Spanish airport operator Aena has opened a €998,500 procurement to upgrade biometric gates used by its BioPass passenger-processing system. The contract notice divides the work into two lots covering gate equipment from Gunnebo and Dormakaba.
The tender was published through the European Union’s Tenders Electronic Daily service. Bids are due by noon Central European Summer Time on August 3. Aena’s contracting directorate is listed as the buyer, and the notice describes the work as an update to BioPass biometric gates at Aena airports.
BioPass is Aena’s facial recognition program for passenger processing. Enrolled travelers can associate their identity and boarding information with a facial template, allowing compatible airport checkpoints to verify them without repeated presentation of a physical document at each stage. The precise passenger journey varies by airport, airline and deployment.
Separating the procurement by gate manufacturer allows suppliers to address the installed equipment associated with each vendor. The public notice does not identify an award winner. The stated value is an estimate for the overall procurement rather than a confirmed payment, and the short bidding timetable makes the August 3 deadline the next formal milestone.
Aena has developed biometric passenger processing over several years. It previously worked with Vueling on a facial recognition pilot at Barcelona Airport covering multiple points in the departure journey. The operator also selected FacePhi technology for remote biometric enrollment and airport authentication.
The current procurement concerns the physical gate layer of that environment rather than announcing a new passenger app or airline enrollment program. Gate upgrades can involve the equipment used to capture a face, present instructions, control access and communicate with the airport’s identity and boarding systems.
Aena operates a large network of Spanish airports, so a framework covering existing Gunnebo and Dormakaba equipment can support maintenance of a mixed installed base.
Sources: Tenders Electronic Daily
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
