The Spanish government doubles public works tenders in Catalonia

BarcelonaThe Spanish government practically doubled the tenders for public works in Catalonia during the first quarter, thus boosting the growth of operations, according to a report by the Chamber of Contractors of Public Works of Catalonia (CCOC) published this Thursday. However, the tenders from the Spanish executive represented only 26.8% of the 803.3 million euros tendered by all administrations. With the increase in 2026, the State surpassed the weight of the Generalitat's contributions, which accounted for 25.8% of the total.

Contractors have attributed the central government's rise to the fact that it started from a "very low" activity in previous years. In 2025, it carried out 14.33% of the tenders –111.7 million– and in 2024, 8% –55.9 million–. In contrast, local administrations in the first months of 2026 continued to be the main driver of activity, tendering 44.9% of the total. Their contributions remained stable, with a growth of 2%, while those of the Generalitat increased by 21%, after a decrease of 21.5% last year.

If we look at the set of tenders made in Catalonia during the first quarter, they grew by 4.1% compared to the same period last year. It is a lower increase than that of 2024, of 12.5%, which shows a slowdown in growth. Despite the year-on-year increase, tenders in the first months of 2026 fell by a third compared to those at the end of 2025, a "sharp drop".

"Low competition"

The CCOC shows "concern over low competition", considering that 38% of works only had one or two bidders. It also regrets the "high levels" of abandoned works, in a context of economic uncertainty and rising costs. The Chamber attributes this to the "disconnect between tender prices and real execution costs" and calls on administrations to "update prices more agilely" in the tender documents.

Among the State tenders, the adaptation of Terminal T2 of Barcelona Airport (53.9 million) and the construction of a logistics warehouse at Zal Port (49.8 million) stood out. On the part of the Generalitat, the improvement works on the C-12 in the Amposta-Tarragona section (17.9 million) were outstanding, and the local tenders with the highest volume were the executive project for the logistics warehouse of the Consorci de la Zona Franca at the port of Barcelona (28.8 million) and the construction of a district library and neighborhood facility in Nou Barris (18 million).