On 18 August 2020, law nº 14.039/2020 entered into force and altered the Statute of Advocacy and the norm on accounting to emphasize the technical and singular characters of the services offered by legal and accounting professionals. This law came from Bill nº 10980/2018 which was vetoed by the President of the Republic in January 2020 applying the argument that it violated the constitutional principle of the obligation to hold a bidding process. On 12 August 2020, the National Congress, however, overturned the presidential veto. According to the House of Representatives, this modification “allows the public administration to waive the bidding process for the hiring of lawyers and accountants, due to the technical and unique nature of these professions.” It does not, nevertheless, detract from the need to prove the known specialization of the professional or firm to be hired by the Public Administration.
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