Council of State
public procurement
Rulings summarized in plain language — for bid managers, not lawyers.
10 rulings
The threshold for price investigations is fixed: you can't simply raise it
If the specifications state that bids deviating more than 15% from the average must undergo a price investigation, you may not set that threshold at 25%, even to check deviations 'in both directions'.
The court checks whether your selection criteria are well formulated, not whether your competitor is better
If selection criteria are poorly defined, you can appeal — but you must show that you yourself were harmed, not just that the winner was poorly chosen.
A low price can be irregular if your cost calculation is poor
If your bid is unrealistically low and your cost calculation is incomplete, the contracting authority may reject you because you haven't included all required costs.
If competitors may improve their bid, the authority must follow the correct procedure
When two tenderers receive the same score and both may improve their bid, that improvement must be submitted via a secure electronic platform — not by ordinary email.
Price justification: sufficient evidence for normal prices
The Council rejects an application to suspend an award decision for semi-paved roads because the justification for accepting the low prices was adequate.
Equal scores for different bids: justification must demonstrate distinction
The Council orders suspension because the contracting authority gave all five bids the same quality score without indicating strengths and weaknesses.
The contracting authority must clearly explain why a zero price is allowed
If your competitor submits a price of zero euros and it is accepted, the contracting authority must precisely justify why that zero price is valid.
You can bring your own tests, but the contracting authority can ignore them
If the specifications state that only the contracting authority's tests count, you cannot demand that your own laboratory report be included.
Saying "detailed" isn't enough — show why a low price holds up
The Council of State suspends an award because the contracting authority accepted an abnormally low price with nothing more than the platitude that the justification was 'detailed'.
Set the bar high yourself and then let the winner pass? That's not allowed
The Council of State suspends an award because the contracting authority applied a strict reading of the selection criterion to the loser, but not to the winner.