Central Portugal high-speed section set for re-tender
The tender for building the Oiã–Soure section of Portugal’s Lisbon–Porto high-speed line will be relaunched after the first attempt failed. The decision, announced by the government on 22 January, allows infrastructure manager Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) to relaunch the tender for the section.
Oiã–Soure is not a standalone works package. It is one of the sections that determines whether Lisbon–Porto can be delivered as a continuous high-speed corridor rather than a set of disconnected contracts.
The collapse of the first tender became a practical bottleneck for the wider programme. Without a contract in place for Oiã–Soure, it becomes harder to lock in the build sequence for adjacent sections and the programme stays in procurement rather than moving into execution.
A re-tender gives room to adjust
The initial tender, launched in summer 2024, did not result in an award because it received no valid bids. The failure was therefore not a question of route ambition but of procurement outcome: there was no compliant offer to take the contract forward.
Because the process is being relaunched rather than resumed, IP has room to adjust how the package is specified and structured. In practical terms, that can mean clarifying requirements, tightening interfaces, and revisiting commercial terms to make the contract workable for bidders — while keeping the overall corridor objective intact.
What’s next: IP’s next step is to publish the re-tender documents for Oiã–Soure. Those documents will show what has changed in scope, requirements or commercial terms — and whether the relaunch is likely to attract compliant bids.