Yes, Articles 24 and 25 of Law 8,666/93 and Articles 29 and 30 of Law 13,303/16 provide for cases in which competitive bidding can be exempted.

Article 24 of 8,666/93 and 29 of 13,303/16 set forth cases in which the public administration can waive public tenders. Competitive bidding may exempted only in the cases provided for in these articles, which leaves to the administrator's discretion the possibility to follow or not to follow the formal public procurement procedure. Such cases include, for example, acquisitions in small values, emergency situations, cases in which national security is at stake, and many others.

Articles 25 of 8,666/93 and 30 of 13,303/16 provide that competitive bidding may be waived when competition is impossible, such as when the supplier is the only company that can provide the goods or services to be procured. The provision sets forth some examples which are non- exhaustive (e.g., the formal public procurement procedure is waived every time that competition is impossible or every time it is impossible to fix objective criteria to classify the bidders).

Finally, it should be highlighted that using these provisions is subject to tight scrutiny by the regulator entities, such as the Courts of Accounts, since it could lead to fraud to public tenders.

Law 8,666/93 establishes as crime any violation to the competitive nature of the bidding procedure, to obtain for itself or for others, an advantage resulting from the award of the object of the bidding, by means of adjustment, combination or any other expedient, being the penalty detention, from 2 to 4 years, and fine.

The Public Procurement Legislation (Law 8,666/93 and Law 13,303/16), also establishes that contractual breaches may result in the application of warnings, fines and other sanctions, such as the temporary suspension of the company on participating public tenders (debarment) and the unsuitability declaration for the participation of public tenders.