You were excluded from a public tender: the special review
Last updated 2026-09-01 · Reviewed by Jaime Piñeira Pardo, registered with the ICAM bar, no. 138826
The short answer
The exclusion of your bid is challenged through the special review in procurement matters, which article 50.1 LCSP subjects to a period of fifteen working days. It is optional and free of charge under article 44.7 and, where the award is challenged, article 53 suspends the procedure. You must act before the contract is signed.
You spent weeks preparing the bid and the contracting committee excluded you at the opening of the technical envelope over a defect you consider curable, or classified your bid as abnormally low without any real chance to justify it. The minutes were published on the contracting profile, the contract was awarded to someone else, and the time to react is counted in working days, not months. Once the contract is signed, the argument stops being about the contract and becomes about money.
The case, in five lines
- What is brought
- A special procurement review against the exclusion decision, the tender documents or the award, with an application for interim measures and, where appropriate, for compensation under article 58.1 LCSP.
- Before which court
- The Tribunal Administrativo Central de Recursos Contractuales (the central procurement review body) for the state public sector, under article 45.1 LCSP, and the independent body each autonomous community has created under article 46.1, which may also assign the task to the central body by agreement.
- Deadline
- Fifteen working days under article 50.1 LCSP, counted differently depending on what is challenged: from publication of the notice, from becoming aware of the possible breach, or from notification of the award. Where the review relies on the nullity grounds in article 39.2, article 50.2 opens periods of thirty days or six months.
- Who can bring it
- Under article 48 LCSP, any individual or company whose rights or legitimate interests, individual or collective, have been harmed or may be affected, directly or indirectly, by the decisions challenged. Trade union organisations too, in the situations that article provides for.
- Financial risk
- The review is free under article 44.7 LCSP, but article 58.2 allows a fine of between 1,000 and 30,000 euros where recklessness or bad faith is found, and article 49.3 allows security to be required for interim measures. Winning may mean the procedure is rewound rather than the contract being yours.
Not every contract has this review: the thresholds come first
Article 44.1 LCSP marks out the ground by value. The review is available for works contracts with an estimated value above three million euros and for supply and service contracts above one hundred thousand euros, for framework agreements and dynamic purchasing systems covering those contracts and the contracts based on them, and for works or service concessions with an estimated value above three million euros.
The same paragraph adds special administrative contracts where their features make it impossible to fix a tender price or, failing that, where their estimated value exceeds the figure set for service contracts, and also the subsidised contracts of article 23 and certain in-house assignments. Paragraph 4 excludes this review for award procedures followed on grounds of emergency.
The exclusion of your bid is always reviewable, whatever anyone says
Article 44.2.b) LCSP provides that acts within the award procedure are reviewable where they decide directly or indirectly on the award, make it impossible to continue, or cause a denial of defence or irreparable harm, and adds that those circumstances are in every case taken to exist in acts of the contracting committee or the contracting body admitting or refusing candidates or bidders, or admitting or excluding bids.
That same provision expressly covers bids excluded as abnormally low as a result of applying article 149, so a bid thrown out on that basis is reviewable too. In addition, article 44.5 bars ordinary administrative appeals against any action open to the special review, and article 44.7 declares that review optional and free of charge for those who bring it. There is therefore no choice to be made between challenging the decision and paying to do so.
Fifteen working days, and their start depends on what is challenged
Article 50.1 LCSP sets fifteen working days and spells out the count. Against the contract notice, from the day after its publication on the contracting profile. Against the tender documents, from the day after publication of the notice where it stated how to access them. Against acts within the award procedure, from the day after the possible breach became known.
Against the award, the count starts the day after it is notified to the admitted candidates or bidders. And there is a limit that surprises many: as a general rule the review is not admitted against the tender documents if the applicant submitted a bid or a request to participate before bringing it, except in cases of absolute nullity. Arguing about the documents after taking part in the tender is usually too late.
Bringing the review suspends the award automatically
Article 53 LCSP is why this review is worth using: once it is brought, the procedure is suspended where the act challenged is the award, except for contracts based on a framework agreement or specific to a dynamic purchasing system. Suspension need not be requested nor harm proved: the Act imposes it simply because the review was brought in time.
Article 56.3 adds that the competent body rules within five working days on whether that automatic suspension should stand, and that it is treated as in force until an express decision lifting it is issued. Article 49 allows interim measures to be sought even before the review is brought, with a reasoned decision within the five working days following the application.
Access to the file does not stop the clock in any case
Article 52.1 LCSP allows the contract file to be examined before bringing the review, on request to the contracting body, which must make it available subject to confidentiality limits. Paragraph 2 gives that body five working days from receipt of the request to provide access and warns that making the request does not in any case stop the period for bringing the special review.
Paragraph 3 protects the applicant where that duty is breached: the breach does not excuse filing in time, but it may be raised in the review, and the body deciding it must then grant access to the file for ten days before submissions, so the review can be completed. That is why the review is filed first and completed afterwards, never the other way round.
A fast decision, with rewinding, compensation or a fine
Article 57.1 LCSP requires a decision within the five working days following submissions and evidence, and paragraph 2 allows the decision to annul unlawful decisions taken during the award procedure, including removing discriminatory technical, economic or financial features from the tender documents, and to rule, where appropriate, on rewinding the procedure. Paragraph 5 allows it to be treated as dismissed after two months.
Article 58.1 also allows the contracting entity, at the applicant's request, to be ordered to compensate for the damage caused by the legal breach, covering at the very least the cost of preparing the bid or taking part. Against that, paragraph 2 allows a fine of between 1,000 and 30,000 euros where recklessness or bad faith is found. The review is prepared knowing both sides.
How we run the case, step by step
- 1
Check the threshold and the challenged act on the same day
It is verified that the contract falls within article 44.1 LCSP by its estimated value and type, and that the act fits paragraph 2. With that, the first day of the fifteen working day period is fixed.
- 2
Request access to the file without pausing the count
It is requested from the contracting body under article 52 LCSP, knowing it has five working days and that the request does not in any case stop the period for filing. The review is prepared in parallel.
- 3
File the review with the content required by article 51
The document identifies the act challenged, the ground relied on, the evidence and the interim measures sought, together with the power of representation, a copy of the act and an enabled email address for notifications.
- 4
Maintain the automatic suspension of the award
Once the review against the award is filed, article 53 LCSP suspends the procedure. Within the following five working days it is argued before the review body why that suspension should stand under article 56.3.
- 5
Make submissions after the transfer and propose evidence
Once the file and the contracting body's report are received, submissions are completed. Article 56.4 LCSP allows a ten working day evidence period to be opened where the facts alleged are not taken as established.
- 6
Claim compensation and, if needed, go to court
Compensation under article 58.1 LCSP is sought where the contract can no longer be recovered. Only a contencioso-administrativo claim lies against the decision under article 59.1, and the decision is directly enforceable.
The evidence that decides the case
- The minutes of the contracting committee with the exact reasoning for the exclusion and any votes or reservations recorded.
- The tender documents and the notice published on the contracting profile, with the publication date that fixes the count in article 50.1 LCSP.
- The complete bid as submitted, to show that the defect alleged does not exist or was perfectly capable of being cured.
- The request to justify the abnormally low bid and its answer, where the exclusion is based on article 149 LCSP.
- The technical evaluation report on the bids and the compared scores, to prove unequal treatment between bidders.
- The documented cost of preparing the bid, the basis for the compensation article 58.1 LCSP allows to be claimed.
What closes the door
- Counting the period in calendar days. Article 50.1 LCSP speaks of fifteen working days, and confusing them leaves the review out of time and exposed to the rejection in article 55.d).
- Filing an ordinary administrative appeal first. Article 44.5 LCSP excludes it against actions open to the special review, and that mistake burns the good deadline.
- Waiting to see the file before filing. Article 52.2 LCSP warns that the request for access does not in any case stop the filing period.
- Challenging the tender documents after submitting a bid. Article 50.1.b) LCSP does not generally admit that review, except in cases of absolute nullity.
- Filing without grounds simply to buy time. Article 58.2 LCSP allows a fine of between 1,000 and 30,000 euros where recklessness or bad faith is found.
The law that applies
- Art. 44 LCSP. Defines which contracts and actions are open to the special review, includes in every case decisions admitting or excluding bidders and bids, bars ordinary administrative appeals against them and declares the review optional and free of charge. BOE-A-2017-12902
- Art. 48 LCSP. Gives standing to any individual or company whose rights or legitimate interests, individual or collective, have been harmed or may be affected directly or indirectly by the decisions challenged, and to trade union organisations in the situations it sets out. BOE-A-2017-12902
- Art. 50 LCSP. Sets the fifteen working day period and how it is counted according to the act challenged, generally bars challenges to the tender documents once a bid has been submitted, and sets periods of thirty days or six months where the nullity grounds in article 39.2 are relied on. BOE-A-2017-12902
- Art. 53 LCSP. Suspends the procedure by the mere fact of bringing the review where the act challenged is the award, except for contracts based on a framework agreement or specific to a dynamic purchasing system. BOE-A-2017-12902
- Art. 57 LCSP. Requires a decision within five working days, allows unlawful decisions in the award procedure to be annulled, discriminatory clauses to be removed and the procedure to be rewound, and allows the review to be treated as dismissed after two months. BOE-A-2017-12902
- Art. 58 LCSP. Allows the contracting entity to be ordered to compensate the damage caused by the breach, covering at least the cost of preparing the bid, and allows a fine of between 1,000 and 30,000 euros where recklessness or bad faith is found. BOE-A-2017-12902
Each article checked against the consolidated text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette).
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have from being notified of the exclusion?
Fifteen working days, under article 50.1 LCSP. Where acts within the award procedure are challenged, the count starts the day after the possible breach became known, and where the award itself is challenged, the day after it is notified to the admitted bidders. They are working days, not calendar days, and miscounting is the commonest cause of rejection.
Does bringing this review cost money?
Article 44.7 LCSP states that bringing the special procurement review is optional and free of charge for those who bring it. That said, article 58.2 allows a fine of between 1,000 and 30,000 euros where the body finds recklessness or bad faith in the filing or in the application for interim measures, and article 49.3 allows security to be required.
Can they sign the contract while my review is decided?
Article 53 LCSP suspends the procedure where the act challenged is the award, with the exception of contracts based on a framework agreement or specific to a dynamic purchasing system. Article 56.3 requires the body to rule within five working days on whether that suspension stands, and it is treated as in force until its lifting is expressly agreed.
If I win, do I get the contract?
Not always. Article 57.2 LCSP allows the decision to annul unlawful decisions taken during the procedure and to rule, where appropriate, on rewinding it, which usually means going back and repeating the flawed stage. Where the contract can no longer be recovered, article 58.1 allows compensation for the damage caused by the breach to be claimed.
Can I ask for the file first and challenge later, calmly?
Article 52.2 LCSP is blunt: making the request for access does not in any case stop the period for bringing the special review. The file is requested and the review is filed in parallel. If the contracting body fails to comply, article 52.3 allows this to be raised in the review, and access is then granted for ten days before submissions so it can be completed.
This guide explains how the action works in general. It does not replace the study of your own case: deadlines depend on when things happened and on what you have done since.