Data story · BASE award notices · Sep 2024 – Aug 2026
180,482 awards in Portugal went to 50,973 suppliers from September 2024 to August 2026. Of 50,973 winning suppliers, 65% won once. Their awards are 18% of the total. The top 1% of suppliers won 31% of the awards. The median across the 34 countries with a story is 18%.
The money is more concentrated than the awards: the top 1% by stated value hold 62%, and the top 1% by awards hold 31%. No supplier won more than under 1% of the awards. B. Braun Medical, Unipessoal Lda. won the most: 840.
- Awards
- 180,482
- Contract awards from Sep 2024 – Aug 2026, each counted once.
- Winning suppliers
- 50,973
- Suppliers with one or more awards, counted by normalised name.
- Won one award
- 65%
- Share of winning suppliers with exactly one award.
- Top 1% of suppliers
- 31%
- Share of awards won by the 509 suppliers with the most awards.
- Gini coefficient
- 0.65
- Inequality of awards across suppliers: 0 = each wins the same number, 1 = one supplier wins all.
- Stated value (EUR)
- EUR 27.5 billion
- From the 96% of awards that state an amount, capped at the 99.9th percentile.
- Top 1% by stated value
- 62%
- Share of stated value won by the top 1% of suppliers by value.
How the awards spread across suppliers
Portugal ranks 11th of 40 countries for the Gini coefficient and 6th for the top 1% share. 1st is the most concentrated.
Who wins the most awards
| # | Supplier | Awards | Share of awards | Stated value (EUR) | Share of value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B. Braun Medical, Unipessoal Lda. | 840 | under 1% | 26.1 million | under 1% |
| 2 | MEDTRONIC PORTUGAL, LDA. | 740 | under 1% | 144 million | under 1% |
| 3 | SANDOZ FARMACÊUTICA, LDA. | 632 | under 1% | 30.6 million | under 1% |
| 4 | MYLAN, LDA. | 616 | under 1% | 12.4 million | under 1% |
| 5 | SMILE - VIAGENS E TURISMO, UNIPESSOAL LDA | 559 | under 1% | 14.4 million | under 1% |
| 6 | SMILE - VIAGENS E TURISMO, UNIPESSOAL, LDA | 546 | under 1% | 2.08 million | under 1% |
| 7 | SMILE - VIAGENS E TURISMO UNIPESSOAL LDA | 544 | under 1% | 1.10 million | under 1% |
| 8 | Lusopalex - Produtos de Saude Unipessoal Lda | 540 | under 1% | 109 million | under 1% |
| 9 | Cencora 3PL Portugal, S.A. | 508 | under 1% | 36.4 million | under 1% |
| 10 | Petrogal, S.A. | 501 | under 1% | 235 million | under 1% |
Who buys the most
| # | Buyer | Awards | Share of awards | Stated value (EUR) | Share of value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil, EPE | 6,710 | 4% | 126 million | under 1% |
| 2 | Unidade Local de Saúde de Almada-Seixal, EPE | 2,952 | 2% | 55.7 million | under 1% |
| 3 | Unidade Local de Saúde de Gaia/Espinho, EPE | 2,853 | 2% | 68.4 million | under 1% |
| 4 | Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, E. P. E. | 2,224 | 1% | 310 million | 1% |
| 5 | Águas do Norte, SA | 1,953 | 1% | 70.7 million | under 1% |
| 6 | Unidade Local de Saúde de Coimbra, E. P. E. | 1,952 | 1% | 270 million | under 1% |
| 7 | Universidade do Minho | 1,825 | 1% | 278 million | 1% |
| 8 | Unidade Local de Saúde Santa Maria, E.P.E. | 1,691 | under 1% | 638 million | 2% |
| 9 | Unidade Local de Saúde de Santa Maria, EPE | 1,574 | under 1% | 186 million | under 1% |
| 10 | Unidade Local de Saúde do Algarve, EPE | 1,517 | under 1% | 72.1 million | under 1% |
Stated value: the amount in each award notice, split between joint winners and capped at the 99.9th percentile.
Sectors
7 sectors have 300 or more awards and 50 or more suppliers in the window, and a sector page. Each row links to that page, where the sector has its own numbers, charts and tables.
| CPV sector | Awards | Winning suppliers | Top 1% of suppliers | Won one award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare & Medical | 4,641 | 648 | 13% | 36% |
| IT & Software | 3,142 | 529 | 23% | 53% |
| Transport & Logistics | 1,610 | 578 | 11% | 62% |
| Facilities Management | 997 | 224 | 12% | 48% |
| Professional Services & Consulting | 982 | 434 | 8% | 63% |
| Construction & Public Works | 676 | 277 | 9% | 56% |
| Defense & Security | 434 | 133 | 12% | 53% |
CPV sector: the sector of the award's CPV code, the EU classification of what a contract buys. Our keyword sector labels elsewhere on the site can give other counts.
How we counted
- BASE award notices for Portugal. One record is one contract award: a buyer, a supplier, a date and, where the source gives it, an amount.
- September 2024 to August 2026. This is the latest 24 months of our data for Portugal, up to the last month with a normal number of awards.
- 10% of the award records for Portugal in this window have a CPV code. A record without a code is in no sector. Each award counts in one sector only, by the strict CPV rules of the ART-1 audit. We do not use our keyword sector labels: a hand check found too many wrong labels for most sectors.
- We count each award once: one notice, one amount, one date. We leave out awards with no supplier name, placeholder names such as "persona natural", names that are only a legal form, and names that appear on thousands of unrelated awards.
- We count suppliers by normalised name. A firm under two spellings counts as two suppliers, so the "won one award" share is an upper bound.
- Stated value is the amount in the award notice, in EUR. It is often the ceiling of a framework agreement, and the money paid can be lower. When several winners share one notice and one amount, we split the amount. We cap each award at the 99.9th percentile of the awards in Portugal. 96% of the awards state an amount, EUR 27.5 billion in total.
- These numbers show how the awards spread across suppliers. They do not show why.
The method is the method of our study of 39 countries: who wins government contracts. Other countries: who wins, country by country. The sector pages show the same numbers for each country and sector with enough data.
Snapshot 9 October 2026. Awards from September 2024 to August 2026. The numbers change when we add new awards.