In recent decades, more responsibility has been attributed to municipalities in the render of services to citizens. Municipalities are required to meet a large number of social needs and local development, such as those related to community facilities, infrastructure for accessibility and basic sanitation, the environmental and public space qualification, valorisation and management of assets and the support to tourism and other economic activities.

However, there are three major factors that justify the change in the existing local public management models, namely: (i) changes in customer profiles, (ii) changes in social and cultural identity of local communities, (iii) changes in demand for public services and the corresponding funding.

The study aimed at identifying management models privatization of services that could generate a more effective and efficient use of the scarce resources, identifying opportunities and constraints to the implementation of the privatization process, without undermining the city as a community structure. Aiming at contributing to the final design of a guiding framework for privatization, the expected effects were assessed resulting from the implementation of the mechanisms of privatization, taking into account limits of cost/benefit, efficiency levels attainable and implications of the privatization of the defined areas.