Katowice International Airport in Pyrzowice, Poland has awarded a contract worth 9,095,850 Polish zloty (approximately EUR 2.1 million) for the purchase and installation of 15 biometric Automated Border Control (ABC) gates, with Warsaw-based Enigma Systemy Ochrony Informacji selected as the supplier.
The contract, reference GTL/DIF/082/2026, was awarded by airport operator Gornoslaskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze S.A. (GTL S.A.) on February 26, 2026, following an open public procedure that drew two tenders. The award notice was published in Tenders Electronic Daily at the end of last month. The gates will include biometric fingerprint capture and integration with Polish Border Guard systems.
The project is structured in three phases. Stage 1 covers system delivery, to be completed within four months of contract execution. Stage 2 covers integration and commissioning, with a hard deadline of December 31, 2026. Stage 3 provides up to 12 months of warranty and maintenance, with a minimum warranty period of 48 months required from bidders. The award criteria weighted price at 80 percent and warranty period at 20 percent.
The procurement is a direct consequence of EU border control policy. The EU Entry/Exit System reached full operation on April 10, requiring all Schengen entry points, including regional Polish airports, to register non-EU travelers biometrically. The Katowice contract was let in advance of that deadline to ensure operational readiness by year end.
Poland has particular context for accelerating its border biometric infrastructure. When EES launched in October 2025, EES launch produced chaos at Polish border crossings, with buses delayed for more than ten hours and border guards resorting to personal mobile phones after equipment failures. The Katowice award reflects advance planning against a known regulatory timeline: in July 2025, the EU confirmed an April 2026 deadline for full EES rollout, giving airport operators a finite window to commission ABC gate infrastructure. The Katowice procurement is part of a broader European wave: Norway’s similar e-gate procurement at Oslo Gardermoen, launched in April 2025, used comparable evaluation criteria and contract scope for biometric border control hardware and integration.
Enigma Systemy Ochrony Informacji is classified as a large enterprise and is headquartered in Warsaw. The company was selected over one competing tender submitted by a small enterprise.
Sources: Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), TED XML source
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
