for the provision of services related to the object of the authorisation, as well as their controllers, controlled entities and entities under common control; and (iv) persons hired by the interested party for the development of activities related to the object of the authorisation.
The incumbencies of the PPI Council encompass the issue of opinions, prior to decision by the President, about proposals made by the Ministries and Sectors Councils about (i) longer term policies for privatisation and investments, through partnerships, in federal infrastructure public projects; (ii) projects qualified for implementation by means of partnership and directives for relevant structuring, bidding and contracts; (iii) policies to foment partnerships for infrastructure projects launched by the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities; (iv) other privatisation measures to be implemented; as well as (v) the agenda of all those actions. It shall also be incumbent upon the Council to coordinate, monitor, assess and supervise PPI operations, and support sectorial actions necessary for PPI’s implementation.
The Council shall be chaired by the President and formed by the PPI Executive Secretary (who shall also act as Executive Secretary of the Council), the Chief Minister of House Affairs, and the Ministers of Finance, Planning, Transportation and Environment, and the CEO of BNDES.
Ministers with authority over sectors of matters subject to examination by the Council, as well as the chief officers of the competent regulatory authorities and of the Federal Savings Bank shall be invited to attend meetings of the Council.
After the regulation of the structure and operation of the PPI Council, it is expected that its activities shall soon begin and that good opportunities for investment in the infrastructure sector arise, now in a more stable environment for investors.