This article builds on practical experience – the implementation of a selective process, focusing exclusively on cooperatives and associations organised under the principles of the solidarity-based economy, with a view to allowing the use of public space for the establishment of a ‘canantina’ – to deal with the role of the Brazilian State as a promoter of such types of production arrangements and to discuss legal issues peculiar to administrative contracts aimed at promoting the solidarity-based economy, such as the possibility of contracting with associations and informal groups. In conclusion, it is sought to establish that, in view of the vulnerability of groups acting within the principles of the solidarity-based economy, the State plays the essential role of reducing the imbalance of competition with undertakings organised under the individualistic and aggressive practices of the capitalist economy, including in the sense of including them among the suppliers of services and goods to the State.