este quadro de desempenho costuma ser bem marcado

14:06 Sep 8, 2017 

I think performance could be related to the energy sector as a whole, but most likely to the concessioners, in my modest opinion.

04:21 Sep 8, 2017 

That's a good point. Initially, I thought about using "for" instead of switching the word order. Personally, I think there's something goofy about the sentence structure; "nos" doesn't seem to fit in, in my opinion. If you could get the meaning clarified by the client, that's probably the safest route. Otherwise, we have no choice but draw meaning from a sentence that's poorly worded. Sorry I couldn't help much.

01:47 Sep 8, 2017 

If 'performance' refers to compliance with the many requirements, then does 'well defined' refer to the rules that apply to them? In that case, shouldn't "nos concessionários" be "para os concessionários"? Or if it refers to the actual performance of the concessionaires, then 'well defined' doesn't make too much sense.
There's more to this puzzle than meets the eye at first.

23:27 Sep 7, 2017 

Muriel, I think it refers to this paragraph as a whole, particularly to these words:

No Brasil, dado o relevante papel da energia hidrelétrica - inclusive tradicionalmente o setor elétrico atuava como agente mais importante no planejamento e utilização de recursos hídricos - e a complexidade e dimensão das barragens implantadas, este quadro de desempenho costuma ser bem marcado nos concessionários de geração de energia elétrica

All of these indicate good performance of the energy sector compared to other sectors, IMO. Maybe someone has a different reading.

22:32 Sep 7, 2017 

Thank you for your suggestions. The reason I posted the question is that I don't understand what the performance is referring to in the sentence. There is no apparent antecedent. Could you supplement your answers with an explanation of how they tie in with the first part?

12:31 Sep 7, 2017 

Sorry I missed your question. I would probably reword the entire sentence in translation. Something more or less like this: The performance framework of the electric power concessioners is usually well-defined.

10:39 Sep 7, 2017 

Hi, Muriel. It seems like it's in reference to their performance. "Bem marcado" is a little vague. I posted a link to the thesaurus where you can find other synonyms. I picked three of them that I think would fit well. I hope this helps.