Defence
Public procurement in the defence sector is subject to specific rules. The exception of Article 346 TFEU allows Member States to deviate from normal procurement rules for essential security interests.
De Havilland knew about the award in early January but waited a month too long — UDN claim time-barred
The Council of State rejects De Havilland's suspension request against the 'Green Aircraft' defence contract awarded to the Sabena/Sonaca consortium, because De Havilland had sufficient knowledge of the award decision by 6 January 2026 but only filed on 5 February — too late.
Classified information about your shareholder? Defence doesn't have to explain what exactly is going on
The Council of State rules that Defence may exclude a company from a European defence project based on classified intelligence about its sole shareholder, even though the precise content of that information cannot be disclosed.
Defence may exclude a company based on classified intelligence — without revealing what it is
The Council of State rejects the claim of a defence company excluded from a DEFRA research consortium based on classified military intelligence about the integrity of its sole shareholder — even though that information cannot be disclosed.
Iveco challenges DAF's certification on the defence contract — while Iveco itself regularised three items of its own bid
The Council of State rejects Iveco's annulment action against the award of a defence contract for 879 trucks to DAF Trucks: a EURO III certificate based on UNECE Regulation No. 49 is equivalent to the EC type-approval abolished in 2006, and Iveco has no standing to challenge the regularisation of DAF's bid because it itself was allowed to adjust its own bid during negotiations on essential requirements.
When a non-selection rests on multiple independent grounds, you must attack each — or your appeal is doomed
Flying Group Holding only challenged the optional exclusion ground about Chinese ties, but Defence had two other — unchallenged — grounds for non-selection, and those alone were enough to keep the decision standing.
12 Nuctech customs scanners have been running for years — but for the 5 new ones, Chinese ownership was suddenly a security risk, and the Council sided with customs
The Council refuses the suspension of the award to Rapiscan Systems for mobile X-ray scanners for the Belgian customs (port of Antwerp and the entire Belgian territory) — Nuctech Warsaw, Polish-law subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned Nuctech group, was not even invited under article 33 §2 of the Procurement Act 2016 ('essential security interests of the realm'), supported by a confidential profile analysis from the State Security Service on the Chinese national intelligence law of 2017 and ties to Tsinghua University.
What 'equivalent dimensions' means is in the specifications — not in your head: three projects with two Ku/Ka 6m Cassegrain antennas isn't an example, it's the definition
The Council of State rejects the extreme-urgency action of Spanish company Indra Sistemas against its non-selection for the Defense satellite antenna procurement (Singa IV): when the specifications precisely define what 'projects of equivalent dimension' means, the bidder cannot afterwards rely on a broader reading based on its general sector experience.
0.11 points apart on a DBM contract worth hundreds of millions — and the Council sides with the authority
Two Belgian construction heavyweights clashed over the new defence headquarters tender; Futureproof Defence finished 0.11 points behind Be Defence and raised five substantial-irregularity grounds, but the Council held that Defence stayed within its broad margin of appreciation and rejected every ground.
'Clarifying' a signature mandate after the opening can be done — but if the award decision is silent about what you received, you lose the award
The Belgian Council of State suspends Defence's award of a VSAT satellite housing to Metracom because, although the mandate of the signatory had been 'clarified' after the opening of bids, the award decision did not explain what documents were received — and those documents appeared to contradict an earlier 'acte de désignation du signataire' filed by Metracom in a previous proceeding.
A commitment letter from your parent company is NOT a formality — leave it out of your application and you lose the contract, even after four years of proceedings
The Council of State rejects Chantiers Allais's urgent suspension request against its non-selection for the river patrol boats: any candidate relying on the financial capacity of its parent company must include a formal commitment letter from that parent in its application — group affiliation does not suffice, and post-deadline supplements are worthless, even when the contracting authority initially missed the flaw.
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This page shows all rulings of the Council of State (Belgium's supreme administrative court) on defence in public procurement. Each ruling is summarized by TenderWolf in plain language, with a legal lesson and a practical question to ask yourself. View all rulings →