Contratos inteligentes (smart contracts) no contexto de compras públicas: um estudo bibliográfico

Abstract

The adoption of technological innovations, such as blockchain and smart contracts, brings with it principles and guidelines of decentralization, transparency, security, immutability, traceability, and auditability of data and transactions that can be highly valuable for both public and private organizations. Despite the recent increase in research in this area, smart contracts remain a developing topic in the context of public procurement in Brazil. In light of this gap, a bibliographic research was conducted with the aim of providing an overview of the functioning, benefits, and challenges of smart contract technology, interconnected with blockchain, which can be applied to public procurement services. Based on the thematic analysis of the researched documents, the benefits of smart contracts in public procurement were identified, including process automation, transparency, data security, traceability, efficiency in public spending, identity management, and data reliability. On the other hand, challenges were also identified, such as infrastructure and technical knowledge, audit and adaptation of norms, compliance with regulations, scalability, flexibility, disruptive aspects, network complexity, and the need for compatibility with the existing structure. Drawing from the experiences of other countries, it is possible to recommend the adoption of smart contracts for their significant potential to support public procurement processes.