Wage conditions
Compliance with wage conditions is an important point of attention in public procurement. Social dumping — competing on unrealistically low labour costs — can lead to exclusion or the declaration of a tender as irregular.
Questioning low prices cannot be limited to the numbers — you must also verify environmental, social and labour law compliance
The Council of State suspends the award to Vanheede Propreté of a €25 million waste collection contract because Intradel, having flagged the prices as suspiciously low, merely referred to certificates attached to the bid and never concretely verified whether the low prices were compatible with environmental, social and labour law.
A contracting authority can cancel and restart a procedure — even if that costs you a near-guaranteed award
The Council of State dismisses Theis Marcel's challenge against SOFICO: under Article 85 of the Belgian procurement law, a contracting authority has broad discretion to cancel and restart a procedure, even after two previous awards have been suspended and a competitor is next in line.
Parallel judgment on lot 2 Spy: the contracting authority's broad power to cancel and restart applies equally here
In the same SOFICO saga as judgment 258.032, but for lot 2 (Spy district), the Council of State confirms that Theis Marcel cannot claim the award: Article 85 of the procurement law allows the authority to abandon and restart the procedure with a corrected specification.
A 'request for clarification' is not a price investigation — only a real suspicion of abnormality triggers the wage / CLA check
The Council of State refuses to suspend the award of the OTW guarding contract for Namur station to Securitas: a request asking the bidder to explain price differences between rate items does not constitute a formal price investigation under article 44 of the special-sectors royal decree — and without that investigation, no obligation to verify wage and collective-bargaining compliance is triggered.
A cleaning rate of EUR 20.49 per hour cannot be brushed away with 'we know that company from the previous contract'
Hogeschool PXL awarded a four-year cleaning contract to Köse Cleaning at 30 % below the average bid price without any documented price scrutiny — the Council of State annuls the award because in a fraud-sensitive sector like cleaning, the contracting authority must also verify whether the minimum wage is achievable.
Track public tenders?
Receive daily relevant tenders tailored to your business. Including AI summaries, competitive analysis and market intelligence.
This page shows all rulings of the Council of State (Belgium's supreme administrative court) on wage conditions 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 →