Confidentiality
Trade secrets and the confidentiality of tenders must be safeguarded. This sometimes creates tension with the transparency principle and the right of tenderers to challenge the award decision.
Below the European threshold the contracting authority MAY allow regularisation of a missing tender form — and the applicant had three days to challenge that, not until the hearing
The Council of State dismisses Brion & Charlot's extreme-urgency suspension against the award of an intensive-care interior contract to Emil Palm, confirming that in a negotiated procedure below the European threshold a contracting authority may allow a substantial irregularity (here: a missing final offer form) to be regularised — and adding a procedural lesson: those finding their competitor's price drop suspicious must request the lifting of confidentiality BEFORE the hearing, not at it.
Sand bed not in the price? Then your HVAC bid is irregular — even if you think earthworks aren't your lot
The Council of State rejects the annulment appeal of an HVAC contractor whose bid was excluded because it did not include the sand bed for underground PEHD pipes in its prices — even though the contractor claimed that service belonged to the structural works lot.
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.
Application for suspension under extreme urgency inadmissible after withdrawal of OSIRIS platform award decision – retroactive effect of withdrawal removes lésion, admissibility condition under Article 14 of the 2013 Act no longer met
The Council of State rejected as inadmissible the application for suspension under extreme urgency by SRL GATE-16 against the award of a service contract for the OSIRIS platform by the Brussels-Capital Region to SRL AMA European Consulting, because the Region had withdrawn the award decision on 15 December 2025 with retroactive effect, meaning the applicant was no longer harmed or at risk of being harmed within the meaning of Article 14 of the Act of 17 June 2013, and consequently one of the two admissibility conditions was no longer met.
Negative prices for meal vouchers — 'that's how the sector works' is not sufficient motivation
The Council of State suspends the award of a framework agreement for electronic meal vouchers to Edenred Belgium, because the price investigation motivation was too generic — the contracting authority justified all three tenders globally based on sector characteristics, without individually explaining why the winning tenderer's specific price justification was acceptable.
Suspension of award of framework agreement for housing restoration – contracting authority valued prior references and certificates of the chosen tenderer under quality criterion while specifications only provided for 'means for optimal execution' as award criterion, in violation of Article 81 of the 2016 Act and transparency principle
The Council of State suspended under extreme urgency the award by SRL Sambre & Biesme of a works framework agreement (restoration of occupied and unoccupied dwellings) to SA SOTRELCO, because the contracting authority in assessing the second award criterion (quality, 30%) had valued SOTRELCO's prior references and certificates of satisfactory execution, while this information did not correspond to the 'means to be deployed for optimal execution' as described in the specifications — tenderers could not understand from the specifications that their prior achievements, which typically belong to qualitative selection, would be taken into account under this award criterion.
The 60-day time limit for annulment proceedings starts from the day after dispatch of the registered letter — not from receipt
The annulment action is inadmissible ratione temporis: the 60-day time limit starts running from the day after dispatch of the notification (February 9), not from the date of receipt (February 12), making the application of April 10 one day late.
Suspension application under extreme urgency by ASFALYS-KPMG consortium against award of ICT services lot 1 to Deloitte rejected – single ground regarding self-assessment system for quality criterion not serious: criticism too vague and theoretical, complaints partly late, waiver of verification obligation not established
The Council of State rejected the suspension application under extreme urgency by the ASFALYS-KPMG consortium against the award by the Prime Minister of lot 1 of a public service contract for specialised ICT services (IT23001, service integration and management) to Deloitte Consulting & Advisory, because the single ground was not serious: the criticism of the self-assessment system for the quality criterion — where tender conformity was evaluated based on questionnaires completed by the tenderers themselves — was too vague and theoretical as the applicants failed to identify concretely which sub-criteria led to a manifest error of assessment, the complaints raised at the hearing regarding scores were late, and the postulate that the contracting authority had waived its verification obligation could not be established.
Night medical mail delivery Liège: price verification by hospital purchasing central sufficiently motivated despite succinct formulation
The Council of State rejects a challenge against the award of a contract for night medical mail delivery in the province of Liège, because the contracting authority — acting as purchasing central for four hospitals — conducted a genuine and concrete price verification under Article 36 of the Placement Royal Decree, and the decision's motivation, though succinct and allusive due to confidentiality requirements, sufficiently demonstrates that the chosen tenderer's prices are not abnormal.
Een vernietiging op vordering van een andere inschrijver doet het beroep tot nietigverklaring zijn voorwerp verliezen, maar niet de vordering tot schadevergoeding tot herstel — waarvoor de middelen alsnog moeten worden onderzocht
De Raad van State stelt vast dat het beroep tot nietigverklaring van de gunning van een opdracht voor gerechtsdeurwaarderdiensten voor de stad Fontaine-l'Évêque zijn voorwerp heeft verloren doordat dezelfde beslissing reeds is vernietigd in een parallel beroep van een andere inschrijver (arrest nr. 262.783), maar heropent de debatten en verwijst de zaak naar de gewone procedure om de middelen alsnog te onderzoeken in het licht van de vordering tot schadevergoeding tot herstel die de verzoekers nadien hebben ingesteld.
De intrekking van de bestreden gunningsbeslissing na een schorsingsvordering maakt die vordering onontvankelijk — maar de kosten vallen ten laste van de aanbestedende overheid
De Raad van State verwerpt de vordering tot schorsing van de gunning van werken aan de maison rurale de Godinne als onontvankelijk, omdat de gemeente Yvoir de bestreden gunningsbeslissing heeft ingetrokken met terugwerkende kracht — waardoor de verzoeker niet langer benadeeld is — en legt de proceskosten ten laste van de gemeente.
Een kleine schapenhouder die zijn lage prijs verantwoordt met zijn unieke bedrijfsmodel maar nalaat dat cijfermatig te staven, draagt het risico van de ontoereikende bewijsvoering — en de overheid hoeft haar eigen marktgegevens niet te delen als die in het algemeen prijsonderzoek zijn gebruikt
De Raad van State verwerpt de vordering tot schorsing van de gunning van een opdracht voor schapenbegrazing op dijken langs de Zeeschelde, omdat de aanbestedende overheid binnen de grenzen van een zorgvuldige beoordeling is gebleven door de offerte substantieel onregelmatig te verklaren wegens een onvoldoende onderbouwde prijsverantwoording — en omdat de marktgegevens van andere opdrachten als referentiekader in het algemeen prijsonderzoek zijn gebruikt en niet als externe inlichtingen in het bijzonder prijsonderzoek, zodat de overheid die niet aan de inschrijver hoefde voor te leggen.
Wie bij het prijsonderzoek steunt op eigen gegevens die niet van de inschrijver komen, moet die gegevens eerst aan de inschrijver voorleggen — en ze controleerbaar motiveren in het gunningsverslag
De Raad van State schorst de gunning van een raamovereenkomst voor groenbeheerwerken langs kanalen en waterlopen, omdat de aanbestedende overheid de offerte van de verzoeker onregelmatig verklaarde op basis van eigen houtopbrengstcijfers uit een eerdere opdracht en een extern advies — zonder die gegevens eerst aan de inschrijver voor te leggen zodat hij erop kon reageren, en zonder in het gunningsverslag de bron of context van die cijfers te vermelden.
Dubbelzinnige motivering bij prijsonderzoek volstaat niet — de inschrijver moet kunnen begrijpen of zijn verantwoording als niet-ontvankelijk of als ongegrond is afgewezen
De Raad van State schorst de onregelmatigverklaring van de offerte van SA A2 voor wegenwerken in de gemeente Boussu, omdat de motivering dubbelzinnig was op twee punten: enerzijds bleek niet of de prijsverantwoording als niet-ontvankelijk dan wel als inhoudelijk ongegrond was beoordeeld, anderzijds was niet vast te stellen of de eigenlijke gronden voor de uitsluiting die waren uit de deels gecensureerde versie van het verslag van nazicht of die uit de gunningsbeslissing zelf — en vertrouwelijkheid rechtvaardigt weliswaar een beknopte motivering, maar geen buitensporig laconieke.
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.
Tender notices, specifications, award decisions and signed contracts are not 'business secrets' — STIB cannot shield its camera procurement since 2000 from the Ligue des droits humains
The Council of State rejects the Brussels public transport operator STIB's suspension request against a CADA decision ordering disclosure of its camera procurement files since 2000 to the Ligue des droits humains, because urgency is lacking now that CADA no longer holds the documents.
Zeggen dat je de prijsverantwoording 'aanvaardt' is geen motivering
De Raad van State schorst een gunningsbeslissing omdat de aanbestedende overheid bij het prijsonderzoek enkel vermeldde dat de verantwoording 'aanvaard kan worden', zonder enige inhoudelijke analyse waaruit blijkt waarom de prijs niet abnormaal laag is.
Als de regularisatie de kern is, mag je de stukken erover niet geheimhouden
De Raad van State heft de vertrouwelijkheid op van documenten over de regularisatie van een ontbrekende elektronische handtekening, omdat de verliezende inschrijver zonder inzage in die stukken niet zinvol kan controleren of de regularisatie correct is verlopen.
Suspension of award of insurance brokerage pooling contract for Flemish government entities – statement of reasons for price investigation is mere boilerplate: estimate redacted, justification elements not concretely assessed, reasons communicated ex post via observations and intervention request
The Council of State suspended the award by the Flemish Community of an insurance brokerage pooling contract for Flemish government entities to NV A., because the first limb of the single ground was serious: the statement of reasons for the price investigation in the award report was mere boilerplate — the estimate was redacted, the three justification elements from the price justification were adopted without concrete assessment, and the redaction of essential reasons in the version communicated to the applicant violated the formal statement of reasons obligation.
Suspension application under extreme urgency rejected as inadmissible after withdrawal of award decision for sewer works in Rebecq — retroactive effect of withdrawal removes alleged harm — costs charged to the withdrawing authority
The Council of State declared inadmissible the suspension application under extreme urgency by SA Entreprises Paul Frateur against SC IN BW's decision of 17 December 2024 awarding the works contract 'Rebecq — Construction of the Wisbecq collector and pumping station' to SAT, as the respondent withdrew the contested decision on 14 January 2025 with retroactive effect, meaning the alleged violations had neither harmed nor risked harming the applicant — the hypothetical scenario of a challenge against the withdrawal decision not being established, the admissibility condition of Article 14 of the Act of 17 June 2013 was not met — costs were charged to the respondent as the unsuccessful party due to the withdrawal.
'Prices have been checked and deemed normal' is not motivation — confidentiality is no alibi for silence on price review
The Council of State suspends the award of a €3.5M debt collection contract by SWDE and CILE to bailiff firm Étude Bordet, because the contracting authority detected apparently abnormal prices in six of seven bids but merely included a boilerplate phrase in its award report ('prices deemed normal and acceptable'), and additionally gave four bids an identical 38/40 score on methodology with identical descriptions — without demonstrating why these bids could not be distinguished.
VMG-De Cock appeal against irregularity declaration for Bert Carlier refectory offer rejected — insufficient price justification does not outweigh 40% below average
Appeal rejected: VMG-De Cock's annulment appeal against the irregularity declaration of its offer for the renovation of the refectory at the Bert Carlier Institute in Ghent is rejected — the brief price justification for a unit price 41% below average failed to sufficiently rebut the presumption of abnormality despite reference to an in-house carpentry workshop, and the contracting authority was not obliged to conduct a follow-up inquiry.
'Personal data' is no excuse for keeping internal advice from an unsuccessful bidder
The Council of State lifts confidentiality on the email exchange between the Chancellery and the Inspectorate of Finance in a procurement dispute over the 21 July national-day celebrations, because the contracting authority fails to identify any actual business secret — only personal data may be redacted.
Cleaning of ONSS administrative premises: suspension – the contracting authority must examine corrective measures before excluding, the obligation under art. 70(2) to proactively report corrective measures only applies with express mention in the tender documents
The Council of State suspends the ONSS's decision to exclude a cleaning company from the procedure for cleaning administrative premises (three lots), because the ONSS failed to examine the proposed corrective measures and because the obligation to proactively report such measures at the start of the procedure (art. 70(2)) only applies when the tender documents expressly refer to it — the mere use of the ESPD is insufficient.
A Flemish licence for non-urgent reclining patient transport doesn't grant mutual recognition for seated transport in Brussels — if Flanders doesn't regulate that activity, it has nothing to transfer
An ambulance company with a Flemish licence for reclining patient transport loses a Brussels framework contract for seated patient transport in light medical vehicles, because its provisional GGC accreditation expired during the procurement procedure and its definitive accreditation was only notified after the award decision — bad timing, says the Council of State, but no illegality.
Confidentiality is no excuse to black out the assessment of the winner
The Council of State suspends an award because the contracting authority redacted nearly all of the winner's evaluation in the version of the award report given to the unsuccessful bidder, and only filed the unredacted version once court proceedings had started.
Same ADN certificate: 'extra experience' for the winner, ignored for the loser — that doesn't hold
The Belgian Council of State suspended an award by Flemish Waterways because in the quality criterion motivation, the same elements (an ADN certificate, government experience, examination committee work) counted positively for one bidder and were ignored for another, without anywhere explaining the difference.
Citing the winner's patent report is not a motivation — even if the report is confidential
The Council of State suspends the award by AGSO Knokke-Heist because the contracting authority dismissed a substantiated patent objection from a losing bidder by merely stating that the winners 'confidently affirm' their offer infringes nothing — without explaining why it found their report more convincing.
Trade secrets are not a free pass for a boilerplate clause when prices look abnormally low
The Council of State suspends the award of two SNCB lots because the contracting authority itself flagged the winner's prices as apparently abnormally low, requested justification, and then dismissed the response with a single sentence in the award decision.
70 points for service, 30 for price in a book tender: acceptable when the market justifies it
The Council of State dismisses Standaard Boekhandel's challenge against the award to Distri-Bib for the Antwerp public library's book framework, accepting that service may weigh 70 out of 100 points because 85% of deliveries fall under the regulated book price.
An Apple discount only meaningful when bundled with a laptop: post-factum motivation does not count
PXL university college awarded an Apple supply contract to Econocom because of an unusually high discount on one specific product; the Council suspends because the administrative file lacks any explanation — and the argument that 'this product is only ordered with a laptop' was raised only in the procedural notes.
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.
Rejecting bidder A for a specific shortcoming while admitting bidder B with exactly the same shortcoming is not allowed
The Council of State annuls the award of a Liège public works contract because the city declared Genetec's offer irregular for missing a detailed cost calculation of safety measures, while the winning Yvan Paque offer on that very point contained only two lump sums — without any detail.
A selection criterion may require you to have personnel — not to set aside a specific number of people for this contract
The Council of State suspends the award of BEP Environnement's textile collection contract to Oxfam because the selection criterion '4 drivers and 2 supervisors for the management of the contract' is not a general capacity criterion but a requirement on the specific deployment of personnel — which selection criteria are not allowed to be.
Withdrawal four days before the hearing — and still a 994 euro bill: the price of a quick course change in extreme urgency
Days before the hearing, SA Entreprises Herphelin withdraws both its extreme-urgency and annulment action against SOFICO over the E429 motorway maintenance contract, but still bears 994 euros in procedural costs.
A 'NOK' that becomes 'OK' after follow-up questions is not automatically an unlawful regularisation — if it concerns selection, not the offer itself
The Council of State dismisses Coeman Repatriëring's suspension against the award to Depannage Lybaert of the South-East towing lot, because the additional information the contracting authority requested on staff, premises and intervention vehicles did not fall under the strict regularisation rules for offers, but under the more lenient rules for requesting evidence of technical capacity.
Three Infliximab bids ranging from €68.89 to €405.22 — and your motivation reads 'two are generics'? That's a 'gross error' that brings the award down
The Council of State suspends the award to Sandoz of an Infliximab framework agreement for the CHR de la Citadelle hospital because the contracting authority wrongly classified the two cheapest offers as 'generics' while they were in fact 'biosimilars' — a substantive distinction that should have underpinned the price justification of an 80% price gap.
Bidding stricter than the special specifications require gives no advantage – not even when the Standard Specifications 250 are stricter
ADEDE loses the contract for clearing WW explosives on the Flemish coast by a single point to a construction company that bid with only one CTE expert, and hears from the Council of State that the special specifications may deviate from the Standard Specifications 250 which normally require two CTE experts.
A contracting authority may keep the price justification confidential — but must show that it actually examined it
ISPPC awarded a debt-recovery contract to VENTURIS at €1.98 per file — twice cheaper than the runner-up and three times cheaper than the field average of €1,438,448 — but the award decision nowhere explained why the price justification was convincing, and the Council of State suspends.
It's the authority's job to send you the full motivation — not yours to request it
The Council of State suspends the award of a stucco-restoration contract at Gaasbeek Castle because the award report was sent with redacted figures and assessments — with only one point separating winner and runner-up.
A 'side note' attached to a tender is not innocuous — if the contracting authority does not examine its impact, the award falls
The Council of State suspends the award to Aannemingen Van Wellen for the structural maintenance of the E19 North motorway, because the Flemish Region did not examine in its decision whether a separate note from the winner — proposing changes to the assumed quantities of three items — undermined the certainty of its contractual commitment.
The contracting authority withdraws five days before the hearing — and itself acknowledges that 'the arguments in the appeal cannot be contested'
The Council stays the proceedings and adjourns sine die after CAHC withdraws — two days before the extreme-urgency hearing — its award of the architect contract for a Stoumont/Trois-Ponts retirement home, citing 'arguments in the appeal that cannot be contested' — a textbook example of how an extreme-urgency appeal makes a contracting authority fold without any merits ruling.
The dictum kept the documents confidential, but the body of the ruling 'forgot' to say why — six weeks later the Council adds the missing sentence
Six weeks after dismissing in extreme urgency Clear Channel Belgium's challenge against the Commune of Uccle's award of bus shelters to JC Decaux, the Council of State corrects an omission-style material error in ruling 239.056: the conclusion justifying the provisional confidentiality of the two bids and the correspondence with the bidders was missing from the 'Confidentiality' section, while the dictum (Article 4) already drew the consequences from it.
Certificates of good execution are not in principle confidential — appellants can request access when challenging the selection
In an annulment procedure against a €27 million award, the Council of State holds that certificates of good execution are not secret documents and reopens the debates so the parties can examine those documents — under strict conditions.
A 'se réserve le droit' clause is a faculty, not an obligation: the SRWT was not required to mistrust the guaranteed 81,000 km
The Council of State dismisses Michelin's annulment challenge against the awarding of lot 1 of the TEC bus tyre framework to Bridgestone, because the specifications clause 'la SRWT se réserve le droit de corriger ou écarter toute soumission faisant état d'un kilométrage garanti anormal' is a faculty and not an obligation, and Bridgestone's guaranteed 81,000 km — backed by the previous model's average of 79,132 km on the TEC network — is not manifestly unreasonable.
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This page shows all rulings of the Council of State (Belgium's supreme administrative court) on confidentiality 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 →