Legal challenge to Camposol development plan project fails

The courts rule against an appeal to nullify the contract awarded by Mazarrón Council

A four-year contract was awarded to modify the official Camposol Development Plan (Plan Parcial) in order to reflect what physically exists and clear the way for the lifting of the planning permission suspension and allow new development to start.

The original construction plans for the Camposol urbanisation were drawn up by developer Grupo MASA around 1992 for Sector A and 1999 for Sectors B, C, D and F these are on record as the official development plans or Plan Parcial. Unfortunately, Grupo MASA did not strictly follow the plans and the resulting infrastructure has a multitude of discrepancies which has made ongoing urban planning very difficult and is the main reason a blanket building permit and licencing suspension was officially put in place in April 2016.

Mazarrón Council’s governing board (Junta de Gobierno) approved the recommendation of the council’s contracting committee in May 2023 for the awarding of a contract “For the Drafting of the punctual structural Modification of the PGMO of Mazarrón. Area A-05-07 El Saladillo” to a joint bid made by two companies; UTE Ingenieros Consultores Técnicos en Medio Ambiente, S.L. and EOS Project Management, S.L.

This Plan Parcial Modification contract had been put out to tender several times since 2019 but had failed to attract an acceptable bid. However, the latest tender had an increased budget of just over €344,000 and an expanded remit, and it received 5 bids. But even before the contract could be signed a legal challenge was lodged on behalf of the company who came second in the tendering competition, García de los Reyes Arquitectos Asociados, S.L.P.U.

The basis of the challenge was that the contract is awarded according to a points system and the proposal by the 2 winning companies was unfair, as separately the companies failed to win points in certain criteria’s including technical certifications and number of staff employed. According to court documents published on November 15, after reviewing the case the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources in Madrid ruled that as the bid for the work was a joint tender the human resources and certification of both companies had to be taken into consideration as a whole and the points awarded for the bid were correctly adjudicated by Mazarrón Council’s contracting department.

The Court also lifted the procedural suspension that had been placed on the contract when the appeal was lodged and it is hoped that work can now get under way so that at last one of the obstacles restricting the Camposol urbanisation can be removed.

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