To access all factsheets, in all formats (pdf, Linked Open Data - LOD) click here.

The consolidation of policies favorable to the use of open source in Portugal reflects the mobilisation/collaboration between the public sector, the private sector, and civil society to promote a more efficient, transparent, innovative, sustainable and sovereign digital ecosystem. In Portugal, by law (Decree-Law No. 107/2012), central government bodies must submit their ICT projects and expenses above a certain threshold (EUR 10 000) to the Administrative Modernisation Agency (AMA)'s pre-evaluation mechanism, ensuring that ICT public investments and projects are aligned with the digital strategy in place. Criteria for endorsement are, among others, the use of open standards and the option for open source software. Any contrary acquisition must be justified, for example, by proving that there are no OSS better alternatives for a given project. Furthermore, this topic is addressed by national strategies/frameworks such as:  

• the Strategy for the Digital Transformation of Public Administration 2021-26, whose 5th pillar 'Infrastructure and ICT Services' includes a dedicated action to promote the (re)use of open source code in the public administration. It's worth noting that AMA already makes available a repository for open source solutions;
• the MOSAICO - Common Model for Designing and Development of Digital Public Services, developed by AMA and which defines 'make the new code open source' as the 6th out of 11 guiding principles to take into account when developing digital public services. 

The MOSAICO webportal makes available detailed information about the public administration's enterprise architecture, encompassing common platforms such as digital identity, open data portal, interoperability platform, catalogue of entities and services, electronic notifications system and the ePortugal single digital gateway for public services, among others. Additionally, AMA specifically promotes the implementation of open source code in Portugal, for instance, in the following initiatives:

• use of open source code in the development of key initiatives/projects such as the ePortugal and Dados.gov (national open data portal) portals; the digital identification ecosystem; and the Citizen Spots (hybrid model for digital services delivery) management platform;  
• organisation of workshops in 2019 and 2020, in partnership with the Association of Portuguese Open Source Software Companies (ESOP), to discuss and share open source best practices in the context of digital transformation in the public sector. 

Portugal fosters public consultation and citizen involvement in co-creating (defining and designing) public services. Below are some examples of the mechanisms put in place in this area: 

• SIMPLEX is an annual programme that integrates simplification, modernisation, and innovation measures to improve citizens and businesses access to public services and to increase internal efficiency of public services. It is based on a broad participation of public administration workers, citizens, companies, professional organisations, the civil society, and higher education institutions, which can all contribute with proposals for improving the functioning of the public administration and the services it provides;
• PARTICIPA.GOV, developed under the SIMPLEX programme, is the official public administration platform to support citizen participatory processes. It makes use of blockchain technology for attributing votes to citizens in a transparent, secure and anonymous way;
• LABX is the Centre for Innovation in the Public Sector which contributes to the public administration innovation ecosystem by promoting the renewal of the public services offer, suited to the citizens and businesses real needs. To do so, it follows a methodologic approach based on three phases: a) investigate the citizens real needs and expectations; b) co-create possible solutions with citizens and businesses; and c) experiment the solutions with the final users.   

Portugal also participates in European projects aimed at delivering user-centric public services, such as the POTENTIAL consortia that is piloting the new European Digital Identity Wallets in selected use cases. In June 2021, the OECD's Observatory of Civic Space commenced a Civic Space Scan of Portugal to assess how protected civic spaces 'including those based on fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly' can contribute to more inclusive and responsive public service design and delivery, which showed the Portuguese commitment in this subject. The Scan was based on a partnership between the OECD and AMA and provides concrete and actionable recommendations to the Government of Portugal on utilising civic space to strengthen public services. The final report was officially launched in December 2023, but its recommendations were already producing results before. In fact, one of its results was the official kick-off of the project 'Improving civic participation with emerging technologies'. Financed by the Technical Support Instrument of the European Commission, this multi-country project (Portugal, Spain and Netherlands) is meant to understand the challenges and opportunities of using emergent technologies to enable citizen engagement.

The (re)design of services promoted by the AMA/TicAPP with other public entities considers modelling techniques such as the BPMN, the UML sequence diagrams (exchange of information through the Public Administration Interoperability Platform/iAP) and also Entity Relations diagrams (modeling data). Furthermore, the use of BPMN, UML, Role Activity Diagram (RAD), Entity-Relationship Diagrams (ERD), Event-driven Process Chain (EPC), Data Flow Diagrams (DFD) and Flowcharts is reported by other areas of governance. The selection of a modelling technique often hinges on process complexity, and the intended audience. A combination of these techniques are commonly used to comprehensively capture different facets of the business process.

Government agencies and regulatory bodies often form communities or working groups focusing on policy development, data governance, and compliance concerning interoperability. They work on creating regulations and frameworks that ensure data security, privacy, and seamless data exchange within and across sectors. For instance, and in the context of digital health, SPMS collaborates with the Ministry of Justice to access the personal data of citizens, encompassing details like patient identification, birth and death notifications, among other pertinent information. Likewise, entities such as the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP) reported the establishment of working groups involving relevant stakeholders to ensure seamless interoperability with other areas of the AP when developing new information systems.

The Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernization is responsible for the modernisation of public administration and digital government, under the direct tutelage and guidance of the Prime Minister. 

Mário Campolargo  Secretary of State for Innovation and Administrative Modernisation   Source: https://www.portugal.gov.pt/

Created in 2007, the Administrative Modernisation Agency (AMA) is the public institute in charge of digital government and administrative modernisation and simplification, under the superintendence and tutelage of the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation. AMA’s activity is divided in three major areas: (i) digital transformation; (ii) public services delivery (both physical and digital); and (iii) innovation and public participation.  

AMA operates in areas such as ICT strategy and governance, administrative simplification, services redesign and experimentation, digital identity, interoperability, single digital gateway, open data, emerging technologies, AI and other building blocks of the digital government in Portugal. AMA is also the responsible body for interoperability activities in Portugal. 

João Dias  President of the Board of Directors, Administrative Modernisation Agency (AMA)    Source: https://www.ama.pt

Tito Carlos Soares Vieira  Member of the Board of Directors, Administrative Modernisation Agency (AMA)   Source: https://www.ama.pt

Elsa Castro  Member of the Board of Directors, Administrative Modernisation Agency (AMA)   Source: https://www.ama.pt

The Council for Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administration (CTIC), created by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 33/2016 of 3 June 2016, is the coordination structure responsible for developing and managing the ICT strategy and the overall action plan for ICT in the Portuguese public administration. It is intended to effectively articulate with the SIMPLEX Programme to recover measures that take advantage from the transformative potential of ICTs and to implement new measures that will improve the quality of citizens’ lives and reduce the costs for companies. The CTIC brings an ICT governance model in the public administration that is open to society and well-adjusted to the government’s objectives, thereby enabling the effective development of a global ICT strategy. 

The CTIC responds directly to the Prime Minister, who delegated this attribution to the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Administrative Modernisation. Its Technical Committee (which includes a representative of each Ministry) is chaired by AMA, thus giving that entity a cross-sectorial management role in the Portuguese eGovernment policy domain. 

The mandate of the Council runs until December 2023, through the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 84/2020 of 1 October 2

The Interministerial Network for Administrative Modernisation (RIMA), established by Decree-Law No. 4/97 and reviewed by Decree-Law No. 72/2014, brings together representatives from all government areas to pursue a collaborative work in the field of administrative simplification and modernisation, and streamline the relationship between the State, citizens and businesses.  

In particular, it establishes administrative modernisation measures on the methodology and mechanisms for regulatory impact assessment of normative acts. 

The Commission for Administrative Modernisation brings together business associations, social partners, consumer protection organisations, professional associations and representatives of both central and local government, with the aim of promoting the sharing of ideas between the different stakeholders and partners in the modernisation of public administration. 

The Management Centre for the Electronic Government Network (CEGER), under the Prime Minister’s Office, provides IT support to government bodies. It is responsible for the management of all the technological infrastructure of the government network, including maintenance of the Data Processing Centre, technological equipment, systems and the electronic communication network. In addition, CEGER focuses on electronic security and advanced systems in support of government decision-making. It also acts as the certification manager for the State Electronic Certification System - Management of Public Keys (SCEE). Finally, it is the responsible entity for registration of GOV.PT internet sub-domains. 

José Manuel Louro Pereira  Director, CEGER - Management Centre for the Electronic Government Network   Source: https://www.ceger.gov.pt/

The Government Shared Services Entity (eSPap) ensures the development and provision of public services, and designs, manages and evaluates the national procurement system. In addition, it ensures the management of the PVE (State Vehicle Fleet). It supports the development of strategic policies by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of State Modernisation and Public Administration in the area of ICT. It also ensures the planning, designing, execution and evaluation of digitisation initiatives of the respective services and organisations. 

César Pestana President of the Board of Directors, eSPap – Government Shared Services Entity   Source: https://www.espap.gov.pt/

The Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation is responsible for the modernisation of public administration and digital government, under the direct tutelage and guidance of the Prime Minister. 

The Minister of Territorial Cohesion is responsible for formulating, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive and coordinated policy in agreement with local governments, through the Secretary of State for Public Administration and Land Planning.

The Directorate-General for Local Administrations (DGAL) is a service integrated in the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, whose mission is to design, study, coordinate and implement measures to support local administrations, and to strengthen cooperation between the latter and the central administration. Its tasks include, for example, the design and development of information systems in the areas of financial, patrimonial, administrative and human resources manage

The Administrative Modernisation Agency (AMA) coordinates administrative modernisation programmes and involves, via a very active model, most of the municipalities on how to implement them at regional and local level. Many of the several existing initiatives focus on areas such as co-financing (SAMA), licensing (Zero Licensing and Industrial Licensing) and Citizen Spots (multiservice physical desks for assisted digital service delivery, in partnership with municipalities).  

Regions and municipalities are in charge of policies/strategies within the scope of their competences. 

The National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) is the representative body of the Portuguese municipalities. It promotes their interests and provides support services in various areas, including ICT and public management.