A new tender is now underway. Aena has officially opened the second bidding procedure to secure the technical help required for Project Management. This means that the external consultancy will be in charge of overseeing the development of airport expansion plans, as well as the construction management, control, and monitoring of the initial work associated with this investment, which is expected to significantly increase the provincial terminal’s operational capacity.
The airport operator issued a first tender for the same purpose in October. However, it cancelled the call for bids a month later to make changes to the tender specifications, specifically the parts relating to the technical solvency standards that enterprises interested in delivering the service had to meet. The ruling came after the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Appeals (TACRC) upheld an appeal against another similar tender—related to airports in the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, North, East, South, and Central zones—and cancelled it.
As a result, Aena decided to cancel the initial call for tenders for the Miguel Hernández Airport to avoid another appeal on the same grounds, which could jeopardise the drafting of the extension project. As a result, the tender is being reopened after the necessary revisions to the requirements have been made, but the other criteria remain unchanged. These involve a budget that surpasses €38.2 million (without taxes).
Meanwhile, Aena has not yet awarded the contract for drafting the actual expansion project. This tender, which was issued in January 2025 for €19.8 million, is now being resolved between three architectural companies that succeeded to the final evaluation stage from among the seven bids received. A final technical score has been agreed upon, but no decision to award the contract has been made.
There are three suggestions
An international alliance of architecture firms, including JFS Architectes in France, One Works Spa in Italy, and Viarium Ingeniería in Spain, submitted the proposal with the highest grade, as per the December agreement. Their idea scored the highest in the technical analysis, with 89.25 points. At the same time, it provided the lowest price among the three remaining bidders, totalling €11,705,700.
Cemosa, Fairbanks Arquitectos, and Sener Mobility came in second place with a proposal for €12,922,018 and an 87.82 point score. Prointec, Francisco Benítez Arquitectos, and Incosa submitted the third best proposal, valued at €12,903,864, with a technical score of 83.29.
The winning business will be in charge of planning a series of planned airport infrastructure improvements totalling €1.154 billion. These enhancements include the construction of a new boarding pier following the demolition of the old Terminal 1 (now decommissioned) and the Civil Aviation facility. These additional facilities will allow for more boarding gates dedicated to non-Schengen traffic (mainly connections to the United Kingdom).
