If you are excluded or disagree

What can be appealed

The special appeal applies to supply and service contracts with an estimated value above €100.000, and to works and works or service concessions above €3.000.000 (art. 44.1). Framework agreements and the contracts based on them follow the threshold of their subject matter. Special administrative contracts can be appealed when their price cannot be fixed or, otherwise, with the services threshold.

• The tender notice, the specifications and the contract documents.
• Procedural acts that decide on the award, prevent continuing or leave a party defenceless; in any case, the admission or rejection of candidates and bidders and the admission or exclusion of bids, including those excluded as abnormally low (art. 149).
• The award decision.
• Certain contract modifications (arts. 204 and 205), assignments to in-house bodies and concession buy-backs.

It is optional and free, and no ordinary appeal lies against these acts (art. 44.5 and 44.7). Below the threshold, the acts are appealed under Ley 39/2015 and Ley 29/1998 (art. 44.6). Source: LCSP, art. 44: recurso especial en materia de contratación, actos recurribles (consolidated text, accessed on 7 November 2026).

Deadline

15 working days (art. 50.1), counted from the day after:

• the publication of the notice, if you appeal the notice, or the specifications when the notice says how to access them;
• the day you became aware of the act, if you appeal a procedural act such as an exclusion;
• the notification of the award, if you appeal the award.

If you want to appeal the specifications, do it before submitting your bid (art. 50.1.b). Requesting the file does not stop the clock (art. 52.2). Appealing the award suspends processing (art. 53). The appeal can be filed with the contracting authority's register or the tribunal's (art. 51.3). Source: LCSP, art. 50: iniciación del procedimiento y plazo (consolidated text, accessed on 7 November 2026).

Tribunals

The TACRC decides the appeals of the General State Administration and those of the regions and cities with an agreement: Asturias, La Rioja, Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha, Cantabria, Comunitat Valenciana, Illes Balears, Ceuta and Melilla. The other regions have their own tribunal. For local entities, the rules of their region apply (art. 46.4). Source: Real Decreto 561/2026, de 8 de julio, que crea una vocalía en el TACRC (BOE núm. 166) (9 July 2026). Source: LCSP, art. 46: órgano competente en las comunidades autónomas y entidades locales (consolidated text, accessed on 7 November 2026).

What is appealed and how long it takes

In 2025 the TACRC received 2.226 appeals (in 2024, 1.824). The award was appealed in 43,58 % of cases, the specifications in 25,18 % and the exclusion in 19,99 %. 15,85 % of appeals were upheld in full and 6,59 % in part; 46,95 % were dismissed and 30,64 % ended without a ruling on the merits. The average time to decide was 55 calendar days (in 2024, 46), counted from when the Tribunal has the file.

Source: Memoria 2025 del Tribunal Administrativo Central de Recursos Contractuales (year 2025, pp. 4 and 13, 14 and 17).

Reports

• OIReScon. The 2025 annual supervision report points out, among its recommendations, exclusions based on bids with supposed abnormality and the formal grounds that lead to exclusion. Source: Informe anual de supervisión 2025 de la OIReScon: conclusiones y recomendaciones (approved on 22 December 2025). Source: Buscador de informes consultivos (OIReScon) (accessed on 7 November 2026).
• Junta Consultiva de Contratación Pública del Estado. In file 6/2021, on article 150.2, it concludes that a chance to cure the defect must be granted when the omission is not an absolute failure to comply with the request and the requirement existed before the deadline expired. Source: Junta Consultiva de Contratación Pública del Estado, expediente 6/2021 (art. 150.2 LCSP) (file 6/2021). Source: Informes de la Junta Consultiva de Contratación Pública del Estado (accessed on 7 November 2026).

Rulings

Rulings can be read on each tribunal's website: TACRC search, and that of your region in the table above. Court judgments, in the CENDOJ.