Gibraltar permits direct concession awards in four defined cases

From 15 October 2026Gibraltarlaws, a Gibraltar concession granter may award a concession contract through a negotiated procedure without first publishing a concession noticeGibraltarlaws, in four defined casesGibraltarlaws. The route is new regulation 29A of the Procurement (Concession Contracts) Regulations 2016Gibraltarlaws, inserted by amending regulations operating from their Gazette publication day.

The first ground covers a failed competition: no (suitable) applications or tenders came back from a prior award procedureGibraltarlaws, the initial conditions are not substantially altered, and a report goes to the Chief Minister on request. A prior procedure includes any publicly advertised process open to all interested operators that gave a reasonable opportunity to respond and followed transparency and equal treatment, so an earlier market engagement or expression-of-interest exercise can satisfy the condition. A tender counts as unsuitable when it is manifestly incapable, without substantial changes, of meeting the granter's needs as specified in the concession documents; an application is unsuitable where the applicant is or may be excluded under regulation 36(8) to (25) or fails the selection criteria.

The second ground covers single-supplier situations: the works or services can be supplied only by a particular operator because the contract aims at a unique work of art or artistic performance, competition is absent for technical reasons, an exclusive right exists, or intellectual property or other exclusive rights must be protected. For the last three, only where no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing of the parametersGibraltarlaws. The third ground is extreme urgencyGibraltarlaws, strictly necessary, caused by events unforeseeable by the granter and never attributable to the granter. The fourth applies where the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe the route is necessary and proportionate to protect public morals, order or safety, human, animal or plant life or health, or intellectual propertyGibraltarlaws.

Every award without prior publication carries safeguards: a written report recording the grounds relied on, the facts and circumstances justifying them, and the steps taken to comply with equal treatment and transparency to the extent reasonably possible; a concession award notice under regulation 30; and the report made available to the Minister on requestGibraltarlaws. A granter meeting both regulation 29(5) and regulation 29A may rely on either or both.

Duration rules change for large projects. For concessions lasting more than five years, the cap remains the time needed to recoup investments plus a return on invested capitalGibraltarlaws. But for a major infrastructure concession, the granter may weigh four additional factors when estimating the maximum duration: the long-term strategic value of the infrastructure to Gibraltar, lifecycle renewal costs over the full operational period of the concession including maintenance, refurbishment and replacement of major assets, the scale and complexity of the initial construction works and associated facilities, and any other factor the granter considers relevant to the time reasonably required to recoup investments together with a return on invested capital. A major infrastructure concession means design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of physical infrastructureGibraltarlaws with estimated capital investment of at least £5,000,000Gibraltarlaws, counting initial plus reasonably anticipated expenditure on tangible fixed assets but excluding routine operating expenditure.

Steps taken before 15 October 2026 are not invalidated, and a granter that had commenced an award procedure may proceed under the amended rules without recommencing. Legal basis: the Procurement (Concession Contracts) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (Legal Notice No. 357 of 2026), amending the Procurement (Concession Contracts) Regulations 2016, made by the Minister with responsibility for Finance under section 75 of the Public Finance (Control and Audit) Act.