Katowice Airport Bypasses Bidding to Secure Exclusive 3D Baggage Screening Technology

Katowice Airport Is Buying the Scanners That Could End the 100ml Liquids Rule for Its Passengers

Standfirst: Katowice Airport's operator has awarded a €4 million contract, without competitive tendering, for four advanced X-ray scanners capable of screening liquids, gels and aerosols up to two litres without passengers needing to remove them from their bags. Only one manufacturer worldwide currently holds the certification this equipment requires and the contract went to its sole Polish distributor.

Airport security checkpoints across Europe have spent nearly two decades enforcing the familiar rule: liquids over 100 millilitres come out of your bag or they don't fly. That rule exists because older X-ray scanners simply cannot tell explosive liquids apart from shampoo or water with enough confidence. Newer scanning technology can and Katowice Airport has just committed to installing four of the machines capable of doing exactly that.

Why This Contract Matters

This contract covers four units of what the notice calls RTG EDSCB Standard 3 equipment, X-ray Explosive Detection Systems for Cabin Baggage, certified to the European Civil Aviation Conference's third and most advanced security standard. Crucially, this specific certification comes bundled with an approved "liquid relief" concept of operations, meaning security staff can screen liquids, gels and aerosols up to two litres directly inside a passenger's carry on bag, without asking them to remove and separately screen each item.

For an airport, that capability translates directly into faster security lines, shorter queues and a better passenger experience, while also keeping pace with an EU wide push to upgrade airport screening technology to modern explosive detection standards. Katowice, sometimes described as a busy but comparatively modest gateway to Poland's Upper Silesia region, is positioning itself to match security capabilities already rolling out at larger regional competitors.

Contract Timeline

• 8 July 2026 - Winner selected.
• 13 July 2026 - Contract formally concluded.
• 20 July 2026 - Result notice dispatched to the EU Publications Office.
• 21 July 2026 - Notice published in OJ S issue 138/2026.
• 1 August 2026 - Planned start of contract performance.
• 1 February 2027 - Planned completion of delivery and installation.

Contract Overview

Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze S.A., the company that operates Katowice Airport (formally Międzynarodowy Port Lotniczy Katowice im. Wojciecha Korfantego w Pyrzowicach), used a negotiated procedure without prior call for competition, a direct award, to purchase four units of this scanning equipment along with complete supporting technological lines. The airport justified bypassing competitive tendering entirely on technical grounds: it determined that only one equipment manufacturer in the world currently holds the required certification, leaving no genuine competitive market to test.

The contract, worth PLN 17,466,000 (roughly €4 million), was awarded to Anglosec sp. z o.o., a Warsaw based small enterprise that serves as the exclusive Polish distributor for the qualifying equipment. As expected for a direct award of this kind, only one tender was received.

Key Contract Details

• Contracting entity: Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze S.A. (Katowice Airport operator)
• Contract title: Purchase and delivery of 4 units of RTG EDSCB Standard 3 X-ray equipment enabling screening of liquids, gels and aerosols (LAGs) up to 2,000 ml (2L), with complete technological lines
• CPV classification: 38581000 -Baggage scanning equipment
• Procedure type: Negotiated without prior call for competition (direct award)
• Legal basis: Directive 2014/25/EU (Utilities Directive)
• Applicable cross border law: EU Regulation 833/2014, as amended by Regulation 2022/576 (the EU's Russia related trade restriction framework)
• Justification for direct award: Absence of competition for technical reasons, only one manufacturer holds the required ECAC Standard 3 certification with approved liquid relief functionality
• Place of performance: Ożarowice, Katowice Airport, Poland
• Contract value: PLN 17,466,000 (approximately EUR 4 million)
• Framework agreement: None; a direct supply contract
• Contract duration: 1 August 2026 to 1 February 2027 (six months, covering delivery and installation)
• Number of tenders received: 1
• Winning tenderer: Anglosec sp. z o.o. (classified as a small enterprise)
• Date winner selected: 8 July 2026
• Contract conclusion date: 13 July 2026
• Subcontracting: Disclosed as applicable, though the value and percentage were not specified
• GPA coverage: Yes
• EU funding: Not financed with EU funds

Project Scope

The contract covers the purchase and delivery of four RTG EDSCB Standard 3 units, the Polish abbreviation for X-ray Explosive Detection Systems for Cabin Baggage, along with the complete technological lines needed to integrate them into the airport's security checkpoints. Standard 3 is the highest tier of ECAC certification currently in use for cabin baggage screening and the specific approval attached to this equipment, referenced in the notice as CONOPS (concept of operations) number 95596016, permits screening liquids, gels and aerosols up to two litres without requiring passengers to remove them from their bags.

According to the airport's own justification in the notice, this functionality is essential for maintaining checkpoint throughput, shortening passenger processing times, improving passenger comfort and security and keeping the airport's infrastructure aligned with current and anticipated EU civil aviation security standards. The airport also explicitly framed the investment as necessary to preserve its competitiveness against other regional airports in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe.

About the Contracting Authority

Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze S.A. is the company that owns and operates Katowice Airport, one of Poland's regional international airports serving the Upper Silesia metropolitan area. Classified in the notice as a contracting entity operating in airport related activities, the company ran this procurement directly and remains the point of contact for enquiries about the procedure.

About the Organisations Involved

Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze S.A., Buyer

The airport operator initiated this direct award procurement, built the technical justification for bypassing competitive tendering and now holds the resulting supply contract. It is also named as the organisation providing further information about the procurement procedure.

Anglosec sp. z o.o., Winning Tenderer

Anglosec, based in Warsaw and classified as a small enterprise, is the sole winner of this contract. According to the airport's own justification in the notice, Anglosec holds exclusive distribution and representation rights in Poland for the HI SCAN 6040 CTiX, the specific scanning equipment manufactured by Smiths Detection Germany GmbH that carries the required ECAC Standard 3 liquid relief certification. The notice states Anglosec has the competencies for sales, installation, commissioning and servicing of this equipment and confirms it is the only entity in Poland capable of supplying it. Subcontracting is disclosed as applicable to this contract, though the specific value or percentage was not stated.

Krajowa Izba Odwoławcza, Review Authority

Poland's National Appeals Chamber, based in Warsaw, is the body designated to hear any legal challenge to this procurement. The notice specifies a 10 day deadline for filing an appeal from the day information about the contested decision was communicated electronically and confirms that legal remedies are also available to organisations representing small and medium enterprises and to Poland's Ombudsman for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs.

PROEBIZ, Procurement Service Provider

PROEBIZ, based in Ostrava, Czechia, is named in the notice as the procurement service provider, reflecting the technical platform used to run the tendering process, even though this particular procurement proceeded as a direct award with only one participant.

Procurement Analysis

Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze used a negotiated procedure without prior call for competition, a route permitted under Polish public procurement law when supplies can only be provided by a single economic operator for objective technical reasons. The airport's justification, laid out in considerable detail in the notice, rests on a specific claim: that as of the airport's review of the ECAC's public equipment certification list in May 2026, only Smiths Detection Germany GmbH held Standard 3 certification with an approved liquid relief concept of operations allowing screening of liquids up to two litres and that this functionality exists in only one product, the HI-SCAN 6040 CTiX.

The airport further argued that running a competitive tender without this specific capability would represent an irrational and inefficient use of public funds, since equipment lacking the liquid relief functionality would not meet its operational objectives. Because Smiths Detection sells through exclusive national distributors and Anglosec holds that exclusive position in Poland, the airport concluded no genuine alternative competitive process was available and that running one anyway would risk delays, procedural disputes and continued non compliance with current aviation security standards, without any realistic prospect of increased competition.

The notice also flags that this procurement falls under the EU's cross border trade restriction framework tied to Regulation 833/2014, as amended by Regulation 2022/576, the legal instrument underpinning the EU's sanctions regime introduced following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Its inclusion here indicates the airport confirmed compliance with those restrictions as part of running this procurement, a standard requirement for EU public contracts since 2022 rather than an indication of any specific issue with this particular award.

Additional Procurement Facts

• The procurement is confirmed as GPA covered.
• The project is not financed with EU funds.
• No framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system was used.
• The single tender received came from a Polish micro, small or medium enterprise, submitted electronically.
• No tenders were received from other EEA countries or from outside the EEA, consistent with a direct award to a pre-identified sole supplier.

Market & Industry Perspective

Explosive detection technology for cabin baggage has become one of the more concentrated equipment markets in aviation security, with certification to the highest ECAC standards and particularly the liquid relief capability described in this notice, currently limited to a small number of manufacturers globally. Smiths Detection, a major British headquartered security technology group, is among the most established names in this space and its exclusive distribution model means national markets like Poland's are served through a single authorised representative rather than open retail competition.

For Anglosec, this contract reinforces its position as the gatekeeper for this specific technology within Poland, a role that is likely to translate into further business as other Polish airports face similar pressure to modernise their own screening infrastructure to the same standard.

Economic Significance

At roughly €4 million, this is a moderate but meaningful capital investment for a regional airport operator, reflecting the real cost of keeping pace with evolving European aviation security requirements. For Katowice Airport, the upgrade is framed explicitly as a competitiveness issue: an airport unable to offer the faster, liquid relief screening experience risks looking outdated next to peers in the region that have already modernised their checkpoints.

Future Procurement Opportunities

Other Polish and Central and Eastern European regional airports facing the same pressure to modernise their security checkpoints to ECAC Standard 3 with liquid relief capability are likely to bring similar procurement to market in the coming years and given the concentrated supplier market described in this notice, many of those contracts may also proceed as direct awards to the same or similarly positioned exclusive distributors.

Opportunities for Suppliers

• Companies able to service, maintain or calibrate this class of Standard 3 explosive detection equipment may find subcontracting opportunities as Anglosec delivers and installs the four units.
• Equipment manufacturers seeking to compete in this space should note the high certification bar this market currently imposes and the resulting scarcity of qualifying suppliers.
• Companies specialising in airport security infrastructure integration should monitor other Polish regional airports for similar checkpoint modernisation tenders.

What Businesses Should Watch

Watch for similar direct award procurements at other Polish and regional European airports seeking the same liquid relief screening capability, since the underlying certification scarcity described in this notice is likely to shape how those contracts are procured as well. Watch also whether additional manufacturers achieve the required ECAC Standard 3 certification with liquid relief approval in the coming years, which could open this currently narrow market to genuine competition.

PolandTenders.com Procurement Intelligence

This contract illustrates how tightly certification requirements can concentrate a public procurement market, even for equipment that airports urgently need. When only one manufacturer holds the specific technical approval required and that manufacturer sells exclusively through a single national distributor, competitive tendering becomes, in the buyer's own words, incapable of delivering genuine competition, making a direct award the rational procurement route despite the general EU preference for open competition.

For suppliers, the lesson is less about competing for this particular contract and more about recognising where certification scarcity creates similar dynamics elsewhere. As European aviation security standards continue to tighten, airports across the continent are likely to face comparable procurement decisions and companies that secure early certification to the newest standards or exclusive distribution rights for those that do, stand to capture a disproportionate share of this modernisation wave.

Expect more European airports to justify direct awards for next generation screening equipment on similar technical grounds, at least until certification to the highest ECAC standards becomes more widely available across multiple manufacturers.

Supplier Takeaways

• Recognise that high certification equipment markets, like this one, often produce direct awards rather than open tenders and position accordingly through distribution partnerships rather than solo competitive bids.
• Track other Polish and Central European regional airports for similar Standard 3 screening equipment procurement as EU aviation security standards continue to evolve.
• Service and maintenance providers should approach Anglosec directly regarding potential subcontracting opportunities tied to this installation.
• Equipment manufacturers should prioritise achieving liquid relief certification, given how directly it appears to determine procurement outcomes in this specific technology category.

Key Takeaways

• Katowice Airport's operator awarded a direct contract worth approximately €4 million for four Standard 3 X-ray scanners capable of screening liquids up to two litres without removal from bags.
• The award bypassed competitive tendering because only one manufacturer, Smiths Detection Germany GmbH, currently holds the required certification.
• The contract went to Anglosec sp. z o.o., the exclusive Polish distributor for the qualifying equipment.
• Delivery and installation are scheduled between August 2026 and February 2027.
• Any legal challenge would go to Poland's Krajowa Izba Odwoławcza within 10 days of electronic notification.

Conclusion

The rule requiring passengers to bag and separately scan their liquids has persisted for nearly two decades because the technology to safely do otherwise wasn't widely available. Katowice Airport's investment in four Standard 3 scanners with liquid relief certification suggests that may be starting to change locally, even if, for now, only one manufacturer in the world can supply the equipment capable of making it happen.

Source: EU Official Journal, Contract Award Notice 504899-2026, OJ S 138/2026, published 21 July 2026. Contracting authority: Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze S.A.