Competition
Competition rules ensure that public contracts are awarded in a competitive environment. This includes the prohibition of cartels, combating unfair competitive advantages and ensuring market access.
You let the framework agreement pass at the time — you can't later hijack a joining decision to kill the whole agreement
The Council of State recognises that a municipality's decision to join an existing framework agreement of a purchasing body is separately reviewable by a competitor — but dismisses the request because the competitor let the original framework agreement go uncontested, and the principle of legal certainty bars incidental challenge.
STIB reserves a 60,000-case debt collection contract for bailiffs — but forgets to prove why collection agencies couldn't do it
The Council of State suspends STIB's decision not to select a debt collection company for a framework agreement on debt recovery, because STIB exclusively reserved the market for bailiff offices without adequately justifying why this restriction of competition was warranted.
20 points for 2% of the contract value: how a skewed scoring system and exclusive negotiations sank a €6 million vaccination security contract
The Council of State annuls the award of all nine lots of a security contract for Walloon vaccination centres to Securitas, because the Walloon health agency negotiated exclusively with Securitas and used an absurdly disproportionate scoring system where a €10,000 post carried half the weight of a €6 million post.
The turnover requirement for the July 21st celebrations triples — but the authority forgets to explain why
The Council of State annuls the specifications for organizing the Belgian National Day festivities because the State tripled the financial capacity requirement — from €2M cumulative over three years to €2M per year for each of the last three years — without adequately justifying why this increase was proportionate to the contract.
Het toelaten van prijskortingen bij combinaties van percelen is geen wezenlijke bestekwijziging — en een trager vergroeningsritme dan de LEZ-regelgeving mogelijk voorschrijft, maakt een offerte niet automatisch onregelmatig
De Raad van State verwerpt het beroep tot nietigverklaring van de gunning van een opdracht voor de exploitatie en vergroening van geregeld busvervoer (West 1, zestien percelen), omdat (1) het invoeren van een 'combinatiemogelijkheid' voor percelen vanaf de derde bestekversie geen wezenlijke wijziging was maar het louter expliciteren van de bestaande mogelijkheid tot prijskorting bij meerdere percelen op grond van artikel 58 KB speciale sectoren, (2) de offerte van de gekozen inschrijver voor het Gentse perceel niet substantieel onregelmatig was wegens de LEZ-regelgeving — nu de regelgeving uitdrukkelijk in een systeem van individuele toelatingen voorziet voor de periode 2027-2030 en niet vaststaat dat na 2030 geen toelatingen meer mogelijk zijn, (3) de aanbestedende overheid een omstandig prijsonderzoek heeft gevoerd dat het prijsverschil van 36,5% afdoende verklaarde door verschillen in financieringsmodel, infrastructuurkosten en vergroeningsritme, zonder dat een bijzonder onderzoek naar abnormale prijzen vereist was, (4) de vorming van een tijdelijke maatschap door zeven geselecteerde entiteiten uit dezelfde groep rechtsgeldig was en geen mededingingsbeperkende handeling inhield, en (5) het beweerde belangenconflict in hoofde van de CEO van de moedergroep van de gekozen inschrijver — tevens voorzitter van de sectorfederatie — niet verder kwam dan loutere beweringen en veronderstellingen.
De aanwijzing van een voorkeurbieder in een onderhandelingsprocedure voor treinstellen van 3,3 miljard euro doorstaat de toets — ook al scoort de goedkoopste inschrijver technisch lager en ook al is de beoordelingsmethode pas na opening van de offertes uitgewerkt
De Raad van State verwerpt de vordering tot schorsing bij uiterst dringende noodzakelijkheid van de tweede gunningsbeslissing voor een raamovereenkomst voor de levering van elektrische en batterijelektrische treinstellen (AM30) ter waarde van meer dan 3,3 miljard euro, omdat (1) de aanbestedende overheid na een eerdere succesvolle schorsing de motivering van het technisch criterium afdoende heeft verbeterd, (2) de beoordelingsmethode — een plus/min-waardensysteem voor het technisch criterium — niet vooraf in de opdrachtdocumenten hoefde te worden aangekondigd, mits zij coherent is en de gunningscriteria niet denatureert (toepassing TNS Dimarso), (3) de keuze om na vier onderhandelingsrondes over te gaan tot aanwijzing van een voorkeurbieder in plaats van een vijfde onderhandelingsronde niet kennelijk onredelijk is, (4) de beweerde specifieke beoordelingsfouten bij de technische, contractuele en energiecriteria het puntenverschil niet overbruggen, en (5) het argument dat de aanbestedende overheid de uitsluitingsgronden had moeten onderzoeken wegens de activiteiten van de gekozen inschrijver in bezet Palestijns gebied prematuur is, nu de bestreden beslissing slechts een voorkeurbieder aanwijst en geen definitieve gunning inhoudt.
Een inschrijver die zelf 'niet conform' invult voor een essentiële eis, kan achteraf niet beweren dat hij wél kon voldoen — en een bestek dat aansluit bij eerdere voertuigen is niet automatisch op maat van de zittende inschrijver geschreven
De Raad van State verwerpt het beroep tot nietigverklaring van de gunning van een raamovereenkomst voor de levering van multifunctionele brandweerautopompen 4x4, omdat (1) de verzoekende partij zelf in haar offerte uitdrukkelijk 'NEEN' had ingevuld bij de conformiteitsvereiste van drie scharnierpunten voor opstaptreden — met de opmerking 'dit is een zinloze eis om bepaalde firma's te bevoordelen' — en de aanbestedende overheid haar offerte terecht als substantieel onregelmatig heeft verklaard, (2) de verzoekende partij er niet in slaagt aan te tonen dat het bestek op maat van de zittende inschrijver is geschreven, nu zij zelf voor het merendeel van de technische vereisten 'conform' had kunnen aanbieden en de driescharniereneis voortkwam uit concrete operationele ervaringen van de brandweer, (3) de looptijd van zes jaar voor de raamovereenkomst afdoende was gemotiveerd in de toelichtingsnota aan de Inspectie van Financiën — met verwijzing naar de hoge investeringskosten voor prototypebouw en de productietermijn van anderhalf tot twee jaar — en die motivering niet in het bestek zelf hoefde te staan, en (4) het middel inzake machtsafwending faalt bij gebrek aan ernstige en met elkaar overeenstemmende aanwijzingen.
Zusterarrest autopompen 4x2: bewust niet-conform inschrijven bij essentiële eis leidt onvermijdelijk tot substantiële onregelmatigheid
In dit zusterarrest van arrest 264.262 — met dezelfde partijen, dezelfde opdracht maar voor perceel 1 (autopompen 4x2) — verwerpt de Raad van State het beroep tot nietigverklaring op identieke gronden: de inschrijver die zelf uitdrukkelijk 'niet conform' invulde bij de essentiële eis van drie scharnierpunten voor opstaptreden, met de opmerking dat dit 'een zinloze eis is om bepaalde firma's te bevoordelen', kan achteraf niet beweren dat zij wél had kunnen voldoen, en het bestek is niet op maat van de zittende inschrijver geschreven nu de betwiste eis voortkwam uit concrete operationele ervaringen van de brandweer.
Bij een globale beoordeling van technische waarde mag de aanbestedende overheid de vastgestelde meer- en minwaarden cijfermatig vertalen naar een score — en na vier offerterondes mag zij een voorkeursbieder aanwijzen zonder verder te onderhandelen
De Raad van State verwerpt de vordering tot schorsing van de aanwijzing van CAF als voorkeursbieder voor de NMBS-raamovereenkomst voor nieuwe treinstellen (AM30), omdat (1) de beoordelingsmethode voor het criterium 'Technische waarde' — een beginscore van 18/36 met bijstelling van 0,1 punt per vastgestelde meer- of minwaarde — zich inpaste in de vooraf aangekondigde globale beoordeling en geen nieuw systeem was maar een nadere invulling na het eerdere schorsingsarrest, (2) de beoordelingselementen niet als subgunningscriteria waren gehanteerd omdat zij niet elk afzonderlijk waren gewogen, (3) de NMBS na vier offerterondes over twee jaar mocht beslissen een voorkeursbieder aan te wijzen in plaats van verder te onderhandelen, nu zij aannemelijk maakte dat verdere rondes ernstige negatieve gevolgen zouden hebben (70-100 miljoen euro OPEX-kosten, vertraging tot na 2030) terwijl het onzeker was of de offertes nog konden verbeteren, en (4) een nieuw middel dat pas op de dag van de terechtzitting schriftelijk werd ingediend, niet-ontvankelijk was wegens schending van de loyale procesvoering — ook al werd het aangebracht als middel van openbare orde.
Een gunningscriterium dat het verschil in RIZIV-terugbetaling tussen biosimilairen en een origineel geneesmiddel verrekent in de 'nettokost voor het ziekenhuis' kan de mededinging vervalsen en het gelijkheidsbeginsel schenden — ook al identificeert het de economisch voordeligste offerte voor het ziekenhuis
De Raad van State schorst de gunning van een raamovereenkomst voor de levering van groeifactoren (G-CSF) aan ziekenhuizen, omdat het gunningscriterium 'nettokost voor het ziekenhuis' — dat de RIZIV-terugbetaling verrekent in de prijsscore — een structureel concurrentievoordeel van 209,88 euro toekent aan de enige producent van het originele geneesmiddel Lonquex (lipegfilgrastim), waardoor producenten van biosimilairen op basis van pegfilgrastim feitelijk niet kunnen mededingen, zelfs niet met een nulprijs.
Stopzetting wegens onduidelijkheid in het bestek is gerechtvaardigd als die onduidelijkheid tot een daadwerkelijk verschillende prijszetting heeft geleid — en de vermelding van totaalprijzen in de stopzettingsbeslissing schendt niet automatisch de mededinging
De Raad van State verwerpt de vordering tegen de stopzetting van een openbare procedure voor spoorvernieuwingswerken op de lijn L60 Jette-Dendermonde, omdat een onduidelijkheid in het bestek over de eenheid van post 7.9.1 — per uur per man of per uur per ploeg van negen arbeiders — daadwerkelijk tot een verschillende prijszetting bij de drie inschrijvers had geleid waardoor een correcte vergelijking niet meer mogelijk was, en de vermelding van de totale offerteprijzen in de stopzettingsbeslissing de mededinging bij de heraanbesteding niet schendt nu die bedragen door het verschil in prijszetting hoe dan ook een vertekend beeld geven.
A 'low-value contract'? Then your cost estimate must be on paper before you launch — otherwise the award collapses like a house of cards
Bpost awarded a contract for LED-light beanies without publication as a 'low-value contract', but could produce no prior value estimate in the administrative file — the Council of State definitively annuls the award through the fast-track procedure.
Prijsverificatie moet effectief en verifieerbaar zijn — vooral bij grote prijsverschillen tussen offertes
De Raad van State schorst de gunning van een raamovereenkomst voor modulaire stroomonderbrekers omdat de effectiviteit van de prijsverificatie niet afdoende kon worden vastgesteld — de nota in het administratief dossier bevatte onbewezen beweringen over marktpositionering, een onvolledige vergelijking met een federaal raamcontract en een onverklaarde kwalificatie van een inschrijver als producent, terwijl de prijsverschillen tussen de offertes aanzienlijk waren.
Zusterbedrijven die elk op een ander perceel inschrijven met identieke prijzen, personeel en lay-out: entente bewezen
De Raad van State verwerpt de vordering tegen de wering van een offerte wegens mededingingsverstorende entente, omdat twee zusterondernemingen uit dezelfde groep hun offertes op verschillende percelen aantoonbaar hadden gecoördineerd — met identieke lay-out, dezelfde contactpersoon, 23 identieke eenheidsprijzen, dezelfde onderaannemers en identieke rekenfouten.
Perceelverdeling tussen zusterondernemingen om de concurrentie te omzeilen is een verboden entente — ook zonder intentie
De Raad van State verwerpt de vordering van het zusterbedrijf dat op perceel 1 had ingeschreven, en bevestigt dat de gecoördineerde perceelverdeling en offertecoördinatie tussen twee dochterondernemingen van dezelfde groep een verboden entente vormt, ongeacht of de ondernemingen de intentie hadden om de concurrentie te vervalsen.
Verbonden ondernemingen weren zonder ze te horen? Dat kan niet
De Raad van State schorst de wering van offertes van twee zusterondernemingen wegens vermeende mededingingsverstoring, omdat de aanbestedende overheid hen niet eerst de kans heeft gegeven om aan te tonen dat hun offertes onafhankelijk tot stand zijn gekomen.
Een opdrachtgever mag stoppen en herbeginnen, ook als het bestek op zich niet onwettig was
De Raad van State verwerpt een vernietigingsberoep tegen de beslissing van SOFICO om een raamovereenkomst voor wegborstel- en zuigdiensten niet te gunnen en opnieuw te lanceren, omdat de verwijzing naar één specifiek paritair comité in het bestek de mededinging kon beperken — ook al was de tekst op zich duidelijk.
Een bijakte bij een bestaande raamovereenkomst is geen nieuwe gunning
De Raad van State verwerpt een vordering tegen de inzet van een naburige dienstverlener onder een bestaande raamovereenkomst voor takeldiensten, omdat wijzigingen tijdens de uitvoering van een contract buiten zijn rechtsmacht vallen zolang de opdracht niet wezenlijk verandert.
Annulment of non-selection for restoration works 'Salon Cousin' Royal Museums – selection requirement of at least two references specifically for Victor Horta buildings disproportionate, art-nouveau metalwork expertise not unique to Horta, unnecessarily restrictive of competition
The Council of State annulled the decision of the Royal Museums of Art and History not to select BV REMMEN for lot 1 of the restoration of the 'Salon Cousin', because the selection requirement of at least two references for restoration works on buildings specifically designed by Victor Horta was disproportionate — the required expertise in original art-nouveau metalworking and assembly techniques is not unique to Horta buildings, and the very limited number of eligible buildings unnecessarily restricted competition.
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.
Annulment of evening market domain concession award in Blankenberge — deviation from minimum bid amount after opening of tenders violates equality and patere legem principle
The Council of State annulled the award of a concession for the exploitation of seven evening markets in Blankenberge, finding that the city violated the principles of equality and patere legem by disregarding the minimum bid amount of €50,000 per year after all three tenderers had bid below that minimum.
If you want to attack the hardware supplier as competitor for the software running on it, do it in the initial petition — not in the supplementary brief
The Council of State rejects Vigo Universal's annulment action against the award to Timescope for developing a VR application that had to run on 'Timescope Mini' terminals supplied by Timescope: Vigo's strongest arguments — that the award criterion contained an unannounced visual sub-criterion, and that Timescope's competitive advantage from an earlier contract should have been neutralised — only surfaced in the supplementary brief and are therefore late.
Your tender specifications were suspended for lack of reasoning? You don't have to lower the bar — you just have to explain better why it's set so high
After the Council of State suspended the first tender specifications for Belgium's national day festivities on grounds of inadequate reasoning for the turnover threshold, the Chancellery was allowed four days later to launch a new tender with exactly the same heightened requirements — because the res judicata of a suspension ruling does not prevent the contracting authority from taking the same decision if it fixes the illegality (the reasoning).
Turnover threshold doubled without explanation? That's prima facie an unjustified restriction on competition
The Council of State suspends the approval of the tender specifications for the 21 July national holiday festivities because the Belgian State raised the minimum turnover requirement from a cumulative €2 million over three years to €2 million per year — without any concrete, consistent justification in the administrative file.
An award criterion that only measures what you did last year does not measure what you are offering today
The Council of State suspends a mattress recycling award because the quality criterion 'recycling percentage' (60 of 100 points) leaned entirely on a Valumat certificate of 2022 performance — and therefore not on the offer itself, ignored later developments, and used a calculation method that disregards stocks.
Council of State rejects application for suspension under extreme urgency against non-selection in lockable safe framework agreement for Integrated Police — four pleas not serious
The Council of State rejects the application for suspension under extreme urgency brought by SA Sevadepannages against its non-selection in a framework agreement for lockable safes for the Integrated Police (defence and security), finding all four pleas — single candidacy, turnover figures of a competitor, unannounced evaluation method and lack of framework agreement value estimation — not serious.
Council of State rejects appeal against annulment of in-house award for asbestos inventory — requirement of own representative in decision-making bodies of intermunicipal entity not met
The Council of State rejects the annulment appeal brought by SCRL Sambre & Biesme against the SWL's decision to annul the award of an asbestos inventory contract to intermunicipal entity IGRETEC under horizontal cooperation (Article 12(3) of Directive 2014/24/EU), because Sambre & Biesme does not have its own representative in IGRETEC's decision-making bodies, as required by the Court of Justice (judgments C-383/21 and C-384/21 of 22 December 2022).
Four paragraphs of motivation that all repeat 'it's a different molecule' is not motivation
The Council of State suspends a €138 million framework agreement for cancer drugs at CHU Liège because the contracting authority rejected TEVA's equivalent offer (lipegfilgrastim instead of pegfilgrastim) without explaining why two molecules that serve the same therapeutic purpose are not equivalent in this case.
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.
If your own cover letter states you cannot meet the specifications, a mere promise to 'comply' won't fix the irregularity
The Council of State dismisses Veolia's emergency suspension request against Ghent University, the incumbent contractor's bid for the HVAC maintenance framework being declared substantially irregular because Veolia's cover letter expressly stated that some specifications were 'not feasible' and proposed an alternative working method — defects going to the very essence of the bid that could not be cured by a mere statement of intent to comply.
Selection criterion '3 references on non-navigable waterways' for an earthworks contract: not disproportionate, even if <1% of the work touches the waterway itself
The Council of State rejects TRBA's challenge against its exclusion from a Walloon contract for the construction of a retention zone on the Senne, and confirms that a selection criterion requiring 'references on non-navigable waterways' is not disproportionate when the contract is executed in such a geographical context — and that bidders must explicitly demonstrate in their offer that their references meet the criterion.
A reference threshold that excludes 6 out of 8 candidates is not automatically disproportionate
The Council of State rejects the action of cleaning incumbent Misanet against its exclusion at the selection stage, because requiring three cleaning references for buildings with intermodal transport hubs of at least 30,000 persons per day is properly linked and proportionate to the subject-matter of the contract — and because a non-selected bidder has no standing to challenge the award itself.
Two sister companies, one signature and a score of 5/10 on a 0-2-4-6-8-10 scale: double suspension
The Council of State suspends the award of a 6.7 million euro framework contract for police trousers to Sioen Nederland because the federal police inadequately reasoned the link between Sioen NV and Sioen Nederland BV, and because one competitor (Seyntex) received intermediate scores on an evaluation scale that only allowed even-numbered points.
A €9.93m bid against a runner-up of €17m is not automatically an abnormal price — the Council of State leaves the Flemish electronic monitoring award to Attenti standing
The Council of State refuses to suspend the award of the Flemish electronic monitoring contract to Attenti for €9.93m — barely half the runner-up's bid — because economies of scale, proprietary technology and incumbent status can plausibly explain the gap, and because SuperCom cannot credibly close its 42.86-point shortfall on the quality criterion.
Bruxelles Environnement invented a 'competitive advantage' the law does not recognise — the Council suspends the re-tendering of the climbing-rock case
The Council of State suspends Bruxelles Environnement's decision to abandon the award and re-tender the 'Aménagements paysagers' contract for Anderlecht's Colombophiles park, because the contracting authority committed three legal errors: a deviation from the specifications was wrongly called a 'variant', an irregularity was declared substantial under a non-existent category 'competitive advantage', and a material specification (resin concrete) was wrongly treated as a brand reference under art. 53.
A volume threshold of 70,000 cases a year is fine — but 'for one and the same client' is a separate decision that needs its own justification
The Council of State suspends the non-selection of bailiff Bordet for the joint debt-collection contract of SWDE and CILE because the selection criterion requiring 70,000 cases per year handled 'for one and the same client' lacks an independent justification and unduly restricts competition — while the previous tender allowed cumulation across multiple clients.
If your tender allows subcontracting and the bidder names Bpost as subcontractor, you cannot reject them with 'you don't have the BIPT licence'
The Council of State annuls the award of Defence's multi-year postal services contract to Bpost because Postalia Belgium's offer was declared irregular for lacking a BIPT licence, while that offer explicitly designated Bpost as subcontractor for distribution — a possibility the tender itself expressly allowed.
A contracting authority can require its bidders to work with a supplier who never submitted a bid — provided that supplier falls under a statutory exclusion ground
The Belgian Council of State rejects the action of three competing bailiffs against a TMVW tender that imposes cooperation with 'central bailiff Philip Scheir bvba' (appointed without competition) for the legal leg of external debt management — statutory bailiff tasks fall outside procurement law via art. 28 §1 4° e) of the 2016 Act, and without a cross-border element European transparency obligations also do not apply.
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.
Asking for a specification change does not extend the 15-day deadline: challenge the selection criteria within two weeks of publication
The Council of State declares bailiff Alain Bordet's extreme-urgency action against the selection criteria and GDPR clause in tender specification 3380-CSC Recouvrements créances 2024-2031 of SWDE and CILE inadmissible as out of time: the 15-day deadline of Article 23, § 3 of the 17 June 2013 Act also applies to specification conditions and cannot be extended by first sending a correction letter.
Subsidising authority says no — award withdrawn — and the motivation 'in view of the letter from the subsidising authority' is enough
The Council of State rejects Genetec's extreme-urgency action against the withdrawal of the Marche-en-Famenne LED-bike-path-lighting award: a conflict with the Walloon subsidising authority over the specifications is in itself a valid reason for the city to abandon the contract, and the municipal decision need not repeat the subsidising authority's reasons — a reference to the letter is sufficient as 'motifs des motifs'.
A price 25% below the average survives — and the winner can still ask for an extra €100,000 once the bid commitment period expires
The Council of State rejects an extreme-urgency action against the award of the Bruges artificial-turf contract to Lesuco: a total price 25% below the average can be justified by 'market leadership, turnover and expertise', and when the bid commitment period expires, the winner may request price increases due to market conditions without the other bidders getting a chance to revise their bids.
A specification that puts 'non-recoverable judicial costs' on the contractor effectively excludes judicial officers
The Council of State annuls a debt-collection contract because the specifications placed the burden of judicial costs that could not be recovered from the debtor on the contractor — a condition that judicial officers, bound by the 1976 royal decree on their tariff, cannot legally bear.
The tender requires integration with one supplier's hardware — and that supplier bids and wins. That alone is not bias
The Council of State refuses to suspend an award to French company Timescope for a VR application about Le Grognon in Namur, even though the tender expressly required integration with Timescope hardware — because that specification appears objectively justified by the subject matter of the contract and the applicant cannot demonstrate a concrete advantage.
The winner built the very quality framework the tender relies on — and that alone is not a reason to exclude them
The Council of State refuses, in extreme urgency, to suspend an award where the winning bidder (IPSO) had previously drawn up the quality reference framework and supporting database that the new tender re-used — because the applicant could not concretely demonstrate a competitive advantage.
Challenging a tender as 'tailor-made for incumbent X' fails when the harm comes from a clause you did not actually attack
The Council of State rejects routing-services provider Easypost's suspension request against the IPFBW postal-services tender because the alleged harm in fact stems from the broader requirement that affiliated entities pre-frank their own mail — a requirement Easypost did not actually challenge — rather than from the cumulative obligation to offer two franking methods (stamp + franking machine) that it did challenge.
May the contracting authority allow a flawed subcontractor to be replaced — or must it? The Belgian Council of State refers the question to the CJEU
The Council of State reopens the debate in the annulment action against the award of a Ghent restoration contract and refers two preliminary questions to the Court of Justice on whether a contracting authority is obliged, or merely allowed, to require a tenderer to replace a subcontractor that does not meet the selection criteria.
If you don't request continuation after a suspension, your decision is annulled automatically — AGB Deinze let its theatre-seats award be annulled without a fight
AGB Deinze tried to award a sub-lot for theatre seats as 'additional works' to the main contractor Strabag, was suspended in October 2019, and three months later saw the entire award annulled because it failed to request continuation of the proceedings.
What the contracting authority calls a 'wish' and what is a binding requirement — in 'Espace Rogier' that distinction costs the City of Namur a full suspension
The Council of State suspends the award of a 14 million euro combined contract to Cœur de Ville because the general programme — repeatedly and unambiguously — imposed an R+3 height for the private housing blocks, while the winning bid proposed R+5: a binding specification, not a 'wish', and the overshoot affects the price award criterion.
A selected candidate who fails to submit a first offer is in principle out of the race — unless the contracting authority fully reopens phase two with a fundamentally amended specification
The Council of State rejects the suspension of the award of the Zorg Leuven central kitchen contract to Compass Group, because the contracting authority did not 'continue' phase two of the negotiated procedure but fully halted and reopened it with a fundamentally amended specification — allowing the other selected candidate (who had not submitted a first offer) to participate again.
The 15% threshold of article 37 applies per lot — not per project. And theatre seats are not 'extra work' to a structural-build contract
The Council of State suspends AGB Deinze's decision to award sub-lot 8 (theatre seats, €219,359.80) — after a failed procurement procedure — 'as extra work' to the structural-build main contractor Strabag, because the 15% margin of article 37 of the Royal Decree on the General Rules of Execution 2013 must be calculated on the originally awarded lot, and supplying theatre seats is moreover a substantial extension of a contract for 'architecture and stability'.
Switching to the intercommunal entity after the bids have come in — then you must have actually compared the prices, and that comparison must show in the file
The Council of State suspends the decision of Morlanwelz to halt the award of eighteen waste lots and continue cooperation with the intercommunal HYGEA, because the reasoning ('the offered conditions are not sufficiently interesting compared to what HYGEA can offer') is a boilerplate clause that leaves no trace of an actual price comparison.
Calculating the fee percentage on a fixed reference estimate rather than on the actual proposed project budget is no manifest error — it is a legitimate choice of the contracting authority
The Council of State rejects the suspension of the award of the Tournaisis police-station architecture contract to BAEB-BAG-VK Engineering, because a contracting authority that calculates the fee percentage on a common reference estimate (€10m) rather than on each bidder's individual project estimate stays within its discretionary freedom — even if the winner can thereby work with a much higher project budget (€14.3m) than the other bidders.
An award criterion that lets the winner pick which prices actually count is no criterion at all
The Council of State suspends the award of four lots of an advertising-vitrine framework agreement for Brussels bus shelters because the financial criterion 'redevance' was calculated using indicative weightings on a product mix that the operator was never required to commit to — making the criterion speculative and invalid.
An intercommunal bidding 30% cheaper is not an abnormally low price — even when working at cost
The Council of State dismisses TV Willer/ABOG's extreme-urgency challenge against the award of twelve street-drain cleaning lots to intercommunal Intradura, ruling that an intermunicipal cooperative may bid outside its members' territory, that 'no commercial character' does not mean 'no public procurement', and that a 30% price difference explained by a lower hourly wage and higher productivity is not an abnormally low price.
A reference of 3.2 million euros for a commercial park does not count as a 'watercourse project' when only 299,000 euros were actually performed on the stream
T.R.B.A. submits references of 3.2 million euros (Estaimpuis) and 817,000 euros (Braine-le-Comte) for a selection criterion requiring '2 projects of 600,000 euros on non-navigable watercourses', but the Council of State reads the criterion as 'projects whose main object concerns works on watercourses' – and the Estaimpuis file (a commercial park where only 299,318 euros were actually performed on the Esperlion) does not meet that bar.
A 'facilitating' agreement with Rotterdam turns out to be a disguised public procurement — no invoice ≠ no procurement
The Port of Antwerp directly concludes a 'storage agreement' with the Port of Rotterdam without any tender, convinced that it merely 'facilitates' for its dredging contractors, but the Council of State holds after almost six years of litigation that the agreement — combined with the related EVOA contract and a €1.2 million guarantee — is in fact a public service contract and annuls the approval.
Four years of competitive dialogue stopped — and the Council says: one solid reason is enough, here there were two
After four years of competitive dialogue over a GFT processing plant Verko stops the procedure on four grounds — the Council of State holds that the lack of competition (one regular offer left) and the major budget overrun (€31m against an estimate of €13.6m) on their own already support the cancellation, regardless of whether the other two grounds are correct.
One disabled worker out of two is exactly half — and half is not a majority
Groenservice Marissen was the cheapest bidder on a contract reserved for sheltered workshops in Schoten, but was excluded because it could not show that a majority of its workers — or even of the two workers it would actually deploy on site — were disabled; the Council of State dismisses the appeal.
'Proof of professional risks insurance' without amount or ceiling is no selection criterion — the Council suspends the award to Misanet and Atalian
The Belgian State had set 'proof of a professional risks insurance' as a financial selection criterion for the cleaning contract for the Immigration Service's closed centres and FITT housings, without any requirement on insured amount, ceiling or excess — the Council of State suspends the award because article 65 of the 2017 Award Royal Decree requires an appropriate level of requirement.
A remark in your offer about delivery times or revisions doesn't automatically make it irregular — provided the specifications allow it and your opponent can't link it to the award criterion
Ghent University awarded the €8.5 million Capture new-build to Cordeel-Imtech despite two remarks in their offer (longer delivery times for reinforcement plans and €100/hour from the third revision of production drawings); the Council of State rejects Wyckaert/SPIE's challenge because the specifications do not exclude the remarks and the applicants cannot directly link the alleged competitive advantage to the sole award criterion — price.
One kilometre counts for the price criterion, 287 km do not — an open invitation to speculation
The Council of State suspends the award of a multi-year coach transport contract to TRANSIBUS because the price criterion of the city of Mons added only the unit price for a single kilometre, without taking into account the actual distances to be driven — a method that allows structurally different price structures and invites speculation.
A turnover requirement of fifty times the contract value is striking — but if one valid exclusion ground holds, the appeal does not fly
The Council of State rejects VR Conteneur's extreme-urgency action against Intradel: even if the requirement of €10 million annual turnover for a contract worth €200,000 is debatable, the non-selection also rests on the absence of a welding robot — a requirement Intradel was entitled to set — and the awardee ANG could rely on its Polish subsidiary's consolidated turnover under article 74 RD 15/07/2011.
An uninvited bidder who still submits an offer can win — below the EU threshold a spontaneous bid is fair game
The Council of State refuses to suspend the award of the gym-floor renovation in De Alk because the Municipality of Alken, after severe flooding, could legitimately use the urgent procedure via the college of mayor and aldermen, and because a spontaneous bid from a non-invited company in a negotiated procedure without publication below the EU threshold may be considered.
25 references earn 10 out of 20 — when the contracting authority adds a hidden sub-criterion after the opening
The Council of State suspends the award of the design of the Terhagen community centre because AGB Rumst, after opening of the bids, split the fourth award criterion into two weighted sub-criteria — a split that gave Evolta (25 references) only 10/20 and the winner Signa (2 references) 9/20.
Two parallel procedures for the same contract? The Council sees through the urgency excuse
The Council of State suspends the award of a directional drilling under the Albert Canal to Van Vulpen because Eandis ran the same contract simultaneously through a mini-competition within its framework agreement and through a parallel negotiated procedure without prior publication with other companies — a setup that fatally undermines the 'imperative urgency' required by article 53, § 2, 1°, c) of the 15 June 2006 Procurement Act.
Arguing the specs were written for a competitor? Then your own bid had better not contradict that claim
The Council of State rejects Vita Nova Supra's suspension of the award of a five-year AED supply contract to Half Blue: a bidder who claims the tender specs are tailored to one product cannot simultaneously state in its own offer that it weighed that very product and chose to bid a different one.
Vlarema requires municipalities to conclude an agreement with a recycling centre — that creates no monopoly and does not displace the procurement law
ILVA awarded the collection of household textile waste for ten years exclusively to three recycling shops on the basis of an alleged 'statutory delegation' under the Flemish Vlarema regulation, but the Council of State suspends: neither the 2005 recognition decree nor article 5.1.7 of Vlarema confers an exclusive right on recycling centres — a public procurement procedure was required.
€140,000 over budget and the only bidder: the social welfare centre was allowed to abort and re-tender
The sole bidder for a four-year catering contract came in €140,000 above the estimate — the OCMW Geraardsbergen overrode the favourable recommendation of its own procurement office, stopped the procedure, and the Council of State accepted that decision.
When your consultant becomes your supplier: that doesn't break the award — but only if your procurement design has already flattened the advantage
The Belgian National Office for Annual Leave first had A.O.S. (later Colliers) draw a dynamic-office concept for its new Rigoletto building, then awarded the furniture contract to that same Colliers, and the Council of State refuses to suspend: a prior-involvement situation under article 64 of the Royal Decree on Placement 2011 doesn't automatically force the buyer to formally verify the competitive advantage, provided the procurement architecture itself neutralizes that advantage.
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This page shows all rulings of the Council of State (Belgium's supreme administrative court) on competition 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 →