Tender Specifications Belgium — Administrative & Technical

The tender specifications document — known in Dutch as bestek and in French as cahier des charges — defines a public contract: what is being asked, how candidates are selected, how the contract is awarded, and how execution is governed. For tenderers, it is the most important document in the entire procurement process — it determines whether they can participate, on what criteria they will be evaluated, and what financial and legal commitments they take on if they win the contract.

A tenderer who reads the document carelessly is bidding on assumptions. And assumptions lead to exclusion, loss-making contracts or disputes. This article describes what tender specifications are, how they are structured — with explicit attention to the distinction between administrative and technical specifications — and how to approach them in practice.

What exactly are tender specifications?

According to the Belgian FPS BOSA, tender specifications are “a document drawn up by the contracting authority in which it sets out its needs and the specific conditions of the contract”. It is the central document on which tenderers base their offer, and it becomes binding upon award: the winning offer together with the tender specifications form the contract.

In Belgian legal practice, the term cahier spécial des charges (CSC) in French — or bijzonder bestek in Dutch — refers to the contract-specific part, as opposed to a standard cahier (cahier des charges type) which covers a whole category of operations. English-speakers often use “tender specifications” or “tender documents” interchangeably, but in Belgian context the precise distinction matters.

Tender specifications versus contract documents — not the same

A common confusion is to treat “tender specifications” and “contract documents” as synonyms. They are not: the tender specifications are one element of a wider set.

When the contracting authority refers to “the tender specifications”, it generally means only the administrative and technical part. When it refers to “the contract documents”, it means the entire package. Belgian case law applies this distinction strictly: an obligation included in an annex but not in the specifications themselves can carry different legal weight than one stated in both.

The administrative specifications

The administrative specifications describe the rules around the contract. They say nothing about what must be delivered — they describe procedure, selection, award and execution. A typical administrative section contains:

Object and classification

• Brief description of the object.
• Type of contract: works, supplies or services.
• CPV codes (Common Procurement Vocabulary).
• Estimated value (sometimes mentioned).
• Division into lots, where applicable.
• Contract duration and possible renewals.

Award procedure

Which procedure is followed: open procedure, restricted procedure, competitive procedure with negotiation, competitive dialogue, innovation partnership, simplified negotiated procedure with or without prior publication, or framework agreement. Each procedure has its own deadlines, formalities and scope for negotiation.

Access conditions

• Exclusion grounds (Articles 67-69 Act of 17 June 2016): mandatory (criminal organization, corruption, fraud, money laundering, human trafficking), tax and social debts, and discretionary.
• Selection criteria (Article 71): professional standing, economic and financial capacity, technical and professional capacity.
• Reliance on third parties (Article 78): conditions for relying on the capacity of a sub-contractor or partner.

Tender evaluation

• Award criteria with weightings — lowest price, best price-quality ratio (BPQR), or lowest cost based on life-cycle costing.
• Possibly sub-criteria with their own weightings.
• Evaluation methodology (formulas, scoring).
• Variants and options: whether allowed, at the contracting authority’s request or on the tenderer’s initiative (Article 56 Act 2016).

Deadlines and Q&A rounds

• Deadline for submission of tenders.
• Deadline for asking questions via the forum.
• Date on which information notes are published.
• Validity period of the tender (typically 90 or 120 days).

Financial clauses

• Surety: usually 5% of the original contract sum (3% for framework agreements), unless otherwise specified — since November 2023, the contracting authority no longer needs to justify a deviation.
• Payment terms: as of 1 January 2025, a single processing period of 30 calendar days for verification and payment combined.
• Price revision: whether the contract is revisable and according to which formula (often using indices like the I-index for materials or the S-index for wages in construction).
• Late payment interest for delayed payment.

Execution clauses

• Execution period (calendar or working days).
• Modifications during execution (Article 38 RD on Execution 2013): permitted modifications, price adjustments, quantity variations.
• Penalties for late execution (0.1% per calendar day up to a maximum of 7.5%) and defective execution.
• Acceptance: provisional and final, with warranty period.
• Dispute resolution: prior formal notice, competent court.

References to legislation

The administrative specifications typically refer to:

• Act of 17 June 2016 (Public Procurement Act).
• Royal Decree of 18 April 2017 (Award classical sectors).
• Royal Decree of 14 January 2013 (General Execution Rules — known as AUR in Dutch, RGE in French).
• Act of 17 June 2013 (motivation, information and remedies — 15-day standstill period).

What is not explicitly addressed in the specifications automatically falls under this body of regulation.

The technical specifications

The technical specifications describe the object of the contract. This is the substantive specification: what must be delivered, built or performed, and against which quality requirements?

For large construction projects, the technical specifications are usually subdivided:

• Technical Specifications — Architecture — structural works, façades, roofs, finishes.
• Technical Specifications — Building Services — heating, ventilation, plumbing, electrical, fire safety, lifts. This part is often further split per discipline (HVAC, electrical, etc.).
• Technical Specifications — External Works — roads, planting, drainage around a building.
• Safety and Health Plan (SHP) — site prevention measures, formally a separate annex but technical in nature.

For supplies and services, the structure is generally simpler and the entire technical content fits in a single document.

What does the technical part contain?

• Description of the object — exact scope, size, location.
• Technical standards — Belgian (NBN), European (EN), international (ISO). Examples: NBN B62-002 for insulation, EN 1090 for execution of metal structures.
• Material requirements — origin, quality, certification, environmental characteristics (CE marking, FSC, REACH).
• Performance requirements — functional specifications (a room must achieve a certain insulation value, regardless of the material used).
• Quantities — reference to the summary bill of quantities with items and units.
• Drawings and plans — architectural drawings, technical detail drawings, sections.
• Site conditions — accessibility, working hours, storage options, phasing.
• Testing and acceptance — which tests are conducted, by whom, and when.
• Warranty period — typically 1 year for standard supplies, 5 to 10 years for stability elements in construction.

The equivalence clause

A crucial point for tenderers: Article 53 of the RD on Award 2017 prohibits the contracting authority from prescribing a specific manufacturer or brand, unless this is technically unavoidable. When a brand is nevertheless mentioned, it must be followed by “or equivalent”. A tenderer may then offer an equivalent product, provided equivalence can be demonstrated.

In practice, many tenderers ignore this clause and offer the prescribed brand even when an equivalent would be more advantageous. Those who do invoke equivalence must do so timely and substantiated — typically with technical sheets demonstrating that the alternative offers at least equal performance.

The annexes

In addition to the administrative and technical parts, the tender specifications usually contain annexes:

• Tender form — the document to be completed with your prices, details and signature. A tender submitted without a properly completed tender form may be rejected as irregular.
• Summary bill of quantities or inventory — for works, a list of items with quantities on which you enter unit prices; for supplies, a list of products with quantities.
• Bank guarantee model or surety form.
• ESPD form if the contract exceeds the European threshold.
• Drawings and plans, sometimes as separate downloads.
• Sometimes: existing documentation such as a soil investigation report, prior studies, or a specifications document for accompanying services (architect, safety coordinator).

Standard cahiers (standaardbestekken)

A standard cahier is a standardized model used repeatedly for contracts of similar nature. It contains harmonized technical provisions and uniform administrative clauses, supplemented in each contract with a project-specific part.

The principal Belgian standard cahiers:

• Qualiroutes — Walloon road works, managed by the Service public de Wallonie (SPW). The reference for road works contracts in Wallonia.
• Standaardbestek 250 — Flemish road works, managed by Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer (AWV) of the Flemish authority.
• Standaardbestek 260 — managed by De Vlaamse Waterweg, for hydraulic works, locks, quay walls.
• Federal type cahiers — sector-specific models via FPS BOSA (e.g. for IT purchases, cleaning, translation services).

For tenderers, a standard cahier means most technical clauses are already known and tested. The project-specific part describes only deviations and additions for that particular contract. This significantly speeds up tender preparation — but requires familiarity with the relevant chapters of the standard cahier.

Reading a tender specifications document — a practical workflow

An experienced tenderer spends two to four hours on a first reading, and four to eight more hours on a deep analysis of an interesting opportunity. A practical workflow for the first reading:

1. Object and CPV codes — does this fit our profile? Are we in the right CPV categories?
2. Procedure type — implications for deadlines, scope for negotiation, formalities.
3. Selection criteria and exclusion grounds — can we participate at all? Do we have the required recognition, turnover, references?
4. Award criteria — on what will we be evaluated? What weight is given to price versus quality? Are there sub-criteria?
5. Quantities / bill of quantities — does the scope match our estimate? Is there margin in the quantities?
6. Special clauses — price revision, variants, options, permitted subcontracting.
7. Deadlines — submission deadline, deadline for questions, execution period.
8. Surety and payment terms — what is the cash flow impact?

For a deep analysis, add:

• Detailed review of the full technical specifications.
• Site or location visit (often mandatory or strongly recommended).
• Submitting questions via the official forum.
• Building the offer with sub-contractors and suppliers.

Drafting tender specifications — for contracting authorities

For those on the other side, drafting tender specifications is not a fill-in exercise. Good specifications are precise enough to elicit usable offers, and open enough to allow innovation and competition.

Practical principles:

• Work from functional requirements where possible, rather than technical prescriptions. “The room must achieve acoustic insulation of Rw ≥ 50 dB” is better than “to be installed: gypsum board type X from manufacturer Y”.
• Avoid brand names, or use “or equivalent” consistently with clear equivalence criteria.
• Keep award criteria simple — three criteria with clear weightings produce better offers than seven criteria with overlapping sub-criteria.
• Test your bill of quantities for internal consistency. An inconsistent bill leads to incomparable offers and disputes.
• Allow time for Q&A rounds. A well-considered information note often saves a procurement procedure.

FPS BOSA provides template specifications for most contract types. For sector-specific contracts (roads, water, IT), the standard cahiers mentioned above are the starting point.

Are tender specifications always mandatory?

Below the threshold for low-value public contracts (€30,000 excluding VAT, classical sectors), tender specifications are not legally mandatory. The Act of 17 June 2016 nevertheless recommends fixing at minimum four elements: the object, the award criterion, the verification and payment terms, and any penalties.

Above this threshold, tender specifications are de facto always necessary — not because a specific article requires them, but because without them no comparable offers can be submitted and the procedure becomes unworkable.

Common mistakes by tenderers

Reading only the administrative part. The technical part is often where the real risks and opportunities lie. A tenderer focused only on the administrative side misses details that make the difference between a winning and a loss-making offer.

Not recalculating the bill of quantities. Contracting authorities make errors in quantities. An incorrect item in the bill can lead to substantial gain or loss for the winning tenderer. During the tender phase, it is the tenderer’s responsibility to flag material errors via the forum.

Not downloading the drawings. For works contracts, drawings are part of the contract documents. An offer based only on the specifications without the drawings misses information that is sometimes critical.

Not following the Q&A forum. Other tenderers’ questions and the resulting information notes often modify essential clauses. Those who do not track all notes base their offer on outdated information.

Not invoking equivalence. When a prescribed brand is more expensive or harder to source, the equivalence clause is an underused lever.

Underestimating timelines. Between publication of the specifications and the submission date, typically 35 to 60 calendar days elapse. For complex specifications, that is tight if you only start in the second week.

Sources

• Drawing up the procurement documents — FPS BOSA (NL)
• Drawing up the procurement documents — FPS BOSA (FR)
• Public Procurement Act of 17 June 2016 — FPS BOSA
• Royal Decree of 18 April 2017 (Award classical sectors) — FPS BOSA
• Royal Decree of 14 January 2013 (General Execution Rules) — FPS BOSA
• Qualiroutes — Service public de Wallonie
• Standaardbestek 250 — Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer