Mexico's future airport sees 7 bids for control tower

GACM, the state-run holding that is building the future Mexico City airport, received seven bids for the contract to build the project's air traffic control tower.

In a ceremony on Wednesday at the group's Mexico City offices, 23 companies grouped in six consortiums and one individual firm submitted bids for the contract.

The consortium formed by Innovaciones Técnicas en Cimentación and Túneles y Puentes del Pacífico placed the lowest bid at 1.19bn pesos (US$55.6mn). The highest, for 2.82bn pesos, was submitted by a consortium comprising local company Omega Construcciones Industriales, Spanish firm Construcciones Rubau and its Mexican subsidiary Rubau México.

Local companies Gami Ingeniería e Instalaciones and ICA, as well as Spanish construction firm Sacyr Construcción – which have already won contracts for the airport's piling works, the terminal building's foundations, and the air transport center's foundations, respectively – are also participating in the tender as part of different consortiums.

The contract involves the construction of two structures: a support base and a 90m-high control tower, with a concentric design and hosting a three-level control room. The tower will be located between runways 1-2 and 3-4, north of the airport's terminal building, according to a notice posted to procurement website Compranet.

The winner will also be in charge of equipping the control tower and installing the electrical and special airport systems, all the engineering and architecture, as well as all the mechanisms related to the LEED certification.

As has been the case with all previous tenders, the bids will be evaluated based on a points and percentages rating scale by GACM, the project's master engineer Netherlands Airport Consultants, the project's manager Parson, the airport's master architect Foster + Romero, and a group of experts.

As part of GACM's plan to award 100bn pesos worth of tenders for the project before the end of 2016, bids were originally supposed to be filed on November 29 of last year, so that a winner could be announced by mid-December. The current tentative date for the announcement of the winning bid is February 3.

The winner of the contract to build the airport's terminal building, the project's largest contract to date, is set to be announced on Friday.