Posted on June 24, 2026
By Gabriel Malheiros
The Santos Port Authority (APS) has terminated a R$72.8 million contract with the Foundation for the Technological Development of Engineering (FDTE), linked to the University of São Paulo. The foundation had been hired last year, without a public tender, to provide technical advisory services for the Santos-Guarujá tunnel project. The termination was announced in Brazil’s Federal Official Gazette.
The contract was signed in March 2025 and was set to run for 40 months. In January this year, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a civil inquiry to examine whether the hiring process was regular. APS said the contract had already been suspended in June 2025, before the inquiry was opened, because the port authority no longer considered the advisory services necessary.
The Santos port administration said the contract was terminated amicably because of changes to the project’s management and concession model. Since no work order had been issued, no services had been carried out and no payments had been made to the foundation, the termination will not result in compensation, fines or other financial obligations.
APS said it will continue monitoring the development of the tunnel project and may assess the need for specialized technical support in the future. The port authority also said it expects to make new hires related to financial management, inspection and technical and engineering oversight of the works, with the aim of ensuring proper use of federal funds and protecting the interests of the Port of Santos.
Those future contracts, APS said, will follow governance and control guidelines set by the competent oversight bodies, including Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts, known as TCU.
In January, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a civil inquiry to review the contract between APS and FDTE. The investigation covers the legality of the no-bid hiring, the scope of the services, the contract value and pricing methodology, as well as the possibility of overlapping spending, since the São Paulo state government had hired the Economic Research Institute Foundation, Fipe, to structure the project.
Federal prosecutor Thiago Nobre also requested information from TCU, which confirmed that a representation case was already under way. At the time, APS defended the legality of the contract and said it had been suspended.
FDTE is a private nonprofit foundation created by the University of São Paulo in 1972. It manages and carries out studies, projects and consulting services for public agencies, companies and third-sector organizations, connecting technology and innovation demands with specialists inside and outside the university.
